Blame pet overpopulation on human hostility

Mr. Mike Horning’s ignorance about the challenges our community faces concerning the abuse, neglect, abandonment and surrendering of our community’s animals is only surpassed by his chilling lack of compassion for these sentient and innocent beings. The problem isn’t pit bulls, the problem is your attitude that animals are property that, when we feel inconvenienced by them, should be tossed out like so many pieces of trash.

Do you honestly think that killing all the pit bulls who are presently in the shelter will solve the problem? Because more pit bulls will take their place. What kind of community are we that we would murder innocent animals regularly and on such a large scale?

A better solution would be for our local government to implement and enforce licensing requirements and mandatory inspections of breeding facilities, including those in private homes, as well as implementing taxes on breeders with strict limits as to how many litters they can produce per year.

Contact your local county commissioners who dropped the ball back in 2015 by not voting to ban the retail sale of puppy mill dogs in our community and demand that they reconsider voting for the banning ordinance. Pet stores in other cities across the country are getting into the adoption business. So should we.

Supporting our local rescues (Moonracer No Kill, Underdog Rescue, Nate’s Honor Rescue, and others ) who do a wonderful service of alleviating the overcrowding in our shelters by getting these dogs adopted.

Continuing to kill innocent animals is unethical and morally reprehensible and is not a solution in the long term. Changing our archaic attitudes towards the animals of our community and being accountable for them would be a step in the right direction.

This story was originally published January 22, 2017 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Blame pet overpopulation on human hostility."