STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) - Two Mississippi State University researchers say that more dogs go home from animal shelters than previously thought.
Veterinary Medicine professors Kimberly Woodruff and David Smith surveyed more than 400 shelters across the country. Using their findings, they estimate that shelters nationwide take in 5.5 million dogs each year. Of that total, nearly 1 million are returned to previous owners and 2.6 million are adopted by new owners. Nearly 800,000 are transferred, while about the same number of dogs are killed by shelters.
Smith says shelters in the Southeast are transferring large numbers of dogs to other regions where there are fewer dogs. He says that means fewer dogs may be euthanized, but says those dogs could be spreading heartworms and other regional diseases, indicating a need to emphasize disease control.
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This story has been corrected to fix typo in headline.
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