Post by Brooke on Jun 16, 2004 22:50:52 GMT -5
College students often leave Fido behind when school year ends
By JENNIFER C. YATES
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - When students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania went home for the summer, many of them left something behind: their pets.
Officials at animal shelters in Indiana and several other college towns say they have seen an increase in stray cats and dogs since the school year ended.
"It happens every summer," said Jill Carnahan, of the Indiana County Humane Society. There are about 200 cats and 48 dogs currently at the nonprofit shelter, double the normal number, and many are brought in by students or landlords who find them.
Nancy Peterson, an issues specialist with the Washington-based Humane Society of the United States, said college students' abandoning pets is a perennial problem.
"It's hard for a young college student to think 10, 15, 20 years into the future. But many of our cats and dogs are living that long and where you'll be in that time is so uncertain," Peterson said.
Most colleges don't allow students to have pets in dorm rooms, and many humane societies won't allow students to adopt animals. There are exceptions, including Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., which has some residence halls designed for students with pets, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which allows cats in some dorms.
"Most colleges don't allow pets because they know the student's life is filled with many distractions and responsibilities that would make it difficult to be a responsible pet owner," Peterson said. "That's during the school year, so what happens when the school year ends?"
At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a state school, pets are not allowed in residence halls. About 4,000 of the school's 13,500 students live in dorms, though, leaving many more in off-campus housing where the rules on pets vary.
Carnahan said often students can't afford to have their pets spayed or neutered, and the shelter ends up finding hungry or sick animals left behind. Providing medical care for the stray animals at the shelter can be expensive and taxing on the paid and volunteer staff, she said.
Currently, the shelter is offering a "Two Fur One" promotion for anyone who will take two cats or kittens. In many cases, though, the animals will be have to be euthanized.
"Ideally they get homes. If it continues this way ... we don't really have a lot of choices," Carnahan said.
Christina boy thingyerson, a spokeswoman for the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, said they have seen an increasing number of animals coming to the shelter in the past month. However, boy thingyerson said she doesn't know how many came from students leaving the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne universities.
"It's something that probably has had an impact on us," she said.
Lt. Grant Ferre, director of the Utah County Animal Shelter in Spanish Fork, Utah, said the shelter sometimes gets animals left by students from nearby Brigham Young University. But he said a vigorous screening process when adopting out animals has helped avoid some of those problems.
"When we do adopt out, we specifically call the landlords now and ask them, 'A tenant is adopting a dog. Is that OK with you?'" Ferre said. He said the shelter, like many others, provides counseling to prospective pet owners so that they understand the long-term commitment and responsibility they're undertaking.
Shelter officials encourage students who want a pet, but not the responsibility, to volunteer instead.
"Not only would they get a fur fix, but they'll be helping the animals become more adoptable," Peterson said.
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On the Net:
Humane Society of the United States www.hsus.org
June 11, 2004 4:04 PM
www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-06112004-315184.html
By JENNIFER C. YATES
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH - When students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania went home for the summer, many of them left something behind: their pets.
Officials at animal shelters in Indiana and several other college towns say they have seen an increase in stray cats and dogs since the school year ended.
"It happens every summer," said Jill Carnahan, of the Indiana County Humane Society. There are about 200 cats and 48 dogs currently at the nonprofit shelter, double the normal number, and many are brought in by students or landlords who find them.
Nancy Peterson, an issues specialist with the Washington-based Humane Society of the United States, said college students' abandoning pets is a perennial problem.
"It's hard for a young college student to think 10, 15, 20 years into the future. But many of our cats and dogs are living that long and where you'll be in that time is so uncertain," Peterson said.
Most colleges don't allow students to have pets in dorm rooms, and many humane societies won't allow students to adopt animals. There are exceptions, including Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., which has some residence halls designed for students with pets, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which allows cats in some dorms.
"Most colleges don't allow pets because they know the student's life is filled with many distractions and responsibilities that would make it difficult to be a responsible pet owner," Peterson said. "That's during the school year, so what happens when the school year ends?"
At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a state school, pets are not allowed in residence halls. About 4,000 of the school's 13,500 students live in dorms, though, leaving many more in off-campus housing where the rules on pets vary.
Carnahan said often students can't afford to have their pets spayed or neutered, and the shelter ends up finding hungry or sick animals left behind. Providing medical care for the stray animals at the shelter can be expensive and taxing on the paid and volunteer staff, she said.
Currently, the shelter is offering a "Two Fur One" promotion for anyone who will take two cats or kittens. In many cases, though, the animals will be have to be euthanized.
"Ideally they get homes. If it continues this way ... we don't really have a lot of choices," Carnahan said.
Christina boy thingyerson, a spokeswoman for the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, said they have seen an increasing number of animals coming to the shelter in the past month. However, boy thingyerson said she doesn't know how many came from students leaving the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne universities.
"It's something that probably has had an impact on us," she said.
Lt. Grant Ferre, director of the Utah County Animal Shelter in Spanish Fork, Utah, said the shelter sometimes gets animals left by students from nearby Brigham Young University. But he said a vigorous screening process when adopting out animals has helped avoid some of those problems.
"When we do adopt out, we specifically call the landlords now and ask them, 'A tenant is adopting a dog. Is that OK with you?'" Ferre said. He said the shelter, like many others, provides counseling to prospective pet owners so that they understand the long-term commitment and responsibility they're undertaking.
Shelter officials encourage students who want a pet, but not the responsibility, to volunteer instead.
"Not only would they get a fur fix, but they'll be helping the animals become more adoptable," Peterson said.
---
On the Net:
Humane Society of the United States www.hsus.org
June 11, 2004 4:04 PM
www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-06112004-315184.html