Visualize cracking open the door to your local animal shelter. At first, you hear the howling of dogs, and maybe hissing from cats. Once you walk in, you notice an array of behaviors exhibited by these animals. Several bounce around joyfully and wag their tails. Others stay nestled in the corner, fearful. Row after row of animals sit in cages. The line may seem endless. Why do so many animals end up in shelters, and how is it affecting the lives of these animals that prevents most of them from being adopted? Overcrowding remains the number one issue in animal shelters worldwide. The most common culprit for this: stray canines, and felines. So many animals roam the streets. These poor creatures stroll around alone, cold, hungry, and petrified. Because of the overpopulation, animal control must step in. They at times, forcefully snatch up these beings, and load them into trucks. Those dogs and cats, then get taken to shelters. Not all animal shelters have pristine condition. Sometimes animal shelters exhibit themselves as a malodorous, dirty, and unsettling environment for animals to inhabit. Euthanasia is frequent at shelters like this. Other ways that animals end up in shelters include animal cruelty, behavioral issues, moving, people life experiences, overpricing, and not enough time. At first thought, one may …show more content…
Shelters currently hold pets beyond their originally designed capacity. Pets get dropped off or picked up off the streets for so many reasons. Animals get taken to, or not taken from shelters because they are either strays, victims of abuse, present behavioral issues, left behind due to family moving, abandon from different family experiences, not bought from overpricing, or the family had no time for it. All of which result in psychological effects of trust issues, loneliness, feeling unloved, anxiety, and