It's amazing to me that in the US there is no national government oversight of animal shelters. It's left to the states to decide what, if any, regulation is applied.
I dont know a lot about animal shelters can you explain?
It's a place where stray, lost or abandoned animals are kept. Some are no-kill shelters, but others euthanize healthy animals if they can't get them adopted.
Does it cost to adopt one?
Usually. Some organizations give the pet to the adopter; others monitor the animal's future and care.
That is awesome!
You can even adopt online. There are a couple of sites with databases of pets kept by many animal shelters and rescue groups. You can search them for a pet to adopt.
I had no idea, do most large citys have a shelter?
still be considered a no-kill shelter.
Definition.
A no-kill or limited admit shelter is a shelter that saves healthy, treatable and rehabilitatable animals. As a benchmark, at least 90% of the animals entering the shelter are expected to be saved. The save rate must be based on all animals entering the shelter: "It does not matter if the animals are old, blind, deaf, missing limbs, or traumatized. All of these animals are worthy of our compassion, all of them
Animal shelter
An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals, mostly dogs and cats, and sometimes sick or wounded wildlife are kept and rehabilitated. While no-kill shelters exist, it is sometimes policy to euthanize sick animals, and any animal that is not claimed quickly enough by a previous or new owner. In Europe, of 30 countries included in a survey, all but four (Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, and Italy) permitted the killing of healthy stray