Ciara Villarreal

ENGL 1302-231

Sharity Nelson

12 April 2024

Adoption and its Overpopulation and Abandonment Issues

The animal adoption market has many issues that cause persistent concerns about the

overpopulation and abandonment of the pet market. The problems are caused by uncontrolled

breeding and selling and illegal trafficking of household pets (Perdomo et al. 1). Approximately

3.2 million animals in the US are adopted each year (Powell et al. 1). Most of these pets are

surrendered in a shelter, where hundreds are euthanized yearly as a result of a lack of resources,

money, and space. The result of euthanization of stray animals has been a long-standing problem

that affects society daily by causing stress through an abundance of strays. Scholars have

investigated the effectiveness of existing overpopulation measures to evaluate if they have solved

their purpose in reducing overpopulation. Existing preventative measures against abandonment

and overpopulation include punishment when laws are not followed, paying taxes, and owner

responsibility education (Perdomo et al. 1). This paper argues that preventative abandonment

and overpopulation measures have not solved their targeted problems. Research has shown that

selection bias and inadequate knowledge of adopters inhibit the efficiency of preventative

measures.

Deterrents of Adoption and Causes of Abandonment

Selection bias undermines preventative measures because adopters tend to favor certain

breeds due to trends or preferences in aesthetics, which set unrealistic expectations and result in

surrenders or abandonment. As certain breeds are favored, so are an animal's age, sex, and
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behavior (Kay et al. 385). Some adopters show up to shelters with an image of an ideal animal

for their household, yet many overlook what type of animal they can care for. This is one of the

significant reasons for animals returning to shelters, which are unmet expectations. Around 35%

of adopted animals were surrendered to shelters after not fulfilling a caretaker's emotional or

physical needs, being more dependent than expected, and generally not fitting into an adopter's

lifestyle (O’Connor et al. 363). Adopters show bias in specific characteristics of an animal yet

are not satisfied with their relationship or the animals’ personality. Studies show that this

occurrence may deter some from adopting again (O’Connor et al. 363). Adopters refrain from

adopting again due to the negative experience or the unexpected burden an adoption may have

caused. Some of the adopters who had not been satisfied with their adoption will return their pets

to a shelter or surrender them to another caretaker.

Over time, this process of adopting and surrendering causes an ongoing cycle that

negatively affects the animal and shelter. It is difficult for shelters to care for incoming animals

and manage surrendered ones, as shelters often run out of space for the overall population of

animals. As a result, shelters resort to euthanizing animals who are too old, have been in the

shelter for a while, or have been abandoned due to behavioral issues. Altogether, overpopulation

and abandonment cause stress to the animals because of relocation and unnecessary euthanasia,

shelters due to lack of resources, and society having to deal with a mass of strays as a result of

overcrowded shelters. Although it is broad to assume all shelters experience this issue, it is safe

to implement procedures to prevent such situations from occurring.

Scholars have shown that many issues in the adoption market could be resolved by

conducting intensive interviews with possible candidates. Their studies mainly focused on

interviewing past adopters on their adoption experiences and what they felt challenged their
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relationships with the animal (O’Connor et al. 364). This method can be used before adoption.

Although O’Connor et al.’s study's method allows scholars to gain a deeper insight into what

society struggles with when adopting, performing thorough one-on-one interviews and

background checks may increase the chances of animal and adopter satisfaction. The interviews

will allow candidates to understand what they expect from a companion and give shelters the

opportunity to educate candidates on common unrealistic when adopting. The interview can

include questions on adopters’ expectations, preferences, current living situation, financial

stability, time availability, and their ability to commit to a dependent. Together, the shelters and

adopters will work to find the “perfect match” to reduce the chances of a surrendered or stressed

animal.

Need for Caretaking Knowledge

The lack of knowledge in caretaking of animals significantly affects set preventative

measures. Many persons who seek to adopt a companion may not understand the responsibility

and commitment required to care for their animal, in addition to the individual needs of each

breed and sex. This leads to another factor that seriously threatens the preventative measures

towards overpopulation is the failure to spay or neuter animals which causes uncontrolled

breeding and a large amount of abandonment or surrendering of offspring (Bradley et al. 2).

Furthermore, some breeds hold specific characteristics such as aggressive behavior, which

negatively affects the animal-owner relationship and the adopter’s acceptance of the animal

(Mikkola et al. 1). This characteristic is one that many people may overlook when selecting

animals. Other factors that affect behavior include age, sex, breed, size, and general owner

experience in raising the animal (Mikkola et al. 2). Adopters may select an animal for aesthetic

reasons without understanding the common traits of the breed. Other factors that affect behavior
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include age, sex, breed, size, and general owner experience in raising the animal (Mikkola et al.

2).

With the number of adoptions taking place, it may be difficult for shelters to track how

the adoption is progressing and if the caretaker is fulfilling their caretaking responsibilities.

