I had a pet. His name was Scruffy, but I preferred to call him Dog in contrast to Audrey Hepburn calling an orange tabby cat, well Cat, in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Scruffy didn't live with me because where I lived, no animals were allowed, so I placed him in the care of a close relative, but he was still my pet. I went to his veterinary appointments, played outside with him, fed him, cuddled with him, and had conversations with him when I felt down; he was the best little dog a girl could ask for. I had him for two years before I had to give him away due to his guardian's health slowly deteriorating. He wasn't mistreated and he loved living in his little space with his guardian, but things happen and life kicks us down some days and it kicked too hard to where I had no choice but to make the sensible-ish decision to let him go. That killed me, but not as much as my next statement killed me.

I reached out to PETA and a few humane societies, but I didn't get a single response, so it had me question: if they are advertising the animals on television that are being treated poorly, how come they couldn't return an email or a phone call to a girl who had left multiple calls and emailed them numerous times. I understand that they are busy people, but here's the kicker; I started making calls and sending emails in June, a month after I graduated from high school. PETA had three months to at least send something back, but I never heard from them. Three months I sat waiting for a response while contacting other places and I heard nothing from PETA, not even a courtesy email. Before a relative of my best friend contacted her and said that she would take Scruffy in, I was going to have to put him down; PETA's inability to respond to my emails and calls meant that I had to prepare to kill my own pet.

My local animal rescue had to close intake because they had become overwhelmed with a rush of abused animals who needed care and because I couldn't get Scruffy to them quick enough; I thought I had missed my only shot of keeping him alive since PETA obviously had issues. This unfriendly relationship I have with PETA is what sparked me to share my dreams of adopting even though I've been planning to adopt for years now, their actions just heightened that want to adopt.

I understand that millions of animals' lives (not just my dog) are lost daily and animals are being mistreated, especially since these storms are coming through back to back and people are leaving their animals behind, but more and more shelters are being flooded with animals who need people to care for them because their owners couldn't or wouldn't, so PETA, what are you doing?

I see more and more people doing things to help animals than PETA is (like small animal rescues and families willingly taking animals in) because all PETA wants is money. PETA is a well-known company with billboards and TV spots, so with all of their resources, they should step up, help these smaller guys out, and actually do their job.

If you are able to, please go to local shelters and help them out because they need help more than PETA does. These smaller shelters can only take so much, so go adopt from your local shelters and be a loving human to these animals who want nothing other than to be loved.