Are you considering adopting a pet? If so, please look into adopting from a shelter instead of going to your local pet store or buying from a breeder.

Adoption is one of the best things you can do for an animal. It provides them with a forever home, food, happiness, and love. If you think that a human deserves any of these things, then an animal is no different. Personally, and I would hope that others believe this too, I think that animals deserve all of these just as much as a human does.

Adopting from a shelter gives animals a second chance at life. When you adopt from a shelter, you have a better understanding of how old your pet is, meaning when you go to the pet store, they normally have a sign up saying they can’t guarantee anything about that animal, such as age and gender.

Another benefit to adopting is the cost. When you buy a pet, you could easily spend hundreds of dollars on what you thought was a pure breed, only to find that’s not the case. With adopting, you know what you’re getting and for a cheap price.

When you buy from a breeder, or a pet store, there’s so many things that can go on and you’d never know about it. What kind of environment was the dog kept in? Was it treated humanely? Am I even sure that I’m getting this pure breed? There’s really no real way to know if breeders are telling the truth.

“It’s better to adopt from shelters because it helps with the overpopulation of the animals in there,” said LHS junior, Alejandero Mercado.

Some people don’t understand that when you buy from a store, you may think you’re helping out, but you really aren’t. What you’re doing is supporting pet stores, breeders, and puppy mills, and that isn’t okay.