Pet Plans

Thursday, September 23, 2010

At the press conference to launch the Compassion Revolution, Katherine Heigl spoke with Access Hollywood to discuss the aims of the initiative and her brothers legacy: The Jason Debus Heigl Foundation.

In an interview with E!'s Marc Malkin, she also explained the importance of the new campaign and the plan to reduce pet overpopulation without having to euthanize animals.

"Our goal is that people can actually go to an animal shelter and not feel this horrible sadness and burden that if they don't take that dog home that the dog may end up dead. The idea is that eventually it won't be so hard to say no because you know that these animals are actually in a safe place, in a shelter that is not going to euthanize them for space or room for the next batch coming in." Katherine Heigl, Compassion Revolution Press Conference - September 2010

Katherine told PEOPLEPets.com that she and her mother Nancy had felt hopeless and overwhelmed by the pet population crisis in L.A. Over 50,000 of 80,000 shelter animals in Los Angeles County were euthanized last year:

PeoplePets.com

"How can we change the results for these animals?" she said. "[Shelters are not only] euthanizing sick, old dogs. It's gotten brutal, you know. It's inhuman, really."

The Heigl Foundation wanted a solution - training and education on how to reduce the pet population compassionately, instead of having to put down healthy animals. Heigl says that her upbringing influenced her when it came to the importance of spaying and neutering.

"When I was growing up, my mother and father had zero desire for any one of our animals to have a litter," she said. "I think it's a lot of work, it's a lot of energy. Then, as an adult, because of the way I was raised and because I had the means to do it, [spaying and neutering] goes without question."

"But there are a lot of communities that don't have that education, weren't raised that way and don't see their pets that way," she added. "They have no idea that a litter of 10 means a litter of, like, 400 in the future. We can tell them and educate them, and provide a way for them to spay and neuter their pets."