Every day, dozens of healthy dogs and cats are killed in Austin, Texas's government-run animal shelter alone. The reasons for that are numerous. One, people sometimes fail to spay or neuter their animals, even when they don't want litters. The unwanted puppies and kitties fill up homes that might otherwise have gone to needy shelter animals, and often wind up shelters themselves. Another problem is the increasing prevelance of "no pets allowed" policies in rentals. This policy makes it impossible for most people to adopt, requires animal lovers to surrender pets to kill shelters, and results in more deaths at the local shelter. Also, many people get tired of their pets after a few years, and surrender them to animal shelters, thinking they'll find a good new home. They usually don't. Austin Pets Alive is a citizens' group who is working WITH its local animal shelter to reduce the number of killings that take place there. They provide educational materials, volunteer support for the shelter, advertisement for the needy animals, and an outreach program for the community. Any community can start a "stop the killing" movement of this sort. Elizabeth Doyle was one of the first members of APA. To learn more about the organization, please visit www.austinpetsalive.org
|
|