By Ashley Michua
“Bark Bark” is all that is heard walking through the doors of The City of San Jose Shelter. Parents talking, dogs barking and all you can see are doors leading to rooms of various animals.
Animals shelters don’t get paid much attention because some people assume that the animals are old and most people want kittens or puppies. Some looking to adopt want a specific type of animal or breed so they think that they never have the dog, cat, or rabbit they want.
You may ask yourself, what is so important about animal shelters? Well I asked Kimberly Hernandez, an owner of a pomeranian named Brandy and she said, “I think animal shelters are important because there are many stray animals who are in need of a home and possibly medical care.” Ten years with a dog brought her happiness and has been part of the family. Shelters have shown that these places are needed in order to protect and love these animals.
For a dog, the shelter is an immediate sensory overload. A dizzying diversity of scents, sounds and strangers.
Julie Allingham, the owner of the shelter, explains their function, she states, “We take in animals who have nowhere to go. For example we try and get animals who run around or hurt other animals. Another example is when people don't want them we give them a place to stay.” Julie has been working here since 2004. The year the CIty of San Jose Shelter opened.
According to America comes Alive, Shelters have been around since 1833 due to the efforts of Caroline White of Philadelphia. White was also behind several other animal protection organizations. In the mid-19th century, cats would have been kept at houses and in businesses to keep down the rodent population. City dogs would have been kept as guard dogs. Many would have been considered “pets,” but not the pampered pets of today.
There are pros and cons to shelters. It is very upsetting when they can’t find a home because options are limited and they don’t possess the freedom of choosing. A few of those options are the owners finding them, some adopting them or being put to sleep. When asked about the chance of a better life here, she responds, “They don’t have a better life but they have a 90 percent [chance] here and going into a better situation. Some shelters don’t have a very high chance of getting out.” If anyone has the best chance of making it out of the shelter alive, it's puppies. Unless there's a deformity or major injury, they usually find a home pretty quickly.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are about 70 million stray animals living in the U.S. Of this 70 million, only about six to eight million cats and dogs enter the nation's 3,500 shelters every year. Julie told me that every year they have seventeen thousand animals. This problem is huge because stray dogs are homeless and lost and many cannot survive.
As we finish this up Julie has one more piece of advice, ”It's very important for people to know about animal shelters because some are waiting for a home and it hurts to see people go and look at craigslist to buy a dog. When they buy an animal that's one more animal that doesn't get a home so people who are thinking about getting a pet. Look at your local shelter first. It doesn't have to be ours. Just go to your local shelter and try to give/get a pet there. DON'T LET THEM BREED AND HAVE BABIES. We already have enough animals who don’t have homes. So be a responsible person to animals in the community.“
“Bark Bark” is all that is heard walking through the doors of The City of San Jose Shelter. Parents talking, dogs barking and all you can see are doors leading to rooms of various animals.
Animals shelters don’t get paid much attention because some people assume that the animals are old and most people want kittens or puppies. Some looking to adopt want a specific type of animal or breed so they think that they never have the dog, cat, or rabbit they want.
You may ask yourself, what is so important about animal shelters? Well I asked Kimberly Hernandez, an owner of a pomeranian named Brandy and she said, “I think animal shelters are important because there are many stray animals who are in need of a home and possibly medical care.” Ten years with a dog brought her happiness and has been part of the family. Shelters have shown that these places are needed in order to protect and love these animals.
For a dog, the shelter is an immediate sensory overload. A dizzying diversity of scents, sounds and strangers.
Julie Allingham, the owner of the shelter, explains their function, she states, “We take in animals who have nowhere to go. For example we try and get animals who run around or hurt other animals. Another example is when people don't want them we give them a place to stay.” Julie has been working here since 2004. The year the CIty of San Jose Shelter opened.
According to America comes Alive, Shelters have been around since 1833 due to the efforts of Caroline White of Philadelphia. White was also behind several other animal protection organizations. In the mid-19th century, cats would have been kept at houses and in businesses to keep down the rodent population. City dogs would have been kept as guard dogs. Many would have been considered “pets,” but not the pampered pets of today.
There are pros and cons to shelters. It is very upsetting when they can’t find a home because options are limited and they don’t possess the freedom of choosing. A few of those options are the owners finding them, some adopting them or being put to sleep. When asked about the chance of a better life here, she responds, “They don’t have a better life but they have a 90 percent [chance] here and going into a better situation. Some shelters don’t have a very high chance of getting out.” If anyone has the best chance of making it out of the shelter alive, it's puppies. Unless there's a deformity or major injury, they usually find a home pretty quickly.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are about 70 million stray animals living in the U.S. Of this 70 million, only about six to eight million cats and dogs enter the nation's 3,500 shelters every year. Julie told me that every year they have seventeen thousand animals. This problem is huge because stray dogs are homeless and lost and many cannot survive.
As we finish this up Julie has one more piece of advice, ”It's very important for people to know about animal shelters because some are waiting for a home and it hurts to see people go and look at craigslist to buy a dog. When they buy an animal that's one more animal that doesn't get a home so people who are thinking about getting a pet. Look at your local shelter first. It doesn't have to be ours. Just go to your local shelter and try to give/get a pet there. DON'T LET THEM BREED AND HAVE BABIES. We already have enough animals who don’t have homes. So be a responsible person to animals in the community.“