Knoxville has abundance of stray animals

I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and I only remember taking care of three animals that weren't my own: a cat that took up residence under our porch one summer, an injured squirrel who obviously tangled with the wrong cat and a maimed frog outside the nursing home where I once worked that might have tangled with that same wrong cat. Three animals in 22 years, not too bad.

Then my husband, Gerry, and I moved to Eastern Tennessee for graduate school in August 2007. We were only living in an apartment complex in South Knoxville for a few months when we encountered a pack of beautiful stray dogs: an old Golden Retriever and a middle-aged Bernese Mountain Dog. They didn't seem frightened by me. Sometimes they would watch me walk Dolce from a three-foot distance. But I was never able to pet them. They were faster than they looked.

A month later, a new pack of strays started hanging out at our apartment complex: three Labrador Retrievers. These dogs were young and would chase each other throughout the complex and up and down the highway near our apartment.

That winter, we met Captain, an old black Labrador Retriever who would wander aimlessly around our complex and take naps behind a brick wall outside our apartment. One day I started sitting out Dolce's dog food, and he cautiously took a few bites. Every day, I would feed Captain, sometimes I would even give him treats. But Gerry could never get close. The minute him or our friend Eric would come outside, Captain would split. It was obvious he had a negative encounter with a man at some time in his life.

I think you get my point. Captain wouldn't be the last stray I fed. Most recently, there was Penelope, a 15-pound overweight Jack Russell Terrier that I thought was pregnant, so I carried
her home at 2 a.m.

Then there's Little E, the stray black cat who likes to swat my Calvin on the
rear to get him to play. Luckily, Penelope and Little E have good homes now, but Captain still prefers the gypsy lifestyle.

Eight homeless animals in less than a year. That got me thinking. I was given an in-depth reporting assignment for my advanced reporting class, so I chose to explore just that.



And here is what I found:
http://tnjn.com/2008/dec/10/factors-influence-animal-shelt/