Since I already have their attention, may as well post this one too Pet Overpopulation – Prove it!! The time has come for ALL breeders to take the high road against the animal “rights” threat to our animals. For too many years we have been playing catch up and even repeating the propaganda put up by the AR groups. It is time to say stand up and say - PROVE IT!! We hear over and over again about the “pet overpopulation” and yet there are NO accurate statistics to prove that this is happening. No one has gathered an accurate accounting on a national level. NAIA has started a shelter statistics study but they haven’t even begun to get total figures on a national level. We hear that rural shelters have an overabundance of animals being euthanized. Yet there are rescues transporting animals from one state to another, one shelter to another by a form of underground railroad run by volunteers. Where is the accurate accounting for EVERY animal in and out of a shelter and an accounting of the reason why every animal is there? Counting feral cats, elderly animals whose owners bring them in for euthanasia and wild animals that have been injured can skew and pad shelter figures without indicating a pet overpopulation problem The ARs are demanding microchipping and spay/castration for all of our animals. The shelters should be held to the same standard to prevent animals from bouncing from one shelter to another and being counted multiple times. If there are rural shelters with too many animals, why are shelters in New York, New Jersey, Florida and California importing dogs from foreign countries such as Mexico, China, Israel, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas? According to the USDA, shelters IMPORTED more than 300,000 dogs in 2013. We need to start a grassroots movement to DEMAND shelter accountability starting with our local shelters – city by city, county by county, state by state until this MYTH of “pet overpopulation” is proven to be either true or the falsehood many of us believe it to be. It is estimated that 75% of all American pets are spayed/castrated. Even Nathan Winograd, one of the earliest proponents of the no-kill shelter system and someone who tends to lean towards the AR philosophies is not buying into this MYTH anymore. His latest book is entitled “Redemption, The Myth of Pet Overpopulation”. I do not want to hear from 50 or 100 individual shelters saying you are wrong because WE have a pet overpopulation problem. No - you do not. And YES, I have worked in shelters. Heres the thing - if we have shelters IMPORTING animals from foreign countries then we do NOT have a pet overpopulation problem. We have as Mr. Winograd lays out in his book, a combination of pet distribution problems, shelter management problems and an owner responsibility problem. Shelters in rural areas have too many dogs. Shelters in urban areas have too few - thats a problem that we can find a way to fix. Shelters have hours when people are at work so they cant come to look at animals. Thats a problem that can be fixed. Shelters dont have money to keep accurate records. Thats a problem that can be fixed. Take some of those volunteer dog walkers and ask them to donate a few hours behind a computer doing record keeping instead. Shelters have dogs that are dumped because their previous owners didnt train the dog due to either lack of interest, time or expertise. Solution - foster homes, purebred rescues, volunteers to take and train dogs so that they are placable. Too many shelters are not looking at the bigger picture. They are so close to their local problem they arent seeing the forest for the trees and they are not looking for solutions close to home with the resources they already have or looking for help from other shelters. I will not buy that there is a pet overpopulation problem as long as any shelter in this country is importing dogs from other countries for adoption. I will not buy into this after attending the NAIA national conference last year and listening to a gentleman from Canada tell how he turned his shelter around by using positive methods rather than punishing people who have animals get loose or bring animals to his shelter. At his shelter people dont get blamed for giving up an animal as if they are committing the crime of the century. This is what I am referring to - the blame game - blaming breeders for shelter population is the AR shill game. Breeders are NOT the source of the problem whether they are commercial or hobby breeders. Breeders are NOT putting animals in shelters and killing them. Poor management of the issue of pets is what is killing animals in shelters. So for any local shelter that thinks they have a pet overpopulation problem - count heads - how many of those pets are actually young, cute, and easily placed and how many are ferals, older animals that have health problems, animals brought in by owners for euthanasia or those that are out of control and need an experienced trainer to deal with them. Then once you have taken a realistic look at your shelter population, do the same for the shelters in NJ, NY, CA or FL. Then go read Mr. Winograds book and get back to me. (P.S. I dont get a kickback from Mr. Winograd - just happen to think he has some answers). You should read Nathan Winograds book Redemption, The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and it will give you a better understanding of the scope of the problem. He is one of the founders of the No-Kill Shelter movement and believes that there are three reasons that dogs are in shelters (besides the imports) 1) poor shelter management (most of them are underfunded and understaffed) 2) poor owner retention 3) poor pet distribution. There are shelters in NY, NJ, RI, CN, FL, CA, MA and other states that have to import dogs in order to have ANY young adoptable animals. 70 to 80% of all American pets are spayed and neutered. There is likely to be a SHORTAGE of all dogs especially purebreds within 20 years. Look at the AKC registrations and how far they have dropped just in the last 10 years. The pet overpopulation myth is being built by those who have made an industry out of shelters and a virtue out of adopting a mutt instead of buying a purebred, health tested puppy from a breeder. I believe that people who adopt from shelters are extremely brave since they have NO idea what they are getting. People frequently LIE when they drop a dog off at a shelter in the hopes of getting the dog a new home. They lie about health problems. They lie about behavioral issues. And then the new owner has just adopted a ticking time bomb. For many families - especially those with young children - a well socialized health tested purebred dog from a breeder is a far better bet. The time is NOW!! Just because groups like HSUS and PeTA say it is so doesnt make it true. Stand up and say it every time they say “pet overpopulation” – “I want PROOF. Not opinion – facts, figures, the actual numbers - irrefutable proof that will stand up in a court of law. Prove it or SHUT UP!!”
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 12:41:15 +0000
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