It's nice to see that someone is getting serious about addressing the problem.
______

PET POPULATION: Las Vegas ordinance requires owners to spay or neuter dogs and cats (http://www.lvrj.com/news/pet-population-70448772.html)

By ALAN CHOATE / LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Nov. 19, 2009

ost Las Vegas pet owners will be required to spay or neuter their cats and dogs by 4 months of age under an ordinance adopted Wednesday to help manage the pet overpopulation problem.

The ordinance garnered the support of local veterinarians and animal rescue groups. They emphasized that not sterilizing animals is irresponsible pet ownership and can lead to rampant reproduction, especially among cats that end up on the streets.

At the Lied Animal Shelter, the number of impounded dogs has increased 10 percent a year for the past three years, and cat intakes have been up 5 percent annually. The shelter now takes in about 50,000 animals a year and ends up euthanizing half of them because owners or new homes can't be found.

"We can't adopt our way out of the problem," said Amy Mitchell, a veterinarian at the shelter. "We have to nip the problem in the bud."

The measure had its opponents. Criticism included the idea that 4 months is too young to spay or neuter a pet, and that no studies have shown that a mandatory spay-neuter program is effective in reducing unwanted pet populations.

[More... (http://www.lvrj.com/news/pet-population-70448772.html)]

I can see their point with the criticisms and they should go with the 6-8 month time frames.

They emphasized that not sterilizing animals is irresponsible pet ownership and can lead to rampant reproduction, especially among cats that end up on the streets.Now if they'd only realize that that logic applies equally to other species, we would really make some progress.

Oh and on the cat/dog thing, this is a step in the right direction but the population issue will never be addressed until commercial breeding is banned.