Animal Shelters

Tuscaloosa is a small city with a big problem. Every single night homeless pets go to sleep in cold cages at animal shelters, and wake up every morning in hopes of finding love and forever homes. We, as students at the University of Alabama, could help lower the alarming rates of homeless pets in shelters by providing permanent homes to these helpless animals. But are people willing to do this?

On any given beautiful, sunny day in Tuscaloosa you can find hundreds of college students jogging across campus along with their dogs. I think it would be safe to say that students enjoy having a furry companion to keep them company, whether it be from a shelter or a pet store. After doing some internet research, our group found that buying a dog from a pet store or breeder can be outrageously expensive, sometimes costing thousands of dollars; however, adopting a pet from a shelter will only cost around 75 dollars. Another advantage is that shelter pets have already been spayed or neutered and have already received most of their vaccinations. This is obviously much cheaper than purchasing an animal from a pet store or breeder. This raises the question: why do people still spend thousands on any animal when they can pick one up from a shelter at a fraction of the cost? It seems that most people assume animal shelter pets are always “mutts” or mixed breeds, but in reality they house dogs of both purebred and mixed ancestry. Not only can we help save an animal’s life, but also find the perfect dog without breaking the bank.

We conducted a poll of the students on campus asking if they would rather adopt a pet from an animal shelter or purchase a pet from a pet store/breeder. The results were strongly in favor of the latter. Just as people would rather go to a boutique than a thrift store, they would most likely choose a pet store over an animal shelter. It seems that most people do not realize the seriousness of the problem we have with animal overpopulation. There is a countless number of homeless animals available for adoption due to the fact that people are constantly abandoning, or surrendering their once loved pets. According to the United States Census Bureau, there are 81,358 people who reside in the city of Tuscaloosa as of July 2009. As the students of the University, we comprise of almost 40% of Tuscaloosa’s total population. If we each took a step toward solving this problem, it would put a serious dent in the population of sheltered animals. At many shelters across the nation, and even here in Tuscaloosa, animals are euthanized or “put to sleep” everyday because nobody wants them or their “time” is up. These are perfectly healthy animals, just as capable to love and provide joy as any other. No animal deserves to have its life cut short simply because it has been forced into a shelter.

The students and animal lovers at the University of Alabama can help turn around the overpopulation of animal shelters not only here in Tuscaloosa, but in our various hometowns as well. When you adopt a pet, you will have a friend for life. After all, dogs are “Man’s best friend”.