Fighting the Persistent Myth of Canine Overpopulation
In 1841, Charles Mackay, a nineteenth-century Scottish journalist, wrote a book called Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. According to the author, the book described “the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men are, even in their infatuations and crimes.” In 2008, you might think global warming is the most serious popular delusion, but if you’re reading this magazine, then the delusion that is going to rock your world is the myth of canine overpopulation.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, there is a crisis of canine overpopulation: Every day in the United States, thousands upon thousands of puppies and kittens are born because of the uncontrolled breeding of pets. Add to that number the offspring of stray and abandoned companion animals, and the total becomes even more staggering. Every year, between six and eight million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters; some three to four million of these animals are euthanized because there are not enough homes for them.1.
If you Google “pet overpopulation,” you will get 176,000 hits, including these:
● Pawprints and Purrs: “A document providing statistics and facts showing that irresponsible breeding and lack of spaying/neutering causes pets to be euthanized.”
● In Defense of Animals: “It is a sad fact of life in our society that millions of “surplus” cats, dogs and other domesticated animals have no place to call home. The kennels and cages of America’s animal shelters are filled to capacity with these abandoned, lost and unwanted creatures. New strays and discarded family companions arrive continuously, yet there is not nearly enough space for them all so their stay must be short as they await an uncertain fate. It is estimated that between six and eight million cats and dogs enter animal shelters every year in the United States, but only about half of them make it out alive.”
● Last Chance For Animals: “Thousands of puppies and kittens are born each day in the U.S. In six years, one female dog can be the source of 67,000 puppies, while in seven years one female cat and her young can produce 420,000 kittens. Even if you find good homes for all of your pet’s offspring, you are taking away homes from other companion animals desperately in need of someone to care for them. Thousands of unwanted animals are killed everyday, most of them healthy, the majority less than one year old.”
Each of these websites quotes “facts” about pet overpopulation. The few that actually provide a source for their “facts” are usually quoting another animal rights organization. The very idea of pet overpopulation is so ingrained in the average American that anyone who dares to refute it is greeted with silence (at best) or jeers, even from fellow dog breeders.
Pet overpopulation is the basis for every mandatory spay-neuter bill that we have faced over the past couple of years. When California’s AB 1634 passed the state Assembly in June of 2007, the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, justified his draconian bill as the solution to overpopulation: “Today is a great day for California’s taxpayers and animal lovers. The California Healthy Pets Act will save millions of dollars that are currently being used to shelter and euthanize unwanted animals. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to pass this common sense solution to the growing challenge of pet overpopulation in our state,” said Assembly member Levine.2.
At the July 29 meeting of the Chicago city council where a mandatory spay-neuter ordinance was on the table, retired game show host Bob Barker played the “overpopulation” card to anyone who would listen: “Overpopulation is one of the most tragic problems - animal problems - that we have in this country," said Barker.3.
What is the truth about pet overpopulation? How can we find it and, more importantly, how can we use it to our advantage? Dr. Al Stinson, Legislative Director of the Michigan Association for Purebred Dogs and the Michigan Hunting Dog Federation, has come up with a solution that has worked very well in his home state. More than ten years ago, he lobbied successfully for a state law that required every animal shelter to report to the state Department of Agriculture the intake and disposition of unwanted pets. Two years ago, Dr. Stinson hired a veterinarian to review the figures for a three-year period. To our delight (and, I confess, our surprise), the number of dogs euthanized had declined each of the three years. While nearly half of the dogs entering shelters were euthanized, that number (about 50,000 dogs) represents just over two percent of the Michigan dog population.
It turned out that almost all of the numbers offered by animal activists in promoting their AR agenda are either wild guesses, or utterly made up! During last year’s AB 1364 battle, at least one activist cornered by reporters was forced to admit that his figures were exaggerated. If we are going to have a chance to defeat these mandatory spay-neuter proposals, it is crucial that we have accurate facts at our fingertips.
Don’t wait until mandatory spay-neuter legislation comes to your neighborhood. It’s a lot easier to play good defense if you’re well prepared. If your state does not already require shelter reporting, find a sympathetic legislator to draft a bill that will do so. Insist that your state make those numbers available to the public. In almost every city and state where numbers are available, shelter populations are declining!
Popular myths are hard to abolish. Look how many people still believe that some stranger in Nigeria wants to give them millions of dollars. So you can’t sit still and let the myth of pet overpopulation keep being repeated in ANY situation. It won’t make you popular in some circles to keep denying the claims of overpopulation, but if enough of us keep doing it for long enough, we can turn the tide of mandatory spay-neuter legislation.
1. http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/pet_overpopulation_and_ownership_statistics/the_crisis_of_pet_overpopulation.html.
2. June 6, 2007 Levine press release http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a40/press/20070606AD40PR01.htm
3. http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/Bob_Barker_pushes_Chicago_spayneuter_law,15309
|
Recent News At UKC
