Let Them Live Please

Hello, I have a petition out to save Cats lives as does this person from Florida. His or her petition is more informative than mine and so I share it here; ironically, we both have about 600 signatures so far. This petition is at Change.org while mine is here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Save-6-Toes I need about 400 more signatures.
I have inserted some notes in italic below:

Re: LOW COST SPAY/NEUTERING OF CATS AND DOGS ESSENTIAL FOR OUR ECONOMY & HEALTH OF STATE--It costs nationwide $2 billion dollars a year to kill (for the majority of cases) perfectly healthy, adoptable dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. For example, It costs Floridians about $100 million a year to run pounds; California spends a quarter of a billion dollars a year to kill animals in pounds. Most people cannot afford the $275 to $350 per spay per cat, so they won't bother with it. A pair of unaltered cats breed most prolifically. Overall the expenses of dog pounds escalate every year; with a poor economy, more people are either abandoning their pets, or taking them to the pound-most will die. (yes, here in AZ I notice people are abandoning pets as well)

~~~ Low cost spay/neutering is about saving public safety funds.
~~~ Low cost spay/neutering is about lowering animal euthanizing numbers.

FACT: ~~Spay/neutering combats animal cruelty:~~

Animal cruelty is on the rise across the United States. Spay/neutering combats this.

Low cost_free spay/neutering will also reduce animal cruelty issues. Recall in Miami later part 2009 there was recently a cat serial killer who skinned alive and mutilated 20 cats, and decorated the mutilated bodies with exposed organs in people's yards. Just recently in Meza, Arizona (10/09) there is another cat serial killer, torturing and stabbing over a dozen cats. Most of those cats were homeless though some were pets. Point is, homeless animals have NOBODY to protect them and are at the mercy of every wacko, psycho, thug, and sadist who enjoys torturing and killing small defenseless animals. The less homeless animals, there will be less opportunity for these thugs to torture and kill cats and dogs. I see animal cruelty issues all over the nation: I'm reading reports of cats being shot with hunting arrows. Burned alive cats and dogs. Kittens thrown out of moving vehicles as a means to "get rid of them quickly". Or drowning them. Or sealing them up in garbage bags so they will suffocate and throw them in the trash. Per many SPCA workers they see such cases all the time. Less than 5% of these incidences are actually reported-because animals CAN'T TALK. Countless thugs kick kittens like footballs because they think it's funny. They are there and come up to strangers because they are scared and hungry. So they kick them hard and think it's funny, and these kittens will die of internal bleeding and broken bones. A slow, painful death. These thugs will NOT HESITATE to also kick and beat up homeless people since they can do it to cats--and you can bet those kittens and cats were the FIRST VICTIMS. They get their cruelty training with the small animals.
unfortunately, it is true, that there are some children who enjoy torturing animals, and these children can grow up and think it's ok to injure others, and it can start with injuring or killing an animal and getting away with it.
Like I said, the less homeless animals, the better.

Less cats and dogs will be hit by moving vehicles due to homelessness; spay and neutering also curbs wandering (cats and dogs look for a mate following scents and get hit by automobiles.)

Even animal control is cruel-it's sad to kill perfectly adoptable loving kittens, puppies, cats, and dogs just because there aren't enough homes for them. It's cruel, and it's expensive: In every animal control compound-on the average-90% or more of all impounded will die (actually only 5% to 10% ever get adopted).

1. Low cost spay/neutering will allow pet owners to take responsibility for the health of their own pets and for the prevention of lost public safety funds from animal overpopulation by making low-cost sterilization available who voluntarily wish to spay/neuter their pets.

HOW IT WORKS: *This is ~NOT~ a mandatory spay/neuter bill.* With each and every animal cruelty charge, or animal ordinance violation, there shall be a surcharge per charge-which shall be used to FUND low cost (even free in some instances) spay/neutering for those individuals who voluntarily choose to bring their cat or dog in to be spay/neutered! It costs the State *NOTHING* but has everything to gain! What a deal!! In addition to being humane, and saving money, it will help reduce the emotional trauma dog pound employees must face each day putting down hordes of puppies, kittens, dogs, and cats, only because there are NOT ENOUGH HOMES FOR THEM. An additional idea for revenue is a VOLUNTARY check box with any kind of license plate tag renewal and/or state income tax form ($1.00 for low cost spay/neutering-if one wishes to donate!-I know I would be most happy to check it!)

2. Low cost spay/neutering will begin to save local governments millions of dollars every year. Over 300,000 dogs and cats are euthanized in Florida (about 10 to 20 million every year nationwide), with each county paying $60 to $250 per animal, even with minimal care. Each dog pound, run by the county, pays enormously to kill homeless and unwanted pets; about 90% on the average get euthanized.

3. Low cost spay/neutering will increase public safety. Animal control is most often under local municipalities also funding education, public safety department budgets, burdening taxpayers and taking money away from police and firefighters. By having affordable spay/neutering, cuts the dog and cat overpopulation in half, we can put 500 (or more) new cops on the streets for each State!

One unneutered male dog or cat can impregnate dozens of females in a month, leading to thousands of unwanted animals.

Entire counties, trailer parks, apartment complexes, and other communities are increasingly getting besieged by hordes of homeless cats (mostly), bringing to the community the dangers of disease(s) including rabies, toxoplasmosis (cats use even childrens' playgrounds and sand boxes as their toilet), and ringworm.

This is a very typical scenario: Budget cuts in each county, and more and more dogs, cats, puppies and kittens get killed; county land fills literally dump their bodies like trash by the ton-in each county. Keep in mind dogs and cats do NOT have the option of using condoms, and animal have no hang ups about spay/neutering. Fact is, dogs and cats are much healthier (prevents reproductive cancers and tumors), and HAPPIER, when spay/neutered (they don't go in heat and wander around getting hit by cars looking for a mate), and helps curb aggression and spraying tendencies: Spay/neutering should be affordable for those who choose to do this intervention.

~~SPAY/NEUTERING PREVENTS REPRODUCTIVE CANCERS! Did you know most cats six years and older get breast cancer-happens commonly with unspayed cats. SPAYED CATS RARELY GET BREAST TUMORS AND CANCERS.~~

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/infection-tumors-breast-cancer-cats

"Breast cancer is rare among spayed females, especially those neutered before their first heat cycle. Early spaying reduces the risk factors sevenfold. Breast tumors occur frequently in unspayed cats. Eighty percent are malignant (adenocarcinoma). The rest are benign adenomas. Breast cancer is the third most common cancer in cats. Most affected cats are unspayed females over 6 years old."

Dogs also suffer breast cancers; male cats and dogs also suffer reproductive cancers which neutering prevents drastically.

Destroying huge quantities of pets is also cruel to any animal control officer. Most Animal Control employees say, "You never get used to it. It doesn't work that way."

Respectfully submitted