Problem Statement
Overpopulation of pets is growing in the US by the numbers each day.
Current Situation
According to the article “Pet Statistics” by the ASPCA estimates there are 70-80 million dogs and 74-96 million cats owned in the United States. It is impossible to determine the number of stray dogs and cats, but the ASPCA estimates there are 70 million cats alone that are strays in the US (“Pet Statistics”). The overpopulation of dogs and cats live either on the streets and die each day, they live in a shelter and try to get adopted, but even then they die. The ASPCA states that nationwide about 7.6 million companion animals enter the shelter and of the 7.6 million approximately 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats (“Pet Statistics”).
The reason for the overpopulation is because there are way too many puppies and kittens being born each year (“Pet Overpopulation”). People are letting their cats and
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The first is making legislation that forces the pet owners to sterilize their pets. The exceptions could be just like Dallas, Texas younger than six months, has a breeder permit that they have to obtain from the state, or they are a service dog and has the paperwork to prove it, but even that could be optional (“Mandatory”). If the state of Michigan has this law then the overpopulation will go down very quickly because of the fines that people will have to pay at least $500 (“Legislation”). The second solution is sterilizing your pet right after you get it rather than from a breeder or from the shelter. Normally shelters will include the price of sterilizations include in the price for the pet. The last solution that will help is probably the easiest to do and that is to make sure that the pets are microchipped or have a collar and tag with all of your contact information. If your pet gets lost it doesn’t go straight to the shelter, it goes straight back to its
First of all, aspca.org says you should adopt from shelters with a high kill rate. Animals in "no kill" shelters will all get adopted eventually, but animals in "kill" shelters are on borrowed time. Make donations to open admission shelters to help them buy more supplies so that it is easier to keep the animals in their shelters longer. According to humanesociety.org, you can also spay or neuter your pet in order to prevent having more pets than you intended to get and ending up putting the young animals in the shelter. This evidence shows that there are many ways that you can help prevent euthanization.
Thousands of animals are put to sleep each year due to not having any available homes for them to be adopted. According to Jennifer Sexton and Tom Warhol in Domestic Animal Overpopulation, “The average female cat can produce two litters of six kittens per year, a female dog can produce one litter of six or more puppies per year, making pet overpopulation a significant problem.” Animal overpopulation is costing money and you can help the pets with spay and neutering programs. A new solution is mandatory contracts for breeders and spay and neuter programs. This paper will talk about spay and neuter programs, contracts for breeders, and why some people don’t think animal overpopulation is a problem. Thankfully there are solutions to this issue of animal overpopulation.
The lack of awareness programs attributes to animal hoarding greatly. The Robinson Rescue is an organization that “educate[s] pet owners about the importance of spay/neuter as a means of ending pet overpopulation.” ( ). This organization shows children how they should think of animals so that they do not abuse their animals like a case in which the defendants argued “that pets are classified as personal property…” and that they have feelings too (Donaghey 2011) (Gunnarson). Few people realize that 354 animals are eutha...
Did you know that five million to seven million companion animals enter shelters nationwide each year? Spaying and neutering pets needs to be supported by more communities of people. The American Kennel Club (AKC) is opposed to mandatory sterilization, they state that it, “creates a hardship for responsible breeders.” Spaying and neutering is typically seen by a majority of the population as inhumane and an unnecessary violation of animal rights. The American Veterinary Medical Associations recommend that state and local governments develop effective dog and cat population control programs. Who is to decide what is “effective” enough for the populations, and how would it be done if spaying and neutering is not supported? The spaying and neutering
Countless lives locked away in cages and forgotten about have overwhelmed our society, it has left blood stains on our history as a species and if history has taught us anything, it’s that we have a choice to change our ways of adjusting to situations. A war which was fought in pursuit of ending such criminal means, yet we as human beings do little to nothing to end the horrific crimes of animal deaths in shelters. It is no secret that this world has become infused with problems that have extended from one side of the globe to the other. Amongst these problems lies a terrible truth: nearly every year, sums of almost eight million cats and dogs have been placed in shelters around the world. Out of these vast numbers, half will be euthanized; that equals to one animal being put down every 8 seconds. Animals that are not adopted are kept in shelters until they find a home. Most of these shelters do not have enough space or resources to care for the animal. Only 15% of dogs and 2% of cats that enter animal shelters are reunited with their owners. The majority of pets are obtained from acquaintances and family members. Twenty-six percent of dogs are purchased from breeders, 20 to 30 percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues, and 2 to 10 percent are purchased from pet shops. In addition, only 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized. The 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered, while 78 percent of dogs and 88 percent of cats are not spayed or neutered, in 2009 Statistics from animal shelters in 55 counties in WV (West Virginia) shows that nearly 54% of all animals entering shelters are euthanized, The euthanasia rates ranged from the lowest at 5% to the highe...
