After spending a lot of time working with rescue groups and helping many of them, financially, when they needed money for a particular dog, I began to quickly understand these efforts weren’t making a big enough difference to help one dog here and there; there are just too many of them.

Then I began to consider building a new, smaller shelter for the rescues to house the dogs they rescue. But, I came to learn just how quickly those shelters would fill up and another one would need to be built. The reality is that another shelter would fill up just as quickly. None of these efforts really addressed the larger problem of the over-population of dogs and cats we see here in the Tri-County area.

So, my efforts switched to figuring a way to make a bigger difference and to attempt to begin programs and initiatives including outreach programs in the community that would help lessen the population of loose strays.

I knew we needed a different approach to the problem on several levels. There are too many animals being euthanized every day simply for being on our streets, either by neglect or abuse of an owner or having been born on the streets and trying to survive without a food source or shelter.

It is such an overwhelming problem that, somehow, has to be addressed in the bigger picture instead of on a case-by-case level. We are not getting anywhere and it is getting worse.

Public awareness, owner education, legislative changes, and new laws to protect animals are desperately needed. We also need to develop new incentives for public cooperation to spay and neuter. Collaborations of all agencies, both private and state-funded, also needs to be implemented.

I do know one thing. People come together for animals, no matter their political affiliations, economic level, religion, or educational level. So, there is an army of people who want to and are able to help solve these problems. We just need to mobilize them in a direction that will make long-term changes and provide solutions on a larger level.