Overpopulation of Animals

Millions of companion physicals be being euthanized by wildcat shelters sever aloney year nationwide. One might ask why this is. Is at that grade whatsoever one person or persons that is responsible for the over population of wildcats tone ending to our local shelters? These are any(prenominal) doubts that need to be answered. If we as the oecumenic public want to start tackling these problems, we need to forgather further cause of how and why these problems are created in the primary place.As with ein truth number there are always two sides to e very(prenominal) story. This topic is no different. The different voices and opinions vary as much as the different eccentric persons of breeds of puppets. low you guard the post group, like that of your local animal shelters and humane societies. These groups harbour primarily on the idea that yes, animal over population is a huge problem, and that spaying and neutering is the number one way to live domesticated anim als from creating more and more upshot.The second solution that m some(prenominal) of the authority groups share is the fact that caress proprietors are non always as informed as they should be about the total of time, attention, and money it very realizes to aright care for an animal. While speaking with Dr. Joseph Hoelzle, a local veterinarian of 32 years in Cave Junction, OR, he definitely agrees that animal over population is a HUGE problem. He is presented daily with animals that subscribe to been lost or abandoned. Dr. Joe and his staff further have a minor(ip) facility, so when they do receive shacks and cats at their door step, they are very limited in the options they have.If an animal is very sick or injure they have the legal right to euthanize. Otherwise if the animal in question is a dog they have to c totally the local animal shelter, as they do non have the facilities to facilitate dogs. Cats on the other hand, they stop do more with. Dr. Joe and his sta ff can house them longer and savour and find homes for them. When asked his opinion on whether or non he judgement the public is wishinging in education on the actual amount of responsibility it takes to take care of animals, his response was yes, definitely. Take horses for example, raft limit horses and how pretty they are and decided to bring one home. If you have neer owned a horse before, or have never nonetheless been exposed to horses and how to take care of them, consequently you have no pinch how much work it actually takes to maintain one. Dr. Joe went on to say that the average out size dog that is in good health takes approximately $10,000 a year to properly care for them. The first step when making any decisions on reserveing an animal, no matter what type or breed, is always research. explore how big they result be, what types of health problems are prone to those specific animals, do they require a lot of maintenance, are they high in energy, and so fort h. Another call into question that was conducted was with Marci, from the Josephine County living organism Shelter in Grants Pass, OR. Not astute how far out the animal shelter was from my location, I made real to leave with plenty of time to find the shelter as wellhead as be early for the actual interview its self. As I was sitting out front of the animal shelter waiting for my interview to be had, I can hear all the barking and howling of all the dogs.Through their sad cries you can hear the yearning in their voices to solely be adored. This is just one of the many conditions I abruptly love dogs. Although they are locked in jail not know what their final term might be, they still greet everyone with a smile, and a wagging tail, faithful to the end. The first question to break the ice that I asked Marci was, do you like your theorise. Marci says she absolutely loves her job and would not change anything she does daily that she is somewhat of an adrenalin junkie. This j ob is a very rewarding job, frustrating at times exclusively very rewarding. You blend the chance to make a discrimination, a difference with not only the animals that you receive or rescue, nevertheless in addition with the community. life history as an officer of the animal shelter can be very challenging at times. Some of the challenges they face on a timed basis is a lack of support, a huge lack in funding, lack of man power, and a lack of the proper equipment. They do not have all the fancy equipment that is seen in magazines, or on the pop TV. show on Animal Planet, Animal Police.Marci goes on to state, We do not even have the proper funding right now to obtain something as simple as ramps for our trucks. According to Brad Tally, the animal regard supervisor for the Josephine County Animal Shelter, there Annual budget is $400,000. The shelter only receives a total of $75,000 from general funding. The shelter themselves are responsible for summit the remaining balan ce of $325,000 themselves. They do this through fundraising, donations and the funds they receive from pet owners licensing their pets.Marci explains that it is an Oregon state law that a dog is licensed. Oregon does not recognize cats. If an animal control officer is called out to a hearth for something like a disturbance call, and they realize that the dog is not licensed, the owner can be fined for the cost of the original license plus an added xxx buck penalty fee. If the owner is still not compliant at bottom 30 days of the citation, they can be fined again with a $360 dollar citation. We would rather not loose citations we would rather try and cut the owners a break by giving them a verbal warning. Marcis thoughts on animal overpopulation and a productive method of reducing the number of animals producing offsprings that potentially have no homes to go to, are confusable to those of Dr. Joe. She says that the overpopulation of domesticated animals can be stopped by spayi ng and neutering. That there are a lot of programs out there that can and will help with the cost of the procedures.If every pet owner decided to get their animals spayed or neutered, the number of animals being culled up and dropped off would falloff significantly. One incentive that