Pets at College- The Believers

There is an ongoing debate as to whether owning a pet in a college environment, as a student, is ethical.
Some people think that there is nothing wrong with owning a pet in college and others believe that regardless of the owner, the pet is at risk to be exposed to mistreatment or neglect.
Among the people that agree with it, are many of the workers at the Capital Area Humane Society.  Megan Bono said that she would never turn anyone away simply because they were a student because there are too many pets that need homes and that just because someone is a student doesn't mean they will be a bad pet owner.  In fact, she attended Michigan State University and owned pets while she was a student there.  She said that there are pet owners that need to return their pets who are not students, also.
The Capital Area Humane Society runs the same background check on everyone, students and non-students.  Their main goal is to make sure the animal can live at the given address, the pet owner will have the time and resources to take care of the pet and that if for some reason they find out they can't, they will return the pet to the Capital Area Humane Society and not abandon it or give it away. People have had to bring back pets to the Capital Area Humane Society but Bono said they aren't mad because all this means is that the pet owner is honoring their contract.
Robert Acho, a 21-year-old senior at MSU, got a Pit bull named Stella, a little over a year ago.  He said that he gets all of Stella's necessities at Petco, in Lansing, and that it can be expensive but his parents help him out with it. He doesn't regret getting a dog in college and said it was the best decision he's ever made.  He thinks that his neighborhood right now (he lives on a street called Evergreen near MSU's campus) is a better place for Stella than his neighborhood at home because there are more people and dogs for her to interact with.