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Second Chance Animal Sanctuary provides abandoned animals with the right homes

Animal abandonment is a growing problem in Norman, Okla. and animal rescue missions such as Second Chance Animal Sanctuary are seeking to help stop this problem.

“Last year alone thousands of dogs and cats were euthanized in the Norman shelter only because there were more dogs and cats brought in than there were people who needed animals,” Kay Stout, the Executive Director for Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, said.

Various areas in Oklahoma have recognized animal abandonment as a problem in the past year.

According to the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, The Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division (Oklahoma City Animal Shelter) admitted over 26,700 dogs and cats into the shelter in 2011. Approximately 18,500 of those animals were dogs and puppies. Of the dogs and puppies admitted, 30.5% of them were surrendered by their owners.

"The bigger issue is that people need to be responsible and have all of their animals spade and neutered unless they are licensed breeders,” Stout said.

In Norman, there are several different animal help organizations similar to Second Chance such as, Oklahoma Beagle Rescue, Blue HAWK and Hands Helping Paws located in the local PetSmart. All four organizations seek to save these animals from abandonment.

Some believe that in the Norman area students are a part of this animal abandonment problem.

“I do think student’s not being able to have pets in their dorms rooms and Greek housing is a problem,” Taylor mills, a student pet owner, said. “I know a lot of students who adopted a pet and then abandoned it because they got in trouble with their housing.”

Mills has a cat of her own that she leaves with other students because she is not allowed to have it in her sorority house.

“A friend of mine wanted to get him too for our house next year,” Mills said.

In order to keep her cat, Mills has to leave him with older members of her sorority who live at the Cottages of Norman where animals are allowed.

Animal shelters, such as Second Chance Animal Sanctuary, have noticed the problem with student pet owners and do not want to add to animal abandonment by adopting to students.

“One of the reasons we do not adopt to college students is we do not want to contribute to that abandonment problem,” Stout said.

According to the City of Norman Animal Welfare, the city of Norman is a great place to adopt and has plenty of animals that are in need of homes.

The Norman Animal Shelter has come up with a few criteria for people to follow in order to adopt an animal, including the rule that no owner may abandon his dog or cat or permit the animal to become a stray.

Second Chance went into shelters such as the Norman Animal Shelter and chose dogs and cats scheduled to be euthanized that we felt we could adopt into our sanctuary, said Stout.

Animals are brought in animal rescues such as Second Chance and not only are taken care of by these organizations but are made sure to be put in the right homes.

“Sometimes we have those people that don’t meet our criteria,” Stout said.

If you are interested in adopting a pet or would like to volunteer at Second Chance Animal Sanctuary please visit www.secondchancenorman.com