Pet Overpopulation: Home

As of 2017, 55 percent of American households included at least one pet. Pets are ubiquitous and often considered part of the family, but are they content in a domestic setting? Is there a way for us to tell if we are giving pets a suitable standard of living? Many factors must be considered when looking at the ethics of pet ownership, including what rights animals should possess, where the animals come from, and what species of animals should be kept as pets. Readers will gain a better understanding of the many ethical considerations surrounding pet ownership.

Ethical dilemmas and decision-making are a persistent feature of the everyday operations of animal shelters and animal protection organizations. These organizations frequently face difficult decisions about how to treat the animals in their care, decisions that are made all the more difficult by limited funding, material resources, and human labor. Moreover, animal protection organizations must also determine how to act within and toward the wider social and institutional environment in which non-human animals are routinely exploited. The first section of The Ethics of Animal Shelters contains practical recommendations developed by ethicists in response to the ethical challenges identified by employees of the Montreal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These challenges arise across the organization's activities, including its internal structure; shelter operations; public campaigns and advocacy work; dealing with the public, animal agriculture and governmental agencies; and their work with feral animals. The second section offers philosophical analyses of the ethical challenges unique to animal shelters. Issues explored include the killing of shelter animals; shelter animals' diets; medical decision-making procedures; adoption policies; and the role shelters might play in transforming social attitudes and norms.

A fascinating look at rescue dogs--where they come from, why every dog lover should consider adopting one, and how to make them part of your family. America's leading undercover animal investigator, Pete Paxton, has, among other exploits, infiltrated more than seven hundred puppy mills, worked undercover to close one of the largest and most infamous puppy mills in the United States, and shuttered the most notorious trafficker of dogs for experimentation in history. In this book, he shares stories of the amazing dogs he has rescued and brought to loving families, and also offers invaluable guidance and wisdom for anyone living with rescue dogs. Far too many people think rescue dogs have irredeemable anxieties, behavior issues, or other problems. In truth, rescue dogs can--and do--become wonderful companions. This groundbreaking book will help readers understand these dogs' unique ways of thinking, learning, and loving, and leaves no questions unanswered about the plight of dogs commercially bred in the United States--and what every dog lover can do about it.

Rethinking Rescue boldly confronts two of the biggest challenges of our time--poverty and homelessness--in asking the question: Who deserves the love of a pet? In Los Angeles's most underserved communities, Lori Weise is known as the Dog Lady, the woman who's spent decades caring for people in poverty and the animals that love them. Long before anyone else, Weise grasped that animal and human suffering are inextricably connected and created a new rescue narrative: an enduring safety net empowering pet owners and providing resources to reduce the number of pets coming into shelters. Rethinking Rescue: Dog Lady and the Story of America's Forgotten People and Pets unites the causes of animal welfare and social justice, moving between Weise's story and that of the larger U.S. rescue movement. Through captivating storytelling and investigative reporting, Carol Mithers examines the consequences of bias within this overwhelmingly white movement, where an overemphasis on placing animals in affluent homes disregards pet owners in poverty. Weise's innovative and ultimately triumphant efforts revealed a better way. As cities across the country witness some of the worst housing crises in history, and as the population of unhoused people and pets continues to skyrocket, Rethinking Rescue offers a story of compassion and hope.