The state cannot caretake stray animals indefinitely.
Animal shelters are charged with the sad task of housing stranded and abandoned animals for the long term, then forced to destroy them when no one comes looking for a pet to adopt.
It is unfortunate that Bob Barker's plea at the end of every "The Price is Right" telecast failed so sway enough people to spay or neuter their pets.
The state of California has a massive debt to discharge, and caring for sick, lost, and forlorn pets is simply no longer on the list of things that government ought to do.
It is a inhumane to dispense with animals, forcing the taxpayer to pay for their upkeep and their hapless destruction, yet the ongoing population of unwanted pets is not serving anyone. We cannot prize animals at the expense of or children or our state's future.
Governor Brown has cut funds to redevelopment agencies, a tragic yet necessary cut to save what precious few funds that state has managed to retain. If closing down and forcing the rapid extermination of excess pets is necessary to ensuring the protection of essential services, then local animal activists must either invest their resources in privatizing the care of strays or resign themselves to the more grisly fate of more rapid animal extermination.