Solutions

The first solution to the animal crisis in the Tri-State area is making sure you are supporting your local shelters. Because of the overcrowding in the original shelters, the city, alongside individuals, should build new and larger shelters. Promoting fostering and adoption helps to attract animal owners and adopters to shelters. This could help solve the problem of people not knowing that rescuing pets is more beneficial than buying them from breeders. Animal shelters need your support so volunteering is an effective and easy way to make a difference. If we can help animals stay off the streets they won’t have to end up in shelters, ultimately giving more space and better care for the pets in the shelters. Even though there isn’t much space in shelters in New York, animals can be redistributed to cities or areas with more demand for adoption. Adopting and fostering is important, but just these actions aren’t enough to fix the problem in the shelters.

 

Another solution to the animal crisis in the Tri-State area is making medical care for pets less expensive. The city needs to find low-cost vet options for spay/neuter and other medical services for people. Doing this will help with issues of overcrowding and animal abandonment which will in turn lower costs for pet owners, shelters and rescuers, and taxpayers. An example of this is the Flatbush Vet Clinic which provides affordable veterinary care, but this alone is not enough to help the city. Opening more clinics like this could help with the problem of overcrowding in animal shelters because more people will be able to afford to take care of their pets. Because New York City spends less than 5% of its animal welfare budget on low-cost care, non-profit organizations and individual donations are relied upon to help with the high expense of medical care which they cannot do on their own. The city should dedicate more of its budget to low-cost clinics. Making medical care for pets less expensive is a very important solution, but there are many others that you can contribute to.

 

There are many other possible solutions aside from the two listed above such as: ensuring the owner is able to take care of the animal before adopting, making it easier for renters to have pets, and writing legislation. Making sure the owner is able to afford the animal reduces the likelihood of it being left at a shelter. It would be helpful for people looking to adopt to know the causes of pet homelessness because they should know not to adopt if they aren’t financially ready. Landlords should consider loosening the rules of having pets in a rented home, while still holding the owners accountable for any damage that they cause. Currently many renters have to pay extra to have an animal while renting a home. Legislation is important and helpful because it can make a large scale impact. New York City introduced a bill to make selling animals in retail stores illegal. Also, the city has suggested legislation that allows people to use their sick leave to take care of their pets. Laws like these are important because they are made with the best intention to help animals and are effective at doing so. These are just some examples of the many possible solutions for the animal shelter crisis in the Tri-State area. If you want to help, pick one of these solutions that best inspires you to make a difference.