OVERPOPULATION
Veronica Alarcon
9 April 2013 / Story #3
JOU 1100: News Reporting
ORLANDO – When a
stray kitten kept coming to visit local Orlando resident, David Besu, out in
the parking lot of his job at the Applebee’s on State Road 192, he decided to
act out of the kindness of his heart. Besu wrapped the kitten in an old shirt
he had in the back of his car, took it back to his house, and bathed it from
all the fleas it had. The next morning, Besu took the kitten to the Orlando
Humane Society to have her spayed and find a home for her. After 24 hours of
time spent together, Besu decided that the kitten already had a home.
“I think what really
got me were the big blue eyes that kept giving me this look like ‘Keep me,
please!’” said Besu, as he tried to make a cute kitten imitation. “I just kept
telling myself that there’s one cat off the street that people don’t have to
worry about.”
Unfortunately, not
all citizens of Orlando have the kind heart that David Besu does. When most
people find stray cats on the streets, they either feed them scraps of food and
leave, or seize to acknowledge at all. There are even people who are not even
aware that this issue even exists.
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With all the unwanted
cats on the streets, there are more cats starving and struggling to find
shelter. Most of these cats are also infested with fleas, parasites, and skin
diseases that can be passed on to other animals and even people, making it
harmful to the community. In Orange County alone,
there are around 300,000 to 350,000 cats out on the streets.
Shelters in the United States take in approximately 8
million stray or unwanted animals each year. About 4 million pets, half of
these animals, get euthanized each year. When good homes cannot be found for
them, the shelters do not have enough space for all these unwanted animals and
have no other choice but to put them down. Currently, shelter euthanasia is the
leading cause of death for both dogs and cats in the United States.
The Orange County Animal Services has made it its mission to
provide cheap and affordable spay and neuter surgeries to end pet
overpopulation once in for all. Spaying and neutering helps dogs and cats live
longer and healthier lives by eliminating the risk of many diseases that can be
costly to treat. A pet that has been spayed or neutered makes for a more
affectionate and well-behaved companion.
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There are many other organizations in Florida and all over
the United States that also contribute to stop pet overpopulation. SPOT is an
organization that also helps owners to neuter or spay their pets for an
affordable cost. “Here at SPOT, we believe that prevention with spay/neuter and
simple education will help people keep their pets so they don't end up in the
shelters,” says Diane Anderson, Animal Behaviorist and Humane Educator of the
SPOT organization.
The TNR Program is also another organization that has helped
tremendously in controlling pet overpopulation in communities. The program
traps stray animals, spays or neuters them and gives them a general deworming.
Then, they return the animals to the community, after they have tipped the
animals’ ear to alert the community that they have been through the program.
If we join together and help to fight the overflow of
unwanted pets in the community, we can save many animals’ lives and find enough
homes for all of them. Not only will this be beneficial for the animals, but
for our community as well. Sherry Norem, a veterinarian at a local animal
clinic, states, “We call ourselves a humane nation and yet this is one of the
most inhumane things we are responsible for. You’re either part of the solution
or part of the problem.”
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