Joanna Pulido: The Issue Of Animal Overpopulation

Imagine a puppy that’s hungry, scared, thirsty, and overcrowded. This may be what it was like where your puppy came from. Think about going to the pet store, seeing the cute little puppies in the glass, looking back at you in excitement. Some jump with joy; some sleep their little hearts away, tired from meeting so many new people, and others fight over the toy with the puppy next to them. You would never think for a second that where they had been born and spent roughly the first 12 weeks of their lives was in a dreadful environment. These places are Puppy Mills. They are large-scale dog breeding facilities that are usually unsanitary and very overcrowded. They don’t make sure the dogs have adequate food, water, socialization; nor do they ensure

A pack of dogs is playing in a ditch which is in the middle of a busy road. Some people in the cars look to see if the dogs' owner is nearby and wonder why anyone would allow their dogs to play so close to danger. Some drivers seem oblivious to the motley assortment romping in the water next to the road. They all keep driving without another thought for the safety or lives of those poor creatures. Unfortunately, this is a common scene in many areas. Unwanted dogs and cats are dumped to fend for themselves because there just are not enough homes for all of them. Where have these unwanted animals come from? The huge population is attributed to out of control breeding due to irresponsible owners, breeding by

Every day in the United States, approximately 10,000 people and 70,000 puppies and kittens are born. There will never be enough homes for all of these animals, and as a result millions are killed by animal control or die by themselves every year. If people would adopt their pets from a rescue or shelter, and not buy from pet stores or breeders, many lives would be saved and a lot of misery would be averted. Also, you end up with a great animal.

Transition: Now that we know what a problem animal overpopulation is, let’s talk about how we can help to solve this issue.

Dogs are what their owners make of them, they are shere products of their environments and feed off of how their owners treat them. For example, in America pit bulls, over the years have been portrayed as harmful or aggressive. These views have lead to manying uncompassionate acts towards this lost breed. Such as, selling the dogs for drugs to people who could care less about them to forcing pitbulls in harmful dog fights. In America’s society today some often view pitbulls as just a way of breeding dogs. This means that they essentially are not taking part in what it actually means to have a pet. People are suppose to provide, feed, care, and love their dogs and in some cases that’s not their important objective. The underlying issue that

“So while not all shelters can ‘‘afford’’ to keep the animals, they could find people who will foster the animals until adoption, or some other, positive alternative.” (www.neenink.com) “Why, if an animal is not a harm to others, should it be killed without any choice? The animals can’t speak for themselves. Their fates depend on us to be their voice”. “Are you up for the challenge? I know I am”.(www.neenink.com) This shows that the issue of pet abandonment is that people sometimes need a companion to help them through their life and if the people of the world keep on putting their animals in a shelter, then they end up getting put down then one day there won’t be a special furry friend by your side. Some people who go through mental depression get so scared that one day they might commit suicide but the animals stop them from doing

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) describes puppy mills situation to be overcrowded, unsanitary, without adequate food, water, and veterinary health care. Female dogs are even bred at every opportunity without a rest to maximize profit (“Puppy Mills”). Dogs are kept locked up in wired cages, stacked on top one another and sometimes their excrements are not properly monitored. Thus, this leads to unknown genetic disorders and poor genetic quality which makes it difficult for the dogs to live for a long time. In the end, it will cause a lot of stress and problems for the family down the road due to the dogs’ health. Many people who are unaware of these living conditions often tend to overlook their puppies neglect and suffering. When purchasing a new pet from a pet store, many people do not wonder where their pet may have come from, instead, they are more engulf in their excitement to bring home a new family

There are 1.5 dogs and cats put to sleep every second & 4-6 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year, states the Humane Society. The pet overpopulation epidemic has become more than overwhelming. But who is at fault for the ever increasing number of homeless and euthanized pets each year? The public, government and breeders all have their hand in this catastrophic epidemic. So who is to blame for this

