Nowadays, the COVID-19 epidemic has spread to all parts of the world. Out of fear of the epidemic, foreigners have also begun to hoard supplies in large quantities, such as masks, disinfectants, food, water, toilet paper...
I never expected that one day cats and dogs in stray animal shelters would also become the object of competition!
New York City in the United States, as the area hardest hit by the epidemic, has recently experienced a very strange phenomenon. The number of adopted cats and dogs has suddenly increased tenfold compared with before the epidemic. The stray animals in some shelters have even been adopted out overnight.
It is a good thing that stray animals have a new home, but after understanding the reasons why the animals were adopted, I felt deeply worried for these little guys.
Not long ago, a dog in Spain became famous. Due to the epidemic, Spain issued a series of regulations that strictly restricted residents from going out. However, it allowed people with dogs at home to walk their dogs for 30 minutes a day.
As soon as this regulation came out, many Spaniards took advantage of walking their dogs to go out for fun. One poor dog was borrowed many times by neighbors and was walked 38 times a day! The little guy has already developed a psychological shadow about going for a walk, and probably never wants to go out again in his life!
Using dog walking time to go out may be one of the reasons for the increase in the number of stray dog adoptions.
However, many countries have not introduced regulations such as Spain that "you can go out to walk your dog during the epidemic." Why is the number of stray animal adoptions increasing?
It is estimated that many people cannot guess the reason, which stems from people's emotional needs. Many foreigners are unable to go out due to the epidemic, and are even isolated at home alone. It is inevitable that they will feel lonely.
At this time, if you can have a pet by your side, it can be very effective in soothing your inner uneasiness.
Therefore, during the quarantine period, many people took up the idea of keeping stray animals in shelters.
Two animal protection organizations in New York, USA, "Best Friends Animal Society" and "Muddy Paws Rescue" have received a large number of adoption applications in the past two weeks. The number of applicants has increased tenfold compared with previous years.
The number of dogs and cats adopted by animal protection organizations in Los Angeles has also increased by 70% compared to before the epidemic.
Even so, the staff of the animal protection organization have also set strict standards for the screening of adopters to ensure that the owner of every stray animal strictly meets the adoption requirements.
But the most difficult thing to judge in this world is the human heart, because during the epidemic, most adopters adopted stray animals with the idea of "relieving loneliness". It is impossible to predict whether these people will abandon the little guys again after the epidemic is over.
I hope that every dog and cat sent out will meet a serious and responsible owner, have a warm home, and will never be sent to a shelter again.