Pet Care ABCs
PETA is pleased to announce the launch of its brand-new Animal Birth Control (ABC) campaign. This campaign is aimed at tackling the overpopulation crisis of dogs and cats. Every year, 6 million to 8 million unwanted cats and dogs end up in animal shelters—roughly half of them must be euthanized because there aren’t enough good homes available for them.
Some 30 years ago, my very first call as a Maryland state humane officer was to pick up a mother dog who had given birth under a rundown house. What a good mom she was trying to be, somehow providing for her hungry puppies! I remember that the people in the house yelled at her and stomped on the floorboards to try to get her out.
That year, I read a poem called “I Found Your Dog Today.” You may be familiar with the poem or one of the many variations of it. Each one was written by animal shelter workers over the years, and each one tells the same true story of animals who were found suffering out there.
The one I read was about a pregnant dog dropped off in a neighborhood and about how everyone shooed her away. The dog was so hungry that her stomach ached and was so thirsty that she drank from a mud puddle. She was so hopeful that her family would come back to save her that she stayed by the side of the road, looking out, waiting, and baffled that she was suddenly in this strange place with no one to help her. I remember crying over that poem because, every day, I drove out and picked up animals just like her—and like the one under the house who tried so hard to please yet was so despised.
How can it be that this is all still going on today? When PETA started, we filled a void, working for animals no one talked or thought about: those killed for the table, abused in circuses, and used for fur and in experiments. But the problem of unwanted dogs and cats didn’t fade away. That is why PETA has made the decision to launch this campaign.
Visit our new ABC Web site to find out more and watch our brand-new video. Together, we can make a difference in the overpopulation crisis and save lives.
Sincerely,
Ingrid E. Newkirk
President
