Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Animal Services Monthly Report June, 2009 <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br /> <br />Pet Demographics and Overpopulation <br /> <br />It is often said that pet problems are people problems, and that pet overpopulation is a <br />community problem. These insights very much apply to our own circumstances and they <br />help create a broader perspective in which to understand our own sheltering statistics. <br /> <br />More specifically, the number of animals that are sheltered in a given period of time is <br />itself not caused by or a direct function of our sheltering operations and practices. The <br />number of unwanted animals in our communities (sometimes referred to as “surplus” <br />pets); the extent to which cats, rabbits and dogs alike are spayed or neutered rather than <br />allowed to remain intact and reproduce; the strength of norms and customs of responsible <br />pet ownership; the scope and strength of animal regulations and their effective <br />enforcement; and other such “variables” are what affect the number of animals that are <br />sheltered in our own and other communities. <br /> <br /> <br />Monthly and Seasonal Variations <br /> <br />Month by month there are significant changes in the numbers of cats, dogs and other <br />animals that are sheltered at Orange County’s Animal Shelter. In very general terms, <br />there is a significant “spread” in the number of animals that are sheltered each month, <br />which reflect the seasonal nature of pet demographics and animal sheltering in our own <br />and other communities. <br /> <br />During the peak summer months, the numbers are traditionally much higher than in other <br />months of the year. In June, for instance, 686 animals were sheltered. Whereas this is <br />similar to the number sheltered last June (614), it is much higher than the number <br />sheltered in January (253). Similarly, this June 430 animals were admitted to the <br />shelter—a verylarge number that equates to over 14 animals per day over that thirty- day <br />period. <br /> <br />Moreover, it should be underscored that the “live release rate” for a given time period is <br />determined by the number of animals that are sheltered as well as the total number of <br />animals that are adopted, transferred, or recovered by their owner. It may well be that <br />there is a very high percentage of animals that are released alive in a given month but that <br />the absolute number is lower than in other months because of the number of animals that <br />come to the shelter. <br /> <br />Addressing Pet Overpopulation <br /> <br />To work toward the desideratum of ending euthanasia as a means of population control, it <br />is thus essential to positively impact the number of animals that come into Orange <br />County’s Animal Shelter in the course of the year. Essential to this is progressive <br />legislation that is enforced in an effective, fair and reasonable manner. A starting point is