This is very similar to a post that’s been knocking about inside my head, so while I play catch up after my week away, have this post instead!
This is very similar to a post that’s been knocking about inside my head, so while I play catch up after my week away, have this post instead!
I’m not totally sure this is 100% right because, on the one hand, there’s a population of cats who are only loosely attached to people and on the other there will always be situations where perfectly reasonable people have to give up animals (e.g. if they die suddenly and none of their family or friends are in a position to take on their pets).
However I’m sure he’s correct that (at least for dogs) there isn’t an “overpopulation” problem in the same sense that there’s a problem of overpopulation of deer in the UK, because the vast majority of puppies are deliberately planned on the assumption that they have a market value.
Yes, the waters are muddier for cats, I’d agree.
When I was in Taiwan last week I had a very interesting experience where I was in a shelter where there were ‘free adoptions’ at the weekends. I felt this was almost a step backwards, promoting irresponsible pet ownership. The monetary value of an animal does tend to engender more thought into their adoption/purchase.
Like I say, I want to write about this at some point, but I’ll need to do some reading up to see if anyone’s done studies on this. 🙂