Don’t Try to Adopt the Subway Kittens

Animal Care & Control via DNAinfo
The two kittens that brought a subway line to a halt are up for adoption, DNAinfo reports. The gray and black baby cats who stopped the B and Q trains from running for hours this summer are out of foster care, socialized to people, and ready to be taken into a home—hopefully together, hopefully in a home without small children. I would imagine that requests for the adorable pair of 2013 New York icons are legion, coming in from all corners of the city and beyond. But only one happy household will get to give them a home. (Wouldn’t this be a lovely opportunity for Anthony Weiner to rehabilitate his image by adopting the cats he once pledged to save by hand? Or for the tone-deaf Joe Lhota to repair the damage done to his campaign when he said he’d let them die?) But for everyone else?
Well, there are lots of other cats (and dogs!) that need a good home. Five to seven million animals go into shelters in America every year, the ASPCA estimates, and a majority of them are euthanized: 60 percent of dogs, 70 percent of cats. While euthanasia at city shelters has plummeted in the last decade, almost 7,000 dogs and cats were put down last year. So if you can’t get the subway kittens, and you probably can’t, there are plenty of other animals that need you—and you shouldn’t let the glow of celebrity cats blind you to those potential pets’ need. Here’s how to get started.
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