Fieldtrip to the West Jersey Animal Shelter
Fieldtrip to the Animal Welfare Association

Vocabulary Terms:

Impounded - put into an animal shelter

Redeemed - taken back by the original owner

Adopted - taken home by a new owner

Euthanized - killed in a painless way, also called "put to sleep"

Shelter Statistics

Using statistical information available online from the State of New Jersey, we learned the following:

In general, at shelters within New Jersey from 1984 - 2003:

the number of impounded pets went down

the amount of redeemed pets increased

the amount of pet adoptions increased

the number of pets in shelters who had to be euthanized decreased

The following chart shows the number of impounded pets reported in NJ shelters over the past twenty years:

Compared to the other twenty New Jersey counties, Camden County had the second highest number of cats and dogs that were impounded in 2003.

In 2003, out of 11,977 impounded cats and dogs, 6,047 of the animals were adopted. 1,010 make up the number of cats and dogs that were claimed or returned back to their owners. An astonishing 3,820 cats and dogs were put to sleep (euthanized).

The following chart shows these numbers as percentages: