Wow, :( ...look at the #'s.....

http://www.petfinder.com/breeds/Dog


there are currently over 9,000 pit bulls available for adoption..... insane....

http://www.sniksnak.com/stop_s-n.html

Stop - Don't Litter! Spay and Neuter

Each year thousands and thousands of cats and kittens, dogs and puppies are euthanized due to overpopulation. Statistics show that 10-12 million pets are euthanized annually in the United States. Using the lower figure of 10 million, that's 192,308 per week or 27,473 pets euthanized every 24 hours, 365 days a year.

Seventy thousand (70,000) kittens and puppies are born every day just in the US...every hour 415 children are born...3,500 cats are also born. Twenty-five percent (25%) cats - one out of every four - are destroyed daily. The majority of these cats and kittens are bright-eyed and healthy, with no physical or mental deformities.

Why are they being killed? Because their care givers, the ones who have sworn to love and protect these animals are not spaying and neutering. Just because a pet is pure-bred, exotic or declawed or cropped does not mean that this type of pet won't end up on the street or in a shelter. Shelters are full of pure-breds, exotic, declawed and cropped unwanted pets. As many as 25% (twenty-five per cent) of all pets in shelters are pure-breds. Too many pet owners are grossly uneducated on this issue. Not only does spay/neuter ensure longer, healthier lives, but it prevents unwanted litters and homelessness.

Unwanted cat litters create the feral colonies of cats. There's no such thing as a stray cat, any more than there are native ferals - ferals are simply unwanted, abandoned domesticated house cats. The stray cats were once owned by human beings. Those newborn kittens belong to humans who dumped little Tiger and Princess because they "couldn't stand the thought of them being euthanized if taken to a humane society or shelter" because they are moving, or determined they are allergic to cats, or the new boy/girl friend doesn't like cats, or a human baby is on the way, or a thousand other excuses. Go ahead, just take a LOOK at actual excuses given to shelters and humane societies.

In the meantime, the unwanted Fido and Fluffy have grown to love and trust their care giver, depending on them for their very lives. The caretaker turned deaf ears to the pleas of spay/neuter - for Fido needs to be a "man" and Fluffy is simply great- just think how "adorable" her babies will be. "...but it's only ONE litter".... The first step to abuse long ago began with the decision to not spay/neuter. And the viciously cruel fate of pain, hunger, homelessness, and illnesses Fido and Fluffy are now experiencing since being dumped is passed on to their tiny, helpless offspring. The ludicrous idea that cats, kittens, dogs and puppies can survive on the streets is better than taking them to a shelter or human society for euthanization is simply unbelievable.

Too many people are under the impression spaying/neutering can only be done after a pet reaches the age of 5-7 months. Early age altering of pets has been practiced for over 25 years in North America. Early age altering means spaying and neutering pets between the ages of 6 and 14 weeks. By tradition (due to years by-gone anesthetic techniques that weren't available at the time) waiting until a pet was older increased survival rate during surgery. However, with modern technology, there is no need to prolong spaying and neutering as a medical reason. If you KNOW you are not going to breed, noe have any inclination to, PLEASE, please spay and neuter your animals. Tx.

Suki I absolutely agree that way to many animals are dumped or put into shelters and their is a great need for sputering. The only thing I disagree with is....um not sure lol. No I am not doubting the number of animals that are being put down, but why are these animals being put down? Yes some are there what seems like forever and no one adopts them. But I believe there are just as many (bull) dogs that are being put down because most city shelters will not adopt them out, even the really young ones. Then the rescues and shelters that will adopt them out...won't really adopt them out. Sorry a bit off topic, it just really chaps my hide. I have adopted dogs and have no problem doing so, but the restrictions are so tough no one is good enough to have these dogs.

i would say, that many of the animals in these shelters simply run out of time.
many shelters "claim" to be no kill, but when time runs out for them, and room is needed for newer animals to come in, some shelters 'move' their animals to other shelters, and guess what happens to them?....
at a shelter where my daughter and i volunteered at, they did it this way, as well. it's amazing the # of off spring one animal can create. and so on, and so on.... and as far as "pit bulls" go, sadly MANY people feel that a majority of them are too aggressive, mostly based on media bias, and simply are not even interested in adopting them, and trying their hand at "rehabilitating" them~so to speak.
just too amy animals out there with not enuff, nor sufficient places to shelter them.
there are so many low cost clinics out there~i wish more people would take advantage of them....

in regards to pit bulls, and over population issues, here is one reason why so many are put down:
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/buzz/archives/128945.asp
and this is only ONE city..... one...
the popularity of the pit bull has increased dramatically over the past decade, and since it now encompasses so many breeds, it goes without saying that so many more of them are being brought into this world, as well as being taken out.
The AKC will show/tell you that Labs are the #1 owned dog, but since they do not recognize the pit bull (short of the AM Staff) they don't have any official #'s to back this up.
and if more potential pit bull owners did their homework and realized what a high energy dog this is, and that, like most breeds, their care should be for their life time, and NOT until you realize you've gotten in over your head with this breed= that always/constantly wants to be on the go and have your undivided attention, requires a diligent, responsible, even thick skinned owner, so therefore gets dumped, primarily between the ages of 1 and 2, then they might realize a dog of this nature is not the best suited for them and find another before purchasing the pit bull, then giving it up. happens ALL too often.
and then there's the "oh, just one litter", cuz my dog's SO wonderful and looks SO awesome and would make great looking puppies, without thinking prior, about lining up homes even before the pups are born.

not enff thinking, FIRST, before the purchase of the pit bull pup. too much after, hence the very lagre #'s regarding PTS's.
we had a case (for example) last week, a bull dog. owner had complained of his dog peeing and pooping on his couch, and that he was walking funny.
so we took him out back to our treatment room, where we typically "prepare" an animal for euthanasia=get the catheter put in, say our good byes, try to calm him/her (and ourselves) and then bring the animal back out to the exam for to the owners, should they want to be present.
turns out this dog could not walk well, cuz when i looked at his nails, they were SO freakin long, they had just about grown and curled up into his pads!!! i was SO peeved, because this was a healthy 5 year old dog, who simply needed to be house trained! sorry, lazy owner, imo.
the stories you hear are amazing! just when you THINK you've heard the most ridiculous one, another one is soon to follow.
and the reason why shelters have to be so strict and so stringent with their adoptions, and i know this first hand, because i am a member on our adoption committee, is because we do not want that animal coming back for the very same reasons it was initially dropped off for. kid has allergies. animal has dog aggression issues, etc, etc. so you make sure via a questionaire, (one aspect) that certain criteria is met prior to placing. trust me you GUTTA be strict, cuz you don't wanna see that dog coming back in, in 2 weeks, cuz he doesn't like fluffy, or the kid is sneezing....
anyhow, that's, imo, why the #'s are so high. people need to do their homework, BEfore they purchase a pet. imo, a pet is for a life time, not something to suit your whim.
and as far as #'s being high, this doesn't even include the "drop off" on the road side route.... many of those animals do not even survive, before they are "discovered'.... pathetic... and i sincerely wish there weren't so many. as humans WE have done this.