As we move into the twenty-first century, it is clear that animal shelters do much more than house stray animals. The vast majority of shelters have active adoption programs that seek to place animals in homes that are right for them. Dog obedience classes that help owners learn how to care for their new family members are often part of the post-adoption package offered by a shelter. The residents of shelters are changing, too. They are no longer dogs, first and foremost.
Cats make up an ever-increasing number of the overall shelter population.
The ratio of cats to dogs at the Hawaiian Humane Society, for example, is three to one. The ratios at the Louisiana SPCA in New Orleans and the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln, Nebraska, are not so dramatic, but they're getting close. Shelters are caring also for a growing number of rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, mice, gerbils, hamsters, and birds and the occasional boa constrictor, iguana, monkey, hawk, and horse. Animal-shelter employees work just as hard off the shelter's premises as they do on the premises. Animal-control officers, or ACOs, are often called upon to rescue an injured animal or to assist police at an accident scene when an animal is involved.