Pros And Cons Of Overpopulation Of Companion Animals

In about six years, one female dog and her offspring can theoretically produce 67,000 puppies (Anderson, pg 187). This is just one example of overpopulation of companion animals. Resulting, in a concern with the rising overpopulation of companion animals in the United States. There are too many animals running around uncared for and/or becoming unwanted by their owners so they are left on the streets. There are strategies to combat overpopulation that have been discussed and some I have thought up of on my own. Unfortunately, every strategy will have its pros and cons in society and some are more effective than others. Therefore, there are dilemmas involving some of these strategies that could interfere with consumers’ rights, and business

First, is how pound/shelters are used for helping combat the overpopulation of these kinds of animals. They take animals in for at least five business days before being able to do anything else with the animal(s) such as sell them to licensed dealers or put them up for adoption (Notes). This helps control the population by giving them a common place to go; instead, of being able to roam free through the land of the United States. Next, there are collars with IDs on them and ID chips under the animals’ skin (Reitman, pg. 42). This helps return animals to their rightful owners and gets them off the street. Another way to help combat against the overpopulation is to spray and neuter animals to future breeding of them (Notes). This prevents people from having puppies/kittens “accidentally” and don’t want to be an actual breeder for a living. Also, any companion animals that happen to get loose and mate cannot have babies as well. This brings me to my last point where there is already a program in place where there are feral cat trap-neuter-release programs (Notes). This does essential the same thing by preventing cats from having kittens. Essentially, this decreases the already overpopulated companion animals. Finally, the last way to combat this overpopulation is to educate children, friends, family members, and anyone else about pet overpopulation, and how they can adopt instead of pay a lot of money for a puppy/kitten. This may not change everyone’s mind, but even if it helps one out of every ten people, it would be worth