15 Is Too Old to Start Birth Control, Warns PETA’s New Billboard

Dogs and Cats Should Be Spayed and Neutered at 8 Weeks, Says Group

For Immediate Release:
May 9, 2013

Contact:
Kaitlynn Kelly 202-483-7382 

Oklahoma City — As the country reacts to the Obama administration’s decision to open the over-the-counter sale of the morning-after contraceptive Plan B to 15-year-olds—and U.S. District Judge Edward Korman’s move to remove all age restrictions from the pill—PETA is pointing out that in millions of cases, birth control is desperately needed at a drastically younger age: that is, in the cases of dogs and cats. To make its point, the animal rights group is negotiating with outdoor advertisers in Oklahoma—the state with the fifth-highest rate of teen pregnancies—to run a new billboard that proclaims, “Birth Control BEFORE She’s 15? Yes!,” and goes on to explain, “Cats and dogs can be fixed at 8 weeks old. There is no Plan B for animals.”

“Dogs and cats can’t take a ‘morning-after pill’ any more than they can use a condom—and that’s why millions of them end up in animal shelters every year,” says PETA Associate Director of Campaigns Lindsay Rajt. “There’s no Plan B for cats and dogs, kittens and puppies—spaying and neutering are the only ways to stop the homeless animal crisis.”

One unspayed female cat and her offspring can produce a whopping 370,000 cats in just seven years, and one unneutered male dog can father nearly limitless litters. Every year, 6 to 8 million cats and dogs end up in U.S. animal shelters, and roughly half of them must be euthanized because there simply aren’t enough good homes. Unwanted dogs and cats who never make it to an animal shelter are often abandoned and must fend for themselves on the streets, where they succumb to starvation, disease, injuries, or abuse at the hands of cruel people. The solution is simple: spaying and neutering.

PETA also strongly encourages all prospective dog or cat guardians to save a life by always adopting from an animal shelter, rather than buying from a breeder or pet store, which only exacerbates the homeless animal crisis.

For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here.