A man stopped me on the street to ask what kind of dog Joey was.
“One of a kind,” I said, explaining that Joey comes from a long line of promiscuous forebears.
“If he ever has puppies, would you let me know?” he asked, reaching for his wallet and business cards.
Well, I had to tell him, Joey will never have puppies. Joey has been neutered. He came that way from the shelter. It’s a condition of adopting a dog.
While 120,000 dogs are licensed in Los Angeles County, there may be as many as 900,000 actually living here. Who knows how many are stray. Unneutered or unspayed animals do as nature directs – they make more puppies and kittens. Too many of these puppies and kittens don’t have good, safe homes, enough food or vet care.
Across California, more than 450,000 dogs and cats are euthanized because they have no one to care for them. An estimated 8 million pets are in shelters across the nation. And the number is rising as animals fall victim to home foreclosures, family job losses and tightening budgets.
The City of Los Angeles, facing its own budget crisis, has decided to eliminate its spay and neuter vouchers program. This program helps people with low incomes spay and neuter their pets.
We’re already falling tragically behind in our ability to take care of pets without homes. Without neutering and spaying, the number of homeless pets grows geometrically.
If you would like to see the restoration of the voucher program, contact:
Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zine at 19040 Vanowen St., Reseda, CA 91335 or (818) 756-8848
Or
Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti by email at info@ericgarcetti.com or telephone by (626) 915-7635.
Am I sorry that my beloved Joey will never have puppies?
Not really. With or without puppies, he’s one of a kind. I can really only take care of one dog well and that dog, for now, is Joey.
The shelters are filled with lovable one-of-a-kind dogs like Joey. Thousands of these wonderful animals are being killed each year. We don’t need to kill more and more.
We need to support spaying and neutering.