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         "Welcome to a powerful project that will bring an end to one of the leading causes of animal suffering and death in the world: animal overpopulation.  Over one billion animals are violently killed every year simply due to overpopulation.  It is a problem that may appear overwhelming, yet one that does have an answer and one that is well within our reach.  Together with top scientists in the field of animal reproduction and after two years of intense investigation, 600 Million Stray Dogs Need You (“600”) has found a way to finally end the animal overpopulation problem, once and for all.  This project will also bring an end to the number one problem and number one expense of virtually every humane society in the world:  controlling animal overpopulation.

 

- Alex Pacheco, July 12, 2009
  Founder, 600 Million Stray Dogs Need You
  Co-Founder, 1-800-Save-A-Pet
  Co-Founder, PETA
  Crew Member of the Year, Sea Shepherd
  Animal Rights Hall of Fame
  The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award

 

 

We have some very exciting news.
 
It has to do with ... Extinction.
 
It's usually not a good thing, is it?

 

But could there be a good extinction?   What about the extinction of a problem? 

 

For example, a problem that causes needless animal suffering?

 

What if I were to tell you that we can bring about the extinction of one of the leading causes of animal suffering in the world?

 

Impossible? 

 

Well, in this Web site we'll show you how we're going to do it and how you can play an important part.
 
Every year around the world, well over one billion animals are violently and inhumanely killed due to overpopulation; it is the #2 cause of animal suffering and death in the world. 

 

The problem is getting worse, not better, and while many of us would like to believe that animals are treated better today than yesterday due to many efforts of welfare groups, mass killings of 30,000 street dogs at a time, for example, are becoming more and more common.  

 

The inhumane and brutal methods used to kill these animals each year are many:  poisoning, shooting, trapping, hanging, beating, drowning, electrocuting, throat slitting.
 
To end this violence, 600 Million Stray Dogs Need You has partnered with top scientists in the field of animal reproduction to develop special, long-lasting birth control pellets for animals in order to address this ongoing and rapidly growing cycle of animal cruelty around the world in an effective, safe, humane, and cost-effective manner.

 

My name is Alex Pacheco and I'm here to recruit you. If you're reading this, we want you to participate in of one of the most powerful, life-saving animal projects you'll ever come across.
 
Most people know me as the Co-Founder of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, where I served as Chairman for 20 years before leaving in 2000.
 
During those years of fighting against cruelty to animals, there was always one inescapable problem, and it was this:  even though we won many of the largest animal protection campaigns ever waged - campaigns against huge government agencies like the Pentagon and NASA, campaigns against the largest companies in the world like Mobil Oil, Texaco, Exxon and General Motors - no matter how many thousands upon thousands of animals we saved, in the big picture of animal suffering, it was all just a drop in the bucket.
     
Just a drop.
 
We know there are billions of animals suffering out there.  So when I left PETA I needed to find a better way - a way to save more animals and to end more suffering than just this drop in the bucket
 
The good news?
 
We found it.  What we found is a single project that will prevent more suffering than anything else we've ever done - I know it's true for me.   It's a big project and we are asking for your help.  But first let's get to the details of animal overpopulation.
 
Think about it. 

 

Too many deer?  What happens? We shoot them.  By the millions.  This year and each and every year for the past 50 years. 
          
Too many dogs?  What happens? We euthanize them. By the millions. This year and each and every year for the past 50 years. 
 
Too many cats?  What happens? We euthanize them.  By the millions. This year and each and every year for the past 50 years.
    
Too many coyotes in the west?  Shoot them, poison them, trap them, kill them by the millions, this year and every single year for the last 50 years in a row.

 
Wherever we go—Australia:  too many kangaroos?  Shoot them by the millions, every single year for the past 50 years.
 
Too many rabbits?  Kill them by the millions every single year.
 
Why are we forever killing all of these animals? The official reason is that there are too many of them.

 
While it is horrific to hear these facts, it is enraging to hear the next:

 

While this killing due to overpopulation has been taking place, we already have had over 100 known contraceptives - known birth control pills, formulas, and

drugs that work on humans and often work on animals as well.   
 
