Why won't you let me adopt a nonsterilized purebred animal from the shelter?

It's a common belief that only mutts show up at the shelter, that purebred animals are worth too much to be abandoned by their owners. This is not true; on the contrary, almost a quarter of the animals that animal shelters receive are purebreds. Our overpopulation crisis does not apply only to mixed-breed animals.

One of our most important goals is to reduce pet overpopulation. If we let you adopt a purebred that isn't sterilized, we would be working against that goal, encouraging rather than discouraging pet breeding. Our policy -- that all adopted animals must be sterilized -- has no exceptions.