Who else is having problems with strays?

I think it's the economy that is contributing to this. This is happening a lot with horses too. A lot of people are unloading their horses to auctions where they are shipped to slaughter in either Canada or Mexico. It's awful! The backyard breeders who produce truckloads of poor quality animals are flooding the market with horses and causing such a large glut of horses that no animal will sell now.

Same with cats in my area. The shelters are packed and part of the problem is people not spaying or neutering. I saw an ad from someone wanting to get rid of their male cat...why? because they didn't want their female cat to get pregnant anymore. All they had to do was get their animals fixed and this would have been prevented.

I think one aspect is that the animals themselves are so cheap to buy, especially cats which are very often free, that people with poor incomes get them, and then can not afford to properly care for them, including spaying, neutering, vaccinating, worming etc.

My personal opinion is that if you can not afford the typical expenses (fixing, vaccinations, quality food etc.) of owning an animal, don't get it.

Urban Coyote

 

I have allways had stray proublems here people who think its better to dump them then take em to a shelter.
Out here they starve or get shot unless I take em to the shelter or feed em,I feed alot of feral cats...
Its sad realy cause most dont know that thier pet is better off in a shelter where its not gonna be slowly killed by the elements,starve,hit by a car or shot and die slow painfull death.

 

Living on a road which is bordered on one side by a forest and the other side by 10-20 acres tracts of properties, means that it is a great road for people to dump their unwanted pets.

We have packs of wild dogs that feed off of animals in the woods and on the pets of the people living on the road. I never had much issues with these as they never bothered us but since we have acquired chickens, they come around a little more.

I have 1 11 year old GP dog on the property that does a good job of running them off and I recently got 2 more GP pups to grow up with the chickens. I also went out and got a little ruger .22 rifle in case my dogs can't handle the large packs of dogs that run around.

Crossing my fingers as I haven't had any serious problems yet and all of my chickens are accounted for.

Sorry about the loss of some of your flock.

 

Quote:Nicely said!

 

I have been over run with strays of late too. I hate to have to resort to it but the old shotgun has had to come out of the closet as I can't get near most of them and they have designs on my birds. That just won't do!
I know it isn't the animals fault and that they are just doing what nature designed into them but my birds are not on the menu! The people who insist on letting their animals run around free and don't spay or neuter either are major contributors and then there are those who don't want the animal any more and just dump it somewhere for someone else to have to deal with
I love all animals, but sometime you just have to do what you have to do. The ones I can catch I rehome or take to the pound. The others get a load of pellets in the behind!

 

Quote:The real problems are the huge puppy mills in Mississippi and in the amish country(mainly Holmes County Oh and Lancaster County Pa)
they churn out tons of dogs with problems, people get tired of the dog with his problems and throw it out. I have no issues around here with strays , i see a cat every now and then, but i know the owners .