While I was there I asked one of the workers that have daily contact with these animals about what she thought about puppy mills and what would be a way to avoid them and the specialty about adopting a dog/puppy from the shelter. When I was talking to the worker Kayla Kirkpatrick she told me that “adopting a puppy/dog from the shelter gives that animals a second chance in life” replied Kirkpatrick. I would strongly agree with that statement because when an animal gets a second chance to them that means being able to start a new life with people that they can actually trust. I asked her another question on what she thinks about puppy mills in response Kayla said that “they are an animal's number one nightmare, because they don't understand what's going and when the end is coming near, because it's so to hold on any longer.” After speaking to Ms.Kirkpatrick I realized now that after talking to kirpatrick that animals are just like people and desire better and that they are not just a profit or yard ornament. on Ms.Kirkpatrick's request and everybody she works with would love to see people adopting from the shelter than

This is a very hard and awful situation for the dog because they are domestic animals. This means that their survival skills are poor and they are almost completely helpless on their own. They are bound to die from starvation, overexposure, or get hit by a car. For the dogs that do not end up being killed, many shelters will take the dogs in, but many of them are overcrowded. The stray dogs that are brought in to local shelters can only stay for a short period of time because of the amount of dogs they are able to take in. In the end, most of the dogs end up not being bought because for every ten dogs in need of a home, only one person will be willing to. It can also cause emotional trauma for the owners when they find out all of the diseases of the dog and have to put the dog

There are many ways for us to help prevent overpopulation in animals, however, the most effective way is to just spay or neuter. Spaying and neutering is basically removing the reproductive organs of an animal so that it won’t be able to produce any offspring. Of course with every new concept in life, a series of doubts and concerns are met, in this particular case: myths. Myths such a sudden reaction of laziness and gaining of weight from the animal due to the procedure, the animal being purebred or special and the process interfering with future generations of animals, causing the male cat or dog to feel less of a male, and thinking its best to have a litter of before spaying the female pet. All such myths have been disproved as the act of laziness and weight gain comes from the owners actions in overfeeding their animal and having absolutely nothing to do with spaying or neutering, the reality that one out of four animals put into shelters are purebred and the rest are mixed and therefore no mutation will come from it, the gender identity does not exist within the pet and as a result there will be no sudden cases of emotional reaction when neutered.

Many may ask, why waste a valuable life? Why kill when you can just save them and adopt? Animals deserve the chance to live just like any person in this world does. Over the past 20 years, animal shelter communities in the United States has been grappling with the overpopulation problem of domestic animals (Rowan). Nationally, around four million animals are killed in animal shelters each year. Of the animals killed, roughly 95% of the shelters animals and treatable and healthy (Winograd). Each year between two to four million animals are euthanized (Winograd). Normally these animals are domestic such as dogs, cats, horses, and so on. Most people like to believe that the animals are being put down because an incurable disease but that is far from the truth. You have to take in account those who are euthanized because there are not enough homes or space to

Thesis statement: The reason I ask this is to emphasize the importance of the topic and to introduce why choosing adoption over buying is not only the right, but the most humane decision to make when getting a pet.

Overpopulation has been a growing problem over the past 60 years with an additional gain of 4.5 billion people since the 1950s. In 1750 AD the human population was at 800 million and had reach only 2 billion by 1927 (Schriever), however, in just merely 90 years, the population dramatically skyrocketed to 7.6 billion. In 1980, China tried to manage the overpopulation problem by releasing the one child policy, however, when it ended in 2016, their population increased a whole 0.46% (Verrill), that’s nearly 350 million people. There is no denying that humans are now the most dominant species to inhabit planet Earth. In fact, humankind is using natural resources at a rate 44% faster than what the world can regenerate, putting a strain on the world’s life-sustaining resources. The growing worldwide population is the cause of most environmental problems.

So why is this happening? There are many things that can contribute to the massive amount of animals entering shelters every year. Some of the reasons for overpopulation can be giving up problematic or even old, sick pets, and continuing to over-produce pets through breeding and the lack of neutering or spaying. Many people think animals in shelters are pets that have been