PET CORNER
THERE'S NO
DEBATE BY NICOLE RIVARD
SPAY-NEUTER COMBATS THE LARGEST KILLER OF CATS AND DOGS
L
ast fall Friends of Animals (FoA) was alarmed by The Washington Post story headlined: “The growing debate over spaying and neutering dogs.” That’s because there is no debate about the fact that spay-neuter helps combat the single largest killer of dogs and cats—overpopulation and euthanasia of unwanted, homeless pets. The Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) has identified being sexually intact as the leading risk factor for owner relinquishment of cats and dogs; therefore, neutering prior to adoption is likely to improve the odds that adopted animals will be retained in their homes. In the 70s, overflowing animal shelters euthanized millions of animals. Now, it is estimated that the number of cats and dogs euthanized in U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 2.6 million in 2011 to 1.5 million (670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats). Estimates are based in
part on Shelter Animals Count data. The truth is accurate data from shelters is difficult to obtain because there has never been a central data reporting system. The goal of Shelter Animals Count, a nonprofit established in 2012, is to steward a national database of sheltered animals to enable even more insights to save lives. Currently all the data is self-reported since there is still no national requirement for reporting. The 2,873 shelters that reported to the organization in 2018 revealed that 235,822 dogs died in shelters. The causes were: died in care, shelter euthanasia and owner-intended euthanasia. Similarly, in 2017 3,019 shelters reported 237,968 were killed; and in 2016 3,587 shelters reported that 229,845 dogs were killed. It is obvious to us that those numbers show the population of homeless animals is still so large that no one should be risking an unwanted litter.
Spring 2020 | 7