Often a single contraceptive will work on many species.  For example, the contraceptive called Gonacon, used on deer, also works on coyotes, rabbits, dogs, cats, rabbits, wild horses, pigs, rats, squirrels, buffalo and possibly other species. 
 

 

Imagine, just the thought of being able to use birth control pellets to control all of the populations...
 
Without violence.
Without bloodshed.
Without killing.
 
The potential humane benefits of this are unparalleled and unprecedented.
 
Never before have we been in a position to prevent such a vast amount of suffering.   And the need is great.   The numbers of animals killed annually tell us that, and the unbearable photographs of these animals being killed in the most inhumane methods show us. 

 

The need is so great; we must have a driving force to push this through, which is why we've established an organization that is 1,000 % dedicated to making this happen.  
 
It's called: 600 Million Stray Dogs Need You.

 

Scientists and everyday people like you and me are connecting to donate some of our time, some of our talent, and some of our money to this incredible project. 
 
We’ve spent the past year having extensive discussions with scientists in the fields of human and animal reproduction, and when it comes to birth control for animals, the good news is that we do not have to start from scratch. 
 
We do not have to reinvent the wheel.
 
Here are some important facts regarding birth control for animals:  

THE GOOD NEWS IS we do not have to re-invent the wheel.  What we do need to do is either modify any of the long-lasting injections that we have so that they are effective in pellet form, or modify any of the short-lasting pills we have so they are effective for a longer period of time.

To expedite matters, we're doing everything we can to team up with experts in the field and join forces. 

Imagine modifying a drug such as Gonacon in order for it to be effective for at least 6 months per dose.  Virtually overnight we could start bringing about the end of animal overpopulation. 

 

Think about it - birth control pills have been around for over 60 years, and even though millions and millions of people use birth control pills every single day, for some reason it is not available for animals.  I thought this was a little odd, so I looked into it and what I found made me angry.  It turns out that the drug industry has had birth control pills for dogs for the last 30 years.  Thirty!
 
These pills work just like human birth control pills.
   
I also found out that 20 years ago Carnation, the company that makes  Mighty-Dog dog food had birth control dog food that worked exactly like human birth control pills.  It was not even experimental; it had passed government tests and it was already approved by the U.S. F.D.A. 20 years ago.   But guess what? 
 
It never saw the light of day.    
 
So I kept looking. I then found out that the overpopulation problem is rather expensive. 
 
It turns out that nationwide, in the U.S., we spend approximately 2 billion tax dollars every year on the dog and cat overpopulation problem alone. Those 2 billion tax dollars do not include what we spend on controlling wild animal overpopulation problems.
 
Our government says that many wild animals are overpopulated, from deer to prairie dogs.  It also says that wild horses are overpopulated.   Not long ago our government used to pay people to shoot the horses or round them up and send them to slaughter houses. 
 
Today we still spend over 20 million tax dollars every year to keep 30,000 wild horses locked up in corrals and to manage another 30,000 wild horses that still run free.  Still, according to the Bureau of Land Management, every 4 years, without fail, the population of wild horses doubles.
 
So I think it's time for us to step in. 
 
What are we going to do?   As you can see, many animal species are in need of birth control, and we need to start somewhere, so we're starting with man's best friends, the homeless, stray, street dogs of the world. 
 
One reason we're starting with them is because of the rampant mass killings of stray dogs around the world, from Brazil to Beijing. 

 

For example, in August 2006, in China, an estimated 54,000 street dogs were beaten to death in a single mass killing.

 

The International Herald Tribune reported:  "In Shanghai, the twelve-year-old boy said he and his father were forced to march their two German shepherds to a public square and hang them from a tree."
 
In 2008 in Kashmir, India, city officials announced plans for a mass killing of 100,000 street dogs.

