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Tellurians we have a problem!!
Dec 7, 2005

Facts



In six short years, one female dog and its offspring can be the source of 67,000 puppies.


In just seven years, one female cat and its young can produce 420,000 cats.


Every hour in the United States, more than 5,500 puppies and kittens are born, compared to 415 humans. It's clear that there can never be enough homes for all these pets. This is not a problem of numbers-every single pet is an individual life.


A dog abandoned in the street has a life expectancy of one year; a cat, slightly longer (if they are not hit by cars first).


Less than 20 percent of animals brought to the nation's public and private shelters are adopted. The rest must be destroyed, at an annual cost of over $400 million.



Euthanasia Death Toll
since Oct 27, 2001
                             Over 14 Million and rising by the minute


Animal Overpopulation Crisis >

Animals Die Different Deaths in Different Facilities

Some animals who make it into open-admission shelters are reclaimed by their guardians or adopted into new homes. But the sad fact is that there are far too few good homes for unwanted animals. Even if there were enough good homes to take in unwanted animals, many animals ending up in animal shelters are truly unadoptable. Dogs and cats are often taken to shelters because of serious health conditions such as parvovirus, contagious mange, upper respiratory infections, fungal infections, and even broken limbs. Some are given up because of severely aggressive behavior. Many dogs have lived their whole lives on chains or in tiny, filthy pens and are generally unsocialized or fearful of people. Most potential adopters are looking for small, cute, housebroken puppies without medical problems. Few who walk into shelters want to adopt the sick, injured, or aggressive animals they will see there.
 
The result is that 3 million to 4 million dogs and cats will be killed at animal shelters this year.
 
Some will be killed by cruel methods, such as gunshot by municipal officials. Bullets are often not placed precisely in the struggling animal's head or are deflected, and some animals survive the first shot only to be shot again and again.
 
Many shelters still use gas chambers to kill animals who aren't adopted or reclaimed. Even the "best" gas boxes can cause conscious animals the horror of watching others suffer from convulsions and muscular spasms as they slowly die. Old, young, and sick animals are particularly susceptible to gas-related trauma and will thus die slow and highly stressful deaths.
 

And as hard as it is to believe, there are still facilities in the United States that kill animals using painful electrocution or in cruel decompression chambers, where the gases in animals' sinuses, middle ears, and intestines expand quickly, causing considerable discomfort to severe pain. Some animals survive the first go-round in decompression chambers and are recompressed because of malfunctioning equipment or the operator's mistake or because animals get trapped in air pockets. They are then put through the painful procedure all over again.
 
Fortunate homeless, unwanted animals who aren't adopted from shelters in a timely manner and are not claimed by their families receive painless, peaceful deaths in loving arms by way of an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital. This—and only this—is true euthanasia, a good death. Euthanasia is a kindness, often the only kindness ever known for animals who are born into a world that doesn't want them, has not cared for them, and ultimately has abandoned them to be disposed of as "surplus" beings.


 

We Can Stop the Killing by Making America a 'No-Birth' Nation
 
We can save animals and end these deaths by working to make America a "no-birth" nation today. The only way to stop the suffering of the innocent victims of companion animal overpopulation is to prevent their births through sterilization efforts. The United States will never be a "no-kill" nation unless it becomes a no-birth nation. Why? Every last one of the millions of deaths of animals at shelters and in the streets, alleyways, fields, basements, and back yards that occur every year could be prevented through spaying and neutering. Every single stray cat, every neglected dog, every rabbit kept in a hutch in a drafty garage—came from an animal who wasn't spayed or neutered. Animals must be killed and euthanized by the millions every year because prospective guardians choose to purchase animals from pet shops and breeders and still don't sterilize their dogs and cats.

On the Home Front: You Can Help by Making Sure Every Animal Is Spayed and Neutered

The single most important thing that we can do to save animals from all the suffering and death that their overpopulation causes is to spay and neuter them. Just one unaltered female cat and her offspring can produce an estimated 420,000 cats in only seven years. In six years, a female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 puppies. So every time we spay or neuter just one animal, we prevent the births of thousands of animals. On the other hand, if we pass by even one unsterilized animal without seeing to it that she or he is spayed or neutered, we are turning our backs on thousands of unwanted animals and more than likely condemning them to hideous fates.
 
