Jump to content

Us Shelter Kill Rate Down To 2%


sandgrubber
 Share

Recommended Posts

this comes from a blog, but presents statistics DOL'rs regularly look for, so I thought it worth bending the rules to post it. The original source, the National Pet Owners Survey, is not available online but can be purchased through the American Pet Products Association. I've dropped the last couple paragraphs (which are somewhat anti-pit bull). I haven't reproduced the figures. It's worth referring to the original to see them.

Now Only 2% of Dogs Die in Shelters

By Christopher – June 26, 2012 from http://www.astraean....n-shelters.html New data released by the ASPCA, HSUS, and the American Pet Products Association's National Pet Owners Survey show that shelter killings are at an all time low in both whole numbers and percent of pet dogs in America. Down from a high of nearly 25% of all dogs per year in the 1970s, as little as 2% of dogs now find their end in US shelters, the majority of them are pit bulls.

Despite both the human and pet dog populations in America rising, the number of dogs entering and dying in shelters has fallen steadily for decades. While this vast improvement hasn't stemmed the degree of vitriol against "breeders" by those in the shelter/rescue community, a look at statistics shows that there is little foundation for their anger. The situation is getting better every year and very little of the past or remaining problems have anything to do with hobby breeders or people who buy their dogs.

The most significant factor in the steady decline in shelter intakes is widely credited to the advancements made in spay/neuter programs. Nearly four out of five pet dogs are now desexed. Despite making up only 1 in 5 pet dogs, intact dogs account for 9 out of 10 shelter intakes, a staggering asymmetry.

Purebreds are under-represented in shelters versus their proportion of the 78 million pet dogs, but up to a quarter of intakes are deemed to be pure versus 75% deemed mixed-breed. The most significant disparity between the general population of dogs and dogs that enter shelter and are euthanized is being designated as a "pit bull" or a pit bull mix.

Whereas the percent of dogs desexed has increased since spay/neuter programs were widely introduced in the mid 70s, the popularity of pit bulls and their share of euthanized dogs has steadily increased from as little as 2% in the 1980s to the 60% we see today.

The 2.4 to 3.5 million Pit Bull type dogs that are currently pets make up between 3% and 4.5% of the owned dogs in the USA yet the 1.1 million that enter shelters each year account for nearly 30% of all shelter intakes and 60% of all dogs euthanized. That means that more pit bulls are killed than all other breeds combined.

...

  • Purebreds are less likely to end up in shelters than mixed-breeds.
  • Dogs purchased from breeders or pet stores are less likely to end up in shelters.
  • Dogs given as gifts or acquired for more than $100 are less likely to end up in a shelter.
  • Dogs acquired for less than $30 or dogs adopted from a shelter are more likely to end up in a shelter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's great that the numbers of dogs being PTS is being reduced..2% is what 70000 dogs PTS per year, but when you imagine at how a dog gets classified as a pitbullx... this would include any cross breed or several breeds of dogs, many of which will have no pitbull in them at all, and do shelter staff id the dog?

So it stands to question, do they make up 60% (42000) of all euthenazed dogs because of misidentification and / or is it more PC to PTS a pitbull than a Lab mix... do shelters say, "well this one could be a pitbull x, better make space for the ones we can rehome..." i.e like the "Lost Dogs Home"

60% is such a huge figure..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...