The pet industry is undoubtedly thriving. According to a survey conducted by American Pet Products Association, 56% of families in the United States owned a pet in 1988. This year, 2017, has seen a rise in the figure to 68%. Among all kinds of pets owned in the U.S. households, dog dominates with an ownership of 60.2 million. (American Pet Products Association, 2017)
According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 7.6 million companion pets enter animal shelters across the United States each year, nearly evenly disrupted between dogs and cats . These animals are abandoned for reasons including families no longer being able to care for them (sickness/death of an owner), to families not wanting them (the novelty wearing of the animal wearing off), to the animals being born into puppy mills to finally animals that are loved being lost from their owners. These animals do not understand what is happening to them and rely on the kindness of humans to provide for them in shelters until their forever home can be found.
Ideally, pet supply would be equal to the demand for wanted pets. There may never be enough caring homes for all the pets as is evident by the fact that only about 25 percent of the pets in shelters are ever adopted. F...
About 2.7 million animals are euthanized and 2.7 million shelter animals are adopted each year.
"Pet Overpopulation : The Humane Society of the United States." RSS. The Humane Society of
It is well known that dogs and cats are some of mankind’s most beloved domestic animals. However, far less well known is that a huge animal homelessness problem exists. Every year in the United States roughly 7.6 million abandoned, lost, or unwanted dogs and cats are entered into shelters (ASPCA).
Growing up I was one of those kids that would find abandoned or lost animals on the street and run home crying and begging my mom if we could please keep it, the answer was usually no but we would always check for a collar or tags then take it back home or call the animal shelters to come pick the lost pet up. The older I got the more I began to realize how many animals the shelters in my community and surrounding area had to take in and care for and how much of a financial and emotional drain it could be on the workers, of course I wanted to do my part to help these poor innocent animals and I began volunteering after school and during the summer whenever I had the chance. This experience showed me both the good and the bad of what animal shelters have to handle and deal with everyday, from feeding, cleaning, adoptions, medical care, general upkeep, and how expensive it was to protect and help these animals. I began to see that as the years progressed less people wanted shelter dogs and the shelters quickly became over populated and had trouble finding ways to lessen their load. Many of the animal shelters in the United States face this same exact problem and are overwhelmed by the number of unwanted pets. There are many things that could lessen the strain such as mandatory spaying and neutering for pets that will not be used for breeding, tougher penalties to cut back on the number of dogs brought into shelters because of animal abuse, and having shelters hold adoption days at least twice a month to spread the word about older pet companions and to show the community how many animals the shelter takes in and cares for.
Seven and a half billion. Enough steps to walk around the globe a hundred and sixty times. Our planet is trying to provide and sustain for a colossal number of people which is expanding every single second. Now the concern that has been put forth by scholars come from the idea that the consumption and effects to our planet by our current society is an international security risk that greatly compromises the future generations. Confucius even mentions this at the earliest start of civilization by saying:
Overpopulation is going to continue to be a growing problem all over the world unless we come together and help each other out. This is a difficult task but it can be dealt with. This is the most important environmental issue because it leads to many others. It leads to loss of species, shortage of land, lack of resources, deforestation, health issues, pollution, and famine. Overpopulation is a growing problem we can stop. The only way this is going to be stopped is by humans taking action and trying to help each other.
Have you ever had a pet? As we know, more and more families have pets in their homes nowadays regardless of which country. Data showed an estimated 82.5 million U.S. households own at least one pet in their home. The American Pet Products Association, which is also called APPA, claimed that pet ownership by household in the U.S. has risen from just 56% in 1988, when the first APPA National Pet Owners Survey was conducted, to 68% as of 2013-2014. And the number of pet ownerships is going up even more rapidly in recent years. Research shows full-year sales for famous pet store like PetSmart and PetMed Express have jumped 106% and 116%,