Lubbock Needs To Step Up And Control The Pet Population

There are many things beyond our control and this is not one of them.

If you told me that Lubbock needed to have greener parks, I could understand why that's not doable. If you told me we needed to house all the homeless, I could understand why that's not doable. Controlling the pet population is certainly doable, and it only takes a little math and effort to get it done. Let me also clarify that when I say, "Lubbock", I mean all of us.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't see some poor pet roadkill. There's also not a day that goes by that I don't see loose dogs running around (as a matter of fact, a pack of them killed my cat). Lubbock Animal Services is packed and the people there are probably pulling their hair out right now trying to mitigate the situation.

The problem comes down to bad owners. It comes down to unregulated breeding. It comes down to people not valuing the life of the animal they were entrusted with. Stronger measures need to be taken to remedy all of this.

Let's start at the top. We should make spaying and neutering free to the public. When you factor in the cost of chasing down wild animals, picking up their remains, or even the litters they are responsible for, it seems that picking up the cost of fixing an animal will be well worth it. You would also think as the pet population shrinks. less would have to be spent on everything.

It should also be mandated that any dog or cat picked up by animal control is instantly neutered. It's a safe assumption that if someone can't take care of one pet, they certainly can't handle it when they have a litter.

I could go on and on, and it's my love of animals that makes me very passionate about this. We are bringing too many lives into this world just to throw them away.  We could fix this, all we have to do is set our minds to it.