Austin's Four-Legged Children

From the beginning the author of Gerrymandering Blues cleverly and effectively used a personal story to grab her readers in Pet Overpopulation Still a Problem in Austin.  After all who can rest the story of cute little doggies, especially during the holidays?  Once intrigued to continue reading she gets down to business and lets her readers know just how much of an issue overcrowding really is at the shelters. 700 lost pets since November 1^st? Wow!!!

I like that she gave a solution that would seem the most logical but then provided the actual outcome for cities who have enacted mandatory spaying/neuter laws.  I must admit she did lose me a little when she started talking about cats. Yuck! Kidding. The introduction of "cat mathematics” was a simple yet successful way of painting the picture of cats running all over the city  “370,000 cats over the course of 7 years!”  This made for an easy transition for her proposal to nearing a “utopian model for no kill cities”.  Overall the author did an excellent job at bringing up an issue many people might not think about.  And she closed it off with a feel good picture of her doggies and links to her sources.