In the time it takes for you to read this statement, 15 pets will have entered into life in an animal shelter somewhere in the United States. Ninety percent of these animals are not spayed or neutered. Approximately half will be euthanized.

In North Carolina alone, the state in which I live, every year over 250,000 dogs and cats have to be euthanized because there is no place to put them. That is almost 700 animals every day, which I find shocking and heartbreaking. Although heroic efforts are made daily by animal control officers, shelter employees, veterinarians, and volunteers, they are faced with a Sisyphean task. We are simply breeding more animals than we have homes for.

This series explores the impact of this epidemic, focusing on what remains when there are no regulations on breeding, spaying or neutering.

— Mary Shannon Johnstone