Dog/Pet Adoption: Wildfires, Floods, & Other Catastrophes

That past several days, I've been following up on this blog's stats. As mentioned in a previous post, I like to know what words and phrases people search that bring them to this site. Phrases that I've noticed the past several days of the California wildfires include: "wildfire pets adoption," "dogs for adoption due to wildfires," "animals and adoption and wildfire," and so on.

While it is at the least admirable to want to help by adopting pets abandoned during significant tragedies (hurricanes, fires, etc.), we need to remember that there are literally hundreds of thousands of pets already at shelters thanks to a variety of reasons having nothing to do with major societal catastrophes.

Within Detroit city limits at the Humane Society alone (not Animal Control or the SPCA or rescue groups), each year over 20,000 abandoned and cast-off pets come through their doors - only 15-20% walk out alive. Think of how many more pets are in need of homes that are in shelters outside the city. Think of how many pets are in your town waiting to be adopted so they aren't put down/"euthanized." Please, save a dog or other pet from a shelter; don't wait until tragedy strikes to save a life.