How would you like to earn $25 million?
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the first person to successfully develop a nonsurgical method for sterilizing cats and dogs will receive an ‘incentive’ of that amount – now that’s what I call an incentive!
Why? The Found Animals Foundation announced the program because its founder wants to see a decrease in the more than 4 milion animals euthanized each year in the US alone.
Isn’t that a staggering number? Four million cats and dogs put down, every year, just in the USA. Let alone in the rest of the world.
What’s the problem with homeless animals?
There are millions of homeless animals that are fertile – they continue to reproduce and so there are even more homeless animals. Many of these animals live in terrible conditions with lack of food and shelter, and they can carry disease because they don’t have healthcare.
It is expensive to euthanize so many animals, and that money could be better spent on taking care of animals once the population is decreased and under control.
What’s wrong with surgical neutering?
It’s relatively safe and effective, but the disadvantages are:
- A well-equipped surgery is required – this is not available in all areas.
- It is not cheap to carry out surgical procedures.
- Animals need to be caught, transported, operated on and then transported back, all adding to the cost as well as stress for the animals.
A single-dose, non-surgical sterilant should help increase convenience and defer costs. And scientists across the world are harnessing cutting-edge technology to develop one. (Learn more about the application process for the $25 million Michelson Prize here).
Hopefully this will mean we will see fewer homeless cats and dogs in the future!
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Oh! there are so many animals everywhere that don’t have a home. That would be a very good thing to be able to sterilize them with no pain and no anesthesia!
I feel so bad for homeless animals. If you own a dog or cat you should sterilze these animals in case one gets lost. Homeless cats and dogs are not the happy pets we have and fight for their lives.
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Its really tough dealing with the homeless animals and sterlization of animals in general. As an avid pet lover, I try to donate every chance I get to our no-kill animal shelters. A non surgical sterlization method would be a great benefit to the homeless animal situations in every community.
Genuinely homeless cats and dogs are a major problem world wide unfortunately! Sterilization should be mandatory for all pets bought through pet shops (the sale of live pets in pet shops is another issue) as it is for those acquired through rescue agencies.The encouragement of voluntary sterilization for all other ‘owned’ cats and dogs should also be promoted – unfortunately not all governments see the sense in this. Breeders should also be liable for extra taxation (as an example) if they do not promote sterilization and more care should be taken by officialdom to ensure that breeders are properly licensed.
Homeless animals are a problem everywhere, and a needless one. Hopefully it’s a problem we can get under control. Irresponsible pet ownership is a very big issue that won’t go away anytime soon, but 25 million is a pretty good incentive.