Pets in the News

I'm late posting this one because I left it in the fridge. So pretend this is last week:

Some football guy was caught allegedly running dogfights, so as I'm sure you're aware there was a lot of coverage this past week about that. There was also a story on NPR Saturday I think you would be saddened but compelled by - they follow around an Animal Control officer in Texas as part of a discussion of the nationwide dog and cat overpopulation problem. At present they say 4 to 6 million animals are euthanized annually in the US; however, in some areas, mandatory sterilization laws have been able to halve those rates in just the past couple of years. Also, they say that right now 17% of owned dogs were originally adopted from shelters. If this number could be boosted to something more like 25 or 30%, the dog problem would be solved, cold. So maybe a little education on that point - on not going to the pet shop for an animal when you're looking for one - could make quite a difference.