stuff like that makes me really sad too.
On the radio the other day they mentioned how animal shelters were seeing such a huge increase (something around the neighborhood of 35%) in animals surrenders that they have had to turn people away. Those people will likely take them to shelters with "kill' policies or abandon them.
The shelters think it has something to do with the economy.
It COSTS money to properly take care of any pet, whether it is a fish or a cat or dog or horse. I wish people wouldn't take pet responsibility so lightly and think they got a "free" dog. I also wish people would spay/neuter their pets to help control the animal population, but when people get pure bred dogs, they think they can be expert breeders to make a few bucks.