pet connection

Forced spay-neuter is on the table in Florida, Illinois and California, with legislation introduced to put the government between our pets legs and into a medical decision — despite evidence that these laws don’t work, and no-kill communities do.  Addressing both, the KC Dog Blog notes that L.A. Animal Services has discontinued its reduced cost spay-neuter program.:

Nationwide, the most common reason people give for not having their animals altered is that they say they cannot afford the procedure. Cities that have been successful at decreasing the homeless animal populations in their cities have been successful by eliminating this most common barrier to spay/neuter — cost — through low cost/no cost alteration programs targeting low-income neighborhoods.

So now, LAAS has gone from having the largest barrier to spay/neuter put back in place — and yet mandated it — causing a whole new set of people who cannot afford to comply with their mandatory law.

Successful animal control programs have shown that they are successful by removing barriers to responsible dog ownership – not creating them and punishing non-compliance.

Last year, after passing their mandatory spay/neuter ordinance, Los Angeles saw a 24% increase in euthanasias in the city — after 6 straight years of steady declines in dogs killed. Keeping a mandatory spay/neuter policy in place, with no low cost spay/neuter program, is setting up the shelter up for a bloodbath — especially with dogs coming in from low-income neighborhoods.  If LAAS cannot afford to offer low-cost vouchers, they should at the very least suspend enforcement of their MSN law to avoid an even harsher increase in shelter killings.

In a word, duh.  Reduced, free and incentivized spay-neuter is an essential part of the no-kill revolution. And again, a semantic distinction: Killing for population control is killing, not euthanizing. The shelter industry has a leadership problem, and it can be fixed, but not by declaring war on pet owners and letting shelters off the hook.

Criminalizing and driving underground pet-owners who would do right thing if they could is what happens when you listen to the well-meaning, sound-bite addled followers  of animal rights theorists who not-so-secretly dream of a world without domestic animals. (Shhhh: But don’t tell the donors!)

Heritage pet breeds and reputable breeders aren’t the problem. Enlisting the help of animal lovers and helping the ones who need help, instead of bashing everyone is what works. Carrots work, and sticks do not. Especially when you’re swinging at the wrong target. And even more when you know you’re swinging at the wrong target, and don’t care because your spittle-spewing “all breeders are scum” mantra is all you can see when you’re a “true believer” and because you know it’s a sure-fire fund-raiser otherwise.

Why is anyone still listening to these people?  They are not about solutions: They are about hate, control and fund-raising.  And they are not going to change.

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Still finding his voice on the pet-issue blog front is Michael Schaffer,  whose  book “One Nation Under Dog” will be out in a couple weeks. (I have an advanced copy in my “get reading” stack, but haven’t gotten to it yet.) Schaffer takes a look at a recent court case that seems to continue to evolution of the legal status of pets from that of a couch to more like family. … Contrast Schaffer’s pets-as-family meme with the grim reality shown on the  BADRAP blog. A full moon at the Oakland, Calif, shelter brings a new batch of abused and dumped pit bulls who deserve so much better.  And could  have it, if we’d get upstream and onboard with more of the programs that work with people instead of blaming them. BADRAP lives in the middle, between grim reality and glowing hope, a needle for a sick dog and a home for a former fighter. They are as inspiring as the dogs they love, and they’re making a difference. We [heart] BADRAP.

Diana Guerrero at Ark Animal Answers has an extended post on antifreeze poisoning that’s worth the time to read.

Trainers who use a tennis ball to motivate and reward a wrking dog may wish to read this on Your Pet’s Best Friend  (note: happy ending). …  On Wildrun, the trapping of the Fast Food Ferals turns into a happy reunion.  … WebMD notes five ways pets improve our lives (hat tip to The Cat’s Meow). No wonder our pet-hating e-mailers are so unrelenting. They have miserable lives, and don’t know why or how to improve them. What a shame! … A personal note: Continued get-well wishes to a Pet Connection pal, pet-book author Susan McCullough, who took a fall a while back, bad enough, but didn’t realize how bad things were until she started with headaches and worse. The fix: A brain drill and drain.  She’s on the mend, but what a scare. Post your good wishes here.

By the way …. I’m going no-computer for the rest of the day, so if you get a comment hung up, be patient.  Either Christie or I will grab it this eventing. Me? I have cleaning, yard and critter-care chores that have been put off while dealing my dad’s illness and death.  And if I want to get to get a big garden in, I gotta get moving.

The FDA … I don’t know.  I really thing a razing and from the ground up restructuring and rebuilding of both the USDA and FDA is more needed than an overhaul of the FDA alone. But at least Obama gets that there’s a problem, which is sure as hell an improvement. (He also realizes there are problems at the USDA, and is starting to address them.) Nice of him to mention veterinarians in his address, but how about that national veterinary reporting system? Do we really have to wait for an epidemic or food-safety issue to jump from animals to humans to get the need for this?

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