Re: How Many Is Too Many

Dear Anonymous,

Usually I ignore posts by those too cowardly to identify themselves, but I'll make an exception in your case, not because I have the slightest hope of opening your mind, but for those who read your words and wonder.

Anecdotal experience gained from visiting a shelter, or several shelters, does not prove the rule. Statistics do. While you may have observed crowded cages, in other parts of the country, the cages are empty, or filled with dogs imported from third world countries or smuggled in from Mexico. Dogs are shipped across the country on a regular basis to fill the demand for pets where there are very few available.

I would say that YOUR knowledge of "animal rights" is what accounts for your baseless opinion. I see nothing to back up your accusations. There is a term for those who live life with blinders on - appropriately, it's "blind followers," the people who follow emotional, persuasive propaganda, celebrity endorsements and the like, rather than taking the time to do the research.

Did you know that the biggest animal rights organization in the country, the misnamed Humane Society of the United States, spends less than one half of one per cent on the care of animals and does not own or operate a single shelter anywhere? Or that it is under investigation by the IRS for tax fraud, being sued by Ringling Brothers under the RICO Act, was called to the carpet by the Louisiana D.A. for collecting 35 million dollars on the tails of Katrina, only 7.5 million of which ended up caring for disaster victims, and did the same in the Michael Vicks case, begging for money to help the dogs, even though they did not have possession of them and had formally requested their extermination?

Animal rights is NOT the same as animal welfare, which promotes the humane treatment of animals and believes that humans have a responsibility towards them. Animal Rights, on the other hand, is based on a philosophy that animals have rights equal to humans and that, among other things, pet ownership is slavery, and all animals should lead their own lives without human interference.

Pause for a moment in your emotional rush to judgment and answer one simple question. If all dogs and cats are spayed and neutered and all breeding is banned, where will our future pets come from?

My post, "How many is too many?" comes from the awareness that limit laws are one of many incremental ways of making pet ownership and breeding more and more difficult until, in the words of Wayne Pacelle, president of HSUS, "One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals."

But you don't get any of that. You just think I hate animals.