THE OVERPOPULATION PROBLEM
Theoretically, if the progeny of just one litter, of just one cat, go unspayed, unneutered, in seven years you will have 420,000 cats. Just one cat. Just one litter.
In the case of dogs, if the progeny of just one litter, of just one dog go unspayed, unneutered, in six years you will have 65,000 dogs. Just one dog. Just one litter.
Of course these are theoretical figures. In reality, caring owners spay or neuter some of the progeny, while disease, abuse, abandonment and accidents take others. But we are still talking many tens of thousands of dogs and cats which result in a seven-year period from just one litter of just one cat or just one dog.
Each year about 6-8 million perfectly healthy, dogs, cats, kittens and puppies are “put to sleep” -- in other words killed -- in pounds and
shelters throughout the United States.
Another estimated 20 million dogs and cats wander as strays – born wild, or lost, or abandoned – all hungry, terrified, living in desperation on the edge, often sick, and/or dying in all sorts of horrible manners.
HAPPY HEARTH SPAY/NEUTER PROGRAM
In the year 2000, Spring Farm CARES actually helped pay for the spay/neutering of 8,420 dogs and cats and launched a major campaign of public education re: spay/neuter. Each spay or neuter has prevented the births of tens of thousands of future "unwanteds." By January of 2007, Spring Farm CARES had paid in whole or in part for the spay/neuter of 55,000 cats and dogs in our county area.
Cats and dogs, kittens and puppies, should be treasures, not items to be used and abused and then discarded and/or incinerated like trash. Spay/neuter is the quickest answer to an overpopulation problem which is not only tragic and cruel for the animals, but extremely expensive for municipalities and society in general. Countless millions of your tax dollars are spent each year on catching, keeping, and killing stray and "unwanted" animals. It’s ridiculous. And unacceptably cruel.
As of June 2004 we made a major change in our program, for the time being limiting eligibility for spay/neuter vouchers to residents of Oneida County, New York. Said vouchers are issued on a sliding fee scale based on household income. The vouchers are then presented to participating veterinarians who do the surgery and who then bill us.
Note: Our funds are budgeted, and only a certain amount is available each month. However, donations received that are in addition to budgeted funds are immediately allocated to the current month, to spay/neuter as many animals as possible as quickly as possible and/or to continue educating the public. Your donations are very much needed and will immediately, and in full, be used to actually educate and/or spay/neuter.
This is Size 5 and she helps out in the Happy Hearth Spay/Neuter Office. Some days, the job clearly gets too much for her. Here, we caught her sleeping on the job.
