International Homeless Animals’ Day Is August 15

For Immediate Release:
August 12, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

August 15 marks International Homeless Animals’ Day, a vitally important day that draws attention to the millions of stray, lost, and abandoned dogs and cats struggling to survive on the streets or staring out from a cage at an animal shelter.

There are numerous ways humans can help reduce the companion-animal overpopulation crisis. These include tackling the crisis at the root by always having animal companions spayed and neutered, helping others get their animals “fixed,” and adopting animals from shelters (“Adopt, don’t shop!”) rather than buying them from breeders or pet stores, which only exacerbates the problem. Fostering dogs or cats, volunteering at a local animal shelter, and encouraging kids to make toys for dogs and cats are other great ways to help.

These efforts are all lifesaving. An estimated 70 million dogs and cats are homeless in the U.S. at any given time. Roughly just 10% of the country’s homeless-animal population is taken in by animal shelters each year, and many must be euthanized as a result of chronic neglect or because there aren’t enough good homes for them. The rest are out there somewhere: They are hit by cars, are attacked by other animals or wicked humans, and suffer and die from diseases, infections, parasites, starvation, and other conditions.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.