And there are huge regional variations in the US, which is why New England gets puppies and kittens shipped in from the South. I don’t know if it’s poverty, something about the culture, or what, but there are a lot of unaltered pets (and strays) running around down there, IME.
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I wondered about this too, and after living in both areas (bitter NE and Aiken SC) here’s my take. I think up north the winter kills a lot of things that could reasonably make a living in more tolerable climes. Most domestic species don’t have the winter coat or even the waterproof coat their wild kin does and exposure kills many animals and slows others down enough that predation, starvation, and disease do the rest.
Plus there is definitely a culture shift down south of altering being unnecessary and/or demasculating, for whatever reason. The degree of poverty certainly impacts things too though there’s plenty of poor people in upstate NE.
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I was reading an article about this recently, I can’t remember where. I think it was about a documentary being made about stray animals. It said indeed that the issue was worse in the Southern U.S. , for many reasons.
It’s definitely more cultural. I’m in MD and the number of unaltered dogs has gone down drastically in the last forty years, as has the number of unwanted puppies. Pit bull types are the unfortunate exception and make up the vast majority of dogs available for adoption, so much so that our last 4 rescue dogs have been from WV/KY/SC. My family has a farm next to a state park and used to get a couple of dogs and many cats dumped every year, some in truly horrible condition. We haven’t gotten a dog in over ten years and the number of cats has gone down substantially (we did get a couple of roosters once but thankfully only once!) The weather is much warmer now, too.
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I would just like to say, that someone somewhere is making a killing on chips, geez. A microchip is a PIT tag (Passive Integrated Transponder) & I buy them all the time to tag wildlife at work. They cost less than $1 each usually.
Apparently I should be selling them to USEF for an insane markup. Bc I can read all types of pet tags with my work tag reader (I’ve scanned my own pets & strays). What a racket!
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Someone did an analysis a couple of years ago, and if all the volunteers were paid (I think she used $10 or $15 per hour), Horse Trials entries would START at $2000.
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The complaints in this case were about paid, licensed officials (TDs, FEI stewards, Judge, etc.)
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Under current rules, that would just be a 2 point penalty (EV119.2 in the 2023 rule book, which came into effect on Dec 1). The rule was changed a couple of years ago.
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I don’t think the USEF either buys or sells chips. They just require their use.
I’m in Canada.
Do you have an opinion about the release of names and disciplinary actions regarding Licensed officials who commit errors, as the athletes at the meeting were discussing?
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I had a Colorado-based FB friend ask me today ( in Alabama) how many dogs and cats have me and DH rescued/rehabbed/rehomed in 20+ years. We settled on several dozen. It’s absurd and awful.
Here is the article from the NYT that I was thinking of;
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It is prime dumping season during the holidays. It is supposed to be cold around Christmas so I expect to see a new dog or two roaming around. And here is the infuriating part - the county humane societies have spay/ neuter programs and you can get your cat done for $10 and dogs for a few dollars more. AND if you are below an income level you can get it done free. All you have to do is to take the animal to a drop off point on the transport morning and pick the pet up that afternoon. If you don’t have a carrier, then they will lend you one. People won’t even bother to do this. Because they will just dump the puppies and kittens out in the woods to starve to death. And maybe mom too. They have a euphemism for this " I dropped him off".
And what really chaps my hide is that they just arrested and sentenced two ladies to jail that were feeding stray cats and doing TNR trying to get the population down by attrition. But you can fight your dogs and it is a slap on the wrist and you can dump your animal to starve and nobody gets arrested for that. And animal cruelty bills get kicked to the curb. I will stay out of politics here.
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Thank you for the clarification.
Only if they go swimming. All our chompy critters live in the water.
The worst threat to loose critters here would be cars. Snakes might eat a cat or two, dingoes and feral dogs do take down the odd pet… but no bears / cougars / large cats / wolves to contend with.
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I agree, but even on the board, many people are resistant to spaying and neutering, and not all people who don’t have the responsibility to contain their pets. Plus, there are still idiots who think backyard breeding is a great way to pick up a few bucks.
This is also true in the North, btw, although there may be more vigorous law enforcement regarding strays and more concentrated resources to deal with animals who are abandoned. Also, a stray, roaming dog in an urban or suburban area may be more apt to be noticed…or, sad to say, run over.
Thank you for that article, @skydy!
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I live in a Rural area. It is a 20 minute drive to a low cost spay neuter clinic which has a waiting list you have to sign up via email then you have to take time off work during the week because drop off and pick up are on a weekday. There are closer local clinics but they are much more expensive.
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I would agree with you 100% if we were talking about the upper levels, but we are not. Starter is supposed to be an introduction to the sport and adding extra cost will keep people away, especially people that just want to try it out once or twice to see if it is something they might like to do. I find it ironic that people want to make horse sports more diverse and accessible but do not want to do everything possible to keep the cost down at the lower levels. These grass root levels are supposed to be a pipeline to keep the sport going, and that wouldn’t happen if we scare people away with unnecessary fees.
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I agree. In addition to cost (yeah $25 isn’t that much, but it adds up fast), it’s also the list of 'i’s to dot and 't’s to cross for mom and dad. In addition to even knowing in the first place that they need a microchip, they’ve got to learn about them, have the vet out, register the chip and update all the info online. At the very least, you’ve added a few more hours of effort/coordination so kiddo can just try something out.
And now you’ve done all that, kiddo scrambles through a dressage test, and then gets to the first fence on XC and pony says “you want me to do what now?!” they pack up and go home. Expensive bad day.
Compare that to the current experience of fewer hoops to jump through and at a lower entry cost (because not USEA recognized), and when kiddo gets to that first XC fence and pony says “no thanks”, control can relay through the jump judge that kiddo can continue to trot around the XC course and just go around the fences AND still give SJ a whirl. And if kiddo says “WOWIE that was FUN! I can’t wait to school XC so Dobbin can learn to jump those things!” then mom and dad can sort out the details of getting more serious about it. And if kiddo says “I don’t think this is for me” then at least there was smaller investment up front.
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