New Web site: Adopt this dog or he will die
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new Web site is seeking to tug more forcefully on the heart strings of people who might adopt abandoned dogs by publicizing how much time is left before an animal is killed if a home has not been found.
The activists behind dogsindanger.com believe theirs is the first Web site to take the approach. They hope that highlighting the fact many unadopted dogs are euthanized by shelters with scarce space will spur people to take them in.
"This is happening ... in our country, in our back yard," said Alex Aliksanyan of The Buddy Fund, the group behind the site. "It's been kept underneath a blanket of niceness and sweetness. So we said, 'Lets put the truth in front of the consumer -- either do something about it, or at least realize you're a partner.'"
The site will also feature a memorial with names, photos and dates that euthanized dogs died.
The American Humane Association estimates that up to 3 million dogs are euthanized in U.S. shelters annually.
Aliksanyan stressed that the site is not a place for parents to look for dogs with their children.
"It's not a happy site with puppies running around. It's not meant to be that," he said. "We're taking it the other way around. We're saying these pets are going to die. Look at their faces."
