Page 4/The Battalion/Friday, April 20, 1984 Not everyone can adopt a pet By TAMMY KIRK Reporter The black dog lay whining on the gray, cold floor with his tongue lapped over the edge of his mouth. His eyes rolled back in his head, he began to bleed, and then he was still. Such was the account of Kathy Lewis’ experience as she watched a puppy die at the Bra zos Animal Shelter last week. Lewis, a sophomore studying wanted to adopt a puppy from the shelter. She says she and her fiance were denied the right be cause they weren’t permanent residents, and therefore not fit speech communications, owners. “It upset me because I knew I could give it a home.” Lewis said. “And after watching that other puppy dying, I knew the puppy I wanted would probably die too.” Kathy Ricker, director of the Brazos Animal Shelter, says that even though the pets at the PROblEM PREqNANCy? We Can HeIp Free Pregnancy Testing Personal Counseling Pregnancy Terminations Completely Confidential Call Us ^irst - We Care (713) 774-9706 6420 Hillcroft, Houston, Texas shelter need homes, not just anyone can adopt the animals. A commitment must be made on a long-term basis, Ricker said. “It’s a big commitment, like adopting a child,” Ricker said. There have been several cases in which the owners who adopted a pet learned their rented apartment or home managers didn’t allow animals, or couldn’t pay thier managers the pet deposit fee, or couldn’t take the pets home with them for the summer, Ricker said. These cases usually result in abandonment, and the animals are left to die from starvation or injuries, Ricker said. “It is left up to our discretion whether we feel the people who apply for the pets will provide a stable home,” she said. , Lewis said she and her fiance wouldn’t have taken the time to be interviewed or to look at the animals if they hadn’t had good intentions. “We really did want the puppy, in fact, we were going to get two,” Lewis said. She said she understood the reservations of the animal shelter in wanting to find an appropriate home for the animals, but when they put so many animals to sleep it made her mad that she had been denied. In 1983, the Brazos Animal Shelter euthanized 4,614, 72 percent, of 6,404 pets turned in to the shelter. Ricker said that these statistics cannot be used without mentioning that animal control is a national problem. A conservative estimate of the na tion’s average for euthaniza- tion, she said, is 20,000 a week. Many of the animals that come to the shelter are sick or injured and this accounts for the high death rate, Ricker said. “We are trying to save our animals from going through the trauma and fear of being aban doned or injured,” Ricker said. By interviewing the applicants, Ricker says they can get an idea of how the pet will be cared for. Questions such as, “Will this animal be a family pet that you plan on keeping for the rest of its life?” and “Where will the an imal be kept?” help the shelter determine the status of the per spective owners. Last year, the abandonment rate for pets was highest during the summer. In June there were over 800 animals turned in at the shelter, and in August there were over 600. 0* % v Airport Inspection Photo br Pllll Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig scrutinizes members of the Corps of Cadets upon arrivingil! terwood Airport Thursdaymoii LINCOLN SQUARE APARTMENTS PARTY at the POOL! >XTh i:^ SATURDAY, APRIL 21,1984 TIME: 10:00 a.m. til 6:00 p.m. PLACE: 313 Lincoln St. — Poolside ENTERTAINMENT Live Band!! “The Wellborn Outlaws” FOOD: Free Hot Dogs with all the Trimmings BEVERAGES: Free Cokes and Beer ** 1 & 2 Bedroom apartments ** Furnished & Unfurnished ** On Shuttle Bus Route ** Summer & Fall Specials Call Today 313 Lincoln Street, College Station 693-2720 Sign NOW and SAVE from $449 to $674 with 9 or 12 mo. lease. THE AGGIELAND is now accepting APPLICATIONS for STAFF POSITIONS for the 1985 Aggieland Meeting on Monday, April 30 at 7 p.m., 011 Reed M c Donald for more info, call: Vannell Lee 260-0636 Poll shows stude are conservative By Tricia Parker Staff Writer -COUPON GOLD POST ■ Piercing your ears isn’t what it used to be. Come to us for beautifully pierced ears. $099 including earring with this coupon l l l i I i I I i I Post Oak Mall 764-1004 j It should come as a surprise to no one, but a poll conducted by two political science societies on campus has shown that stu dents at Texas A&M are conser vative. David Dunaway, who orga nized the survey for the Political Science Society and Pi Sigma Alpha, says the results of the poll show that students at Texas A&M are overwhelmingly con servative in their ideology and choice of political parties. The poll was drawn from the responses to 200 questionaires. Dunaway said that every effort was made to find a representa tive sample of students to par ticipate in the survey. “We tried to ensure a rep resentative sample," he said. “We got breakdowns of the stu dent body by sex, classification, social affiliation and things like that and then sent people out to find them.” Dunaway said he thinks these methods made the survey accu rate. “It’s as accurate as you can get without spending $5,000,” he said. Michael Northrup, president of the Pi Sigma Alpha political honor society, said the poll of fered few surprises. He said that in general, education has a liberalizing effect on people. But at Texas A&M the poll shows that students are conser vative when they get here and become more so the more edu cated they become. The poll showed that 54 per cent of seniors and 46 percent of freshman polled were Re publicans. The percentage of Democrats increased from 9 to 13 percent from freshman to senior years and the percentage of independents went from 37 percent for freshmen to 28 per cent for seniors. n u m be r of Republim “Forty-eight pei : for they would vole forll November. Someihiis lou in I was (hat of tin t A the met Che fert neti tior % By B Wh; istrict nd H be ; or Pat Kub tps 'on. r The lates cent who said they Democrat in Noveml of them said they* for Mondale.” Broken downbyso lion, 64 percent ofm the Corps of Cadets 85 percent of sororilt ternity membersandii of other students wert cans. Twenty-one F'l the C Tu ps, none oft™ ties and 17 percentofd dents were Demo® pendents comprised li of the Corps, 15 perta | ate ternities, and 38 po other students. Students are conset their idealogy as well si political parties showed. Forty-eigh those polled consider selves conservative and cent considered tifl ^ moderates. Only 8 pe® ues c they were liberals. Northrup said that I* “ see anything wrong * J 16 conservative atmosph arme “I think there’s adi®' le _ <: l u being too conservative, “but I think it’s goo' someone promoting quo or else you migiit with something worse.' Northrup said that dents in the two sodt tiated the surveythens three reasons. “One is that we would be good expos campus,” he said, “We make people more a« we are around. We al* because it is partofthe[ science field to conduct! “We also wanted tod* j thing substantial. We® to make use of our iW wanted to make use we’ve learned.” ON TOP OF THE WORLD 12 COUNTRIES IVIAY18 - JUNE 15 2$ 1700 CHUN A • 6 MAJOR CITIES • IVIAYT7 - IVIAY30 • ffi aioo Deadline April 20 FOR IN/IORE INFO CONTACT IN/ISG TRAVEL AT 845-1543 “It could be that A&M has a ‘conservatizing’ effect on stu- Northrup said thisp* 1 dents”, Northrup said. “I was first one the organizato" suprised though, by the large attempted jointly. 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