Cultural Geography Of Animals

“Adopt An Animal.” - PSA
What is Cultural Geography? Cultural Geography is a study that is based on the physical and cultural factors of human life and earth. The Public Service Announcement (PSA) I created is about adopting animals. Strong connections are made between the topic and cultural geography. In society, many events can be related to cultural geography. The topic of “Adopt An Animal” is connected to cultural geography by the different perspectives, social groups, and values/beliefs of people, and the rights of animals.
The perspective of people who buy animals is very different from people who adopt animals. Buyers believe in the pureness and valuable features of the animal, instead of the personality of the animal. Which can cause

the buyers to abandon the animal when they are bored or don’t know how to take care of the animal in the future. Which the owners end up surrendering them in the shelter. When the adopters adopt the animal from a shelter, they will see the animal as a member of the family; instead of a precious object to look at. Perspective relates to cultural geography by changing or influencing the decision one can make towards a situation.
Social groups such as the police, animal shelters, animal organizations, breeders, adopters, and nurses are all involved in the process of animal adoption.

Whenever an animal is seen on the street with no owners, the police are called to capture and send the animal to a shelter, if no identification of the animal can be found. When the animal arrives at the shelter, it is only under the care of a shelter for a short amount of time, before it is euthanized or adopted. In addition, animals are sent into shelters when breeders and owners abandon them to the shelter. The number of animals in shelters is increasing at a very fast rate every year. Many social groups are involved in the process of rescuing animals, which means a large amount of money is also demanded to support this cause. The social groups and economic situation can all ties back to the topic of cultural

geography.
The values and beliefs of breeders, buyers, and adopters are varies. Breeders will mate dogs of same breed to ensure the offsprings have a pure bloodline with good looking features. Pure blood breeding affects the health of the animals, which make them very prone to diseases and infections. Breeders believe the better bloodline and better feature the offsprings have, the higher price buyers will pay for them. Buyers will spend an unbelievable amount of money just to buy an animal that is certified pure by the breeders. Of course, not all the offsprings will become the expectations the breeders had of them, which causes the breeders to abandon them at the shelters; and left to die unless adopted. Adopters value and believe in life of those animals, which will save them from being euthanized. From only three social groups of the society, the contrast of values and beliefs was clearly defined.
The rights of humans is a strong part of cultural geography, but so are the rights of animals.

In the past, the rights of humans have been through many up and downs, but the rights of animals have been ignored. Every year in the United States, about 1.5 million sheltered animals are euthanized. Just because an animal is left in the shelter waiting for families to adopt, it does not mean its rights can just be ignored. It is understandable that shelters euthanize animals, because space and resources are limited; but perhaps a better solution can be created due to the problems. Shelters will not and cannot be the only solution, which means more and alternative programs must be developed. Programs such as lost and found for pets, lower priced pet identification programs, and classes to help owners understand their pets better. Those programs are some examples that will reduce the number of animals that are taken into the shelters, and lower the price americans are wasting on killing innocent animals. The reason more and more animals have been taken into shelters, is because their owners, breeders, and sellers have been abandoning them. The awareness of abandonment of animals need be raised, and the voice of animals need to be heard. The cruelty of killing animals can be stopped, but effort must be made by

people.
From the different perspective, social groups, values/ beliefs, and the right of animals, it shows that cultural geography is everywhere in society. Different perspective influences the decision made to a problem. Social groups are connected to benefit and help with the process. Values and beliefs will change the answer to problems people encounter. At last, the rights of animals need to be ensured and protected. From the different topics, it shows cultural geography can be connected to very different situations.