Euthanasia for dogs and cats was up 24% during the first quarter of 2008 compared to 2007 erasing almost all the gains of the past two years.
If this rate keeps up, we will be back to close to the 2005-2006 kill levels by the end of the year, possibly much higher.
Intake and killing are up over previous years. In 2006 cat/dog killing was 19,216. We're already ahead of 2006 killing for first quarter. 2005 killing was 20,562. Intake is now higher than in 2005 and 2004. 2004 killing was 23,119.
At this rate we'll be between 20 and 23,000 killing for cat/dog for 2008.
The really terrible numbers are dog + cat impounds, up 18% this year. Killing is going up faster than impounds.
I suspect a large number of warehoused animals were killed to make room for new impounds during kitten season.
Warehousing though does appear to have increased adoptions even as it also increase the deaths by illness and fighting.
These latest figures give a counter intuitive impression: Though spay neuter efforts have dramatically increased during the past three years, impound numbers have increased dramatically for the first quarter of 2008.
Spay/neuter may not be the answer at all, just as I have been suggesting all along.
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I don't think spay/neuter is THE answer. I think it is part of the answer. I don't think there is "one" answer. Just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteSpay/neuter is part of the answer. But as Winograd points this out in his book, mandating spay/neuter without offering low-cost spay/neuter options to the public is just going to increase their frustration and intolerance of us.
ReplyDeleteNot everybody can afford a couple of hundred dollars, and the $30 S/N coupons from LAAS don't make a big dent in that. In "Redemption" Winograd cites a study/studies that conclude that low-income people would be very willing to spay/neuter if they had easily available, low-cost options to do so.
And before anybody chimes in with "If they can't afford it, they shouldn't have the animal," let's stay on the realistic plane, shall we? That kind of thinking produces MORE abandoned animals, not less. Not to mention the perpetuation of the stereotype of animal rights people as elitists who view poor dog and cat owners as scum.
Not the best image to have, and it makes it very easy for foes of our aims to discredit us.