By: Martha Crosly
There is a catastrophe of huge proportions in Evansville right now and good public policy is not being applied to intervene. Vetting is needed but is not being applied to solve this problem. The problem is uncaring and/or ignorant cat owners. My stance is that the cats definitely need to be fixed (and in some cases it probably wouldn’t hurt the owners either). Please let me explain.
There are two types of animal shelters in the area: Open Admission and “No-Killâ€. I put “No-Kill†in quotes because euthanasia still does occur in these shelters in various forms. Some, like the new “It Takes a Village†shelter, selectively take dogs out of Evansville Animal Control (EAC) and places them in foster homes and now in their new shelter. They then leave EAC to euthanize the animals that are viewed as not adoptable or for which ITAV has no room. ITAV will reach a point where they will need to stop taking in animals due to limited capacity and can only continue when openings are created through adoptions.
Warrick Humane Society also is a “No-Kill†shelter who does recognize the need for euthanizing and does address this issue at times. They control their numbers by very selectively taking in animals and stop when they reach capacity which in their case I believe is a pretty low number. They refer all others to either Vanderburgh Humane Society or Evansville Animal Control letting these organizations deal with that which they can’t or do not choose to.
In contrast to Warrick and ITAV, both non-profits, we find Vanderburgh Humane Society (also a non-profit) and Evansville Animal Care and Control. Both of these are Open Admission shelters, Evansville AC because by law it must be, and VHS because it chooses to be, in part to give people an option to AC and to give healthy, well-adjusted pets a chance for a new home. I will also add that VHS’s intake is not limited to Vanderburgh County residents only. They receive animals on a consistent basis from Posey, Gibson, Warrick, Spencer, Daviess, and Dubois Counties and from time to time other Indiana counties as well. They also take in animals from Kentucky counties and from some counties in Southern Illinois. Most of these counties have their own AC and/or humane organization.
Of all these organizations in the Evansville area, Evansville Animal Control is the only one who receives your tax dollars. All the others rely entirely on donations from the local public. They get nothing from the Humane Society of the United States for example. I also believe that it is still the policy that all owner surrenders to AC are euthanized immediately and only strays are required to be kept for 7 days to allow for claiming by the owner. This policy may be waived under certain circumstances however. (Please check with AC for their rules and regulations.)
What does all this have to do with cats and their irresponsible owners? I will use VHS as an example although AC has this problem as well. In this coming week VHS will take in their 1000th cat this year and this is in addition to the cats that were already in house at the start of the year.
Here are some statistics: 1) 36 of these animals were brought in by their owners to be euthanized, which shows up on VHS stat board. 2) 143 have gone to rescue organizations mainly in Chicago and VHS is very grateful. It is VHS dollars that transport these neutered and spayed cats to Chicago, usually in a marathon up and back in one day trip. 3) Here’s the sad stat – 431 cats were euthanized for various reasons including illness, behavioral problems or for lack of space to put them and lack of personnel to care for them.
Here are some facts:
1) VHS has the capacity for about 52 adult cats and 104 kittens. This includes animals in foster care and is an approximation that varies on the size of the animal and the size of the enclosure. AC can care for a much lower number.
2) Many shelters take in only dogs not cats and some are able to take in only a limited number of cats.
3) Frequently both dogs and cats come in intact, meaning that they did not benefit from being spayed or neutered. Because of this, multiple animals are brought in together i.e. a mother cat and 6 kittens, with kittens often being too small to survive on their own and cannot be placed up for adoption right away. They either take up space that could be used for adoptable animals, are lucky enough to go into foster care (and there is a shortage of foster homes), are squeezed into the last corner of cat isolation, or they unfortunately must be euthanized.
4) It is not unusual for animals to be surrendered to AC or VHS in an unhealthy condition. A couple of days ago, four dogs were surrendered to VHS over the course of the day. Two of the 4 were suffering from heart worm, a horrible death sentence and one that is preventable. To cure heart worm requires a long time and considerable expense. (This reflects back to the uncaring and/or ignorant owners above.) The same issue occurs with cats.
