Progress Made On Reducing Dog And Cat Euthanasia Rates
This article highlights that while there has been an increase in the number of companion animals in U.S. households, increasing from 67 million in 1970 to 135 million today, the number of cats and dogs killed in shelters has dramatically decreased, from 20 million in 1970 to 3-4 million today. This article discusses this trend, as well as factors leading to the current problem of companion animal overpopulation.
The shift in euthanasia rates can be stated another way. In 1970 25% of all cats and dogs were euthanized in shelters while today 3% are. Relying on expertise from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) a number of reasons are identified as major influences on euthanasia rates. These include Owner relinquishment, lack of spay and neuter, and people choosing to buy or breed rather than adopt from shelters. 35% of people with companion animals do not spay/ neuter, only 20% of people getting new companions each year adopt from a shelter, and 6-8 million companion animals are placed in shelters by their human companions each year.
This article also highlights the difficultly with tracking shelter data, due to a lack of centralized data collection.