Story
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Update: I did it! Great North Run Half Marathon Complete!
Last year, my heart was broken open.
I've always loved animals, and have the privilege of being mam to a wonderful Rottweiler named Chewie. But until recently, I never understood the plight of animals in shelters, especially in my home country, the United States.
On Instagram, I stumbled across Stanislaus Shelter Friends, a small group of volunteers who help in a shelter in Modesto, CA, only a few hours away from where I lived for five years. Every week, this shelter lists 12-20 dogs on what's called a euth list. This is, unfortunately, exactly what it sounds like. Every week, this shelter prepares to kill more than a dozen dogs simply because they don't have enough space. Most of these dogs are healthy, happy, and have no behavioural issues. Yet they're sentenced to death.
I watched these as these volunteers, supported by Resilient Dog Rescue, saved most of the dogs off the weekly list... only to have to do it again the next week. I watched as dogs with high medical needs and kittens too young to eat solid food that came in during the week were flagged for euthanasia the same night as they arrived, because the shelter didn't have veterinary services for them.
I wept. Multiple times.
Then, as I researched more, I realised that this shelter was not remotely alone. In the United States, thousands of healthy dogs are killed every single day due to the space crisis. And with the cost of living crisis, this is just getting worse. More families are having to surrender their dogs because they can't afford them, and due to a lack of regulations, more people are breeding puppies to try to make ends meet. So, we have more dogs and fewer homes for them.
In the UK, we are also facing a shelter crisis, due to the same cost of living issues seen in the United States. But, we have stricter regulations on breeding, and shelters are not required to take in all dogs, nor are they allowed to euthanise for space. Something has to be medically or behaviourally very wrong with a dog for euthanasia to be allowed. So, it's possible for countries to avoid this nightmare.
Until then... there are ways we can help! Adopting, fostering, campaigning for legislative change, and not buying animals from shady breeders are the best things you can do.
But you can also donate!