by Ferris Robinson
posted October 2, 2008
 Ferris Robinson |
Unfortunately, she is not a lone example of a stray animal. In Dade County, there are hundreds of stray dogs roaming the highways, and unless action is taken, there will be hundreds of thousands more. This is no exaggeration.
One female dog and her offspring, if not spayed or neutered, can produce up to 67,000 dogs in only six years. Ten female dogs and her offspring make that number 670,000, and one hundred female dogs brings that number close to 7 million.
This problem is especially rampant in Dade County. According to Jimmy Stewart, a Dade Animal Rescue Team (D.A.R.T.) volunteer, the fact that there is so much rural area in Dade County makes it easy to literally dump unwanted animals, and not be noticed. Even if the perpetrator was seen, no action would be taken against them. There is no law for the humane treatment of animals outside the city limits.
Neither is there an animal shelter in Dade County, so unlike in Hamilton County, there is no place to bring unwanted animals.
According to Jimmy, the answer to this problem is not necessarily a facility to take these animals. He refers to them as “Fill ‘em and Kill ‘em places” and if you look at the overcrowding at the various humane societies, his jargon hits home. Nearly two million animals are euthanized annually in America.
The Stewarts believe an effective Spay and Neuter program is the solution to this out of control animal population explosion.
But some people think it would be great fun to let their dog have at least one litter of puppies. The reality is that after a few weeks, the novelty wears off and there are ten or so rapidly growing dogs to take care of.
But Jimmy says the main obstacle to a successful Spay and Neuter program is money.
“It is not cheap to vet animals, and a lot of Dade County’s pet owners are elderly and on a fixed income,” he says.
Jimmy and his wife, Becky, have taken D.A.R.T. by the reins and have spayed or neutered 1200 animals since November 2006. “We work with Wally’s Friends and twice a month we load up their van and take about 40 dogs to the clinic in Red Bank, then bring them back to Dade County for their owners to pick up the next day. We are trying to make it convenient as well as inexpensive for the owners to vet their animals,” Mr. Stewart says.
They are definitely making progress; they have taken 140 dogs to a no-kill facility in Atlanta, but need funds to provide low-cost vetting, as well as educating the public about the importance of the Spay and Neuter Program.
As for the starving mother dog eating tin foil out of the dumpster, D.A.R.T. found her and her eight puppies a new home.
(Ferris Robinson can be contacted at misstante@tvn.net)
) Bubba, on left, was a stray found on Highway 157, and Victor was adopted at the Humane Educational Society. Both are vital parts of their new household. |
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