Luckily, more and more people are willing to follow the advice "adopt, don’t shop" these days.

In our previous interview with Louise Lee, the media officer at the organization Blue Cross For Pets, we found out that the stigma around so-called “‘broken’ pets is gradually changing and people understand pets are handed over for all sorts of reasons.”

The tendency to adopt became especially prominent during the recent coronavirus pandemic when, in times of crisis, many were seeking a furry companion.

Pamela Reid, the vice president of The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Behavioral Sciences Team, told Bored Panda that: "During this period of great uncertainty, one bright spot has been the incredibly passionate response from people willing to open their homes and hearts to foster and adopt vulnerable shelter animals."

Incredibly, there has been a nearly 70 percent increase in animals going into foster care through ASPCA New York City and Los Angeles foster programs, compared to the same time period in 2019. 

But the adoption boom was something other shelters could have never expected. "We thought people were going to bring their animals in and then run for the hills," Katy Hansen, communications director for the Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC), told Vox. 

At any given time, ACC shelters more than 600 animals and now, it's less than 100.