The good news for pet parents is that many businesses are now including pets in their benefits package. Patricia Kitchen is a columnist at Newsday and can be reached via e-mail at pkitchen@newsday.com.
Could this be because 63% of American homes have pets while only 30% gave kids under 18-years-old? Yep. This is one statistic I include in my upcoming 2007 book, Blessing of the Animals. The above article on the topic is the second one to cross my desk this week. Patricia Kitchen released a more extensive article earlier with pet ownership statistics here.
Excerpts from the above article:
“Research from the Society for Human Resource Management http://www.shrm.org shows that 5 percent of the 379 human resources respondents said they offered pet health insurance as a benefit this year, up from 1 percent in 2001.”
“…Hence, we see the likes of Home Depot, Viacom, Google and Ford offering such an option. And Bethpage Federal Credit Union put pet health insurance on its benefits menu in January…”
No Kill Shelter Comments
Recently I came across an article on No Kill shelters in one of the major news magazines. The problem is that substandard conditions were exposed in some of those facilities. When the idea about “no kill” first began becoming popular in the 1990’s I was skeptical, as an animal behavior consultant who has worked in an animal shelter, I still am.
Today this article about a no kill shelter crossed my desk and prompted me to comment.
First, when animal shelters in an area become “no kill” essentially the dirty work is left to other agencies in the area. thre are some good ones but unless the facility can provide mental stimulation and activity for the animals they house or can be creative in the housing dynamics where the animals live–confinement within the shelter can surface as mental suffering.
The ultimate problem is that we, as a nation, want to feel good about this issue. In many places animal regulation enforcement is impossible and their is widespread failure to educate the masses about pet ownership.
Every few months I see an irresponsible breeder pop into my area and sell puppies out of the back of a pick-up truck for hundreds of dollars. They breed their animals irresponsibly and don’t do anything to educate the buyers on the proper rearing of those canines. They also don’t pay any business license fees to our area. What does selling an animal from the back of a truck do to teach responsible stewardship and respect of animals?
The “no kill” or “low kill” moniker is a good marketing tactic for a wide spread problem and something that warrants a longer article. Stay tuned as I will plan on releasing one in the near future.