is already in place statewide is that, if a pet owner does get there dogs fixed the cost of the licensing is also reduced. The cost goes from thirty five dollars down to eighteen dollars. Another issue Marci raised that contributes to the overpopulation problem was the fact that there are back gravitational constant breeders that breed dogs for money. They are not breeding their pure bred with another type of pure bred to better the breed they are breeding these dogs just to gain money. They have no actual intention on ever doing anything with these dogs they entirely do this out of pure greed. An opposing view point to this teaching taken from CQ Researcher Americas Pampered Pets, By Mary H. mak e Volume 6, issue 48, Para. 29 states that AKC breeders argue that because their dogs are healthy and properly groomed, their rights to bred animals should not be taken forth. When Marci was asked about the disturbing fact that millions of animals are being euthanized each year in American shelters and whether or not this was true, her response was actually rather positive. She was able to leave a since of hope, in my now saddened realities.Marci stated that their rates of euthanasia have dropped considerably. That the shelter has started smell for other means of dealing with their animals other than turning directly to euthanizing. distributively year animal shelters nationwide receive what is known as cook away pets. What exactly are wander away pets? Picture this youre out one day driving around with the family, and all of a sudden you see one of those handmade signs that read Free Puppies. So you decided to pull over you walk up to see all the adorable puppies, wagging thei r tails and looking at you with those big innocent eyes.You and the family take one home, not really knowing much about the whelp, let alone its breed. And before you know it, this cute little adorable puppy has turned out to be way more work than you or your family had initially anticipated. So with not wanting to continue to keep up with the daily responsibilities of owning the dog, you decided to take it to the local animal shelter in hopes that it will find a better home. This is where the term throw away dogs comes from. Sadly enough, this is what Marci and the others at the Animal shelter see on a daily basis.The general procedure that is followed when a new animal is received differs from cats to dogs. The first step is the initial paperwork that is involved, getting them logged into jail. by and by they have done the paper work one of the first things they do is scan the animal in hopes to find a microchip. (Microchips are piddling chips surgically implanted into a dog or cats skin that contains all of the owners contact information. ) If there is not a microchip present and the dog does not have any type of licensing information on them, then the dog is held for cardinal two hours.During the holding period the dog is unbroken in the back kennels away from potential adoptees. A lost and entrap book is gone through to make sure that the dog in question has not already been called in as lost. If in the seventy two hour period the dog is still not claimed, they commit a temperament test. If the dog passes the temperament test, then they are legal for adoption. The other means of handling stray dogs other than euthanasia, mentioned earlier in the paper, that the shelter turns to are working with other programs as well as other counties.Some of the programs they work with are PAWS and Dogs for the Deaf. The other county they work with to place dogs into forever homes is Jackson County. PAWS is a non-profit animal shelter located in West Linn, Oregon . According to their website located at www. pawsanimalshelter. org, Since we opened our doors on June 6, 1999, we have found homes for over 1,000 cats, 45 dogs, 1 rabbit, 2 turtles, 1 pigeon, and a miniature horse. According to the website www. dogsforthedeaf. org, Dogs for the Deaf rescue dogs from animal shelters throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and calcium.We film dogs that are people friendly, confident, and motivated by toys, treats, and affection. We rescue, train, and place 30-40 dogs annually. The dogs are adept with positive reinforcement and lots of love. When asked Marcis opinion on the lack of public information, and whether or not this could be one of the factors that is contributing to the overpopulation of animals in animal shelters, her response was, As far as public information, that is something we do, but with the lack of man power and time we have, this is something that we cannot do enough of. thither are only two actual officers working out of the Josep hine County Animal Shelter, Marci and her partner Bill. Between the two of them they are expected to answer to every single call placed out of Josephine County.This area is roughly from the California border, to the Glendale off ramp, out to the Applegate area. This is where the lack of man power comes into play. An article in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, (Beyond Overpopulation A comment on Zawistowski et al. and Salman et al. By Fehell, Lee Anne, 1999 Vol. , Issue 3. Para. 24) Brings up yet another reason as to why animals start to stack up in animal shelters. The general public more times than not are detoured away from their local animal shelters due to the common knowledge that pets is killed at the site. They do not want to be made spirit guilty or responsible for that animals life if they do not pick that certain one to bring home. Getting a new animal is and welcoming that animal into your home is supposed to be an exciting jovial event, not something tha t is associated with death or defeat.Although there is a majority of people who would rather obtain a dog or cat from soulfulness they know rather than going to a shelter and mayhap fetching home an animal that they were not a hundred percent tag on, there is also a large majority of people who feel the complete opposite. They would rather go to the local animal shelter and possibly save that cat or dogs life. This in my opinion gives these individuals a thought of accomplishment. Here is a poem about just that.