Perhaps worse, animals that are not taken in by shelters and rescue groups suffer starvation, illness, and abuse.
Meanwhile,
private individuals and commercial breeders continue to produce litter
after litter of animals who they may or may not place in responsible
homes. And many families who could adopt a pet in need opt to buy a
purebred instead, missing their chance to help.
The photograph
accompanying this article represents a group of the lucky
ones—safe, cared for, and entertained with a feather toy at Helen
Woodward Animal Center.
For millions of others this year, there will be no safety, no caring, no feather toys, and no such luck.
Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is the author of 17 novels for publishers including Avon, E.P. Dutton, and Simon & Schuster, and hundreds of articles for publications such as National Geographic Traveler, San Francisco Chronicle, and Veggie Life. She wrote a teleplay for CBS and short fiction for The Bark magazine. With coauthor Shelley Frost, she wrote Your Adopted Dog (The Lyons Press). Holding a B.A. in Environmental Science Studies and a lifelong interest in animal issues, she spends a lot of her time battling a severe addiction to dogs.
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