by Lou Jones

Created on: November 10, 2007   Last Updated: March 20, 2008

Ending animal homelessness means reducing the number of cats, dogs, and other domesticated animals to numbers people can and will to provide homes for, or increasing the numbers of people who can and will provide homes for animals. This can be achieved through educating the public to spay and neuter their pets and to resist the urge to obtain wild animals for pets or domesticated pets that are inappropriate for the household's circumstances.

Perhaps technological advances, such as birth control in pet food, will, in the near future, do the most to reduce animal homelessness. It is difficult not to feed a hungry stray cat or dog. It is difficult or impossible to capture a feral cat or dog for surgical sterilization, even if a person has the financial resources for a trip to the vet and a recovery period.

Because many animal shelters give large numbers of animals to labs and euthanize even more, it is heartbreaking to call animal control, and animal control is often so overwhelmed and underfunded that they cannot respond appropriately in any case. Those of us who can neither endure a hungry nor a homeless animal would welcome a safe, effective oral contraceptive in pet food, and we would pay more to obtain it.

Of course, the pet food industry (and the people food industry, for that matter) are difficult to have any confidence in at the moment, and perhaps birth control in animal food would lead to unforeseen problems, especially since estrogen is the basis of oral contraceptives, and estrogen was recently declared a carcinogen. Also, as far as I know, pet food with birth control is not available in the United States.

Finally, there is the matter of increasing the number of people able and willing to care for animals. To obtain more homes for animals in need, the needs of people must be met. An appropriate home for people is appropriate for animals, often the reverse is not the case. Especially in countries where children cannot obtain clean water, effective shelter, and healthy food, animals roam the streets, skeletal, ill, and unloved and cared for. In addition to cultivating love and respect for all living things, in addition to educating people about how best to give their love and respect in a way that truly benefits every creature we share this planet with, people must have the resources that allow them to put their love, respect, and knowledge into action.

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