Reducing the number of unwanted dogs and cats born every year was one of The HSUS's earliest priorities, and we went straight to pet owners. Indeed, our very first publication—They Preach Cruelty—focused on the suffering caused by pet overpopulation. And our outreach has grown since then, raising awareness through national campaigns and educational resources and workshops. We also extended a hand to the animal sheltering and care community, recognizing that adoption policies affect the surplus animal population.

Spreading the word about spaying and neutering wasn't enough, though—affordable surgery had to be available, too. But once agencies, shelters, and local humane societies began to respond with spay/neuter clinics and subsidy programs, many in the veterinary community—fearing financial loss—resisted. We continued successfully working for lower-cost spay/neuter services, though, even establishing our own spay/neuter clinics—the first in Virginia in the mid-1960s. We now operate a large spay/neuter clinic in Dallas, Texas.

By 1969—the height of the pet overpopulation crisis in the United States—we were promoting local ordinances that relied on enforcing responsible pet ownership. The HSUS and many local societies pushed for laws to require the spaying and neutering of animals adopted from shelters, higher licensing fees for unaltered pets, broad community education, and accessible and affordable sterilization programs. We also promoted statewide spay/neuter legislation, including New Jersey's 1983 law establishing a program to subsidize spaying or neutering low-income residents' pets.

From the late 1980s into the mid-90s, our Be a P.A.L.—Prevent a Litter campaign continued to spread the spay/neuter message with both public outreach and guides to help local humane societies and shelters establish promotional Prevent a Litter months and lobby for legislation to support spaying and neutering.

Beginning in the 1990s, our Native Nations spay/neuter and pet wellness programs, now expanded as The HSUS Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) program, provided spay/neuter services, veterinary care, and humane education in rural communities and on Indian reservations where they were least accessible. And now our RAVS team has moved abroad, leading veterinary teams into some of the western hemisphere's neediest areas.

We've continued our work at the state level, and we were instrumental in the late 1990s in initiating New Jersey's Animal Friendly automobile license plate program. Proceeds from sales of the plates help fund reduced-cost spaying and neutering for animals adopted from shelters and those owned by public-assistance recipients. Staff members also oversee the state's watchdog committee charged with the program. And in 2002 HSUS board member and syndicated Mutts® cartoonist Patrick McDonnell designed New Jersey's new spay and neuter license plate.

While many dogs and cats in the United States still aren't members of loving families, most people now know that they should spay or neuter their pets and that wonderful animals are waiting to be adopted at shelters across the country.