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"that's how we do it" unloading their yearly litter of kittens on whoever stops by is the social norm, and this way of rural (and urban) life needs to stop.

- The Solution:

Low-cost/no-cost clinics need to be setup, using students and graduates who have benefited from government subsidized loans to complete their veterinary medicine degrees. Companies that benefit from using animals in their advertising could donate money and products to support the effort.

Other incentives could be offered too - coupons for discounts on food products, kitty litter or flea control products, would encourage people to have their animals "fixed".

Homes and farms where the yearly 'free kittens' sign appears could be targeted by mobile spay/neuter clinics, using live traps to capture feral animals.

3) Placing Homeless Animals
Finally, if everyone who wanted a pet adopted a stray, rather than adopting a puppy or kitten, I believe that within five years there would be so few strays, our shelters and rescue groups would be almost out of work.

- The Problem:

First, puppies and kittens are just too cute. Second, older animals ovten come with problems that may need expert help to resolve - and finding help isn't always easy. Neither is working out the issues.

- The Solution:

First, by heavily, actively publicizing the five-year-plan, people considering pet adoption may seriously start to consider adopting an older animal, rather than buying a puppy from a breeder or a puppy mill - especially when fewer young animals are avilable.

Second, help needs to be accessable to anyone willing to take on a rescued animal, for a reasonable cost. Many rescue groups and animal rescue 'heroes' have a wealth of knowledge and experience which could be turned to this purpose. Potential pet-parents need to be willing to ask for help and to work out the issues. It isn't easy, but turning a troubled animal around is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

Third, by properly evaluating animals and prospective pet-parents, good matches could be made, to reduce or eliminate "adoption shock". Too often problems are played down in the hopes of finding any home, and that isn't the best option - proper evaluation and placement is the solution to finding "forever homes".

This 'five year plan' is dependent on EVERYONE in the animal rescue world working together towards the same goal, eliminating the infighting between the various rescue groups and concentrating on the longer-term solutions, stressing education and owner responsibility. Breeders, trainers, vets, rescue groups, animal activists, foster parents, behaviorists, Animal Control, legislators, companies that produce pet products and potential pet parents need to set aside their differences, preconceived notions and monetary concerns for this to work.

The five-year-plan can work.

The problem of unwanted animals isn't going to be solved in a day, a week or a year. It isn't going to be a hundred-percent solution, but it will be better than the current tactics of a handful of people trying to save thousands and thousands of unwanted, badly bred and genetically unsound animals every year.

But maybe if ALL of us who love animals, if all of us who earn our money from animals work together, we can reduce the problem of unwanted animals from a crisis of epic proportion, to a manageable, minor irritation in as little as five years.

It's worth a try, isn't it?

Learn more about this author, Pat Gray.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

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