Preventing Overpopulation

OVERVIEW

Israel's Veterinary Services has no statistics on the number of homeless dogs and cats on the streets of Israel. While the number of stray dogs has diminished in recent years, cats are thought to number in the millions. They are everywhere — in alleys, trees, under cars, on rooftops, and sometimes trapped in buildings, even in hospitals. In just six years, one unspayed dog can produce 67,000 puppies, and in seven years, one unspayed cat can produce 420,000 kittens.

The media in Israel has reported numerous incidents of cruelty to homeless animals, especially by teenagers. They have also reported a chronic problem of dogs being abandoned on highways, in moshavim (farming villages), and on kibbutzim (collective farming settlements) when their humans depart on vacation, during a time of heightened security problems, difficult economic times, or when they simply no longer want them.

One Jerusalem Post article countered the common belief that a dog abandoned on a kibbutz will necessarily be taken in and cared for. The sad truth is that such dogs rarely find a home. More often, they are picked up by a kibbutz resident and dropped on another kibbutz, where, it is hoped, someone there will take them in. Abandoned from kibbutz to kibbutz, they may eventually starve. Spaying and neutering and education in responsible animal care will, over the long-term, reduce the number of unwanted animals and teach people to bring animals for whom they can no longer care to an animal shelter rather than abandon them.

As awareness about and concern for animals grows, more people are putting out food for homeless cats, especially in cities. Increasingly, the food they are putting out is cat food rather than bread dipped in yogurt or milk, as in the past. This is a positive trend; however, when the amount of food in an area increases but cats remain unaltered, their numbers will grow.

We at CHAI and Hakol Chai are doing our part to promote spaying and neutering and education in responsible animal care. See our Cat and Dog Overpopulation Campaign.