A Naperville man has launched a new digital resource for families interested in adopting sheltered and rescued pets.
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Described in marketing materials as “an app which helps people find the love of their lives at their local pet shelter,” the mobile software Woof App gives iPhone users information about locally available dogs and cats in an effort to encourage prospective pet owners to choose homeless animals.
Entrepreneur and software developer Mark Wade, who lives on the city’s near-southeast side, said in an email that he created Woof App because he wants to reduce the incidence of adoptions from large-scale breeding organizations that treat animals badly, often referred to as puppy mills, by “educating people about the great dogs and cats that are available at local shelters and rescues.”
The Humane Society of the United States, which engages in lobbying efforts to shut down puppy mills, reports on its website that nearly four in 10 pet owners turn to breeders or pet shops to adopt a dog or a cat. Slightly fewer than half obtain their pets as strays, from friends or through rescue organizations. The remainder, about 14 percent, acquire their animals from shelters.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals notes there is no legal definition for puppy mills, and commercial breeders who sell puppies in large numbers do not necessarily operate illegally. However, many animal rights organizations, including the HSUS, are working to ban the retail sale of all dogs and cats sourced from breeders. A local effort to forbid the sale of commercially bred pets at Naperville’s two pet shops is on hold while city officials await the outcome of several legal challenges to bans that have been enacted in other communities.
According to the ASPCA, a little more than half of the 7.6 million companion animals taken in by animal shelters in the U.S. each year are dogs. Nearly one in three of those dogs are euthanized. More than 41 percent of the 3.4 million cats that enter shelters annually are put down, ASPCA figures show.
Wade expressed confidence that his free online resource is helping to place shelter dogs in good homes.
“Since I released the app last November, it has seen 18,000 downloads across the United States and Canada, and it’s starting to have a real impact on the puppy mill problem,” he said.
Twitter @scarlman