[ SHOWGSD-L ] FWD: Connecticut Spay and Neuter Task Force a Study in Irony
- From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:41:34 -0400
-----Original Message-----
http://eaglerock814.bravejournal.com/
by JOHN YATES
American Sporting Dog Alliance
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org
HARTFORD, Ct ? There is a grim irony surrounding recent discussion of a
task force to study a mandatory spay and neuter law for Connecticut.
The alleged reason for such a mandate is to cut down on the population of
unwanted dogs and cats in animal shelters, and to reduce the necessity for
euthanasia of animals that are not adopted.
The irony is that Connecticut animal shelters are begging for dogs to
adopt, and in fact are hauling in dogs from as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma
and even Puerto Rico to meet the demand, an investigation by The American
Sporting Dog Alliance shows. There are not enough unwanted dogs in
Connecticut to go around because voluntary spaying and neutering has cut the
number of adoptable puppies to a fraction of their former number, research
at Tufts University has shown.
Moreover, ASDA has uncovered evidence that pet overpopulation is not the
real issue. One of the most vocal leaders in the push to mandate the
sterilization of dogs makes no bones about his real goal: the elimination of
purebred dogs. This is a major platform of the most extreme animal rights
groups, such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
Connecticut Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
Executive Director Fred Acker defended his organization?s program of
bringing in dogs from other states in a 2004 article reprinted on
Petfinder.com.
"People will get the kind of dog they want, even if they have to go to a
breeder for it," Acker said. "So why not save a dog from somewhere else,
rather than breed another dog."
Acker said that the Connecticut SPCA goes on designer shopping trips to
shelters in other states in order to bring the kind of dogs people want back
to Connecticut. Popular breeds, such as Labrador retrievers, small breeds
and puppies are high on the list because the demand far exceeds the supply
in Connecticut, Acker said.
The Connecticut SPCA shelter charges people $295 to adopt a dog or puppy,
which an article in USA Today said effectively places them in the pet store
business.
Why aren?t there enough unwanted homegrown Connecticut dogs to meet the
demand?
A study by the Tufts University says that many people, especially in the
northeastern states, are voluntarily spaying and neutering their dogs. This
has virtually eliminated unwanted puppies for adoption, and even older dogs
of the more popular breeds, the study concluded. Most of the dogs that are
not being adopted in the northeastern states are elderly, ill or of an
unpopular breed, such as pit bulls.
This vacuum of supply and demand has left a lot of empty kennel runs in
Connecticut animal shelters. Rather than close down and claim credit for
accomplishing their mission, the shelters are going elsewhere to find dogs
to fill the vacancies ? and meet the demand.
On a trip to Oklahoma, reported by KFOR News in Oklahoma City, Acker and
two other people from Connecticut shelters took 31 dogs from the Oklahoma
City shelter, and planned to pick up more dogs from shelters in Bethany and
Moore, OK, and also from a group called Pets and People.
"This is going to make a lot of people happy,? Acker told KFOR. ?The
little dogs are few and far in Connecticut. The demand is great so we're
just connecting the dots throughout the United States." Acker told the
reporter that he planned to make a trip to Oklahoma every month to get a
truckload of dogs.
But he?ll have to get back from Atlanta, GA, first. Acker?s website
reported that one trip to Georgia required two vans, and that 20 dogs would
be taken from a shelter there.
Another Connecticut animal shelter, the Danbury Animal Welfare Society,
reportedly picked up six puppies and an adult dog from the Atlanta shelter.
"You've got small dogs and we don't," Acker told KFOR in Oklahoma. "We'll
probably have homes for half of them before we get back?Every single small
dog goes home with 20 back up applications easily."
The Connecticut SPCA website also details a program to ?rescue? dogs
caught in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. These
dogs also are being used to meet the insatiable demand for adoptable dogs in
the Northeast.
USA Today reported that 14,000 stray dogs from the streets of Puerto Rico
were adopted in the United States over a seven-year period, and Connecticut
got some of them.
In neighboring Massachusetts, the ?underpopulation? of unwanted dogs is so
severe that one shelter literally is scouring the globe for dogs to sell for
adoption. The Northeast Animal Shelter told USA Today that it imports 800
dogs a year from the South and 200 from Puerto Rico. This shelter goes as
far as Taiwan and Mainland China to come up with enough dogs to meet the
demand.
The situation is similar on Long Island, NY, which reportedly brings in
dogs from several distant states, and then hauls them to Connecticut for
adoption in special vans.
The Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut groups participate in two
networks to import dogs from elsewhere. The first is called the ?Puppies
Across America Program,? which focuses on southern and midwestern states.
The second is called ?Save a Sato,? which brings in stray dogs from Puerto
Rico. Sato is the Spanish word for a stray dog.
A similar situation exists across the continent in California, which also
is considering mandatory spay and neuter legislation. A reported 10,000 dogs
a year are brought to California from Mexico to meet the demand that animal
shelters in that state can?t fulfill.
Data from the California Veterinary Public Health Section of the state
Health Department shows that there has been a 43-percent decline in the
number of dogs euthanized in animal shelters over five years, and a
75-percent decline since the mid-1970?s. Connecticut does not publish
similar data.
(The American Sporting Dog Alliance is a grassroots organization to
protect the rights of owners and professionals who work with breeds of dogs
that are used for hunting. You can learn more about us on the web at
http://www.americansportingdogalliance.org .)
__._,_.___ .
__, ===================
Ginger Cleary
Abusus non tollit usum.
Rome, GA http://www.rihadin.com/
Member GSDCA
Member Sawnee Mtn Kennel Club
GA Director Responsible Dog Owners of the Eastern States.
_._,_
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