So you’ve decided to welcome a new family member into your home?
Here are some of the great reasons to adopt your new best friend from a rescue or shelter instead of buying a pet:
Shelters and rescue groups have a wide selection of animals looking for new homes. Here are some great reasons to adopt your new best friend:
Adoption helps combat pet overpopulation
There are too many animals and not enough homes. Shelters have been facing a pet overpopulation problem for the last few decades. Some animals are found wandering as strays and some are surrendered by their owners who cannot, or no longer want to, care for them. HAR practices mandatory desexing in order to help reduce pet overpopulation and be part of the solution.
Adoption saves lives
Shelters are overcrowded. Adoption will not only save the life of the pet you are adopting but will also make room for another to come into HAR and free up precious resources for another animal that the shelters and pounds we rescue from will take in.
Adoption gives a second chance
Shelters are full of healthy, sweet and smart animals who were surrendered not because of their behavior but generally due to the issues of their former owners. The most common reasons animals are surrendered is because of a change in circumstances of their family: a divorce, a move, a new baby or because their family was not ready for all the responsibilities of having a pet and “no longer has time for them”. Shelters and rescue groups offer adoptable dogs and cats of all ages, breeds, mixes and sizes.
Adoption often costs less
Pets adopted from shelters and rescue groups usually cost less than pets purchased or even obtained for free. Once you include the cost of vaccinations, desexing, microchipping, worming and flea treatments and a health check, you’ll be surprised what a good deal an adopted pet really is! Also, did you know that more than 25% of cats and dogs who enter into shelters are pure breeds? If you’re truly set on a specific purebred cat or dog, there are breed-specific rescues that work to match up the right owner with the perfect purebred pet.
Help us stop the number of abandoned animals. Adopting a pet is an act of rescue and love. It is a good deed for you, for the rescue organisation, the pound or shelter, but especially for the animal who needs you. Added to the pleasure of having a new companion, you’ll be happy to be the one who was able to offer them a second chance.