The problem is a lack of homes and an overpopulation of companion animals. Millions of animals are handled by animal shelters through adoption, but most have nowhere to go ending up with a need for Euthanasia. If animal shelters did try to keep all the companion animals, they would be cramped, lonely and stressed, and if they were over capacity then other animals would have to be turned away. Putting them into the streets could lead to starvation, cold temperatures, dangerous situations, diseases or worse. The injection of sodium pentobarbital (Euthanasia) causes rapid loss of consciousness and an immediate inability to feel pain.

Since the 1970s euthanasia numbers in animal shelters have declined sharply with an increase of spay and neuter efforts. This assisted with the pet overpopulation problem of unwanted puppies and kittens. Although pet ownership numbers is steadily increasing, Euthanasia numbers are declining.

Currently, animal care and animal control agencies aren’t required to keep statistics for the animal protection movement. Unfortunately, there isn’t any national structure to keep track of animals being taken in by adoption centers, how many animals are adopted, euthanized, or reclaimed. Most animal shelters nationwide are independent, no government institution or animal organization is solely responsible. That being said there are some statistics we can check out to visualize the situation as a whole. The following factual information is derived from aspca.org, a well known leader in the animal rights movement.