One female cat and offspring can produce 420,000 cats (in seven years)
What does pet overpopulation mean?
Across the county, thousands of unwanted litters of puppies and kittens are born each adding to the 8 million or so dogs and cats that end up in local shelters.
Unfortunately, this overpopulation creates a ready supply of dogs and cats that end up in homes of people who are ill prepared for the responsibilities of pet ownership. With little or no investment in these animals, they are rarely spayed or neutered, licensed or otherwise controlled by their owners.
Free to roam the streets, these animals create an enormous health and financial problem. Many hundreds of these animals are killed in traffic or otherwise forced to endure the hardships of surviving on their own.
The City of San Bernardino, like other cities, spends a great deal on such tasks as capturing stray and abandoned animals, treating injured animals, investigating complaints, running a shelter and operating an adoption program. But, at the end of the day, animal shelter workers face the daunting task of making room for new arrivals as well as the daily feed and care of all of the animals at the shelter.
So, what can we, as residents of the Inland Empire, do to address this issue? The solution lies primarily in the hands of the pet owners. By simply having your pet spayed or neutered, you can greatly eliminate this problem. If your friends or members of your family have pets that have not been sterilized, encourage them to do so and tell them why.
Learn More Information About Spaying and Neutering
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates the Yearly Pet Overpopulation of Dogs and Cats as follows:
Number of animals turned into animal shelters: 8,000,000
- Number adopted to new families: 4,000.000
- Number reclaimed by owners: 750,000
- Euthanasia 4,000.000
One female dog and offspring can produce 67,000 dogs (in six years)
For more information about spaying or neutering your pets, contact the San Bernardino Valley Humane Society at www.hssbv.org