5) The shocking situation with cats now is that with the moderate weather their reproduction, which has always been out of control, has now far exceeded that point. What AC and VHS are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what is out there.
6) I will highlight this very important fact: THIS CAT PROBLEM MUST BE SOLVED AND IT CAN ONLY BE SOLVED BY CITIZENS ACCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY TO BE A PART OF THE SOLUTION. This is very difficult as many know because some folks only wish to pass problems for all public good on to others. And this is a public health and welfare issue. It must however be addressed in a humane manner.
Here are some suggestions:
1) EVERYONE MUST SPAY OR NEUTER THEIR PET, CAT OR DOG. It is healthier and safer for the animal and will reduce tax dollars spent on AC. This includes that cute kitty that wandered up on your porch last winter and you began to feed who now has kittens under your laundry basket. You have been caring for her for months. She is your cat now and you need to get her as well as her kittens fixed. Kittens can be fixed at a very young age. At the VHS Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic the kitten must weigh at least 2 pounds.
2) Some of you may be familiar with a program called TNR, Trap, Neuter, and Return. This is a program for feral cats. These cats are trapped, fixed, and returned to their familiar environment to live out their days and not reproduce. This allows for natural attrition of the cat colony. But this program needs to be a city-wide effort. Non-profit feral cat organizations can be established to pay for the spay or neuter of these cats.
3) GOOD PUBLIC POLICY MUST BE APPLIED. Modify the city and county animal ordinances and empower Animal Control to enforce them diligently. This may require patterning our laws and practices after cities where this has been done with a great degree of success. Vanderburgh Humane Society is able to take cats to rescue to Chicago because that city has and utilizes a progressive spay/neuter law. This should be a no-brainer for our city and county. And before people start screaming about costs to do this, think of the costs that will be saved in the future by cleaning up this mess now in the correct manner for both dogs and cats. I will add it will cost a lot less than some of the other failed ventures that have been attempted lately in this area.
4) Most importantly DO NOT ACQUIRE A PET THAT YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO CARE FOR. This is pretty basic. A cat or dog is a commitment for the entirety of their life. Period. Amen. No excuses. Too many people do not keep their promises in life. It is a big problem in government, private enterprise, and in personal lives. These animals are the innocents who suffer the most and have the most to lose when you break your promise to them. Be an adult. Don’t make promises you cannot keep.
Good article, informative, and I agree pet owners need to take responsibility… I disagree with some kind of mandatory spay or neuter law.
Here is a site with an overview of the Chicago ordinance:
http://theglitteringeye.com/?page_id=4151
“Whether this ordinance would improve the quality of life for domestic cats and dogs is open to question. Studies of cancer prevention are ambiguous on this subject. There is some evidence that spaying a female too early is a cause of incontinence and incontinence is one of the many reasons that pets are turned over to shelters. The position of the ISVMA is that the issue is too complex to legislate.”
Typical Big Government solution to a social problem. It’s all about generating revenues by licensing breeders and granting exceptions and controlling all these activities, AND it likely will not solve the problem. In fact, in some cases, with people who cannot afford to spay or neuter animals in their care, they might be more apt to turn them loose in the city or countryside rather than risk a fine or jail.
Brad,
Thanks for your input. A few comments.
If a person cannot afford to s/n their pet then they cannot afford to have regular inoculations (rabies, distemper etc) and quite frankly should not own a pet until they can afford to care for it properly. Perhaps a guinea pig or hamster is more appropriate until they are in a better financial situation to own a pet which requires more expensive care. Low cost spay/neuter clinics and vaccine clinics (VHS and other humane facilities have these.) provide s/n and inoculations at a low enough cost so that people who are going through hard times can afford to properly care for their per.
