Review of NPR story by Brian Mann

On July 21, 2007, NPR had a story entitled "Stray Pets: A Complex Problem" by Brian Mann. You can listen at NPR.

What the piece boils down to is a very inflammatory conflation of hoarding and pet overpopulation. This is nothing short of the type of sensationalistic journalism that Rita Skeeter would write. The reporter uses the gut-wrenching tale of a case of hoarding to make you think that this sickness is part of pet overpopulation, then uses Wayne Pacelle (the head of HSUS) to single out pet stores and commercial breeders as a source of the problem. The connection between hoarders and pet stores is implied, much the way a certain President and his VP ... ah well, that's a political discussion. But this reporter really used sensationalism to implant the idea in his listener's mind that commercial breeders are hoarders and therefore cruel to the animals and so nobody should buy from them. The reporter failed to mention that hoarders do not sell their animals, that's why they are called hoarders. He did not discuss the mental health issues around hoarding, just tried to imply the connection between the animal control issues around hoarding with pet overpopulation.

Here's a rough transcript, I recommend listening for yourself, it's not a long piece:

too many dogs & cats in the US

every day 11K euthanized

CA considering a mandatory pet ster. law

meantime, activists are trying to find homes for animals that otherwise would be put to death

Reporter is Brian Mann

follows a law enforcement guy outside Houston going to a hoarder's home for a rescue of more than 50 dogs and a bunch of cats

describes the rescue of the Jack Russel terriers, they are in very poor condition and the situation is dire, the owner agrees he needs help, he never meant to collect so many

reporter: "scenes like this are shockingly common in the US, daily occurences for animal control officers"

Wayne Pacelle says hoarders are only the most graphic symbol of what he describes as a dog and cat overpopulation crisis

Pacelle: "there are probably about 4 to 6 million euthanized ..." every year

vast majority are abandoned by normal pet owners

"You turn the animal over to an animal shelter or animal care agency and think that animal is going to be adopted, that's not always the case. Healthy and adoptable animals are euthanized for lack of space and because you just run out of options."

reporter: "this reality has sparked fierce debate within the animal rights movement"

interview changes to a foster care worker

Melinda Little in New York: "for me euthanizing is not a choice, I do think it is wrong"

reporter says Melinda is part of a foster network

we hear a small kitten meowing, she describes socializing the fosters

Little acknowledges that the number of strays can be overwhelming, the local shelter where she is a board member has a no kill policy but is often so full they have to turn animals away

Little says that if it's a "animal living in a very cruel environment vs. being euthanized, maybe that would make sense"

reporter: Some progress has been made. In some parts of the country, s/n programs funded by donations and local govts. have cut the euthanasia rates in half.

Pacelle says the next step is convincing more people to adopt pets from shelters rather than pet stores or commercial breeders

Pacelle: "only about 17% of owned dogs come from shelters, if we can get that number up to 25% or 30% we could solve the pet overpopulation problem in this country for the most part in terms of dogs."

the problem with cats is trickier because stray cats form feral colonies populated by animals too wild to be adopted.

back to the dogs rescued near Houston, they have a fighting chance for survival.

the officers delivered the dogs to a vet near Houston, the entire pack is infested with parasites

gruesome description of the hookworms and how the dogs are sick from them and being "eaten alive"

once the JR Terriers (made popular by Frasier) are healthy, they can be adopted out

the lt. describes the mental stress that goes with doing the animal rescues, not being able to sleep, etc., he has another 40 cases pending, and 100 more that he has just begun to investigate.

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Okay, now exactly what do the horrible animal cruelty cases that law enforcement has to deal with have to do with what Pacelle and Little said? They're talking about animals in shelters, and the LEO that Mann follows around is dealing with instances of animal cruelty. This seems like a major non-sequitor to me.

Yes, hoarders are bad. Yes, I feel really bad for the LEO's and vets that have to deal with animal cruelty issues. But I don't see the connection between those problems, and spay/neuter and adopting pets from shelters rather than buying them.