Rant!

Damn it, people! Spay and neuter your pets!


From my first orientation at the Wake County Animal Center (WCAC) I understood the difference between them (the county shelter) and all the other rescue societies (like the SPCA). The WCAC is a county government entity and does not get to pick and choose who comes in the back door. And it doesn’t matter if all the kennels are full. If an animal is brought to the intake area it will be processed into the WCAC. As I’ve said before, everyone I’ve met (staff or volunteer) at the WCAC loves animals and will do everything they can to make sure that no animal has to be put to sleep because there isn’t enough room. But guess what? It happens. It happens every day and it’s a damn shame.


In September, the WCAC took in 1,344 animals. That’s a 25% increase from 2009, but understandable as WCAC became the only intake for all of Wake County as of July 1st. We did have an 82% increase from this time in 2009 in adoptions and transfers to other rescue groups, which meant that 498 animals went to good homes in September. (Yay!) We are pleased that the euthanasia rate from September 2009 to September 2010 dropped by 10%, but still, 660 animals had to be put to sleep in September because there were just too many for the WCAC to handle!


I know I’m preaching to the choir to most of you that read my blog, but please, spread the word. (List of low-cost spay & neuter services http://www.wakegov.com/pets/fix/services.htm)


Like I said above, I understood from the beginning that some of the cats and dogs I met, photographed, and fell in love with would not end up in a happy home. But I was still shocked to find out that the litter of Pittie puppies that I first wrote about were all, yes ALL, put to sleep. They got upper respiratory infections and there was no room to treat them. Their intake record said that they were an “owner surrender of an un-wanted litter” and that’s what got me ticked off about spaying and neutering your pets.


I’ve been tracking the animals I’ve taken pictures of, and here is the sad record of those who didn’t make it (mid-May thru mid-Oct) and why…

The Pittie Puppies consisted of Dina, Caroline, Theresa, Danielle, Ramona, Bethany, Kim G, Mario



Pittie Puppies - Upper Respiratory Infection (URI)



Lemon Pepper - "Fear Biter"

Veronica - Too many cats at the shelter/She had been there too long

Qdoba - Agression

Raken - URI

Delilah - Too Many/Too Long

Maggie - Too Many/Too Long

Gertrude - Multiple age-related health issues

Charlie - URI

Doug - URI/Fear Biter

Lady - Aggression

Cream - Aggression

Tasha - Stress/Anxiety-related illnesses

Bruce - Dog Aggressive

Missy - URI

Ace - Aggression

Dennis - Aggression

Dingo - Aggression

Nina - Infection that would not heal

Reese - Aggression

Boris - URI

Midnite - URI

Chilli Pepper - URI



Deva - URI

Archie - URI

Nathan - URI

Bubba - Too Many/Too Long

Jack - Dog Aggressive

Mercury - URI

So what to do ... adopt ... encourage others to adopt ... join the WCAC's foster program ... volunteer at the WCAC ... train your dogs to be good dogs and encourage others to train their dogs (it's not their fault they were aggressive; they lacked proper pack leadership) ... spay, spay, spay and neuter, neuter, neuter.