Spay your Animals!
This is horrific. Please spay or neuter your pets.
The silent slaughter
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma has a problem. It's a problem that's costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year. Unwanted dogs and cats are overrunning our animal shelters.
LINDA CAVANAUGH REPORTING
The problem is so serious that Governor Henry has declared this week, "Ok days to spay." It's an attempt to focus on the need to spay and neuter our pets.
We haven't done a very good job of it. NewsChannel 4 shows the consequences of not neutering or spaying animals.
Critics say something has to be done to stop this "silent slaughter."
It's early on a Monday morning. NewsChannel 4 is at the Oklahoma City Animal Shelter. What happens here happens almost every day of the year.
There are perfectly healthy, happy pups. They are all shapes and sizes, but with only one thing in common. No one wants them.
"No place to keep them. There's absolutely nowhere," says Dan Gannon.
It's Dan Gannon's job to kill them.
"Unfortunately, this animal; there's nothing medically wrong with this animal.
Unfortunately we have to euthanize because of space," Gannon says. "It's very quick acting."
A fatal solution is injected and seconds later the muscles go limp. He is one of 14,000 dogs that will be killed in this shelter in just one year.
Not all euthanasia's are because of over-population. City policy requires all pit bulls, unclaimed by the owner, to be put down. They're not adoptable.
In general, it's a case of too many wagging tales and not enough homes.
"I absolutely hate it," says Dan Gannon. "In the spring, we're overwhelmed. We have mamas having litters all the time."
"It's very emotional. It does make you very sad," says Dr. John Otto who spearheads Spay and Neuter Programs.
Dr. Otto says "People thought building more shelters and sanctuaries will take care of it. That's not it. It's kind of a band aid to what's happening underneath. We need to cut [it] off at the source and that's the spay and neuter program."
Numbers show that two unaltered dogs and their offspring can produce 67,000 more dogs in six years.
"So one spay and neuter can actually have a tremendous result down the road," Dr. Otto says.
It's a concept that's worked in Bristow, Oklahoma. City officials used to kill 1000 dogs a year.
"Now we're down to less than 100," says Mark Harmon.
Mark Harmon, with Bristow Animal Control, has worked with city officials and non-profit groups to institute a nationally recognized spay and neuter program.
"What good is a pretty good dog pound where dogs come to die? We use the money on spay and neuter," Harmon says.
It's estimated that 120,000 dogs are euthanized in Oklahoma shelters each year. A spay and neuter program could cut that number in half and save state shelters an estimated $2.5 million.
Ruth Steinberger is a national advocate of strong spay and neuter policies. She has helped cities around the nation cut their kill numbers.
Ruth Steinberger says we have too many dogs, "It's a costly problem. We can solve it by spay and neuter. It's not brain surgery to say where you have too many dogs, if you spay and neuter, you don't have them."
Yet Oklahoma continues to have one of the highest kill rates in the country.
"The tragic thing is that dogs die silently in Oklahoma. They die by the thousands and burying our head into the sand is not working. It's simply no working. I think it takes guts to show it and it's the right thing to do," Steinberger says.
You can help stop the silent slaughter by spay and neutering your pets and by contributing to the pet overpopulation fund.
This state fund is used to sterilize pets of low income families; a major source of our state's pet overpopulation.
You can contribute by ticking Box 16 on your state income tax form or by purchasing one of the special spay and neuter license tags.
For more information about the program, see the related website link to this story.
Reply With Quote
Re: Spay your Animals!
Originally Posted by BailJumper
Bookmarks