Reduce unwanted animals of New Zealand

We need to reduce the neglect or dumping of unwanted animals because of irresponsible ownership in this country.
 
This is an issue most dear to my heart. 

Obviously I am a crazy cat lady, I admit it, however I do not live with a million cats, that fornicate, proliferate and urinate all over my property.

I am a responsible owner,  my cats are neutered, they have regular health checks (much to their disliking) and are so well loved that friends and family know to sit on the floor if the cats are taking up the seats.

Unfortunately this is not the case for all animals in New Zealand.  Every year the SPCA and council pounds are inundated with unwanted animals,  many are unable to be re-homed and are euthanized.  These ones may be the more fortunate animals, see the following article posted on Stuff.co.nz on 14th December "Puppies, kittens heading for slaughter", is about people that don't fix their animals and have unwanted litters and get rid of them in deplorable ways. 

How can we decrease these occurrences?

I propose that to decrease the amount of unwanted puppies and kittens that pet shops and the SPCA not sell kittens until they are de sexed and micro chipped. Puppies need to be registered and de-sexing regulated by councils. And breeding should be illegal unless you have a license and have training in breeding and parturition.      

Why? 

Cats are reflex ovulators which means, ovulation occurs by the stimulation of mating. In short, pretty much every time a female cat mates they get pregnant!

A female cat as early as 4 months can come into heat and have 2-5 kittens each.

Below is a picture that shows some of the other benefits of spaying and neutering cats early, and the implications if you don't.

This was a diagram depicting one cat having only 2 kittens imagine 5!

The best thing about early neutering is, once kittens reach a kilogram in weight they can be de-sexed. This can be as early as 12 weeks, so they are still kittens by the time you can adopt one.

 

With dogs it is a little harder, they usually can be fixed at around 5-6months.  But to curb the problem of owners not fixing them I suggest potential adoptees should be made to pay a de-sexing fee before the release of a puppy.  Which means they will most likely come back because they have prepaid. also compulsory micro chipping can keep the vet clinics in contact with owners and the council so that they can be alerted to any entire (unneutered) dogs.

The one issue I see arising from this proposal is that backyard breeding and home euthanasia may rise. to lessen this effect perhaps the SPCA and pet shops should first instigate the fixing of kittens and micro-chipping before sale, more advertisement and education about neutering pets and incentives like discounted neutering should be a priority.

Once the SPCA has seen a decline in unwanted animals, they then should implement a law change in which no animal can be bred without the owner having proper training and licenses to do so.     

This is would be no quick fix and could take many years to reduce the amount of unwanted animals in this country, but surely it is better than doing nothing.

Perhaps some one will read this and be inspired to write a proposal to the SPCA to get the ball rolling on this problem. 

For more information see:

http://www.kittycatfixers.org.nz/

http://desexyrevolution.hurrah.org.nz/