Sam the beautiful all-black German Shepherd Dog: The Plight of the Homeless Pet in NYC

Sunday, January 02, 2005

The Plight of the Homeless Pet in NYC

I don't usually read the newspaper since canine news is so underreported (is this a plot by the government?). But I've been surfing the web incessantly since the Asian tsunami as many domestic animals died, were injured, and now are struggling to survive. See my previous post for how you can help the animals. I tell my human that domestic animals are humankind's responsibility, as they brought us into their world.

Anyway, during my surfing I found a positive story about the improving condition of the homeless pet in NYC.

Fewer Dogs and Cats Are Astray, and Fewer Are Killed in Shelters, NYTimes, 1/1/05
(registration required, older articles are in a paid archive)

I can't copy the whole article into my blog because Mom says that's illegal, but here's the highlights:

"Amid the flurry of year-end statistics, consider this one: New York City put fewer dogs and cats to death this year than in any year on record since the 1890's.
City shelters put to death 23,684 dogs and cats in 2004, according to Animal Care and Control, the group that runs the city shelters. The figure, which accounts for killings through Dec. 30, is down by about 17 percent from last year, and by more than a third compared with 10 years ago.
"This year's drop was sharp, but not unexpected. The number of animals killed has been falling ever since the 1930's, when spaying and neutering started to become common practice in New York and stray populations began to decline, animal experts said.
.....
"Mr. Boks said his organization (NYC Animal Care and Control) planned to make it unnecessary to kill any animals within the next four years, largely through sterilization programs and the encouragement of adoptions. New Yorkers began adopting on a large scale in the 1950's and 1960's. This year, adoptions jumped by about half, to 15,587 animals, up from 10,564 in 2003."

Ed Boks, director of New York City Animal Care and Control
(It wasn't easy to find an appropriate picture of Mr. Boks -- in most of them he is holding a cat!)

This is very good news for dogs (and cats!) and hopefully a trend that occur everywhere in the world. I myself was in a very bad situation at the Silicon Valley Humane Society...only the timely and loving intervention of the San Francisco Bay Area German Shepherd Rescue saved me. I would be grateful but I am only a dog, and I didn't really know what was going on except I was miserable there. Now I am the happiest dog in the whole wide world!