HUMANE SOCIETY PLANS EVENT; OPEN HOUSE REACHES OUT TO THE PUBLIC

Few people can resist the urge to adopt a helpless but adorable pet from an animal shelter. But though the rewards of pet ownership are many, so are the responsibilities, said Nancy Richards, administrator of the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri.

Richards said some prospective pet owners don't realize the cost and responsibility involved in adopting a pet. That's why pets are sometimes returned to the shelter.

"We have a lot of people who look at a puppy, adopt it and then a week later bring it back because it chews. But puppies do that," Richards said.

An open house at the Humane Society is planned Sunday from 1-5 p.m. It is located off Kingshighway on Route W.

The key to a successful adoption is making sure owners understand what they're getting in to and are ready to accept responsibility for the pet.

In the past year, the questioner form for people who want to adopt pets has become more in-depth. It's an effort to discover if a pet fits into the person or family's lifestyle.

"We want to make sure people realize the time and expense involved in pet ownership," she said. Vaccinations and food cost money, and training a pet takes time, she said.

Older animals can sometimes make better pets because they are often already trained, she said.

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri has about a 23 percent rate of adoption. The national average is 10 percent.

Most of the animals at the shelter were brought in as strays. "That tells you that at one time they were somebody's pet," Richards said. "We get a lot of pets in that people just could no longer afford to take care of, or because of a health problem, they had to give it away."

She said most people are surprised to learn that about 20 percent of the pets at the shelter are pure-bred dogs and cats. These animals are usually former pets whose owners can no longer afford to care for them.

Other animals at the shelter have much more tragic backgrounds. Some were rescued from abusive homes by shelter employees.

Pets that are neglected or left for dead sometimes don't recover, Richards said.

"We try to work with them, but some never rebound," she said. "It's hard knowing some of the ones you rescue are going to have to be put to sleep."

The Humane Society of America is an advocate for animal rights and has declared a national boycott of "puppy mills" in six states including Missouri.

The mills breed dogs for profit and some flood the market with animals that are ill or genetically faulted. Some mills have been accused of mistreating dogs by selling them too soon and forcing them to live in filthy cages, she said.

These puppies can be purchased for sometimes hundreds of dollars at pet stores. Not all pet stores purchase animals from puppy mills.

Richards said the Humane Society of America urges people to obtain pets from their shelters, where healthy spayed or neutered pets can be purchased for much less.

The open house will hopeful introduce people to what the humane society has to offer, she said.

"A lot of people don't know what the Humane Society is and that it even exists in Cape," she said.

The shelter is clean has been under new management for nearly a year, she said.

The shelter also has a number of volunteers who come out to walk the dogs and just spend time with the pets, she said.