Cages upon cages stacked by the tens, rusted, small and cold, containing two cats, cramped into the same space.  The smell of dirty cat liter fills the nose. It is so humid in this area and you inhale the smell musty cat spray instead of clean oxygen.   
   The outside of any animal shelter is normally clean cut with  adoption signs up, showing a small girl playing with her newly adopted puppy. Once one enters the shelter, the main area is sterile, white, and usually has their most adorable pet in a large cage. It is so cute that you can’t help but to play with the critter and consider making it yours.
   This may sound dramatic, but the horror lies in the back, where the shelter keeps their pets. One cannot blame these shelters for poor conditions because they are victims of overcrowding.
   The general public may believe overcrowding isn’t that bad, that all the homeless animals get a place to live. Wrong.
   Although many of these animals get a place to live, 90,000 animals citywide were impounded and 58,737 of these animals where sterilized (killed) due to overcrowding1 . So more than half of these 90,000 animals where killed because we cannot have animals roaming the streets with the possibility of multiplying, getting hit by a car, or even starving. However, animal shelters cannot keep too many of these animals past a certain amount of time due to more overcrowding and costs. So the horrid truth is that these animals get euthanized.
     There have been solutions to overcrowding such as-a spay/neuter law implemented last fall (2009)2 - however, many pet owners treat their pets like real people and don’t want to take away their pet’s ability to experience the miracle of birth. But if Fluffy gets out, meets a nice terrier on the street and has a litter of seven, what happens to the puppies.
    They go to the pound.
    Cats are especially an issue when it comes to breeding on the streets. The department destroyed nearly 13,000 cats and unweaned kitten kills rose forty one percent in twelve months2.
    It is difficult to get all animal owners to do simple and sometimes costly things in order to limit the amount of animals that get impounded such as neutering, spaying, chipping, or even just adopting instead of going to a puppy farm. However a good reminder to the general public about how many animals get killed or have miserable lives due to overcrowding in shelters, may make people more inclined to be more responsible for their pets and even adopt.
   This helpful reminder can be done through simple posters and pamphlets. Posters- provide a logical and cost-effective way of communicating with public…posters can lure nearby people into a specific event and alert them3 . Yes, many shelters have the “spay your animal poster” or “adopt today,” but not all pet owners go to the shelter. If posters and pamphlets are put up and passed out, the public can be warned about this horrendous demographic.
   Killing living creatures is wrong and unjust, as a community we can prevent overcrowding and all these stacked cages, containing two or three cats, by alerting the public about shelter conditions through colorful posters and educational pamphlets. Lets stop overcrowding of animals in shelters.

1.Sahagun, Louis. "L.A., Overwhelmed With Pets, to Sterilize 4,000 Free."Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 1991. Web, 3.

 2.Bartholomew, Dana. "Animal Shelters Overcrowded." Animal Shelters Overcrowded. N.p., n.d. Web. 11.

  3.Tolliday, Daniel. "The Advantages of Posters." Small Business. N.p., n.d. Web.. 1.