Dear Editor,
In a moving article in Dogs Today (British animal magazine) author Victoria Stilwell writes that: “Last year, around 4 million cats and dogs were destroyed in US shelters for want of a home – yet animal lovers continue to breed from their darling pets…”
In her article she talks about her client, Daniel, who loved his American Bulldog, Sasha, so much he wanted to continue the line and breed from her. Daniel, it seems, was aware that many dogs ended up in shelters but never considered that Sasha’s future puppies could one day be among them. Nor was he aware that, last year, around eight million dogs and cats ended up in shelters across the United States and approximately four million of those were euthanised. Daniel was convinced that he could find homes for the potential litter from his pet and was excited about the idea, but to Victoria, “he was just another hobby breeder who selfishly breed their dogs without considering the consequences.” Victoria wanted to find something that would change his mind and demonstrate how irresponsible it would be of him to add to the already huge number of homeless pets.
There are a number of reasons why there is such a huge number of homeless pets, among them: lax breeding laws, puppy mills and people not neutering their pets – all leading to overpopulation.
Most unwanted pets end up in rescue shelters or animal control programmes. The vast majority, unadoptable because of illness, age, poor behaviour, or just because they have been at the shelter longer than seven days, are put to sleep. Victoria thought she could open Daniel’s eyes if he could see this incredible waste of life for himself, so she decided to take him to the municipal shelter, notorious for overcrowding and a high euthanasia rate.
In her article, Victoria says that even after showing Daniel the grim statistics, he remained adamant that he was going to breed Sasha because he already had potential homes for his pups and was convinced that this was not going to have any negative effect on the pet overpopulation problem. However, Daniel soon got a reality check that would change his thinking dramatically.
Victoria took Daniel to an animal shelter. Its appearance was not too bad until they got to the kennel runs where their nightmare began. They saw as many as five dogs to a kennel, the animals looked scared and overwhelmed; it was late in the morning and the runs hadn’t been cleaned from the night before so the dogs were lying next to their faeces, urine and vomit. Many dogs were curled up tightly, as if trying to block the hell that was going on around them, while others tried to pick fights with their kennelmates, causing violet eruptions that sent the staff running in to separate them. There were dogs of all types, shapes, sizes and ages, including ‘bull’ breeds.
Victoria asked Paul, their guide at the shelter, what was likely to happen to the dogs they were passing and he said, with a solemn face, “the prospects are not good.” Paul then took them to a small room with a metal table. He told them this was where they did the euthanasias and showed them a log book; Victoria noted it was only 11 am and they had already euthanised 21 dogs. The clinic followed strict guidelines, so that animals were put to sleep in a “gentle” way, but Paul looked pained as he told Victoria how hard it was to bring dogs into the room, only to have them offer their paws to him, desperate to make a connection and a friend. Little did they know that they were about to die. With tears in his eyes Paul asked Victoria and the film crew to let the public know what was going on in this clinic and others around the world.
By this time, Daniel was silent with his head bowed. Paul told them he had one more thing to show and led them outside into a courtyard.
Directly in front of them was a large metal door to what looked like a massive meat container. That was the fridge, they were told, where dead animals were placed; they opened it and observed a mountain of black plastic bags, each containing a rotting body. Daniel’s face went ashen.
Victoria then turned to Daniel and asked, “Are you going to breed Sasha? With tears in his eyes, he said, “I never knew, I’ve heard about dogs and cats being put down but have never seen it.” He then said, “I will get Sasha fixed as soon as I am able.”
That experience changed Daniel and he now helps animals at the shelter. How about you?
Please help stop the uncontrolled breeding of dogs for fun and money.
Adopt a pet from the street or your local shelter.
This killing of animals will only stop when people understand the causes of over population. Spay your pets please!
Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh
