Economic Crisis- Animals Feeling the Pinch

Economic Crisis: Its not all About the People

On September 28, 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 700 points. According to NBC News, At one point the market fell as if down a well, over 700 points.
We knew that it would take a lot of time, time that not everyone had to recover from the stock market plummet. When you saw the stock market report on CNN, NBC, or any other news show, you probably wondered, how am I going to make enough money to support my family? Am I going to get cut from my job? How much money will I lose? I bet not one time did you think, how is this going to affect my pet (s)? How will I be able to support my family and my pets? Or even better, am I going to have to give up my pet because its costing me too much money?
Families are now aware that they can no longer keep their pets. According to national financial estimates, approximately one in 171 homes in the U.S. is in danger of foreclosure due to the sub prime mortgage crisis. Approximately 63 percent of U.S. households have at least one pet; many are in danger of being sent to animal shelters. An estimated 500,000 to one million cats and dogs are at risk of becoming homeless.
Keeping a cat costs about 1,200 dollars a year; a dog costs about twice as much, said Nancy Peterson of the Humane Society, an animal protection organization.
Another crisis is occurring in the animal shelters around the country. How do animal shelters get money? There arent enough donations to animal shelters because people dont have enough money to spare. In the economic crisis the number of donors also shrinks. How is this affecting the animals? How are the shelters dealing with this? How does the life of an animal change when it enters a shelter?
Overcrowding in shelters is leading to animals having to be put down and fewer animals rescued from the streets. Short on space, limited on supplies, and hit hard by budget cuts, many shelters are having to euthanize unwanted pets. Rescue groups are experiencing previously adopted pets being returned, often after many years of ownership. Since the recession, pets and animals that would find homes easily arent, and are costing the shelters money.
In the coming years, more than 6 million house pets are likely to be threatened with some kind of distress in their lives, according to Time magazine. Veterinarians also feel the effects of the economic downturn. In order to save money, more and more pet owners avoid taking their animals for treatment and check-ups. Many animal clinics have fewer patients, said Jerry Bayer of the animal hospital VCA West End in Virginia.
The Economic Crisis isnt just affecting the people. The animals are also feeling the pinch.

By EconomicCrisis09

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Sources:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/261571,pets-in-united-states-becoming...

http://www.aspca.org/blog/how-the-economic-crisis-affects-animals.html

http://petcare.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_the_economic_crisis_is_affecting_...

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Economic
• Crisis-
• Animals
• Feeling
• the
• Pinch

[xSanityMassacrex]

this makes me really sad :/