There are too many pets all over the world, but too many are being euthanized. According to statistics provided by the ASPCA website, around 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized each year, and each year around 710,000 animals are returned (Shelter Intake and Surrender, n.d.). 1.5 million is a huge number which shows how many pets die unnaturally each year. Many people concerned about this problem and think it is immoral and bad to let pets die because of unlimited space. However, scientists have finally discovered that sterilizing pets is a good way of controlling their numbers, and of avoiding euthanasia. This is done by way of gonadectomy, which is the surgery of removing gonads (Orchidectomy (Gonadectomy), n.d.), also known as castration, or neutering (Castration, n.d.). Using gonadectomy to solve the problem of pet overpopulation has a long history. In 1970, Dr. Leo L. Lieberman, president of the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Association, a group of veterinarians, animal control officers, and representatives from different animal welfare organizations get together to talk about the problem of pet overpopulation (Howe, 1998). From this discussion, they came up with the idea that neutering animals before they were adopted would be the best way to control their overpopulation. Lieberman had learned that many practitioners had been giving gonadectomies for many years, and decided to start performing them
on young animals. Nowadays, the American Veterinary Medication Association (AVMA) and other organizations accept pre-pubertal gonadectomy and perform it in many veterinary hospitals (Howe, 1998). However, the procedure remains controversial, with some claiming that it is risky for the animals, for example by not allowing them to reproduce, as well as by putting them at a higher risk of having health issues later in life, such as diabetes mellitus, immune deficiencies, obesity, skin disease, or urinary tract obstructions (Spain et al., 2004). On the other hand, however, there are those that state that giving every pet a gonadectomy is very beneficial to the animals since it leads to lower rates of euthanasia and abandonment, as well as of illnesses brought on damage to other organs. Also, these people state that giving a gonadectomy can also prevent the problems that brought by reproduction itself. My opinion is that veterinarians should be allowed to give gonadectomies to pets, and it is justifiable to do so because their benefits outweigh their risks in a number of ways: they can improve the behaviors of pets by lowering aggression to solve the problem of pet overpopulation and decrease rates of euthanasia and abandonment; they can decrease the risks of reproduction which pets face; and finally, they can lead to health benefits to pets such as decreasing the rates of mammary neoplasia and pyometra among them.