Something neds to be done!!

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by ognend

Yup. My wife was a staff vet in a country shelter when we lived in South Florida. The county spent copious amounts of tax money to perpetually allow a bunch of people who clearly could not afford pets - to own pets. Guess what? Many of these animals either came back as surrenders as soon as the first unexpected vet bill came or they slowly found their way back to the streets.

I think you missed the point. It's not about "allowing" people to have pets. The animals are out there, either they're fed by a family or they're on the streets. By spay/neuter for free, they can't reproduce at least,slowing the population growth.

And the free program has meant many many families are willing to adopt a rescued stray who otherwise may hesitate. They'll feed and care for the pet, but when the upfront costs are covered, it's so much easier to find homes for animals.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

Originally Posted by ognend

Free means tax subsidized - someone has to pay for spaying and neutering these animals. Owning a pet is not a right, it is a privilege - why would everyone pay taxes for someone to get their animal fixed. In my experience, people who cannot afford to fix their pet, lose the pet at first sign of necessary medical expense since they cannot afford it or will not want to spend the money.

Sterilizing one animal is much cheaper than dealing with the many animals that animal can produce, and their offspring. This is one of those knee-jerk responses to any kind of idea that involves tax money going to anything other than corporations or wars...why should we foot the bill for someone else's whatever? Because if you take care of it once, then it's taken care of in the future. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all that.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

Originally Posted by Michigan Transplant

Quote: I have a neighbor who lets her dog run free and every time the dog gets pregnant the neighbor is shocked. "The dog went and got pregnant again, why would she want to do that?" Unquote.

Unbelievable. SMH. This takes ignorance to a whole new level.

Their teenage daughter had never heard of birth control...she and my daughter used to hang out and one day my daughter said she wanted to get on the pill to help with her pimpled, and that led to a discussion of the various forms of birth control. The girl didn't even know such a thing was possible. And after that, they didn't let her hang out with my daughter anymore.

[Lee W.]

They'd probably be shocked if the daughter got pregnant also. "Why would she want to do that?" Duh!

[ggeorgie]

UPDATE:

Interestingly enough, as I went to feed my stray dogs in front of Mission Concepcion, that have been there for two weeks, are gone; as I pulled up to feed them, just as a tour bus of kiddos showed up. Dogs gone.... So, I drive over to Concepcion Park, same area, to feed my stray with half a tail, he's gone........ I will keep looking for these dogs... So, I drive up Hart, to Flores, and Feed my two strays on N.Flores and Hart, and they were waiting for me, after that I went to feed my stray behind Dollar General, 801 Pleasanton, and she went to next lot....
Point is, what happened to my strays in major public areas, and my strays not so in public areas??

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by ggeorgie

UPDATE:

Interestingly enough, as I went to feed my stray dogs in front of Mission Concepcion, that have been there for two weeks, are gone; as I pulled up to feed them, just as a tour bus of kiddos showed up. Dogs gone.... So, I drive over to Concepcion Park, same area, to feed my stray with half a tail, he's gone........ I will keep looking for these dogs... So, I drive up Hart, to Flores, and Feed my two strays on N.Flores and Hart, and they were waiting for me, after that I went to feed my stray behind Dollar General, 801 Pleasanton, and she went to next lot....
Point is, what happened to my strays in major public areas, and my strays not so in public areas??

Maybe someone rescued them (myself and my neighbors have picked up our share of rescues while walking the river and at Concepcion Park). I haven't recently, but the strays in public places, esp. if they're dumps and still friendly to people, are more likely to be rescued by passers by.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by Hedgehog_Mom

Sterilizing one animal is much cheaper than dealing with the many animals that animal can produce, and their offspring. This is one of those knee-jerk responses to any kind of idea that involves tax money going to anything other than corporations or wars...why should we foot the bill for someone else's whatever? Because if you take care of it once, then it's taken care of in the future. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all that.

Multiple studies have shown that TNR with cats simply doesn't work. Stray cats kill tons of native wildlife, in addition. A better way is capture and euthanise, esp. cats - or capture and adopt out, if possible, not return to same area. I realize that you may not like to hear it and that TNR may make you feel good but studies done by universities support the latter. No need to involve war and corporations and jump to conclusions via making unfounded accusations, I support neither war nor cuts for large corporations. Still doesn't make tax dollars spending on someone being irresponsible any more justified. As I said, owning a pet is a privilege, not a right. If tax dollars were going to be spent, I would like to first see universal healthcare and free college for everyone - you NEED a surgery and it is increasingly necessary for everyone to have an education (more educated voters, for one and also more educated pet owners). If tax dollars were to be spent, I would rather them be spent to pull people out of poverty - this also makes for better pet owners. Just giving someone a free pet will make absolutely no difference, as current situation proves - you just enable irresponsible people to own an animal they cannot afford and don't have the means to take care of. If a $100 makes a difference between having a dog or a cat and not having them - that just tells you the animal will be on the street, dead or back in the shelter with the first $100+ vet bill....

[ggeorgie]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Maybe someone rescued them (myself and my neighbors have picked up our share of rescues while walking the river and at Concepcion Park). I haven't recently, but the strays in public places, esp. if they're dumps and still friendly to people, are more likely to be rescued by passers by.

Thanks Chaka...
My two strays in front of Mission Concepcion are gone.... My other stray of 6 more is still at Concepcion Park; He is the one with a collar, tail, half chopped off, but I feed him daily, around 8:45am......
He is getting more friendly and is not sooo afraid of humans that made him that way.
The other two dogs on S.Flores and Hart are doing better, as I feed them daily as well.. The one behind Dollar General has moved to Brighton and Pleasanton; I fed her... she almost was dead of starvation... Now, looks like she was hit by a car... I called 311 about her, but to no avail..... I will keep documenting.....
Media will help me in feeding all these strays along mission trail and surrounding areas; ..

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by ggeorgie

Thanks Chaka...
My two strays in front of Mission Concepcion are gone.... My other stray of 6 more is still at Concepcion Park; He is the one with a collar, tail, half chopped off, but I feed him daily, around 8:45am......
He is getting more friendly and is not sooo afraid of humans that made him that way.
The other two dogs on S.Flores and Hart are doing better, as I feed them daily as well.. The one behind Dollar General has moved to Brighton and Pleasanton; I fed her... she almost was dead of starvation... Now, looks like she was hit by a car... I called 311 about her, but to no avail..... I will keep documenting.....
Media will help me in feeding all these strays along mission trail and surrounding areas; ..

Can you catch them? DO you know if they're chipped? If they're from that area, you can take them to SNAP to be spay/neutered for free I think (they do cats, I think they do dogs too). Maybe get some neighborhood folks together to work on it.

The Cannoli Fund does an amazing job in the Southtown area, thought it's mostly 1-2 people who do all the work, while the rest of us just help trap/rescue. At least if they're fixed they won't be adding to the population.