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Photo by
Chief Petty Officer Kaylee Eger, U.S.N.
Photo by
Linda D. Kozaryn
As
many as 12 million cats and dogs enter one of the nation's 6,000 animal shelters each
year. About half are adopted out. The shelter euthanize the remaining 6 million animals
-- many of which are unwanted litters of kittens and puppies.
Photo
by Linda D. Kozaryn
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By
Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON -- Countless cats are on the
prowl each night from the back alleys of the nation's capital to the beaches of San
Diego.
Some are lean, mean predators born in
the wild. Others are frightened, abandoned pets, scavenging to survive. No one knows
for sure how many free-roaming cats there are. Animal welfare groups estimate 60 million
to 100 million, but they admit it's hard to tell.
A seemingly empty alley in Washington,
D.C., for example, can reveal a dozen or more when a local cat lover arrives with
food. A thousand or more cats may live under the boardwalk at Atlantic City, N.J.
About 66.2 million cats live in households
in the United States, said Kate Pullen, director of animal sheltering issues for the
Humane Society of the United States. Despite public awareness campaigns by the society
and other animal welfare groups, she said, many pet owners fail to neuter or spay
their cats. This human failure leads to countless unwanted litters of kittens and
ultimately to vast overpopulation in the wild.
When too many free-roaming cats become
a nuisance, animal control officials have to step in. The cats are usually trapped
and most are killed. Humane Society officials estimate 6 million cats and dogs are
euthanized each year.
The exact number of cats euthanized each
year is unknown, but many of them are kittens. Pullen said it wouldn't be unusual
for the death toll in kitten season, March to November, to be as high as 100 kittens
a day in some shelters.
"It depends on the area. It depends on
the population. And it depends on how aggressive that shelter and that community have
been to educate and to provide reduced-cost spay and neuter programs and how effective
their adoption programs are," she said.
"You still see litters of kittens come
into shelters during peak months, and you literally have to look at them and say,
'This is six. I have room for two,'" Pullen said. "It's not the fault of the shelter.
It's the fault of the community for not addressing the problem."
To stop the killing, cat lovers have
taken matters into their own hands. Volunteer rescue leagues, adoption agencies and
foster care groups are working to find homes and care for the cats. Their impact depends
on the cooperation of facilities in their community, Pullen said. But there's still
too many animals and not enough homes, she stressed.
It doesn't matter how many groups are
out there trying to find homes for animals if the general public ignores or aggravates
the problem, she said.
"In many instances, people start feeding
stray and feral cats, but they stop there. They're feeding these cats, but they're
allowing them to breed, to inbreed, and to carry viruses and things like that," she
said. Alley Cat Allies and other cat control advocate groups have been working with
traditional community animal shelters to educate the public into taking "the next
step": neutering, she said.
Neutering has reduced the free-roaming
dog population, Pullen remarked, but cat owners generally don't think about the subject.
"They don't want to spend money on the cat, because they're so readily available,"
she said.
"If you're going to be putting food outside
for these kitties, you need to be trapping them, neutering them and releasing them
or taking them to a shelter," Pullen stressed. In other words, "stemming the problem."
In 1991, the American Humane Association
became the first national organization to endorse the early spaying and neutering
of kittens and puppies for population control. Now, more and more shelters and leading
animal welfare, veterinary and breeders groups endorse sterilizing puppies and kittens
at about six weeks of age.
Some shelters now spay and neuter animals
as a condition of adoption. This ensures the animal will not contribute to overpopulation.
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