This mother dog had 15 puppies from two litters in one year. Before the year was out, four of the female puppies had grown to sexual maturity and had had, between them, 18 more puppies. The puppies pictured will be ready to breed when they are just 6 months old. Do the math and you’ll realize how many puppies can result from just one unspayed dog in one year. Now, multiply that by a nation, and you’ll see why dogs and cats are pouring into shelters. And why “no-kill” alone won’t fix the problem. What we need is “no-birth” first.
This year, millions of wonderful animals will end up in shelters and pounds. Many more will be abandoned on the streets. All of this misery and death could be prevented—through spaying and neutering. Every stray cat, every neglected dog came from an animal who wasn’t spayed or neutered.
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Rita is one of 2,600 animals SNIP spayed and neutered during our first year of operation.
Photo:Tal Ronnen/PETA
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By preventing animals from being born, we prevent animals from being hit by cars, infected with lingering, painful diseases, attacked by other animals or cruel people, stolen by laboratory dealers, used as bait by dogfighters, or simply stuck outside to suffer from starvation, exposure, or neglect.
Please, make a pledge right now to take personal responsibility, not just for neutering your own animals but to neuter or spay every unsterilized animal you encounter. Is there an unneutered cat hanging around? Does your neighbor have an unaltered dog? Is your coworker giving away a litter of kittens? Provide information on spaying and neutering, and ask animal guardians when they plan to have the surgery done. Be persistent. If they make excuses, arrange to have the animals altered yourself.
| Life-saver! Kittens and puppies can be neutered at as young as 8 weeks old. Neutering before animals reach sexual maturity prevents deadly cancers of the reproductive system. |
Go figure! It is estimated that one unaltered female cat and her offspring could produce 420,000 cats in just seven years. Let’s not let even one unsterilized animal slip by without being spayed or neutered.
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 PETA spays and neuters hundreds of animals a month in southeastern Virginia in our new, state-of-the-art mobile spay-and-neuter clinic. The “SNIP (Spay and Neuter Immediately, Please)-mobile”—decorated with an illustration designed and donated by syndicated “Mutts” cartoonist, Patrick McDonnell—provides free and low-cost spay and neuter surgeries to the animals of needy families. The clinic travels to low-income neighborhoods, making it easier for residents to deliver their animals. If they can’t deliver, we’ll pick up! The SNIP-mobile also visits shelters, where SNIP spays and neuters animals prior to adoption.
So far, SNIP has prevented the birth of offspring to the thousands of animals who have been “snipped,” as well as their offspring’s offspring and their offspring’s offspring and their offspring’s offspring … phew!
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 • Speak up if someone you know intends to breed an animal or plans to buy from a pet store or breeder. Give them our literature on pet shops, puppy mills, and spaying and neutering.
• Spay a street! Pick a block and work or pay to have all the dogs and cats sterilized through a clinic or a local low-cost spay/neuter program (call 1-800-248-SPAY for details).
• Lobby the shelter. If your local shelter doesn’t “fix” animals before adoption, work to get this implemented. We can help.
• Adopt a mall. If there’s a pet store in your local mall, urge the mall manager to give it the boot and instead lend that space to an animal shelter to use as an adoption center for homeless animals. For how-to information, visit HelpPuppies.com.
• Help us fund SNIP. Send donations to SNIP c/o PETA.
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 I know many of you make compassionate choices every day and urge others to do the same, but there is one other thing we can do. Please consider joining me in incorporating a lasting gift for animals into your estate plans. It takes only a moment or two to arrange, but it is perhaps the single most important thing we can do to ensure that the animals have a strong voice long after we’ve gone.
Many dedicated PETA supporters have made lasting gifts by including PETA in their wills. PETA member June wrote, “I will fight with PETA for animal rights till I draw my last breath, and then beyond [through my estate plans].” Members Rodney and Ilene wrote, “A bulk of our estate is going to PETA because we believe it is so important to protect those who cannot protect themselves.”
Our bequests guarantee PETA’s continued life. Our planned gifts ensure that PETA’s lifesaving efforts for all animals—not just the cute and cuddly ones—will prevail into the future, via classroom presentations, investigations, media interviews, educational materials, public demonstrations, and corporate boycotts—all strategies that change hearts and minds—work that works!
Please call 757-622-7382, extension 1610, for information to share with your professional advisor about making a bequest or other planned gift.
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