Shelter Stats

Are you ever driving around on afternoon and see a stray dog? For us here in the south, it is a common sight.  Did you know that "[m]any strays are lost pets who were not kept properly indoors or provided with identification" as quoted by the ASPCA Pet Statistics.  And the sad part about most of them is that their owners did not care enough about them to go looking for them or to even put fliers up with their information on it so that if the animal was found they would know who to contact about them.  Instead they end up in shelters.  Some pet owners have microchipped their animals so that if they do end up in a shelter all the shelter has to do is scan them with a chip reader and the small piece of equipment displays a company name and chip number.  Then, all the shelter has to do is call that company and get the owners' information so that they can contact them to come pick their animal up.  "According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (NCPPSP), less than 2 percent of cats and only 15 to 20 percent of dogs are returned to their owners. Most of these were identified with tags, tattoos or microchips" (ASPCA, 2012).  Some people just get tired of owning an animal and let them go so they do not have to deal with them any longer.