As a kid, I would always walk down to our local animal shelter and look at all the dogs. Just wishing I could take them home. Their barks and whines and those sad droopy eyes staring at me. Or rather when I would be watching tv and they had the commercials about donating money to save an animals life. I remember watching those with my mom and telling her that I was always going to grow up and adopt all the animals who don’t have a home and are suffering. I hope by the end of my speech, at least one of you will consider to go to your local shelter and adopt an innocent life.

We as a community need to adopt from animal shelters rather than pure breeding them. Some people ask why? ASPCA stated that approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter the U.S. animal shelters annually. Approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized each year. The number of dogs and cats euthanized in the U.S. have declined from around 2.6 million since 2011. Approximately 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted each year. If you actually think about it, your purebred animals eventually turn into shelter pets. You take all that time into putting worth into your dog's liter raising the puppies right to know what's wrong and what's right. Then it's time to sell them. Some people sell their purebreds for the money that they need. And some sell them just to sell them.  Not all people are capable of providing food for their animals. Instead of buying the food they probably buy other things they think they NEED. Or they don’t have enough money and are trying to make ends meet. A lot of people think ‘why to adopt from the shelter, they’re going to die soon anyway.’ but do they or better yet you actually put thought and meaning into it. According to The Human Society, each year 2.7 million adoptable dogs and cats are euthanized in the United States, only because too many pets come into shelters and too few people consider adoption when looking for a pet. Also, it could save from being placed in puppy mills. Puppy mills are factory-style breeding facilities that put profit above the welfare of dogs. Animals from puppy mills are housed in very poor conditions with improper medical care and are often very sick with behavior conditions.

Why do you need to adopt shelter pets? Rather than them not having the love and attention, they should be getting, by adopting from shelters you’ll be saving lives a lot faster. According to the ASPCA’s National Rehoming Survey, pet problems are the most common reason that owners rehome their pet, accounting for 47% of rehomed dogs and 42% of rehomed cats.  Pet problems were defined as problematic behaviors, aggressive behaviors, grew larger than expected, or health problems owner couldn’t handle. The Humane Society of the United States has been involved with animal rescue from its earliest days. Hands-on care and services bring comfort and relief to more than 100,000 animals each year.

Just imagine what adopting could do to your community. Your town was always known to have many shelter animals and not enough expenses to make it better for the shelter pets and for the employees and volunteers to make it more of a home to the animals. Also to feel the comfort and love they deserve to have. Imagine your community and other outsiders join and come together and adopt them to bring them to their new home that they never thought they would ever have. Now your local shelter has fewer animals but they have gained more expenses to help make the shelter more of a home for those who may end up there. So now that you’ve brought a new addition to your home you may have gained one but you have rescued one who thought they weren’t ever going to be chosen. Some shelter animals would probably end up back in the shelter. But those who take care of their animals and keep them in fenced areas would help our community and should start to stand out more.
The number of shelter animals or strays being euthanized could be reduced dramatically if more people would be willing to adopt pets instead of buying from breeders. Remember when I said that each year nearly 2.7 million animals are euthanized because they never get adopted? That could change but people think if they're sick or injured there’s no point in adopting them. But why? Maybe they think illness is ugly or they don’t want to spend that money just for them to die when they get them. But don’t let that from stopping you from taking action to make your community better and for your shelter to look much better. So now I'm asking you to take action and go to your local shelter and take the time to get to know your shelter and adopt and save a life from there instead of getting a purebred and spending more money than you probably intend to.