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Pet overpopulation combined with a high number of homelessness due to being lost, surrendered or unwanted and not enough adoptions are contributing to too many healthy and wonderful pets to die, either by euthanasia or other painful ways in the streets. It costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year spent in caring and euthanizing these animals because they had nowhere else to go.
Other than offering free or discount spay/neuter, what else do you think we can do as a society to bring this problem under control?
Keep in mind, the top reasons cats and dogs are surrendered:
Moving
Behaviour problems
Lack of time
Can no longer financially afford it
Should we spend more efforts into educating the general public about responsible pet ownership?
Should we force all pet stores to carry shelter pets?
Should we pass a law where owners are allowed to keep their pets no matter what community they are moving into (I.e. senior living, apartments, etc)?
Should we remove all breed restrictions?
Should owners be required to take a 101 pet behaviour class if they are experiencing behaviour problems?
Should we spend more money and time helping people keep their pets if they are going through a hard time?
Are high vet bills contributing to people giving up their pets?
Shut down the jpuppy mills which produce about half a million puppies a year.
At this point in time it's estimated that about 2.5 to 3 million healthy but unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized in open admission, public (for the most part) shelters. It's also estimated that households in this country acquire approximately 18 million new pets each year but only about 30% come from shelters. The rest come from puppy mills, back yard breeders, oops litters from pets that were not spayed, etc.
If shelters, both public and private can gain just a small increase in the percentage of the market for new pets the numbers for euthanasia should drop.
Encourage landlords to allow tenants to have a pet.
Prohibit national and state veterinary organizations from fighting to shut down low cost spay/neuter clinics.
Prohibit national and state veterinary organizations from fighting to shut down low cost spay/neuter clinics.
I'm glad you thought to mention it. It's not a problem in my area, thank goodness, but I know there are clinics that have had to close their doors, or fight lengthy battles to stay open. It's reprehensible that other vets would put their worries about losing revenue above helping to control the pet population, or above letting someone help low income people do what they think is right for their dog or cat.
Wow, I didn't know the vets vs. spay/neuter clinics was an issue in some places. That's horrible.
In terms of the original question, I can only speak from my experience in my small part of the world, but I have seen a lot more acceptance and desire to adopt shelter animals within the past 10 years or so. Here in the Seattle area, you can hardly turn on the radio without hearing spots for the local shelters, and there are frequent events-- both for fundraising and adoptions-- that happen throughout the year.
I am all for education in terms of behavioral issues, but I think it's a double-edged sword. Sure, it might help some owners, but I can see a lot of pets simply abandoned if there are too many hoops to jump through for a surrender.
I don't know how exactly this would be done, but I know that I've heard a reason why some people don't go the "shelter route" is because of the perceived intrusiveness of the application process. The prospect of home visits or reference checks turns a lot of people off. While it's true that some facilities do this, a lot do not. I think that it would benefit all involved if somehow it got into the general consciousness that adopting a pet doesn't necessarily mean giving up your first born.
Mandatory licensing for both breeding and ownership (and on the ownership front I am not talking about a license for the pet, I am talking about a license for the host!).
Painful penalties (financial for those who can afford to pay) for any violations.
Use funds collected for care of unwanted pets, education and outreach.
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