I looked at “the glitteringeye.com” link and did not see a date on it. Perhaps I missed it but I do know that Chicago has been operating under a S/N law for some time now. My understanding is that it has lessened the load on AC and the humane shelters in the Chicago area.
The issue of spaying too early has been debated for some time and of course there is always a risk in any surgery. This article seems a bit older. Having spoken to veterinarians who work in high volume S/N clinics, some have addressed the issue over time. What they do is gradually increase the speed of their surgeries and then follow these animals up over time. Their consensus has been that the early fears of spaying an animal too young have been dispelled and the benefits far outweigh the risks.
I disagree with the concepts in your last paragraph. This is not about making money for the government. This idea has been championed by humane groups who have to deal on a daily basis with this problem. There is not one answer to solve this problem. There are many approaches that must work in tandem to slow down this escalating and inhumane treatment of pets in our city and country.
In general, the Northeastern US and the Chicago area are the best areas in the country where this problem is getting under control. The Southeast is worse than here.
I would love to hear other ideas from anyone on how they believe this problem could be addressed.
I didn’t say they had to have a rational reason for their actions, what I’m saying is by creating a government mandate you would be creating an incentive for people to euthanize MORE pets out of financial constraints and fear of government reprisals.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Government mandates rarely work in anything. This is a principle I adhere to. Without proper enforcement, it wouldn’t work anyway. Proper enforcement would cost a lot of money, money that might just be better spent in education, low cost spay and neuter operations, and more Animal Control funding to increase capacities or extend animal stays, or help find foster homes.
I think you obviously care for animals and would like to solve a problem you see, but I’m telling you right now, looking to government mandates for solutions will create unintended consequences and will lead to other restrictions and obstacles to pet ownership as well.
Then there is the issue of probable cause… How will any enforcement agency check your pet to discover if it’s been spayed or neutered? Grabbing your pet while you’re out for a walk and checking its underside? Mandated RFID tags? Would they set up “path blocks” to scan pet owners’ furry friends for their “papers please”? Surely they would need probable cause of a crime to do that.
Enforcement would probably occur at the vet, through them shopping you in. Then, you lose incentive to take your pet to the vet, leading to other unintended consequences.
The strong arm of government is NOT going to solve the problem you outlined here. It might even make it worse.
Brad,
I just read the “glittering” article again which ends with “Better education, more enforcement, and no spay neuter laws” I am all for better education. But I do not understand “more enforcement”. More enforcement of what? What is enforced if there is no s/n law?
Thanks again
Martha
Enforcement against abandonment, neglect, and cruelty to animals, I presume is what the author meant there.
Education and private fundraising look pretty key to me.
Education and private fundraising have been going on a long time and at great intensity. Would I like to see more of it? Sure Do I want that alone to be the answer? Absolutely. But I, a humane volunteer, and others who work in the humane field do not believe that these things no matter how well they are done will be the only answer. The problem is too big.
There is not sufficient enforcement now against the neglect, cruelty etc that you mention. More meat needs to be put in our animal laws and s/n needs to be added. To subject an animal to repeated and constant breeding is cruelty.
There have been animals brought in to a shelter with which I am familiar that represented generations of inbreeding which caused gross genetic deformities such as missing limbs. This is not something that can be regulated but is an example of the need for extensive education. This shelter could not turn these people in because it would break the trust for others to bring animals in that need help. Education will help eventually. However what I wish to point out is how far we have to go.
As I have said before, many different approaches are needed to attack this problem and government is one of them. Let’s get back to zero with all the fire power we have. Then do what works to maintain and get better from there.
Thanks for your dialogue. I appreciate your responses.
Thank you too. Good cause you’re involved in. Just not convinced that mandatory s/n by ordinance is a good path to take.
One more thought since you brought up inbreeding, what would happen long-term under a “licensed breeder only” policy wherein the only animals produced were produced by selective human breeding, and no natural mating processes were occurring in the population? Surely this would bottleneck the gene pool and leave species more vulnerable to disease.
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