Dog Allegedly Abandoned at Shelter After Owners Decided He Was 'Gay'

A dog was surrendered to an animal shelter in North Carolina after his owners decided he was "gay," according to WCCB-TV.

Between six and eight million cats and dogs go into shelters every year, the Humane Society has said. Of the enormous population in shelters, only three to four million stray animals get adopted. Due to lack of space, 2.7 million animals are euthanized annually and 5,500 stray dogs are put to rest every day.

Fezco is a brown and black dog resembling a Rottweiler; he's alleged to be four to five years old, weighing approximately 50 pounds. The shelter said that he was friendly with other animals and people and asked local rescues to foster the dog until he was adopted, according to WCCB-TV.

Fezco's owners made their pronouncement on the pet's sexuality after he humped another male dog, WCCB-TV reported, citing a Facebook post from Stanly County Animal Protective Services. Newsweek could not independently verify the Facebook post.

Mounting and thrusting are normal among most canines, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Both male and female dogs commonly hump other dogs as well as people and objects, not only as part of their normal sexual behavior but also as play, a response to stress or excitement and a display of social status or dominance.

If a dog's excessive mounting is bothersome to a pet owner, they can discourage the activity through distractions and preventative training. You can distract a dog that is starting to hump someone or something with a toy, a game or any trick that the dog enjoys.

Preventative training involves teaching a behavior that the dog can't do while mounting or thrusting, such as sitting on cue, and rewarding those activities whenever he exhibits the urge to hump. This will "alter your dog's motivational state so that he's no longer interested in humping," the APSCA said.

Same-sex sexual behavior including mounting, courting, genital licking or ejaculating has been observed in over 1,500 animal species, according to the Scientific American. In a 2019 study published by Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers argued that same-sex behavior in animals does not represent an "evolutionary conundrum," as it has long been considered antithetical to Darwin's theory of evolution. Instead, they hypothesized that ancestral animal species mated indiscriminately, without regard for sex.

Newsweek reached out to Stanly County Animal Protective Services for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.