Fight against pet limits continues

To the editor:

I would like to thank everyone who offered support during the petition phase of our fight against Cape Girardeau's pet-limitation ordinance. We will be taking steps allowed to us by law. In the meantime, I would like to respond to one comment I've heard while going door to door.

We have met little opposition during this process. Most of the few who opposed us voiced that it was their existing disgust with the officers who are paid to enforce the law against dogs barking and being neglected and that they didn't think that anyone should have any animals. They are right. Those people should not. The remaining few thought that they didn't think anyone should have more than four dogs or four cats. To them I say: It isn't up to you to decide what I own on my property. And it's not just about owning, it's about fostering, family visiting and rescue groups operating. It's about the bigger picture of controlling the pet overpopulation, not the pet population, as the mayor says it.

City ordinances say one person cannot hoard animals and you can't let your dog bark all night, run at large, be unlicensed or be harbored if it is aggressive. See the bigger picture. It's not about someone wanting 10 dogs and a house full of cats. It's about how many millions of animals are euthanized, starved and dumped. Many of these animals end up in the animal shelter -- if they are lucky.

KIMBERLY NECAS, Cape Girardeau