U.S. Animal Shelters Are Facing an Unprecedented Surge of Cats and Dogs—Help Us ‘Fix’ the Crisis!
With reports showing that U.S. animal shelters face an unprecedented surge of companion animals in need of care, PETA has created a new ad series with an urgent message to help snip the problem in the bud. The tongue-in-cheek ads, which will go up in cities across the country with overflowing animal shelters, point out that cats and dogs aren’t causing this overpopulation crisis—humans are when they fail to have them spayed or neutered.
‘Just Spay Me’ Ads Are Back by Popular Demand in Oklahoma City
PETA’s “Just Spay Me, Denise!” bus stop billboard in Oklahoma City got its 15 minutes of fame, garnering 1.5 million views on TikTok—so to keep the momentum going, we returned to the city with another bus shelter blitz.
Oklahoma City’s shelters—like those of most cities in the U.S.—are dealing with the ongoing companion animal overpopulation crisis, which is causing animals to suffer throughout the country.
Additionally, many shelters are adopting “no-kill” policies that prioritize “save rates” over the needs of individual animals, including turning away many animals, leaving the most vulnerable to be abandoned on the streets or relegated to the ends of chains in backyards. Oklahoma City Animal Welfare, one of these shelters with “no-kill” policies, is warehousing more than 400 dogs in a space designed for 300 and even went so far as to discourage people from bringing in animals they’ve rescued from the streets.
All shelters have a responsibility to take in animals, just as PETA does—but everyone can do their part by having their companion animals spayed and neutered and never buying from breeders or pet stores.
PETA Sends a Message to New Orleans Guardians
Amid reports that New Orleans animal shelters are bursting at the seams, PETA plastered our ads on bus shelters across the city, asking commuters to paws and think about how they can do their part.
Open-admission shelters—which never turn animals away—do their best to accommodate the overwhelming number of animals who don’t have homes, but their compassionate work becomes more difficult when guardians fail to sterilize their companions. Many of these facilities across the country are at maximum capacity—forcing them to make difficult decisions to ensure that they can continue providing care to animals in need—and the problem is exacerbated even further by the pet trade. For every animal purchased from a breeder or pet store, an animal in a shelter misses out on a chance at finding a home.
PETA Plasters Bus Shelters for World Spay Day
Ahead of World Spay Day—the last Tuesday of February—we placed our ads on bus shelters across Oklahoma City to motivate people to combat the homeless-animal crisis by having their canine and feline companions “fixed.”
On any given day in the U.S., an estimated 70 million homeless dogs and cats struggle to survive. When people fail to get their animal companions sterilized, even more animals are born only to end up on the streets, where they’re vulnerable to traffic, weather extremes, attacks from other animals or cruel humans, diseases, infections, and other deadly dangers. It also puts pressure on shelters, which are already flooded with animals in need of refuge.
PETA’s ad campaign serves as a reminder that the solution is simple: Just have dogs and cats spayed or neutered.
Dogs, Cats, and Shelters Desperately Need Your Help
It’s humans’ responsibility to help curb the homeless-animal crisis by having their animal companions “fixed.” This routine, affordable surgery prevents a lifetime of suffering for countless cats and dogs.
Many communities have low-cost or free spay/neuter clinics that make it easy for everyone to do the right thing. Click the button below to find your nearest low-cost spay/neuter clinic.
