Wanted: Pet Legislation and Enforcement

This country puts down (kills, after traumatizing (non-intentional but unavoidable))  five to six million pets a year at taxpayer expense.  Why do we put up with that?  Why can any Joe Blow crazy guy on the corner let his dog get pregnant constantly and take the puppies to the pound and make the taxpayers pay for killing those puppies? Year after year after year.  That's not the question, actually. Pounds are necessary.  The real question is what the heck is Joe Blow doing with a dog in the first place.  It's pretty certain old Joe doesn't have his dog registered with the city/county and is not paying the additional fee for an unspayed pet.  Faced with enforcement of those laws, Joe would probably just cough up for a low cost spay program or not have a dog.  Yay. 

Legislation and enforcement are necessary and it needs to be funded with the dang money we spend to kill our friends the dogginis and kittehs. Someone please pass some legislation now.  The public network is already in place, it just has no manpower and no money.  City and county shelters are overwhelmed.  It is NOT THEIR FAULT they are terrible places, they are necessary and caring people work there.  They have to kill BAZILLIONS of pets, my heart goes out to them. In twenty five years of working with homeless animals, I have NEVER heard of a public pound that had anywhere near enough enforcement capability to make a dent in anything but abuse claims. Then what's the point of having the registration laws?   Not enforcing them is money down the drain. As it is, public entities like your local pound do not have the manpower to enforce registration of unspayed, unneutered animals unless the animal comes from them, and then only as it goes out the door. They're so busy saving animals from horrors, they don't have time for the basics.

Why not nip it in the bud and get back to basics? Enforce registration, which brings in income, and other laws already on the books, strengthen breeding laws and let the breeds get back to being bred by people in love with the breed.  It should be difficult to get a pet.  Not expensive necessarily, just difficult, like getting a driver's license.   It should be expensive to breed a pet, though, as that is where the problem lies, and there should be licensing and inspection.  OBVIOUSLY, the public sector cannot handle this issue.  The spay/neuter programs have really cut down the death rates, but we continue to pay through the nose for the irresponsibility of others.   Let's take the money we use killing the pets and put it into enforcement. 

Spay and neuter programs are always broke and overworked.  Non-kill  and kill shelters are underfunded and their workers and volunteers have to experience horrible things constantly. Puppy mills rage on unabated. Back yard breeders are in every neighborhood, two litters of pups per dog per year. Designer dogs overwhelm pounds and that's not a recent occurence.  Dog fighters are in every county.  And we, as city, county and federal taxpayers, pay for the carnage of it all.  WHY? Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do!

The pounds and animal networks already out there and in place could successfully function if every moron out there didn't get to do pretty much whatever he wants with however many pets.

It's a ridiculous situation. I'm calling on Oprah and Ellen. I think they could get it done.  Calling on Maria Shriver, Kathy Griffin, Cesar Milan, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Mike Huckabee.  I KNOW they love animals.  Calling on vets and my animal networks built up over twenty five years.  Calling on dog food companies, dog insurance companies, dog product manufacturers.  How is it okay to have all these pets out there we need to kill? I don't have the solutions, but I know the current situation stinks of evil, and I know solutions can be found.   
 

Calling on you.   

Whether you own a pet or not.

If you do, pat them for me.

The Queen

This country puts down (kills, after traumatizing (non-intentional but unavoidable))  five to six million pets a year at taxpayer expense.  Why do we put up with that?  Why can any Joe Blow crazy guy on the corner let his dog get pregnant constantly and take the puppies to the pound and make the taxpayers pay for killing those puppies? Year after year after year.  That's not the question, actually. Pounds are necessary.  The real question is what the heck is Joe Blow doing with a dog in the first place.  It's pretty certain old Joe doesn't have his dog registered with the city/county and is not paying the additional fee for an unspayed pet.  Faced with enforcement of those laws, Joe would probably just cough up for a low cost spay program or not have a dog.  Yay. 

Legislation and enforcement are necessary and it needs to be funded with the dang money we spend to kill our friends the dogginis and kittehs. Someone please pass some legislation now.  The public network is already in place, it just has no manpower and no money.  City and county shelters are overwhelmed.  It is NOT THEIR FAULT they are terrible places, they are necessary and caring people work there.  They have to kill BAZILLIONS of pets, my heart goes out to them. In twenty five years of working with homeless animals, I have NEVER heard of a public pound that had anywhere near enough enforcement capability to make a dent in anything but abuse claims. Then what's the point of having the registration laws?   Not enforcing them is money down the drain. As it is, public entities like your local pound do not have the manpower to enforce registration of unspayed, unneutered animals unless the animal comes from them, and then only as it goes out the door. They're so busy saving animals from horrors, they don't have time for the basics.

Why not nip it in the bud and get back to basics? Enforce registration, which brings in income, and other laws already on the books, strengthen breeding laws and let the breeds get back to being bred by people in love with the breed.  It should be difficult to get a pet.  Not expensive necessarily, just difficult, like getting a driver's license.   It should be expensive to breed a pet, though, as that is where the problem lies, and there should be licensing and inspection.  OBVIOUSLY, the public sector cannot handle this issue.  The spay/neuter programs have really cut down the death rates, but we continue to pay through the nose for the irresponsibility of others.   Let's take the money we use killing the pets and put it into enforcement. 

Spay and neuter programs are always broke and overworked.  Non-kill  and kill shelters are underfunded and their workers and volunteers have to experience horrible things constantly. Puppy mills rage on unabated. Back yard breeders are in every neighborhood, two litters of pups per dog per year. Designer dogs overwhelm pounds and that's not a recent occurence.  Dog fighters are in every county.  And we, as city, county and federal taxpayers, pay for the carnage of it all.  WHY? Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do!

The pounds and animal networks already out there and in place could successfully function if every moron out there didn't get to do pretty much whatever he wants with however many pets.

It's a ridiculous situation. I'm calling on Oprah and Ellen. I think they could get it done.  Calling on Maria Shriver, Kathy Griffin, Cesar Milan, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Mike Huckabee.  I KNOW they love animals.  Calling on vets and my animal networks built up over twenty five years.  Calling on dog food companies, dog insurance companies, dog product manufacturers.  How is it okay to have all these pets out there we need to kill? I don't have the solutions, but I know the current situation stinks of evil, and I know solutions can be found.   
 

Calling on you.   

Whether you own a pet or not.

If you do, pat them for me.

The Queen