Did you know that every year around 6.5 million pets enter animal shelters nationwide?  Many pets are either strays on the streets or homeless in shelters. Animal homelessness has been a nationwide issue, but many do not really seem to care about it. It has been a big problem for many decades, and if it doesn’t get the needed help from our community, it will continue to grow, so it needs to stop. Animal homelessness is caused by irresponsible pet ownership, along with overpopulation, which results in many animals’ deaths.  To help stop this, we need to start taking action by putting laws, expanding shelters, and educating to end this problem!

 
Animal homelessness is still a big problem, but it has been declining over some years. About 6.5 million pets are put into shelters now (3.3 million dogs and 3.2 million cats), but in 2011 alone, 7.2 million pets were going into shelters. That decline was actually the biggest decline for dogs (3.9 million to 3.2 million dogs). For euthanized (killed humanely) pets, 1.5 million shelter pets are euthanized (860,000 cats and 670,000 dogs) now, but in 2011, it was about 2.6 million euthanized.  It is good that the rate of animals getting put into shelters and euthanized is decreasing, but it is still much too common.   

Even though many are getting into shelters and being euthanized, many are also getting adopted and returned to their owners. About 3.2 million shelter pets are getting adopted annually (1.6 million cats and 1.6 million dogs) and 710,000 strays are getting returned to their owners (620,000 dogs and 90,000 cats).   Even though we are adopting and returning strays to owners, this may mean that more pets can be left on streets by owners again.
     

The one major cause of animal homelessness is irresponsible pet owners.  Many pet owners surrender (give up) their pets to shelters because they think it’s the only possible solution. They may surrender because of their pet’s behavioral issues, diseases, the owners moving, having allergies, and many more. Behavioral problems are the most common reason why people surrender their pets, since they may not know how to deal with them.  Some may even throw their pets off into the streets instead of taking them to a shelter.
  

The other major cause would be overpopulation. Overpopulation is caused by breeders, mills, and people not spaying/neutering. Breeders and mills make more animals for pet stores, which isn’t good since they are just bringing more animals into the world, and plus, many of their bred animals find their ways to streets instead. These animals may not have been spayed/neutered, so they cause more babies on streets. Also, many of their animals that go into pet stores are usually unhealthy and take up homes that a shelter animal could have gotten. 
 

Many strays aren’t spayed/neutered, which leads to more babies. About 10% of strays are only spayed or neutered.  Spaying/neutering is like a birth control for animals, and it has been one of the most efficient one for animals. If we started spaying/neutering animals more often, there would be less babies and would help many animals as well. Spaying/neutering can help reduce chances of having some cancers, illnesses, accidents, and negative behavior of animals. 
 
  

As a result from all the causes, it leads to many animals’ deaths and many homeless animals. It’s really impossible to know how many strays there are in the United States alone. Around in 2015, there were at least 70 million cats alone that were stray.  Animal homelessness has also cost the U.S. some millions, because many shelters are in need of money to take care of their shelter pets. If this keeps up, many shelters would start needing more money.
  

Many shelters and people are trying to end animal homelessness by trying to get people to adopt and help. They aren’t wrong for doing so, but it’s working at a very slow pace. These solutions would take decades to actually end animal homelessness, so we need to start finding faster solutions. Making licenses, educating, and expanding no-kill shelters would be some good ways to help stop animal homelessness.
Since most shelters are full, it would be good to start expanding and building more no-kill shelters. No-kill shelters are shelters that don’t kill their animals except if they are dangerous or terminally ill.  No-kill shelters usual have healthier animals, but are usually full, so we need to start expanding those types of shelters. We could build a huge no-kill shelter in each big city and have it inside and outside. To get the money, they can receive funding and collaborate with other shelters, volunteers, and even pets stores.
 

Education is also another good way to spread the word of animal homelessness. Many people don’t seem to care or know it’s a huge problem, so we need to start telling them. We can advertise, post fliers, and do more to educate! We could also educate people on getting a pet as well if they are getting one. After teaching them, they could receive a quiz or a contract to get the pet and keep them.
 

For those who are worried if they should be getting the pet, then shelters should start lending the person the pet for a few days so that the owner an see if they really want to keep it. After some days, the person can return back and see if they want to keep the pet. If they don’t bring the pet back after some weeks or days over the due time, and they haven’t called so that they can extend the amount of days they can have the pet, then the shelter can go to their address to pick it up forcedly or not. If the pet somehow died, ran away, or isn’t there, then the person keeping that pet can pay a fee because you didn’t take care of it correctly. The fee can also depend on the situation. This would help because many would actually think if they really want the pet after all, since many don’t realize the responsibility that goes with having a pet.
  

One comment on article had suggested that local governments should start requiring pet owners to buy annual licenses for each pet they own, and “if they have a certification that their pets are spayed/neutered and chipped, the annual license fee will be waived for the life of that pet.” People who want to breed their pets will have to pay a license fee as well, and people who want to sell their bred pets will pay a “higher business license”. “Non-profit animal rescue organizations will provide the funding for free spaying/neutering and chipping of all pets”, so that the burden on pet owners aren’t as big if they want to apply for a license waiver. This solution can help the pet population go down and make non-profit organizations have fewer pets to take care of and do more to foster responsible pet ownership. In order for this to work, a public education program and leadership is needed. 
   

Animal homelessness has caused animals to die because of irresponsible pet ownership and overpopulation. We can help stop the problem if we start making licenses, building and expanding shelters, educating people, and more! If we don’t do anything about this, many more pets will be born, causing more accidents, a high chance of being bitten, and just more wasted money on capturing, spaying/neutering, and taking care of the pets. We need to start educating many to stop animal homelessness. It could take a while, but we can end it soon, if more people would help.