Our animal shelters are packed. Adopting pets is the only ethical choice
COVID undid years of progress in the fight against pet overpopulation. It's more necessary than ever for people to understand that adopting (versus buying from breeders) is the only ethical choice when looking for a companion animal. We need enforcement of breeding restrictions and resources must go to spay and neuter programs. We cannot adopt our way out of the crisis. All these needless deaths will only stop once Californians stop breeding and relinquishing pets.
Those who are upset about dogs and cats being euthanized in shelters run by Riverside County should place the blame where it belongs — on people who fail to commit to and responsibly care for the animals they acquire, and on anyone who breeds or buys an animal. Shelters don’t create animal overpopulation and homelessness crises or the resulting need for euthanasia.
Anyone who buys an animal from a breeder or a pet shop also denies a wonderful dog or cat sitting in a shelter cage a chance at adoption. People who care must work to address these root causes. Until then, no matter how many kennels municipal shelters have, they will perpetually be filled.
Tiffani LoBue, Palm Springs
Palm Desert redistricting seems inequitable
Why did the Legislature pass this asinine law that a town of 50,000 has to be divided into five districts? Logically, then, there should be one representative for every 10,000 people. But there is now one district called a doughnut hole and the rest of the town surrounds it. The town should be divided equitably into five districts, but my understanding is that the “hole” will be whole. Is that accurate? If true, that is not equitable.
Louise Kermode, Palm Desert
Why leave atrocities on Israelis out of photos?
As I perused Sunday's special section, USA Today’s “Pictures of the year,” I counted four images of innocent Palestinians (who were kept from fleeing by the Hamas terrorists), four of Ukrainian soldiers and one of President Joe Biden with the corrupt president of Ukraine.
But not one photo of the horrendous aftermath of the gruesome Oct. 7 attack by Hamas terrorists. What are we to think of this glaring absence? That the paper's editors are antisemitic? I surely hope not. But the absence of the worst atrocity of the year – and not since the Holocaust — must be explained. We will be waiting for that explanation and apology for the oversight. James Lewis, La Quinta
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Our animal shelters are packed. Adopting is the only ethical choice
