Animal Studies Commons^™

Solving The Pet Overpopulation Problem

Close Up Reports

Because of the short pregnancies and large litters of dogs and cats, one individual female with all her female offspring reproducing similarly can be the source of over 4,000 new lives within seven years. Some of these animals will find homes complete with laps to sit on and fireplaces to enjoy, but millions of other perfectly healthy dogs and cats won't be so lucky. The overabundance of these potential pets tends to cheapen the intrinsic value of each individual animal in the eyes of the general public. The swelling problem causes some people to use cruel methods of disposing of …

Homeless Cats And Dogs Are Suffering And Dying

Close Up Reports

Last year more than 13 million homeless cats and dogs were euthanized at humane societies and municipal animal shelters. As a statistic, 13 million may be meaningless. But think of it another way. Think of the 13 million as individual animals with individual personalities--each with their own beating heart, each with their own wretched story of how they found their way to the animal shelter. Each one was an individual breathing creature whose life was ended because there was no home to go to.

Our Pet Population Explosion And Operation Spared, Kay Clausing

Pets Collection

All humane societies are dedicated to preventing cruelty and suffering. No society can effectively prevent cruelty unless it makes spaying compulsory for all females released for adoption and talks spaying to every owner of a female. Even if the home is a good one in every other respect, if a female is permitted to produce even one litter, the humane society is simply delaying or postponing cruelty. In fact, it is perpetuating it. When the female (which your society otherwise placed so carefully) has a litter, often its owners are not qualified to judge what constitutes a good home. In …

The War Against Surplus Breeding, Irene Castle

Puppy Mills Collection

Almost the whole humane movement is snowed under and overwhelmed by the still mounting flood of surplus cats and dogs. The surplus turns our shelters into sordid slaughterhouses. It distorts and perverts the thinking of many even of our very best people. Hundreds of our societies are kept permanently on the edge of bankruptcy by the single problem of taking in and disposing of cats and dogs which are homeless or unwanted simply because of the immense surplus of such animals.

It is so easy for all of us to throw up our hands and denounce veterinarians for the high …