lifestyle

Pet shelter advertises pets with their expiry date

5 Comments
By Oona McGee, RocketNews24

Some places in our world can inspire us and break our hearts at the same time. When it’s a place that houses defenseless animals for a limited period as they search for owners to love them, we can’t help but cheer wildly for the organisation on the one hand, while it takes everything to stop us from beating our fists on their chests like sobbing children when we learn that they can’t keep them all forever.

And so it is with this particular pet shelter in Japan, which refuses to sugar-coat the situation of pets in need and so posts pictures of animals in their care with an expiration date below them. If you ever needed any prompting to skip the pet store, these photos of cats, dogs, rabbits, birds and reptiles will certainly have you heading straight to the local shelter instead.

Animal lover @yuki_sato6021 posted the following tweet on July 8, urging future pet owners to visit the Petto no Uchi (Pet Home) website before going to the pet store. Since then, his tweet with the Twitter-blue tear has been re-tweeted more than 48,000 times.

With branches around the country, Pet Home specialises in connecting animals with foster parents. Unfortunately, it’s impossible for the organisation to care for the animals forever, so each pet comes with an expiry date. If they’re unable to find a suitable owner by this time, the animal will be euthanized.

While the unfortunate practice of euthanization is in line with other animal shelters around the world, what’s really pulling at people’s heartstrings in Japan is the fact that those with just days left flash red on the website, with messages like “six days left” or “foster parent deadline is today”.

These are some of the pets most in need, with only days remaining to find a parent. If you or anyone you know is looking to adopt a pet, please pass the information on and ask them to get in touch with Pet Home. Warning: some readers may find these images distressing.

Pet Home has received 63,592 animals and successfully found owners for 39,623. While this is a figure they’re striving to improve upon, the news isn’t all bleak. Thousands of animals like the ones below have been saved and are now living with loving parents.

Whether they’re cute or plain-looking, too old to walk or too young to know better, all animals deserve happiness and a loving owner. In a pet-loving country like Japan, we’re hoping the popularity of shelters like Pet Home continue to grow and provide guidance to parents-to-be.

_Source: @yukisato6021

Read more stories from RocketNews24 -- An Appeal To Potential Pet Owners: 4 Reasons Why You Should Adopt -- Cat can haz 100 yen goodz? Purr-fect things for cats found for cheap -- Cat-filled Tokyo office creates the purr-fect working environment

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5 Comments
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Poor things, a pet is for like not just for Christmas!

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It sure would be nice if more apartments in Japan would allow pets. There might be a lot less strays if that were the case. I know I'd have a kitty or two!

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So many of the animals up for adoption are puppies and kittens. For Dog's sake, if you aren't prepared/aren't able to take responsibility for all the offspring your pet produces, spay and neuter. It saves everyone a lot of pain and heartache.

Looking at that website is heartbreaking. The time limit seems to be a maximum of 2 months; the shortest I saw was 10 days.

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Has Japan an organization like SPCA? I heard not only in shelter but also commercial pet shops if they can not sell the animal for a period of time . The animal will be euthanized. It is really heart breaking news for animal lover like me. I personally shelter about 70 cats by my own personal expense. Never occured that I shall throw away the animal. They have soul and emotion.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Expiration date? That is tacky beyond belief, if they don't want to "sugar-coat" it then tell it like it is, the date these poor animals will be euthanized.

Animals like people do NOT have expiration dates.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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