Funding for Animal Shelters in Utah

Animal shelters in Utah need funding. Most of the time when Animal Shelters euthanize
an animal is because they don’t have enough space or money to keep the animal alive. The
way that animal shelters get money are from private organizations and fundraising from the
community. Some organizations, like the Humane Society, don’t actually give the money to the
shelters. Some organizations are trying to do everything they can to help the animals get
adopted and the proper care they need so that they don’t produce more animals that may end
up dying.
Most shelters kill animals because they don’t have enough space for them. “Pet
overpopulation is a huge problem, and the only viable solution is to ​kill​ unwanted animals
(Jessica Pierce, 2009).”​ The humane society has tried to fix this problem by accepting animals
from out of state to come to their shelter. They had more than enough space to accept the
animals from out of state. “​Since the beginning of this program, the Humane Society of Utah has
expanded beyond just small breed dogs and has saved the lives of thousands of dogs, cats,
and rabbits of all sizes and breeds by transferring them to our facility and providing needed care
(Humane Society, 2020).” Changes like this made the number of animal euthanasias (killing
animals with licensed drugs) go from 2.6 million to 1.5 million across the nation which is
incredible.
Many shelters have gone to “no kill” which means that if the animal is seeing no recovery
then they will euthanize, but they won’t if the shelter has too many animals or the animal hasn’t
been adopted. The act of letting other animals come to different shelters where they have more
space has been beneficial. Now more shelters can go no kill since they have more space to
keep the animals. Another reason why shelters euthanize the animals is because they aren’t
getting adopted. They can fix this by having more adoption events and spreading the word. You
can find all the information for adoptions if you look up shelters near you.
Organizations such as the Animal Society of the United States, don't actually donate to
the shelters. They have big name sponsors and people who donate money to the HSUS,
“Humane Society of the United States.” “Of its $130 million in revenues, HSUS gave less than
$10,000 to help local pet shelters care for pets in 29 states (Humanewatch.org, 2015).” Instead
of using their money to help shelters, the money went to a lawsuit, a Carribean Tax Shelter, and
their workers who took more than $44 million. As seen in “​Figure One” ​they did not donate
anything to Utah.They need more funding from the people because Utah being at .000% is why
they euthanize animals. So many animals are euthanized a year because of companies that
don’t donate to the right cause. People need to be more aware of this so that they don’t keep
donating to these types of funds. So they can donate to the organizations that are actually using
the money for a good reason. This is an indicator that people need to research before they
donate because some organizations aren’t doing what they say they do.

Figure One
 Almost all the shelters in Utah are trying to care for all the animals that they can. They
are trying to put on as many events as possible so that animals get adopted. A great
organization called “Best Friends”, said “​By encouraging people to adopt rather than buy their
pets, we help increase the number of pets leaving shelters (Best Friends, 2020).” Many people
are trying to help too. Although the article is a bit outdated,written back in the 2000s, it is still
very relevant to the issue today. A man who saves animals from being euthanized, says,
“Removing animals directly from shelters and taking them into foster care at my house or
transporting them to another organization (Allie Phillips, 2015).”If a woman can devote his life to
saving animals, so can many other people. Donations go a long way to help animal shelters.
The money goes towards getting the animals fixed so they can’t reproduce and make more
animals that are uncared for and could potentially be euthanized.
In conclusion, Utah needs more donations because the HSUS doesn’t help. The shelters
are getting too small and need space. Although some organizations are helping, they need the
people to donate, even if it is just a little. It helps so that these animals are not euthanized for
non medical reasons.
Word count: 770

Citations-

FAQ. (2019, November 5). Retrieved March 15, 2020, from https://www.utahhumane.org/faq

HSUS Shelter Spending in Your State. (2015, May 29). Retrieved March 15, 2020, from
https://humanewatch.org/how-much-does-hsus-give-to-shelters-in-your-state-the-answer-
may-shock-you/

No-Kill Initiatives. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2020, from

https://bestfriends.org/our-work/no-kill-initiatives

slcc​-
Phillips, A. (2011). ​Defending the Defenseless : A Guide to Protecting and Advocating for
Pets​.
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu:2048/eds/detail/detail?vid=22&sid=342c86
98-34e5-4e46-aa4b-90a7c3a639a9%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxp
dmU%3d#AN=373156&db=nlebk

Pierce, J. (2012, September 14). When We Kill Our Pets. ​Chronicle of Higher Education,​ ​59​(3),
2.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu:2048/eds/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=342c869
8-34e5-4e46-aa4b-90a7c3a639a9%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpd
mU%3d#AN=79968193&db=eft

Letter of Goals and Choices

For the informative effect I really tried to focus on my in text citations. I looked up
how to do them correctly and I used to know how to do them. I guess I just forgot over
time. I also really focused on punctuation and tried to make my essay less opinionated
which was really hard because I am very passionate about this topic and I feel a certain
way so it was hard to keep my opinion out. My peer reviewers helped me a lot and told
me I should explain things more in depth which I understand because I just assume my
readers know everything but they don’t. I also tried to make my audience more
prominent because apparently that got confusing towards my peer reviewers. I first
started by reading what my peer reviewers had to say and then I changed my
punctuation and grammar. After that I went back to my sources and cited them in text
and made sure it was correct by looking at examples on the internet. Then I cited my
map and made sure I did it correctly. Then I redid my conclusion and tried to make it less
opinionated which was a bit of a struggle. This essay was probably the best one I have
ever written and I can see my writing improving with every single assignment we do. I
am very proud of this and I enjoy researching my topic because it is hopefully going to
be a part of my job one day.