Dogs - man's best friends
Dogs were domesticated from grey wolves about 15,000 years ago. They must have been very valuable to early human settlements, for they quickly became ubiquitous across world cultures.
Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "Man's best friend" in the western world. In 2001, there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.
Over the 15,000 year span the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of land races, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behaviour have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles.
Through selective breeding by humans, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioural and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the wither ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; colour varies from white through greys (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth.
Dogs perform many roles for people, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and military, companionship, and, more recently, aiding handicapped individuals. This impact on human society has given them the nickname "Man's best friend" in the western world. In 2001, there were estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.
Over the 15,000 year span the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of land races, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behaviour have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles.
Through selective breeding by humans, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioural and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the wither ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; colour varies from white through greys (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth.
• Number of cats and dogs born every day in the U.S.: 70,000 (nearly 3,000 born every hour or 50 born every minute)
• Number of stray cats and dogs living in the U.S.: 70 million
• Number of animals in the U.S. that die each year from cruelty, neglect, and exploitation: 30 million
• Number of animal shelters in the U.S.: 4,000 – 6,000
• Number of cats and dogs entering U.S. shelters each year: 6 – 8 million
• Number of cats and dogs euthanized by U.S. shelters each year: 3 – 4 million (nearly 10,000 animals killed every day)
• Number of cats and dogs adopted by U.S. shelters each year: 3 – 4 million
• Number of cats and dogs reclaimed by owners from U. S. shelters each year: 600,000-750,000 (10% of total entering shelters,
15-30% of dogs and 2–5% of cats)
• Yearly cost to U.S. taxpayers to impound, shelter, euthanize, and dispose of homeless animals: $2 billion
• Percentage of dogs in U.S. shelters which are purebred: 25 – 30 %
• Average age of animals entering U.S. shelters: under 18 months old
• Percentage of animals entering U.S. shelters that are healthy and adoptable: 90%
• Percentage of owned dogs that were adopted from an animal shelter: 18%
• Percentage of owned cats that were adopted from an animal shelter: 16%
• Percentage of animals entering animal shelters by animal control authorities: 42.5%
• Percentage of animals entering animal shelters that were surrendered by their owners: 30%
• Percentage of people who acquire animals that end up giving them away, abandoning them, or taking them to shelters: 70%
• Percentage of animals surrendered to an animal shelter that were originally adopted from an animal shelter: 20%
• Percentage of animals received by animal shelters that have been spayed or neutered: 10%
The above mentioned facts and figures are taken from the website of Oxford-Lafayette Humane Society.