If you haven't yet sterilized the animals with whom you share your home, do so today. If you think that you can offer your home to an animal and provide for his or her needs for 10 to 15 years, please go to your shelter now because there are many there who are waiting for you. Adopt two compatible animals so that they can keep each other company.
 
Make a pledge right now to take personal responsibility for neutering or spaying every unsterilized animal you encounter. Is there an unaltered cat hanging around the back porch? Does your neighbor have a female dog who keeps going into heat or a male dog who keeps jumping the fence to chase after females in heat? Is your friend or family member giving away a litter of kittens? Help make sure that all unwanted animals are taken to open-admission shelters and then help get animals who are staying in homes spayed or neutered. Don't let the surgery be put off—be persistent! If money is preventing it, offer to pay for the procedure (you'll be saving animals' lives). If transportation to the vet is the obstacle—become a dog or cat taxi driver for a day! If the guardians still aren't convinced that spaying and neutering are vital to saving animals' lives, order our free literature on the subject to help them understand.
 
If possible, spay your whole street! Offer to have your neighbors' dogs and cats sterilized at a clinic or a local low-cost spay/neuter program (call 1-800-248-SPAY for details).
Take the Law Into Your Own Hands!


Lobby your city or other legislative body for spay/neuter legislation to help give people an incentive to sterilize their dogs and cats who would otherwise be producing litter after unwanted litter. Ordinances that require all adopted animals to be sterilized before leaving shelters or that make licenses for unsterilized animals more expensive than for those who are fixed are essential to creating long-term, life-saving improvements for companion animals. The number of animals who have had to be euthanized has declined by as much as 60 percent in communities that have implemented such laws!
Animal Overpopulation Crisis >

Roll up Your Sleeves and Help Out at Your Local Shelter

Work on the front lines of the overpopulation crisis by teaming up with your local animal shelter to save and improve animals' lives. Make sure that your local shelter requires that animals be spayed or neutered before adoption. If sterilization is not required, work for policy change at the shelter.
 

Many shelters are in serious need of reform. Citizen involvement is essential if progress is to be made. You can be successful by organizing friends, neighbors, and other concerned individuals to take action.
If your local pound or shelter is using any method other than an intravenous injection of sodium pentobarbital, protest to local authorities and demand the implementation of humane practices. Check state and local laws for prescribed methods of euthanasia and insist that your local shelter comply with these requirements. Euthanasia should always be performed by well-trained, caring staff members, and animals should never be euthanized in view of other animals.
 

Campaign Against Breeding and the Pet Trade

Finally, fight the cruel industries that profit from breeding and selling animals while millions more die because of a lack of homes. People who patronize pet shops or seek out purebreds from breeders are adding to the population overload. Speak up if someone you know intends to breed his or her animal or plans to buy from a pet store or breeder. Get our free literature on pet shops, puppy mills, and spaying and neutering to provide more information. If there's a pet store in your local mall, urge the mall manager to give it the boot and instead lend that space to an animal shelter to use as an adoption center for homeless animals
Visibility: Everyone
Posted: Wednesday December 7, 2005, 4:04 pm
Tags: cats dogs and [add/edit tags]

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bc goh (177) 		Wednesday December 7, 2005, 4:55 pm
Well said, Roy! Sterilisation and responsible pet 'ownership' are the only ways to help stem this train of horror huamns inflict on our best friends - the cats and dogs from whom we demand evelrasting loyalty and love, but for whom reciprocation is fickle at best.

Thank you for this blog entry.

bc

Roy C. (330) 		Wednesday December 7, 2005, 6:42 pm
Hi BC
Thank you for you comments. Most of the information is from that hard working four letter group, PETA. For some people four letter words send shivers up their spines. I hope by saying it here I won't be red flagged. Anyway it is a very important issue all over this planet we live on.
I do enjoy your blogs as well. Thanks for being a concerned Tellurian!
Roy

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