Question #2 after the question on neutering, What do you think should be done about the overpopulation problem

Question

I dont think what we are doing now is working, so what is the answer? I think maybe something like Germany. You would have to be licensed to be able to breed each specific animal (cats, dogs, hamsters, ect.) and before you are able to breed two animals they must pass a health exam including stuff like OFA for the hips and CERT for the eyes. Am I way off?? What do you think??

BELIEVER--
In one sentence you tell me that spaying and neutering is helping but everything else you tell me shows it is not working. "5 million euthinized ever year" "my neighbor down the street just had 14 puppies" If it is working, why are the numbers of euthinized dogs and cats going up every year instead of down?? I dont know for sure, but I would think there are more unwanted dogs and cats every year that come from people intentionally breeding them, or irresponsible owners that own an intact male and female dog and have an "accident", like your neighbor. Then those that come from animals meeting on the streets. Do you agree or disagree with this? If you agree, then spaying and neutering is not helping unless we force people to spay and neuter. Do you think things are working fine just like they are and eventually the numbers will come down? If not, what do you think the answer is? What would your plan be if you were in charge. A law to force fixing, but at what age?

Additional comment---
On the comment I made about the number of dogs and cats euthinized going up every year, I did not look up the information on total number of dogs and cats euthinized every year. That is a guess based on information I have read, if I am wrong, and it is actually going down, please let me know. That would be great if it is. It just does not appear to be.

I thought for the last three years it has been in the 5 million range, not sure though.

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Please dont be afraid to answer the question. What do you think should be done? Just keep everything exactly how it is now? I havent looked it up yet, but lets say the number is actually going down. At 5 million a year, I would think thier might be a better way. If you say spay and neuter, be specific. Force people to spay and neuter? How old should the dog be when they are forced? How do we enforce it?

I just realized number of dogs and cat euthinized every year is not the number to look at. There are many more "no kill" shelters now then there use to be. The number to look at is the total of animals put in the shelters every year. That number appears to have stayed the same the last 5 years. It might be decreasing slightly, but it is hard to tell because it has been up and down over the last 5 years with no real consistancy. I could not find a national number so I had to look at individual counties.

Answer 1

Well, first you need to prove there is an overpopulation problem. Stats show that the number of dogs in shelters has been going steadly down over the years. Many places like San Francisco and Marin had no kill public shelters. Many shelters take animals from other locations because they don't have enough for the adoption demand. This was true of the SPCA where I volunteered.
The real problem is irresponsible pet owners who get a puppy, don't train it, don't socialize it, and then when it bites the kids, chews up the couch, and digs up the yard, they dump it in the shelter. This dog is now not adoptable because it is just too messed up for anyone to want it.
Shelters are full of such dogs. And, of course, no one wants them. When good dogs come into shelters, they get snatched up quickly. Again, where I volunteered, folks would be lined up at opening time to rush in to get the best dogs.

Is pet overpopulation a myth? Inside Nathan Winograd's "Redemption"
By Christie Keith, Special to SF Gate
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/10/02/petscol.DTL

Answer 2

The book -which is sitting right next to me is called

Redemption, the Myth of Pet overpopulation and hte no kill revolution in America.

Shelter killing is the leading cause of death for healthy dogs and cats in America. 5 million are killed in our nation's shelters every year.

If you dont think spaying and neutering is making a difference you are ignoring the facts. Look at the questions posted on this board DAILY. Let's see, a girl just posted a question about what to do about her pitbull having 14 puppies - yay!! more puppies that should not have been brought into this world. What's the liklihood that they will all be spayed/neutered before they walk out the door?

The guy down the road from me has an intact shepherd and intact APBT, guess what - he lets them go wherever, and his own two dogs mated and she had a litter of 7. He couldn't pay people to take the dogs. The other day I drove by and he still had 3 of them - now all grown up - also free to wander around. THink any of them are fixed? Only a matter of time before a son mates with his own mother or the father mates with one of his daughters - and yayyyyy more puppies!

Laws mandating spay and neuters would cut down on pet overpopulation. And/or - conversely, charging people more to register intact animals (our city charges 16.00 to register spayed/neutered animals and 25.00 if they aren't - really is 9.00 a year a deterrant - no).

Sure it would be great if there was something that could be legislated - but that seems to violate people's "rights" as they say. me - I am all for it. But there are too many people that would scream and kick about it - and I guess it's their right to scream and kick - this is America after all.

Answer 3

Some but not all do not care at all. I know many of my previous neighbors where I used to live, would toss out their cats when they found out their cat was pregnant. One had two kittens which I rescued from under their porch. One did not survive. The other my husband and I kept. He has an appointment to be neutered. Other neighbors which I had seen repeatedly would completely throw their kittens outside after 6 weeks, which many were found dead, either by being hit by a car or poisoned or even tortured. These kind of people are scum. Even though I called repeatedly about the neglect and how many were hanging around our place, animal authorities would do nothing. I do have to say that I also have seen very many who love animals and will do everything in their power to keep strays from having more litters. I commend everyone who has done this. In this case was there were many strays that would be caught, then spayed or neutered free of charge.

