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By: Erin, Walker, and Daniel Introduction There are an estimated 70 million stray animals in the U.S.(Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society). Of those, 6-8 million cats and dogs enter U.S. shelters every year; of those, 1.5 million are euthanized(ASPCA 2017). According to the Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society, 80% or 2.4 million, are healthy and treatable animals that could have been adopted. This affects the community because homeless animals could carry diseases that could be deadly like rabies. Another issue of stray animals is there are so many of them, that the shelters are turning away animals because they don’t have room for them. When people are asked about where they got their pet, 15 % , say they got them from a shelter(ASPCA 2017). We are interested in this issue because we feel that all animals deserve a home where they are loved and cared for. We also feel that no animal that lives on the streets should be there because of neglect, abandonment, or cruelty. Others should care because you might have gotten your pet from an animal shelter. Just because an animal doesn’t have a home doesn’t mean that it is not a living creature that deserves a place to call home, to be loved, and to live a good and healthy life. The Issue North Carolina faces a big issue dealing with homeless animals. In the Montgomery County Animal Shelter, they have the highest euthanasia rate in the state. On average, 98% percent of dogs who were brought into that shelter were euthanized, and an average of 100% of cats were euthanized (WRAL 2016). Overall, the issue mostly affects the shelters. This is so because the mass amount of homeless animals are being brought in. While those animals are being brought in, the shelters don’t have enough space. Those shelters have to either euthanize some animals in the shelter, or release some animals. This issue has been going on for a while now, but the issue has significantly worsened in the past few years. There are many causes of animal homelessness. One of them is overpopulation. On average, a dog/cat gives birth to 1-5 puppies/kittens. Along with that, they usually give birth about 2 times per year. Also, most of those offspring are not adopted, and the owners don't know what to do with them. The effects, however, are disastrous. The pets that are being born are helping to overpopulation. If they aren't adopted, they become unwanted, and they get dumped. Also, there becomes too many pets to adopt, leading to the animals in the street. If this issue is not taken care of, there are many possible outcomes. One of them is that homeless animals would become more common. Another is that the issue would keep progressively worsen, and the issue would become bigger overall. Also, since the issue would become even worse, it would require more effort to combat the situation. The Solution Even though this issue sounds big and bad, there are others that are already helping. Most of those shelters are helping in many ways. One of those ways is that they are raising awareness about this issue. Along with that, they are raising money to increase the quality and size of the shelters, so that they can hold more animals and won't have to euthanize or release the animals. Also, the shelters are spaying and neutering the animals to cut down overpopulation. It sounds like there is already enough people helping, but there is still a need for help in the community. This is so because overpopulation is still a big issue. Also, the sight of homeless animals is becoming even more common. The main reason that overpopulation is still a big issue is because many pet owners are refusing to spay and neuter, or make the animal unable to give birth, their pets. The reason that they don't do this is because they want be able to sell the puppies, and they want money. Conclusion Our goal for our project is to lessen the financial burden on a shelter for 2-3 days. We could achieve this by having a multifaceted fundraiser for the shelter. Our first step would be to establish a raffle at lunch, this would stimulate people to buy raffle tickets which would pay for the prizes. The second step would be to have a cat and dog food drive, there would be bins all over the school and there would be a total for the amount of dog and cat food that each homeroom donated. The 3rd step is to put up flyers advertising 3 things the raffle, the food drive, and adopting animals. The fourth step is to have the school news air pieces about the raffle, food drive, and adopting animals. The fifth step is to donate the food and money to the shelter. The plan for our goal is not flawless, and we could encounter some problems. We could be denied the cafeteria access for the raffle. The second problem related to the raffle is that people would not buy the tickets, but there is a solution to that will fix this. The solution is to add incentive by having the class period who sells the most tickets, gets doughnuts. Also the class that donates the most animal food gets pizza. The goal of this project is to lessen the financial burden on a shelter for a few days. Works Cited “Hope Animal Rescue Durham, North Carolina.” Hope Animal Rescue Durham, North Carolina. 2017. http://www.hopeanimals.org/
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