I frequently use Snopes and love the site for its usefulness in fact checking various e-mail forwards, rumors and myths.  They even have a section devoted to animals.  But one item I don’t see on their site are the facts on debunking the myth of pet overpopulation.  As such, I sent them the following letter via their contact form:

Dear Snopes,

Please consider investigating the issue of  so-called pet overpopulation and the killing of friendly pets in U.S. animal shelters.  I don’t see an entry on this subject in the “Critters” section of your website.  I often see this issue cited in all forms of media and it would be useful to have a Snopes entry with the facts.

I first learned the truth about “pet overpopulation” when I read a book by Nathan Winograd called Redemption.  The crux of the issue to my mind is simple math.  Mr. Winograd has a website and he lays out the math in clear terms here:  http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=1390 .  In short, this math demonstrates that there are enough homes for every savable pet in shelters in the United States and as such, there is no need to kill any of these pets.

I hope you will look into this issue using your resources and come up with an entry for your site based upon your findings.  It is an extremely important issue to the many pet lovers in this country and of course, more so to the millions of voiceless pets needlessly killed in shelters every year.  Please help make the true facts of this issue available to everyone who relies on your website to verify and debunk information they come across on the web and elsewhere.

Thank you,

Shirley Thistlethwaite

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If you would like to write to Snopes about this issue yourself, please do so and feel free to copy this letter if you’d like.  I’m hopeful they will investigate the facts about the myth of pet overpopulation and include an entry on their website soon.