text: They’re working on project “Active-X” which will help unhealthy people become more healthy. It uses MatchThe City’s data.
  
  My passion for animals began… well, there is not an exact date. Honestly, I have always had a passion for animals. My first dog, Poz (yes, that’s how my four-year old self spelled it), was the beginning of a never-ending line of pets. All of the dogs that I have owned have been adopted, and I have loved the beautiful stories and funny personalities that each of them has brought into my life.
  If you follow my Instagram account, you know that I am obsessed with my dog, Jackson (read Jackson’s story by clicking here). If you don’t follow my Instagram, what are you waiting for? I make uplifting posts daily and you even get to see adorable animal photos!
  My Instagram account is actually what has inspired me to write this blog post. Every Wednesday I do something called #WhyAdoptWednesday. While this began as me posting photos of Jackson and sharing my personal opinion about why you should adopt, I have begun to rethink this idea. Instead of posting my own thoughts and photos, I have been encouraging people to send me photos of their pets with stories attached.
  Personally, I think it’s an awesome idea! Not only does this allow people to show off their pets (and we all know how much people love their pets – they’re family), but it also brings attention to the notion of #AdoptDontShop.
  If you aren’t convinced yet, let me take this idea one step further. Yes, people know that adopting animals is important. However, I am not sure if everyone knows the prevalence of shelter animals that are euthanized each year. Honestly, I wasn’t even sure what the statistics were, but after some time researching, I was absolutely shocked!
  dogs and 3.2 million are cats. Of those 6.5 million, 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized. To break that down a bit, 670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats are put down each year.
  since 2011. This decline has been influenced by the increased percentage of pet adoptions! 3.2 million shelter animals are adopted each year! Let’s break that down as well. 1.6 million dogs and 1.6 million cats are adopted each year.
  That’s great, right? We have started to adopt more and more animals each year! Honestly, I cannot tell you how happy I was when I read that euthanizations have decreased by 2.6 million pets since 2011. The idea that humans kill innocent animals simply because we don’t have room for them and no one wants them is truly heartbreaking.