In the past years, proposals to reduce the numbers of animals euthanized at animal shelters have been made at all levels of government throughout the country. These proposals claim to solve "the problem".
However, a problem cannot be solved until that problem is DEFINED. In this case, it first needs to be determined if the number of animals being euthanized, under the current system, is remaining static, increasing or decreasing. This information is available from national and local authorities.
Once that information is analyzed, it is then necessary to determine the source of the animals entering the shelters and being euthanized. Differentiation between dog and cat populations must be considered, since cats as a species have unique traits, and cannot be considered as simply small dogs! Specific questions need to be answered regarding pet ownership in our communities, to gain insight into regional trends. Once this is done, then the problem can be assessed and appropriately targeted solutions can be formed.
Up until now, though, these essential questions have not been asked. And up until now, any recommendations and proposals, no matter how well-meaning, were simply guesswork guided by people's emotions and beliefs - not hard data.
Certainly, people's beliefs about animals, and animals being euthanized in the shelters, are highly charged, highly emotional issues. Media seize upon the sensational images of animals behind bars, animals being euthanized, barrels of dead animals, serving to fan these emotional fires. Thoughtful questions regarding pet ownership aren't nearly as exciting for the nightly news!
Sadly, hastily enacted proposals, based on emotions, can actually cause harm to the very animals they seek to protect. good, well-directed, enforceable proposals cannot be based on knee-jerk reactions; they require a firm knowledge of community and facts.
In August 1993, National Pet Alliance sponsored a scientific survey of pet ownership in Santa Clara County, California. While questions were asked regarding cogs and their owners, the majority of questions related to cats - because four times as many cats area euthanized in our shelters as dogs. We wanted to see if we could determine why.
Our survey discovered:
Further information, not from our survey, reveals that national numbers of animals being euthanized has dropped dramatically over the last decade. Locally, Animal Control reports a drop of almost 10,000 cats handled from FY92 to FY93. While at first glance, one would assume that this is due to cutbacks in services, there is a one-third drop in the number of cats being owner surrendered!
Our community should be proud of the high number of responsible cat owners who have their animals altered. Clearly, the main cat population in question consist of un-owned cats. Any proposal which purports to reduce the number of animals being euthanized at the shelter MUST address this issue, or it will fail in its efforts.
A problem cannot be solved until the problem is defined. Accurate data is essential. The proponents of anti-breeding legislation commonly use raw numbers in an effort to condemn all breeding - purposeful or not.
Broad, undefined statements such as: "All were killed because they were homeless" or "10,000 HEALTHY killed" are meaningless. They may be healthy but were surrendered for biting children. They may be homeless, but they may not have been put up for adoption as they were un-weaned.
In an effort to find out what the true source of the animals and ownership patterns are, National Pet Alliance sponsored a first-ever survey of Santa Clara County, California residents designed to find out how many un-owned cats are in the community and what the reproductive habits of the owned cats are.
Shelters do not tell the public that the commonly cited "25% of the animals handled are purebreds" are actually dogs. Since 50% of owned dogs are purebred, they are NOT over represented at the shelter. Further, since the vast majority of euthanasia are cats, the fact that 25% of the dogs handled are purebred cannot justify restrictive breeding ordinances for pedigreed cats. The shelter has no idea how many of the cats are owned cats. We do.
This survey needs to be duplicated in various parts of the country, the data pooled, and a comprehensive report issued. If you have volunteers willing to input the data and compile the results, it is possible to duplicate the survey for approximately $6000. The bulk of the cost is for an INDEPENDENT research company to make the calls. To obtain the results we did, over 7200 calls were attempted. Great care must be taken in designing the calling pattern or the results will not be scientifically valid. One cannot simply buy a list of working residential numbers. The calls MUST BE RANDOM.
Now that this labor intensive six-month task is finally over, NA would like to get on with what we do best: helping communities fight by finding solutions that WORK.
We need your support with dollars. Our treasury was completely drained by this survey. We need you help both writing to legislators and editors, and to NPA, to let us know where the problems are. We now have hard data which proves OWNED cats are not the case of any major problems at the shelters. Help us if you can. If you truly wish the pedigreed fancy to continue, we must stand together and fight.
- Karen JohnsonCOPYRIGHT STATEMENT
Analysis and editing by Karen Johnson, Laura Lewellen, and John Lewellen
Funding for this project provided by grants from: The Cat Fanciers' Association, Inc. (CFA), Tails and No Tails Cat Club, The White Glove Society, Tri-County Cat Club, Crow Canyon Cat Club.
©1993 National Pet Alliance. All rights reserved. No portion of this report may be reproduced without express permission of National Pet Alliance, P.O. Box 53385, San Jose, CA 95153.