![Feral Cat - photo by in-the-woods [Gary] under Creative Commons License](/wp-content/uploads/images/solutions-to-cat-overpopulation-21346065.jpg "Feral Cat - photo by in-the-woods [Gary] under Creative Commons License")
Feral Cat - photo by in-the-woods [Gary] under Creative Commons License
No need for solutions to cat overpopulation as there is no problem. There is underpopulation, in fact.
The argument goes that animal rights extremists (ARs) are misrepresenting the true situation. ARs say that the high number of cat and dogs in shelters indicates an oversupply from breeders (and I suppose irresponsible ownership).
The truth, so Loretta Baughan says, is that there is a shortage of pets. The problem is poor management of animal shelters giving the wrong impression. This argument is supported by the claim that some shelters are importing animals from places such as Mexico to allow supply to meet demand. Sounds strange to say the least.
Loretta says that there is definitely not an overpopulation of dogs or cat and the solutions to cat overpopulation would therefore seem to rest with better management of shelters as some are importing and some are at capacity. The better shelters are "successful" in business terms in finding homes and require more animals, while some are "unsuccessful" and require better management to place cats and dogs more successfully.
Another problem is the lack of data from shelters. This supports the poor management argument. She says the problem with overpopulation of cats and dogs has gone away over the past 25 years with better spay/neuter.
She agrees that there is still high levels of euthanasia of shelter animals, however. My research indicates over 2 million cats alone in the USA killed each year. This then is down to poor but well meaning shelter management, is it?
Perhaps the euthanized cats are the ill and old, but that still means an oversupply doesn't it? I don't know who is right. Is Loretta's argument just breeders fighting "animal rights extremists" with tactics that they say these AR extremist use (i.e. disseminating misinformation). Has Loretta just made up the whole thing? How can she know she is correct when there is insufficient data, as she says.
Are there breeder extremists? Probably yes. Are all animal rights people extremists? No. What do think? Do you believe this argument? Please leave a comment.
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