I'm nearing the end of my second year in college and I realised that half of my time here was spent petting and cuddling random dogs and gesticulating wildly in vain attempts at socialising with every cat I ran into. And that would precisely be why I could glide through the other half of my time here unescorted by anxiety or feelings of loneliness. Attending college was almost all about finding the next doggo to pamper and gush about on social media.
Many studies have consistently reported on how pets or animals in general can have reformatory effects on our behaviour. They are known to assist you in breezing through hard times and in bathing your life in vivid colours of joy and hope. The psychological and emotional impact they leave on your life is tremendous. They act as a bulwark against emotional breakdowns or rising stress levels. You would have a lot more peace and comfort voyaging into your life when you are around animals.
This is where you can do your bit. If you love animals, have enough space to let them run around and create a nuisance; adopting them from the streets after spaying, neutering and vaccinating them could be your way to save a life. Sterilisation is important because the number of strays left to fend for themselves on the streets is exploding by the day. Shelters can take in only so many animals and most of them are euthanised to somehow put a cap on the population of abandoned pets and strays that are turning up at their doors every year.
The 'Adopt, Don't Shop’ slogan needs to be enunciated even more. If you continue succumbing to the temptation to buy expensive breeds, it's probably because you don’t understand the abominable reality that undergirds your purchase. In almost all cases, the sale is brokered with backyard breeders who subject these animals to the most detestable and appalling conditions until they are bought.
For dogs, their conditions at puppy mills mark the zenith of torture techniques that are employed to breed as many puppies as possible. Most of these breeders don't even have an iota of guilt about pressing ahead with their inhuman activities at the cost of the wellbeing of these animals. They are squeezed into tiny cages, provided little to no food or veterinary care and receive zero human attention. The adults are kept merely for the purpose of breeding and are dumped or killed once all their energy is whittled away and they can’t bear any more puppies or kittens. Consequently, all these breeds are at a greater risk of developing problems later on in life and might have behavioural issues as well. These apply to dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets and many other animals.
Adoption serves as the better choice on so many levels, the principal reason being that you get to save a life! You would just have to walk around for less than a minute to encounter at least a couple of strays in need of help. They dot the streets almost everywhere. And they are just as loving as the pets you buy from breeders. Plus it's free! You don't have to shell out thousands to adopt an animal and the only costs involved are those incurred while attending to their medical requirements.
Shelter animals also have a higher chance of being trained and can adapt to any environment as opposed to expensive breeds who might be anti-social as a result of their health being jeopardised by the abhorrent treatment meted out to them.
Puppy mills and breeding operations should be vehemently opposed. All of us who can afford to take good care of a pet need to adopt rather than buy them. This could bring down the number of animals that will have to be euthanised and can make it easier for shelters to take in as many strays as possible. It can consequently put an end to the torture that millions of animals are subjected to daily to serve as a banquet for our obsession with foreign breeds. Take action. Now.