Summary of Problem
There are many problems within our community today. Some need sudden changes and some need to be dealt with on a more day-to-day basis. There are not enough people who know enough about animals. I know this is a problem because I have seen it. In researching this problem I have found a lot of evidence to show there is a problem. I have seen many dogs running loose without tags and without a home. I have seen the Humane Society and the poor little animals that need homes. On television there have been small instances in which people talked about the shelters and animals in need of adoption. I have found statistics about euthanized animals and know that there are many that are being put to sleep without a good reason. The only reason would be that no one could, or would take care of them. . Our community has an overload of companion animals,” says The H.S.U.S.’s Companion Animals page. Therefore they sometimes can be thought of as disposable. If more people knew how to take care of their pets, more would. Many abandoned animals die in the streets, allies or in the wild. Only a few of them actually get into animal shelters. If more people knew about this, it would create a smaller need for animal shelters. By seeing the amount of humane societies and animals in the streets, I know there is a need for action. By doing a small part, I would be making a big step toward the solution.
There is an estimate of 8-10 million (8-10,000,000) cats and dogs that enter shelters each year. Half of those are euthanized, for one main reason, no one wants them. In the 4 to 6 thousand shelters that exist in the United States, only 25 percent of the dogs are purebred. That is 1 out of 4. (http://www.hsus.org/programs/companion/overpopulation/op_faq.html). That shows that there was no supervision of companion animal’s mating.
This high number comes from the high numbers of animals born. A female cat and her offspring can potentially produce 420,000 offspring in seven years and a female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 offspring in six years. It is "very serious", that thousands and thousands of animals are born each year because of uncontrolled breeding of pets. That number does not include the number of offspring from abandoned or stray animals. Widespread sterilization programs could lower these numbers, although the first step would be to let people know about these problems. This of course, is way too many more animals than could ever fit in the homes of Americans who want pets. The reasons that people give away pets can vary from allergies, to they just don’t want the pet any more. These all can lead to big problems.
Summary of Solution
The solution to this is knowledge. I believe that the knowledge of animal cruelty, caring for animals and spaying and neutering are all problems that can be helped little by little. Knowledge is power. People need to know about caring for animals. It needs to be known that there are problems with pets. People are not being responsible in handling their own pets. I will help this by making a resource guide. This will have a link page with many sources that people can visit to learn more. I will also have a page about the rules for owning a pet. A quiz will be made so that people can see what they know and find out what they need to learn. I will do as much as I can in this short period of time with this project that I can. From many sources I have read that educating people is the largest part that will lead to a solution. From the H.S.U.S.’s page of Overpopulation facts, there is a statement that reports on education. “Education, too, is an essential part of solving this problem. Unless people know the facts about pet overpopulation and sterilization, they are virtually helpless to do anything about the problem.” This is just what I thought. It supports my theory and project, since it is from a reliable source, the Humane Society of the United States. On the H.S.U.S.'s Pet Overpopulation Facts page, there is a quote that says, "…spread the word in your community that the pet overpopulation problem must—and can—be solved." That is exactly what I will try to do. I want to help and will.
