Did you know that 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats in shelters are euthanized? The only question is why do cats have a higher percentage of euthanization than dogs? The reason for this is that cats have a much higher chance of entering a shelter without owner identification. For example less than 2 percent of cats get taken back to their rightful owners. Not only are the animals so happy to be home and not in a shelter but you feel a sense of relief when your animal is back home with you. 

Maybe you should think about ways you can make sure your animal does not run away because who knows if the person did their resource and did not give your pet to a kill shelter. On the other hand with dogs it is normally a 15 to 20 percent chance that a dog will be returned to their rightful owner. The reason they euthanize these animals is when an animal is too sick, old or not changing their behavior and not changing their social behavior to be around others therefore they dont get adopted. Another unfortunate thing about this is if an animal has behavioral issues they tend to put these dogs down when they could just send them somewhere else to be trained. This fixes the amount of euthanizations in the nation.

 Since one of the things they slaughter the animals for is behavioral issues. In euthanization shelters it was found that 100,000 animals died in a year. The main reason other than the criteria of why they slaughter these animals is due to overcrowding and this way they could get a home for a short period of time if they don't meet the criteria. Another unfortunate fact about this is that 100,000 in just one country. The amount of time they euthanize a dog or cat is 5 to 9 million animals per year nationwide. The only explanation for this high number is that all the cats and dogs are being euthanized each year because of the runaway animals.

They do this by giving the animal a local anesthetic to put them to sleep and then they just never wake up. All these dogs and cats  probably think they are going to be  taken somewhere. Then they are so excited to think they are going somewhere fun but they don’t know they won't wake up when they get there.When these animals didn't do anything bad to anyone. It's not their fault that's why so many shelters have so much extra room for these animals.

 It’s especially sad when “a dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself ”by Josh billings. When you think that shelters help find these animals a home the next thing they do is slaughter the animal if it doesn't meet the criteria.This is so sorrowful because these people put these animals under Anastasia knowing they won't wake up. Not only that but an additional sad thing is  these animals don't have a clue in the world about what’s going on. It’s always so frustrating and really sad  to think you never know what shelter is trustworthy with an animal you find stranded. The other thing is there are a lot of people that didn’t know shelters did that. 

For instance, when I started my non - profit for animals at shelters this  was when I was 14. When I told my dad about the idea this was when my dad and grandmother, who's a vet, warned me about the slaughter shelters and that they were out there.  Some people aren't as lucky as I was and find out this the bad way and some find better ways by investigating and figuring something’s out. Until you research you don't know what that animal could be getting into. For instance 50 percent of pit bull rescues have been euthanized.

 Since all those pit bulls did not meet the requirements for that shelter like if it was sick or too old it got slaughtered. It’s sad to think about this unfortunate situation. For example most pit bulls are a really nice breed just misunderstood. Not only could some of these pit bulls be misunderstood. Not only that but it could have been the owner that made this dog act the way it did and that’s why no one wanted them. 

Let this be a lesson to you or someone you know to help save an animal so it doesn't die for silly reasons. The way you know it is a slaughter shelter is if it says no slaughter in the materials. More than likely if you dig a little deeper in your research you'll find that they don't have programs to treat every animal in their care. Another way to figure out if it's a slaughter shelter is if they accept all animals no matter what the circumstance may be. Another thing is they don't have to make an appointment to talk with a professional. 

Although with other shelters they will try to understand the dog or cat better and try and save the animal vs slaughtering them. It’s not fair to these animals that these people are trying to euthanize or slaughter these animals when they can't help it. So please do your research and look out for these signs before taking a dog or cat into a shelter. You never know, just taking a couple of minutes researching and looking for these signs could save an animal's life.