 

For most of you, the facts suffice, simply understanding that this is taking place around the world to helpless dogs that need our help now, and you can play a part of it. However, if you choose to witness the evidence, of 54,000 dogs about to be beaten to death downtown in broad daylight by three men employed by the government and many other inhumane methods used to control dog over population, you can  click here to view photo documentation.

As you can see, man’s best friend is in trouble.  There are up to 600 million street dogs suffering on any given day around the world.  They barely survive, living on the edge of starvation, subsisting on a diet of human garbage.   Most suffer their entire lifetime infested with painful parasites and diseases.
 
The average street dog dies within 3 years.  Despite having a life span of only 3 years, their numbers are growing.
 
Studies show that as the human population grows, so does the stray dog population.
 
Consider the numbers. A female can give birth to a litter of 6 puppies approximately every 6 months.
 
If only half of the strays are females and only half of them are 1 year old or older, they can give birth to just less than 1 billion street puppies in just 2 breeding cycles.
 
Other estimates place the number as high as 3 billion. 
 
The next year, this repeats.  This massive cycle of suffering repeats itself constantly.
Without a pellet, there is no end in sight.

 
These dogs are caught in a never-ending cycle of suffering.
   
But with your help we are going to break the cycle.   It can be broken.  It's not going to be the easiest thing we've ever done, but it will be one of the most meaningful.
 
The beautiful thing is that we can literally break this cycle of suffering in our lifetime.  As you know, there are not many worldwide problems that we can solve in our lifetime.

Sadly, despite the massive suffering, even within the animal protection community there are some who say ”it can’t be done” or “you should leave this to the drug industry”.  With all due respect, this is much, much too pressing to be left to the usual drug industry. The drug industry has had the last 30 years to help solve this problem and, in my personal opinion, it appears that all they've done is slow-track the pellet - despite the fact that overpopulation is growing and becoming a larger worldwide problem.

 

Mass killings are often ordered just before high profile media events, such as the Olympics, government meetings, and so on.
 
Local governments will order that as many strays as possible be killed before large numbers of foreign news reporters begin arriving to cover a special events.
 
In 2004, the Summer Olympics were held in Athens, Greece.  Just before the Olympics, 30,000 to 50,000 street dogs were poisoned.
 
In 2006, just before the Environmental Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, 30,000 street dogs were poisoned.
 
In 2007, just before a high profile NATO meeting in Serbia, 40,000 dogs were poisoned.

 
But it's not only animals and tax payers who pay for this problem.  While these drug companies hold back known methods of contraception for animals for the past 20 years, in each of those 20 years an estimated 55,000 people die from rabies more often than not due to bites from overpopulated rabid stray dogs
 
According to the World Health Organization, of these 55,000 people who die every year from rabies, approximately 36,000 of them are children. 
 
Far more than 36,000 children are bitten by stray dogs every year, but the 36,000 children who die are bitten by rabid stray dogs. 
 
They are paying for this problem with their lives and there can be little doubt that finding the 6 month birth control pellet is far too important to be left to the drug companies.

 

We are hiring our own scientists.  We are taking the problem on ourselves.  We will not sit back and watch or, more likely, turn our heads away from this suffering.
 
We are going to provide the pellets for free to the poorest places in the world, where kids are dying from rabid dog bites and where the animals are suffering the most. 
 
Places where there are no laws against cruelty to animals.
 
Did you know that in over 60 nations there are no laws against cruelty to animals?    
 
Nations like North Korea, Somalia, China, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iran, Cambodia - over 60 countries.
 
We need your help to develop this pellet as soon as possible because in many countries dogs are killed in the cheapest ways possible.  These methods are often the most cruel, inhumane methods that most of us probably don’t even know take place on a regular basis around the world.
 
In many of these 60, nations spaying and neutering is just too expensive.  The average surgery costs between $100 and $500; the absolute cheapest is $40.  If we were some how able to perform surgery on only 50% of the stray dog population at only $40, that alone would cost 12 billion dollars.  This doesn’t even take into account the logistics of catching each stray dog in order to perform the surgery.
 
Most of the world, including most Americans, simply can't afford to pay for sterility surgery for street dogs.
 
