Don't look at the numbers
Early on in my life, I made the conscious decision not to like math. I have always been a word geek and not a numbers geek. I read copious amounts of material online and in print and cannot imagine my life without words.
Numbers on the other hand, can be left where ever you want to leave them. I have simply never had an interest in them.
So imagine my surprise, when I realized I really do like numbers. Numbers can show you all kinds of statistics in the animal world. The problem is what they show me, can be very depressing.
Several weeks ago, I wrote an item on the number of dogs in the area who need homes. This figure came from Petfinder and did not include cats or the animal groups who don't use the service. This morning I tried something different.
Labrador Retrievers are the most owned dog in Florida. More homes have that particular breed than any other. People like labs. I like labs. When you look at the statistic for dog bites, Labradors rank number one in that category also. That makes sense. There are more in the state so the dog bite proportion will be greater.
Now, if you do a search in Petfinder for Labradors the number of animals which comes up is astounding. There are 30,937 Labradors or some variation for adoption on Petfinder. Within a 100 mile radius of my zip code, there are 320.
For comparison, I ran pit bulls as the other dog. Anyone who thinks this is not a popular breed, needs to look at these numbers. In the country on Petfinder there are 16,278 or a little more than half of the Labrador numbers. In this area in the same 100 mile radius, there are 209 or about two thirds.
The unfortunate part of these numbers is most of these animals will not find homes and will be euthanized. Maybe I am not such a numbers person after all. I sure don't like these odds.
Numbers on the other hand, can be left where ever you want to leave them. I have simply never had an interest in them.
So imagine my surprise, when I realized I really do like numbers. Numbers can show you all kinds of statistics in the animal world. The problem is what they show me, can be very depressing.
Several weeks ago, I wrote an item on the number of dogs in the area who need homes. This figure came from Petfinder and did not include cats or the animal groups who don't use the service. This morning I tried something different.
Labrador Retrievers are the most owned dog in Florida. More homes have that particular breed than any other. People like labs. I like labs. When you look at the statistic for dog bites, Labradors rank number one in that category also. That makes sense. There are more in the state so the dog bite proportion will be greater.
Now, if you do a search in Petfinder for Labradors the number of animals which comes up is astounding. There are 30,937 Labradors or some variation for adoption on Petfinder. Within a 100 mile radius of my zip code, there are 320.
For comparison, I ran pit bulls as the other dog. Anyone who thinks this is not a popular breed, needs to look at these numbers. In the country on Petfinder there are 16,278 or a little more than half of the Labrador numbers. In this area in the same 100 mile radius, there are 209 or about two thirds.
The unfortunate part of these numbers is most of these animals will not find homes and will be euthanized. Maybe I am not such a numbers person after all. I sure don't like these odds.
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