People are becoming aware that in the U.S. that there is a serious companion animal overpopulation crisis. Every two seconds, of every day, a dog or cat is killed in a shelter in the United States. Breeders perpetuate this problem by creating even more animals.
For many people, companion animals are a member of the family – and they cannot imagine any harm being inflicted upon them.
And yet other people treat companion animals as objects without feelings or the capacity to experience pain or fear. Sadly, many of these animals are neglected and spend their lives left outside to survive extreme weather conditions, and / or chained or otherwise restricted, are left to perish in hot vehicles, are trained and forced to fight to the death for entertainment, are bred for profit, or are discarded when inconvenient to care for or no longer considered “cute.” .
Every two seconds, of every day, a dog or cat is killed in a shelter in the United States. If all cats and dogs currently in shelters were given homes, every man, woman and child in the country would have nine animals.
Only two out of ten kittens in the U.S. ever find a lifelong home. Two unaltered cats and their unaltered offspring can produce 20,000 animals within two years.
One out of every four dogs in shelters is a purebred. These is due to breeders and puppy mills who breed dogs for profit to sell to the highest bidder. If they don’t end up in a good home, the dogs are commonly sold for scientific experimentation or surrendered to shelters. And unless the shelter practices a no-kill policy, any homeless animals are eventually euthanized.
Abandoned and homeless animals run the streets living miserable, lonely, frightened lives. They starve to death, die of infection, disease, or injury, or are picked up by those intent on harming them. And the unaltered wild cat population continues to increase in the U.S.; an estimated 70 million feral cats now exist in this country.
Every dog and cat deserves a loving, safe home and environment in which to live. But unless more people adopt / rescue animals from shelters or and ensure they are altered at a young age, the U.S. will continue to try to deal with its overpopulation crisis.
