Been thinking about whether I should get a pet. Some logistics, but also the M.I. like the guy in the piece. Not sure that the article helps my decision, but the comments here add some solidarity.
Shelter pets are not for everyone either, although avoiding pet store puppymill pets is obviously desirable.
In most cases, bills of that magnitude only arise in a context where euthanasia would have been a viable option anyway.
Most shelter animals are just fine. I got two cats (bonded pair) from a shelter in August 2013 and they've been a dream. Shelter life isn't easy for animals, but it doesn't typically break them (a few handle it badly, but most are psychologically normal after a couple weeks in a new home).
You're taking a bet with any kind of new pet, but you're probably getting a healthier animal, on average, with a mutt from a shelter than if you get a breed animal, even from a "responsible" (i.e. not puppy-mill) breeder. The better shelters don't do that much psychiatric damage, and most of it's not long-term. This idea that shelter animals are all psychiatric/behavioral basketcases is both untrue and very damaging.
I prefer no-kill shelters for finding pets. Part of it is selfishness (I don't like feeling like not choosing an animal will condemn it to death) and some of it is ideology (I don't agree that it's "euthanasia" to kill healthy feral animals; who are we to decide that they'd be better off dead?) but I also know that NK shelters (which source from "kill"/open-admission shelters, so you're still saving a life) are staffed by people who are experts (at least, relative to me) in selecting adoptable, healthy animals who are unlikely to have behavioral problems.
Please don't say that. Most animals that are owner-surrendered to open-admission shelters will be killed. (No-kill shelters are a better option, but tend to involve a waiting list in the 2-4 month range.) And being remit to the shelter system is arguably a severe emotional stress for the animal. I hate this idea that it's OK to abandon an animal because the puppy became an 80-pound dog, or because you're moving across the country. People should understand what they're getting into, and have plans that don't involve remitting the animal to the (overcrowded) shelter system. I have a friend who's agreed to take on our pets if my wife and I die traveling, for example.