I really like this song. She sang it with the Cello Project at the Works show last week, it was great.

Pets are awesome too. My cat, in particular. He just does the cutest things!

http://www.feralcat.com/kelson.html

Seriously, pet overpopulation is a drastically bigger issue than people replacing their cells with kittens.

I walk past that billboard every day and I do NOT get it. First of all, since when is "petlessness" a problem? Those aren't crumbs on the kid's face, they're spots like the spots on the dog's face, and the dog isn't helping him with them, he's clear across the panel of text from the kid, grinning like...like a dog. This sign makes no fucking sense. And I've met more people with pets who needed to get a life than I have people without who needed to get pets.
(BTW, I love dogs. Cats, not so much.)

Really? Maybe it's a Rorschach test, because in my head, the dog is there to lick off the crumbs, as dogs do. There is another billboard of theirs that has a bald man using a cat for a toupee.

agreed, lets end Petlessness... lets also do something equally as, if not more important like ending homelessness!
Patrick

jesus christ, people. It's a fucking billboard. They're trying to be clever and also spare the lives of numerous animals. Just because we haven't figured out how to end homelessness doesn't mean we have to stop trying to find good homes for these animals. Lighten the fuck up.

jim:

Lighten the fuck up.

Q: How many Portlanders does it take to change a light bulb?

A: THAT'S NOT FUNNY!

ha!

Maybe we should adopt the homeless?

It's circular logic. We have an overabundance of abandoned pets because people carelessly buy them and can't take care of them.

Instead of educating existing pet owners about spay/neuter and responsibly owning pets, OHS generically promotes the notion of owning pets via cutesy billboards.

And so a new generation of ill-equipped people will buy a dog/cat (and probably not from a shelter) and a percentage of them will abandon them.

And no doubt OHS isn't trying to get every man/woman/child to own pets. But don't underestimate the power of advertising. Tetra fish products ran a campaign called "fish are easy" to promote general fish-ownership. And OHS is doing the same thing now for pets generally. Not smart.

OHS is presumably going this route because of the increasing pressure against any euthanasia of abandoned animals.

Just another comment: the executive director of the national Humane Society doesn't own any pets. He notes that he doesn't have time to dedicate to them, and that to support the Humane Society's mission doesn't "require" that you own pets. Rather, the Humane Society wants to see more responsible ownership.

Oregon Humane Society sees to see things very differently.

OHS's mission statement from their site:
To foster an environment of respect, responsibility, and compassion for all animals through education, legislation, and leadership. To care for the homeless, to defend the abused, and to fight with unrelenting diligence for recognition of the integrity of all animals.

You going after Mother Teresa next?

Jim,
don't go all agro my friend! I agreed we should end petlessness... I just feel we should also end homelessness, any problems with doing both?
P

If we ended homelessness, then who would be there on the freeway on-ramps to remind us of how good our lives are, and to make us smile with their ridiculous spelling errors on cardboard signs???

The homeless can go get homes on their own will. Some small cat who gets thrown out of a car one day can't just say, "Well, that sucked. Oh well- at least I can get a job bussing tables somewhere and be able to afford a cheap apartment in NE somewhere..."

Help a cat out- go adopt one. Plus, it is proven that owning a pet "adds" on 8 years to your life, on average. Owning a homeless person? Well, that probably subtracts 25 years off of your life.