How do pets end up homeless?
Pets are abandoned on the streets by people who have encountered financial difficulties and can no longer afford to buy pet food, when they find out that the cost of veterinary treatment is too expensive or when they just don’t have the time anymore to take care of their pets. PAWS receives an average of five calls or e-mails a day from people who want to abandon their pets. The PAWS Animal Shelter, a limited-admission facility that takes in animals victimized by cruelty, is already filled to the rafters with 185 cats and 35 dogs so it can no longer accommodate the sheer number or animals that are being abandoned every day. PAWS shelter director Heidi Gozon laments that pet owners fail to think long and hard about the responsibilities of pet ownership before they actually get a pet. “Countless people buy pets on impulse and abandon them later on when the novelty of having a cute pet wears off,” she says. A Lifetime With this in mind, PAWS launches its newest campaign to promote respons