Answer 4

this is somewhat done but not a law - for example if you breed to akc dogs - you will not get akc papers for you pup if you are not a registered breeder - however, i doubt by adopting germany's method would help decrease the problem - there are many backyard breeders that would still breed just for the money. many dogs running the streets and then whelping pups at abandoned places. Pitbulls have free spay and neutering - if this was to pass through all breeds it may help- another factor is educating the public - there are many animal collectors - ppl who take in one dog then another and another and gets out of hand - the majority of the public is not educated in the area of spaying and neutering. To be honest - some people in less fortunate areas don't even know about hiv and aids. in my belief it is best to educate and provide low cost methods - $40 at the humane society for small dogs might be considered cheap for some ppl but can be a lot of other ppl - then you would argue they shouldn't have a dog - but all they do is feed the dog scraps - the dog is not vaccinated - to them the dog is their companion that doesn't need much - there are so many circumstances that come up that it is hard to immediately reduce dog and cat population.

Answer 5

I belong to an organization started by 6 women 2 years ago called SAAW (Southern Aliance for Animal Welfare) We started with fundraisers and fliers, after 2 years we have spayed over 5000 cats, bot feral and domestic at no cost to the owners, the ferals are trapped spayed or neutured, and either returned where they came from or relocated to a safer place, The vet then snips just the tip of their left ear so we know which have been done. I personaly have taken in about 20 or 30, I feed them dry food twice a day, many of them are no longer true ferals, they will let us pet and love on them, but they do not like it inside! we have also spayed and neutured about 6000 dogs. We applied for grants and are constantly holding fund raisers, we have been able to expand our programs and have started a spay momma program for all female animals. It is a full time job for some of the volunteers, but after 2 years we are really starting to see a dip in animals at the animal shelter. It takes someone to put their time where there mouth is! We have recently convienced some of the vets to give us discounts and we now offer spaying for a $10.00 copay which is for the rabies shots. Not all the vets will help and some will only do two or three surgeries a week for us, but we're getting there!
Just in case!
Donations can be mailed to

SAAW POBox 906 Fayetteville, Tn. 37334

Those wanting to make sure it's not a scam can E-mail me and I will put them in touch with our president and brain child! Or you can look us up on the web, our website is a work in progress but up and running now.

Answer 6

I think that licensing breeders is a good idea and anyone who is not licensed should be forced to spay/neuter. But that would mean that the vets would have to lower their rates in order to allow everyone to get their pets fixed. But that wouldn't happen. Good breeders do get their breeder dogs certified with health exams and everything. People don't understand how big the problem really is and until they do, we have to do what we are doing. I know it sucks... I work at a kill shelter. I know that its not doing any good. 30 animals get euthanized and 60 more come in. People need to understand that if they love their pet, fixing them is the best thing that they can do for it. It solves more problems then just the overpopulation problem, oncluding future health problem that could arise. Plus it makes them healthier and happier.

Answer 7

Reputable breeders do this - OFA and CERF - anyway. Harsh and restrictive laws about breeding will affect them, the BYBs and puppy mills will either find a way around, or ignore them. In California, and other areas, dogs are being imported from Mexico and other places to fill the demand. Laws probably won't stop that.
For one view on the pet overpopulation problem, go dig up Norman Winograd's writing about pet population, shelter management, etc.

Answer 8

What should we do about pet over population?? You just tried to convince everyone that they shouldn't neuter their pets.. No matter how responsible or irresponsible they are..Now you are worried about pet over population?? Can't have it both ways..

You don't want people to neuter their dogs, but you want people to have to get a license to breed? You want to make rules and regulations on what people have to test for?? I think YEAH you are way off.. Stick to educating people on neutering instead of going about the whole thing backwards and trying to solve the problem..

Neutered and spayed pets CANNOT over populate.. Regulate the irresponsible, the ones that cannot keep their PETS under control.. The ones that can't figure out that they shouldn't breed their petstore mutt, or their badly bred dog, their mixed breed dog and everything else..

I think maybe people should have a license to ask questions... especially when they have no meaning..

Answer 9

We aren't willing to enforce vicious dog laws or leash laws... we'd rather drive around and look for dogs that are short and muscular with short hair and confiscate them based on completely unfounded BSL laws.
There is NO WAY anyone would enforce a law against breeding. "oops, my dog wasn't fixed, got loose, and well 65 days later.... LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL BABIEZZZZZ!"

I mean, in theory, this is GREAT. I just don't see it being practical.

People should also be licensed to have children too, but that is a whole OTHER argument.

Answer 10

I don't think there really is a massive overpopulation problem. The problem is that we don't want to cull dogs from the population. Any aggressive dogs should be immediately culled. Any dogs ill with genetic issues should be forced into sterilization. But that should have to be documented by 3 vets in order to prevent people with agendas from forcing sterilization on all dogs. Shelter fees should be lowered to the point that everyone could adopt and no rigorous application process should be held. (do they really want these dogs adopted or do they just want $) Spay/Neuter costs should be regulated to be kept low, so that if people want that done they can do it.