Lack of spaying leads to suffering

Tuesday was Spay Day USA.

But any day can be spay day.

Or neuter day, depending on the gender of the animal involved.

In any case, we welcomed this annual reminder that it's important to spay or neuter your cats and dogs (unless you intend to run a responsible breeding operation).

We also applaud local veterinarians, each of whom offered pet owners discounts and in some cases free spaying or neutering.

Spaying and neutering reduces both the future populations of unwanted animals, and the litany of problems that those populations spawn.

Most people want to spare animals unnecessary pain and suffering. Yet some of those people allow their pets to reproduce without ensuring that every kitten or puppy will have a home.

The result, of course, is another generation of stray dogs and feral cats.

And those animals, no matter what you might believe, do not live pleasant lives.

They starve to death.

They're killed by other animals.

They contract fatal diseases.

And there are other victims besides the unwanted animals.

Cats and dogs foul yards and gardens with their unpleasant by-products.

They kill songbirds, squirrels and even other pets.

Spaying and neutering can't eliminate these problems, of course.

But we can come close, if all pet owners act responsibly.

Statistics, however, suggest that a disappointing percentage of Baker City pet owners fail to meet that standard.

Last year, a group of local volunteers trapped 187 cats in Baker City. Just 11 had been spayed or neutered.

The volunteers, who raised $10,000 for last year's initial campaign, including $5,000 from the city, paid to spay 89 female cats, and to neuter 76 males. The group also paid to euthanize 11 cats that were ill.

That's a good start.

But had some unknown number of cat owners spayed or neutered their pets as soon as the animals were fertile, none of those cats probably ever would have been born.

Or suffered.

We hope pet owners consider that when they're deciding whether to telephone the vet's office.