Tips of the Month
Adopt a pet
It’s clear when you adopt a pet that you’re expanding your family and welcoming unconditional love into your home. But you and your family aren’t the only ones who benefit when you open your home to a dog, cat, bunny or other cuddly animal. In fact, you could be saving a life.
Here are five ways your pet can benefit from having a forever home with you, and five ways your new “baby” will return the favor in spades.
What you get
1. Dog “parents” get more physical activity than those who live without four-legged friends who give you a reason to get off the couch, step outside and walk or run a couple of times a day.
2. Pets are good company. According to NIH, “pet owners were 36% less likely than non-pet owners to report loneliness, in a model controlling for age, living status”
3. Walking a dog is a great way to meet neighbors and make new friends. You’ll regularly see other dog lovers out with their pets, giving you a chance to strike up conversations with people who have something in common with you: their love of animals.
4. Cats and dogs can lower your stress and anxiety. It’s hard to worry about anything when a purry cat or adorable puppy is curled up on your lap while you decompress from your day.
5. Pet lovers tend to be happier.
What you give
1. Too few loving homes are available to all of the homeless pets out there, so when you adopt or rescue one, you could be saving a life. And if you adopt one from an animal shelter, you’ll be making room for the next dog or cat, so your kindness could save more than one life.
2. Some animals—especially older pets whose original owners couldn’t keep them—never get a second chance for a forever home or family. When you take an older dog or cat home from a shelter, you give it a fresh start and another shot at a happy life.
3. Adopting a pet from a shelter or from a pet supply store that has an arrangement with a local shelter to show animals ready for adoption sends a signal that there’s a better way to get a beloved pet than to buy one from a breeder.
4. Animals can get just as lonely as people. So next time you feel grateful to your kitty or puppy for keeping you company and making you feel loved, know that your pet is getting that same benefit from you.
5. If you find a lost or abandoned stray cat or dog and take it into your home, you save it from a life that likely would otherwise be cut short by harsh weather, predatory animals, starvation, or accidents.
As the new year gets started, consider making a pet a permanent part of your family.
From the City's Animal Control Committee
Save money, hassle, and the planet!
Did you know residents of the City of College Park can ride Shuttle-UM buses for free? In fact, the City pays the University $6,000 annually for this service for residents.
Operated by the University of Maryland, Shuttle-UM features 21 routes with stops throughout the city and UMD campus, including weekday commuter routes that run between 7:30am and 9:00pm on a regular schedule to and from Silver Spring, Adelphi, Greenbelt, New Carrollton, and Hyattsville.
City of College Park residents can pick up free bus passes during business hours from City Hall, Davis Hall, and Youth and Family Services by showing an ID and proof of city residency.
Complete the application here.
More information on Shuttle-UM including route maps and schedules can be found here. And there's an app for that -- providing real-time arrival information for Shuttle-UM routes: https://transitapp.com/.
Fixed-route schedules are updated on a semesterly basis. During exams, breaks and inter-semester periods (including December 21-January 24), buses run on modified schedules. Transit buses have ADA seating in the front of the bus and are equipped with wheelchair ramps.
From the City's Committee for a Better Environment