Every year, thousands of animals are given as gifts at Christmas time, and in the following months, thousands of animals are then surrendered to shelters. A pet can be a great addition to a family when they are well planned and thought out, but putting a puppy under the Christmas tree to surprise someone with a new dependent is not fair to the recipient or animal.

Lisa Kedian, Communications Coordinator for the Cochrane and Area Humane Society gives a rundown on why pets should not be considered for gift ideas. “Caring for a pet is an enormous responsibility. We do not recommend and we do not really want people to be giving animals as gifts. You need to do your homework, you need to take time to ensure that having a pet or adding another pet is the right choice for your family, there are additional expenses to having a pet.”

”It changes your life so it's not something that people should just sort of on a whim thinking it's a great gift to give kids or, you know, to give somebody else in your family that isn't even aware of it.”

While giving pets as gifts is not a good idea, Kedian says that they do have animals that would love a new home for Christmas. “Our adoptions are going to proceed as normal during the holiday season. We're gonna have our regular screening processes. So as long as you're not looking to adopt an animal to give as a gift. We have so many animals that would love to have a home for Christmas, you know and again, it's just as long as people have done their homework and they just feel the responsibility involved there should be no problem to be able to adopt over the holiday season.”