{"id":4646,"date":"2014-02-24T01:51:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T01:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/?p=4646"},"modified":"2015-01-09T03:31:59","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T03:31:59","slug":"4646","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/?p=4646","title":{"rendered":"You don\u2019t have to be an Olympian to make a difference for animals"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nAs the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia come to a close, ask yourself if you have been touched by the stories of the Sochi dogs<\/a>? The stories<\/a> and pictures<\/a> are compelling. The pictures of \u00a0Gus Kenworthy with the puppies are both heart wrenching and heartwarming.<\/p>\n

\"sochiSotry\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here in Dallas, we like to think we are a world class city and we do not have \u201cthird world\u201d problems like stray dogs roaming our streets, but we do. And they are significant. There are estimates that the city of Dallas has a stray and feral dog population in the range of 5,000 animals across the city. Our puppies might not be born under the spot light of a media tent, but they are born under our houses, they live in our parks and fields, they live on the grounds of our schools and universities, they run loose in tourist areas, and they roam our neighborhoods freely.<\/p>\n

Need proof? Check out the recent puppy in the drain story <\/a>that received national attention. Those puppies were born \u00a0on an Elementary school\u2019s grounds under a classroom portable and they lived there for about two month before the drain rescue took place behind the Jaycee\/Zaragoza Recreation Center.\u00a0We have documented and reported \u00a0a stray traveling down the dart track behind the 6th Floor Museum. Tiny little Jack<\/a> was found on Houston Street downtown in the historic West End. Angel<\/a> was found at a neighborhood park. Tasha\u2019s pack story<\/a>\u00a0documents a neighborhood dog pack in the heart of Winnetka Heights over a four year period. Number Two\u2019s puppies<\/a> were born under a house about a block away from several houses valued in and around a half million dollars. We have a significant problem in the city of Dallas, and right here in our backyard.<\/p>\n

\"TheThreeBraveOnes_e\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How can you help?<\/p>\n

Every day, on average, Dallas Animal Services takes in 80 cats and dogs.\u00a0On any given day, there are approximately 600 dogs at the Dallas Animal Shelter waiting for adoption. Next door at the SPCA, approximately another 175 dogs. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that every year in the United States, animal shelters collectively care for 6-8 million dogs and cats, of whom approximately 3-4 million are euthanized.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to be an Olympian to make a difference for animals. Change starts with each of us. Make a difference in your own backyard:<\/p>\n

Advocate – Educate \u2013 Volunteer \u2013 Foster \u2013 Adopt \u2013 Donate – Report Loose Dogs –\u00a0<\/strong>Support a City Wide Spay and Neuter Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more information on how you can help contact us <\/a>and let us know your interests and skills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia come to a close, ask yourself if you have been touched by the stories of the Sochi dogs? The stories and pictures are compelling. The pictures of \u00a0Gus Kenworthy with the puppies are both heart wrenching and heartwarming. Here in Dallas, we like to think we are a world class city and we do not have \u201cthird world\u201d problems like stray dogs roaming our streets, but we do. And they are significant. There are estimates that the city of Dallas has a stray and feral dog population in the range of 5,000 animals across the city. Our puppies might not be born under the spot light of a media tent, but they are born under our houses, they live in our parks and fields, they live on the grounds of our schools and universities, they run loose in tourist areas, and they roam our neighborhoods freely. Need proof? Check out the recent puppy in the drain story that received national attention. Those puppies were born \u00a0on an Elementary school\u2019s grounds under a classroom portable and they lived there for about two month before the drain rescue took place behind the Jaycee\/Zaragoza Recreation Center.\u00a0We have documented and reported \u00a0a stray traveling down the dart track behind the 6th Floor Museum. Tiny little Jack was found on Houston Street downtown in the historic West End. Angel was found at a neighborhood park. Tasha\u2019s pack story\u00a0documents a neighborhood dog pack in the heart of Winnetka Heights over a four year period. Number Two\u2019s puppies were born under a house about a block away from several houses valued in and around a half million dollars. We have a significant problem in the city of Dallas, and right here in our backyard. How can you help? Every day, on average, Dallas Animal Services takes in 80 cats and dogs.\u00a0On any given day, there are approximately 600 dogs at the Dallas Animal Shelter waiting for adoption. Next door at the SPCA, approximately another 175 dogs. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that every year in the United States, animal shelters collectively care for 6-8 million dogs and cats, of whom approximately 3-4 million are euthanized. You don\u2019t have to be an Olympian to make a difference for animals. Change starts with each of us. Make a difference in your own backyard: Advocate – Educate \u2013 Volunteer \u2013 Foster \u2013 Adopt \u2013 Donate – Report Loose Dogs –\u00a0Support a City Wide Spay and Neuter Culture For more information on how you can help contact us and let us know your interests and skills.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4648,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-that","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/sochiSotry.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4646"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6417,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4646\/revisions\/6417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gypsydogops.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}