Instead of monitoring all adoptions, shelters should implement and require an education program

that adopters complete before adopting. They can perform an online questionnaire that gathers

adopters’ current caretaking knowledge to formulate a course that will teach prospective adopters

to understand how to raise an animal. This method helps shelters realize what the public already

knows and how they can improve to increase the effectiveness of preventative measures. The

course can include information on spaying and neutering, distinct behaviors among various

animal breeds, and a summary of the time, money, and space needed to raise the animal they may

be looking for. Although some might argue that this questionnaire method is inefficient and

consumes time, it is crucial to understand what makes up someone and their understanding of

animals before granting them the caretaking responsibility.

Dealing with Rejection

A significant part of the adoption process is learning how to properly manage rejection

and decrease the chances of the interaction becoming aggressive. The rejection part of the

process is crucial in not intimidating possible caretakers from considering adoption later on in

their lives (Thompson and Young 333). To many, adopting a pet sounds as simple as shopping

for groceries. Yet, they should understand the rigor of the process and denial when a shelter

deems an applicant unsuitable for adopting an animal due to various reasons such as general

unpreparedness, a lack of time, impractical presumptions, and unethical views towards animals.

(Thompson and Young 339). This process may become stressful to an animal and adopter after
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meeting various possible companions and not getting the desired result of having a new

experience or environment.

Eventually, workers decide based on their judgment of an applicant and whether they will

facilitate a good or bad adoption. If considered to lead to an inadequate adoption, an applicant is

rejected. After a rejection, an expecting adopter may view themselves as “someone who has been

judged unworthy of their care” (Thompson and Young 334). Since one expects to adopt after the

process, this will likely result in aggression, shame, and frustration (Thompson and Young 337).

To decrease the chances of this occurring, it is essential for adoption workers to help the

applicant understand that the animal will always come first and their areas for improvement as an

animal caretaker. Minimizing the frustration from denying an anticipated result can be done by

slowly introducing a rejection to an applicant. This will allow adoption workers to preserve a

positive shelter environment needed in a shelter and provide applicants with suggestions to be a

better-suited adopter. Some may argue that this is a process already implemented in adoption.

Yet, the abundance of people who do not believe adopting is a significant course of action shows

that rejection should be a learning experience for both shelters and applicants.

Conclusion

As this paper has shown, abandonment and overpopulation are ongoing societal issues in

the adoption market and have not been solved by current preventative measures. The adoption

market has many ongoing problems, such as overpopulation, abandonment, unnecessary

euthanization, and underfunding of shelters. In shelters, rates of adoptions are increasing, yet

with positives, negatives such as returns and abandonments rise as well. These issues

significantly affect society by causing stress for animals through relocation and euthanasia,

adopters, and shelters when managing the population and prioritizing health. To help improve the
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continuing effort, communities should conduct extensive research on animal requirements, the

effects of overpopulation on shelters, and how to assist shelters in thriving. Therefore, existing

shelters should enforce preventative measures more strictly towards adopters when providing for

and selecting a potential dependent.

Works Cited

Berenete Perdomo, Eva, et al. “Amelioration of Pet Overpopulation and Abandonment Using

Control of Breeding and Sale, and Compulsory Owner Liability Insurance.” Animals, vol.

11, no. 524, 2021, pp. 1-10, Academic Search Complete,

https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020524.

Bradley, Janae, and Suchithra Rajendran. “Increasing adoption rates at animal shelters: a

two-phase approach to predict length of stay and optimal shelter allocation.” BMC

Veterinary Research, vol.17, no.1, pp. 1-16, Academic Search Complete,

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-020-02728-2.

Kay, Alleigh, et al. “Factors Influencing Time to Adoption for Dogs in a Provincial Shelter

System in Canada.” Animals, vol.12, no.17, 2022, pp. 2264-2278, Academic Search

Complete, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12172264.

Mikkola, Salla, et al. “Aggressive behavior is affected by demographic, environmental and

behavioral factors in purebred dogs.” Scientific Reports, vol.11, no.1, 2021, pp. 1-10

Academic Search Complete, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88793-5.

O’Connor, Rachel, et al. “Exploratory Study of Adopters’ Concerns Prior to Acquiring Dogs or

Cats from Animal Shelters.” Society & Animals, vol.25, no.4, 2017, pp. 362-383,

Academic Search Complete, doi 10.1163/15685306-12341451.

Powell, Lauren, et al. “Characterizing unsuccessful animal adoptions: age and breed predict the

likelihood of return, reasons for return and post-return outcomes.” Scientific Reports,

vol.11, no.1, pp. 1-12, Academic Search Complete,

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-87649-2.
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Thompson, Carol Y., and Robert L. Young. “Cooling out the Mark in Companion Animal

Adoption.” Society & Animals, vol.22, no.4, pp. 333-351, Academic Search Complete,

DOI: 10.1163/15685306-12341329.