If the majority of animals not owned by professional, responsible breeders were spayed/neutered, pet overpopulation would decline. As it is, there aren’t enough homes for the animals in existence. While a large number of animals born are the result of intentional breeding, countless others are the product of intact animals that the owner never had altered and allow to roam freely (such as the stray in the photo above). An “accidental” breeder can be responsible for continually bringing in new litters.
Mandatory spay/neuter laws create too much opposition from the breeding community. (Just do a keyword search on “California Healthy Pets Act”!) This has not only brought up an outcry from understandably concerned breeders, but has caused some opposition groups to advocate against neutering altogether. A sad by-product of this is that many breeders are unwilling to work together with welfare groups in an effort to end bad breeding practices. If restrictions against breeding are enacted, they must be done with the intent of reducing overpopulation, not on wiping out of existence of pets or purebred animals altogether. Since some sort of consensus on this matter is unlikely, the best course of action is voluntary spay/neuter.
The best solution for this is to have resources available for people to voluntarily have their pets neutered at a very low cost, especially if the owners are low income. A cooperative effort that involves local rescue groups, veterinarians, and concerned animal owners is the key. More people would have their pets fixed if vets were willing to offer discounted surgeries. High prices charged by many vets keep some owners from having their animals altered.
I’m looking for information on successful, low or no-cost spay/neuter programs that can be featured on the blog. If you know of such a program you’d like to recommend, please add a comment with the name of the program and contact info, such as a website address.
Photos courtesy of sxc.hu
