October 6, 2019
I preached the following short sermon at the “whole church” (multi-generational) Sunday service in honor of St. Francis. The statistics cited come from these sources: According to a recent Public Policy Polling: Six out of ten Americans own a pet. (That number might be low; another poll suggests that it’s closer to seven out ten Americans who own a pet.) From http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp One in five Americans report a preference for spending time with their pets rather than most human beings. From http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/06/animals-and-pets-poll-american-prefer-dogs-fear-snakes.html The American Pet Products Association gathers statistics on how much Americans spend on their pets – including pet expenses such as food, their medicines and veterinary care, their grooming and boarding, and the initial cost of purchasing a pet. According to these statistics, it is estimated that in 1994, twenty-five years ago, Americans spent 17 billion dollars on our pets. Ten years after that, 15 years ago in 2004, we doubled it, spending more than $34 billion on our pets. The latest number, as of 2017? Doubled again! We spent almost $70 billion on our pets. From http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp and https://www.vmdtoday.com/news/american-pet-spending-reaches-new-high Today there are about 900 million dogs on the planet. From https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/how-many-dogs-are-there-in-the-world.html