Most of the World Progressing Towards Civility

While the United States continues its dive into mayhem, with its armed insurrections, traffickers in voter fraud theories, QAnoners, anti-vaxxers, climate deniers, and children in cages policies, most of the rest of the world continues to make some level of progress toward a better life for all.

For example, with its aggressive ramp-down of fossil fuels in favor of EVs and bicycles, Holland continues to set the pace in terms of the level of caring and compassion it has for the entirety of our civilization.

But now this benevolence extends outward from humankind and into the world of dogs.  The Netherlands has become the first country on Earth to ensure every one of their canine friends has a home.

From this:

The Netherlands is the first country on Earth to completely eradicate dog homelessness.

Less than a century ago, the country was teeming with stray dogs. But in the 1960s, The Animal Welfare Act was passed and since then over a million dogs have been taken off the streets, without euthanasia!

How did the Dutch do it? First, by sterilizing all stray dogs, and then by incentivizing their adoption with tax breaks, while dis-incentivizing “pet store” puppies (often bred in puppy mills) through high taxes.

Adoption is now at all-time high in the country, with one in 5 Dutch adults owning at least one dog.

To ensure, they are responsible pet owners, the country has passed strict laws against animal abuse backed by 3-year prison sentences and fines of 16,000 euros.

Sterilization services are free for all dog owners, and luckily European vets routinely offer more humane varieties of sterilization such as ovary-sparing spays and dog vasectomies, which allow the animals to keep their sex hormones.