By
Rebecca Missel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Students need to be more responsible with pets, alumna
Owning a pet helps to make a house a home, but it can also mean a great deal of responsibility that many UA students do not consider.
Margo Elson, a University of Arizona alumna, said people from the UA and the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, on East Golf Links Road and South Craycroft Road, are two of the largest reasons why pets are homeless in Tucson.
"People set up a house or apartment, and they get a cat or dog, give it all their love and then leave it with the garbage," Elson said, who is also the director of Friends of Alleycats of Tucson.
More pets are sent to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona after classes end and when students graduate and move home, said Tracy Charles, the agency's education events specialist.
"We see an influx from the UA area after the semester ends," Charles said. "It's a known problem."
Of the 18,781 animals brought into the Humane Society last year 5,187 cats and 4,729 dogs were eventually euthanized.
"It's a sad numbers game," Charles said.
Since the pets are brought to the center by various people, the society did not have figures on how many pets were owned by UA students.
Despite these statistics, 38 percent of animals put into the adoption program in Tucson were taken in, she said. The Tucson adoption rate is higher than the national average of 31 percent, Charles said.
"If you're going to get a pet, the second step is to spay or neuter it, and the third step is to make sure you have a plan for it when you leave," Elson said. "Otherwise, get a stuffed animal."
Elson helps catch stray cats to be spayed or neutered and then adopted. Elson also provides medical care for abandoned kittens so that they can be adopted through the alley cat program.
"I screen them very carefully and ask them what's the plan for the kitty," she said. "If I have the slightest inkling, then they don't get them."
Charles said while there are no current cases of abused animals linked to UA students, many of the animals received at the Humane Society are not in the best shape.
"A lot of them are not in prime condition - whether intentional or unintentional," she said. "The kids get the animal and don't think ahead."
The humane society shelter can hold up to 300 animals at a time and right now, they are close to capacity, Charles said.
When stray animals are brought in, the first thing considered is whether or not the animal has identification.
Animals with tags are kept for seven days, while those without tags remain for three days at the shelter waiting for their owner to arrive. After that time, they are examined for adoption.
"If the animal is healthy and friendly and we have room, then it can stay," Charles said. "If not, then health issues are treated on a case-by-case basis and if it's a temper problem, then the animal is euthanized."
Charles said animal abuse is a felony in Arizona. If an animal has been neglected, students can call Pima Animal Control, she said.