Without a pellet, there are only three basic ways to control these populations: surgery; finding the animal a home; or killing them. 
 
And killing them is what most of the world does. 
 
When it comes to deciding which killing methods to use, as you know, many nations use the cheapest methods: throwing them off of bridges, electrocuting, beating, slitting their throats, drowning, hanging, etc. 
 
Even tiny exotic nations such as Bali have this problem.  For example, in 2009 in the first part of the year alone, the Bali government poisoned over 2,000 dogs.

 

For everyone's sake, we need to find this 6-month pellet as fast as possible; the longer lasting, the better. 
 
Once we have the pellet, we can cause these problem populations to crash without spending 12 billion dollars, without catching every animal, without millions of surgeries, and without mass killings.
 
Country by country, city by city, local populations of stray dogs can be dosed with the pellet through simple, controlled distribution campaigns using old style feeding stations and other well known techniques. 
 
The pellets can be mixed in with food and then distributed by agencies that are already in charge of dealing with rabies, such as local health departments and animal control agencies.  Hopefully, humane societies will be allowed to help.
 
Based on everything we know, we believe we can find the needed pellet within only a few short years. 
 
This is do-able, and we are busy raising money to hire as many scientists as possible to develop that 6-month pellet.
 
So, how can you help?  There are many ways you can help, and here are three simple ways you can help RIGHT NOW...
 

Spread the word: Email this web site to everyone you know!  You probably found this Web site from a link in an email that a friend sent you.  All you have to do is go back to that email and forward it to as many people as you can.  Don’t be shy.  Include your family and friends for sure.

 

 

Volunteer: We need volunteers at all levels and in all departments; the majority of the tasks can be done from your home, from cleaning up the glitches on this Web site to recruiting more scientists.
 
Become a member today. Membership is only $15. You hear it time and again for fundraisers:  “It’s a night at the movies!”  And imagine what this “night at the movies” will amount to.  You will be a part of a project that will annihilate the suffering and killing of so many animals around the world.  Your children will grow up in a truly different world.  Wow!  What a night at the movies! 

 

And if you can, make a donation of any amount - it's all tax deductible and every dollar helps.   For this, just click on the "Memberships & Merchandize" tab in the left column toward the top of this page.

 

To recap, another way to view this situation is to take a look at the numbers... 

 
12 Billion

The number of dollars it would cost to spay/neuter only half of the world's adult street dogs.
 
3 Billion

A high-end estimate of the number of street puppies born each year.
 
2 Billion

The number of tax dollars the U.S. spends each year on dog and cat overpopulation.
 
1 Billion

A low-end estimate of the number of street puppies born each year.
 
600 Million

The number of adult street dogs there are, year round.
 
20 Million

The number of tax dollars spent each year trying to manage America’s wild horse population.

 

The number of people who die each year from rabies.
 
30,000

The number of wild horses still free in the U.S.

 

The number of animal protection related organizations in the U.S.

 

The number of birth control pellets, drugs and formulas that already exist.

 

The number of years of using killing and surgery as the main methods to control global dog populations.
 
30

The number of years birth control pellets have existed for dogs yet have not been made available.

 

The number of years commercially produced birth control dog food has existed yet has not been made available.

 

The number of years a contraceptive can be effective in an animal from a single injection.

 

The number of known animal species for which the contraceptive Gonacon is effective.
 
7

The number of methods most commonly used to kill street dogs:  poisoning, shooting, hanging, beating to death, throwing off bridges, throat slitting, electrocuting.

 

The number of years it takes the wild horse population to double.

 

The number of methods used to control street dog populations: killing and surgery.

 

The number of people it takes to change the world.
 
You!

 
So what are you waiting for?
It's time to begin the extinction of a big problem, for these animals cannot help themselves.
 
Pick up the phone and give us a call at 954.464.9331 or email us at Alex@600dogs.org.

I'm looking forward to working with you.
 
Sincerely,
 
Alex and The Team at 600 Million Stray Dogs Need You.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Alex and Little Bear