Overpopulation is the greatest crisis facing dogs and cats alike.
“Control the stray population.”
These words may sound harmless,
But in most countries,
It’s simply a softer way of saying
“Mass murder stray dogs and cats.”
Some countries use the word “culling” instead of “murder” when it comes to killing massive amounts of stray animals. “Culling” means to reduce a large number of the population, and usually some sort of reason or justification is provided as to why it is okay to kill the animals.
But how is it ever okay to resort to killing animals?
Hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats were loaded into trucks
and transported to death camps in Beijing.
They were stuffed into cages so small they couldn’t even turn around.
Cats were beaten to death with sticks.
Dogs were poisoned and died slow, agonizing deaths.
What was the reason?
The 2008 Olympics.
Brutally murdering dogs and cats is never justifiable.
That should go without saying.
But when big events such as the Olympics roll around,
countries often resort to committing mass murder.
Similarly, the 2004 Athens Olympic games saw the mass murder of thousands of stray dogs and cats. The animals were poisoned, hanged, and shot.
Add the 2014 Sochi Olympics to the list.
One estimate placed the cost of the Beijing Olympics at $50 billion. The Sochi Olympics was $60 billion, and spent $2 billion on security alone. If governments are able to invest massive amounts of money in infrastructure (such as new arenas, transportation lines, hotels, etc) for the Olympic Games, where is the money to help save the millions of dogs and cats needlessly and brutally killed?
Why isn’t that money going towards solutions to this horrific crisis?
Government-ordered mass killings impact tens of thousands of dogs and cats every year.
In over 60 countries, the methods for killing are truly horrifying.
There are limited laws preventing cruelty,
And inhumane methods are used because they are low cost.
Dogs will be crushed to death in garbage trucks.
They’ll be fed food laced with glass and bleed to death.
Electrocuted.
These mass-murder efforts can happen at any time, anywhere.
In 2015, Australia announced plans to kill 2 million feral cats by 2020.
Poisonous sausages have been designed and distributed across the country.
Hunters were also given approval to shoot the cats with a bow and arrow.
Despite over 160,000 signatures across multiple petitions, the murder mission went ahead.
A video made its rounds online showing one innocent cat suffering an excruciating death,
an arrow piercing her side.
The reason for this mass killing?
To protect native species.
What tragic irony:
killing animals to save animals.
Just this year, Hawaii announced a similar horrific plan:
poison HALF of all feral cats in Oahu by 2025. Fortunately, this has been delayed for now.
Poisoning is a slow and painful death. Poison is the most common way that stray dogs are killed across the globe. Typically, meat will be laced with strychnine. The dog will eat the meat, and die a horrifyingly slow death.
In Azerbaijan, in India, and elsewhere, there have been reports of national authorities and local citizens brutally killing dogs due to the overpopulation of strays.
Groups of people going out on dog hunts.
Images of people parading around with dog carcasses can be found online.
Besides being inhumane, brutal, and heartless, the killing of stray dogs and cats isn’t even effective in making a change to the overpopulation crisis.
Why do we turn to murder instead of investing time, money, and energy
into finding solutions to this crisis?
These horrifying incidents of abuse and murder will continue to happen.
There is a global overpopulation crisis of dogs and cats.
The world's 600 million stray dogs give birth to an estimated one billion puppies each year.
And countries have valid reasons for wanting to limit the stray dog population. Dog bites are the leading cause of the rabies disease in humans– 99%of rabies cases are as a result of dogs. Additionally, cats pose a huge threat to biodiversity. Because of the overpopulation crisis, there are far too many cats hunting too few rodents, birds, and reptiles. In fact, “Worldwide, domestic cats have been implicated in the extinction of at least 2 reptile species, 21 mammal species and 40 bird species,” according to researchers Arie Trouwborst and Han Somsen.
We need a long-term, permanent solution.
That’s why 600 Million Dogs is working on the Spay and Neuter Cookie.
Once completed, the Cookie will provide a solution to the overpopulation crisis right at its source.
Instead of turning to death, we can prevent these births from occurring in the first place.
With your help, we can recruit more scientists, explore new ingredients, and expedite our efforts to make the Cookie a reality.
Please visit our “Donate” page to join us!
