- English
- Français
Accessibility and Access Keys [4]
For decades – even centuries – humane societies, SPCAs and animal welfare organizations have worked to help improve life for animals in Canada. Animal care workers, volunteers, supporters and educators generously give their time and concern for the well-being of homeless and neglected animals, but the number of animals that a shelter takes in is sometimes overwhelming. It’s maintaining the overflowing adoption rooms that have become the most challenging of all.
This deluge of cats and dogs is caused in part by too many cats and dogs not being sterilized. For decades, shelters have been encouraging spaying and neutering as an integral part of responsible pet ownership. The benefits of sterilisation are constantly promoted in shelters, on brochures, during walk-a-thons, fundraising campaigns, on websites, in adoption packages and by word of mouth, but these efforts are sometimes compromised by the way animals are portrayed in the media and most recently in television advertisements.
One recent advertisement promoting a new meal at a fast-food chain depicts a man and his dog staring at a poster advertising this new meal. In this commercial, the narrator tells viewers that this meal is for special people. In a voice-over, the man deems himself worthy of this meal having decided against neutering his dog. It’s advertisements like these that skew the mindset of potential and current pet owners and retract the hard work shelters have done to promote this important aspect of responsible pet ownership.
The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies urges viewers not to let these advertisements change their understanding of responsible pet ownership. Spaying or neutering your pet can help control aggression and other behavioural issues and, more importantly, the pet population in our humane societies and SPCAs.
Click here to read the benefits of having your pets spayed or neutered.
