
Native American boy who defended his cat. (Ruth Steinberger)
by Ruth Steinberger
Director, SpayFIRST
Two human deaths by dog mauling occurred in the U.S. last week.
These predictable and preventable tragedies shared a common denominator of race, ethnicity, and poverty; both deaths occurred on Native American reservations, where the well known problem of feral and free roaming dogs has been met for decades largely by a plethora of low volume, unorganized spay/neuter services in the very communities in which high volume, well organized spay/neuter programs are needed most.
On November 17, 2014 I spoke to a group of funders in Phoenix, Arizona on the need for organized spay/neuter programs to serve the vast areas of reservations in which poverty makes animal welfare a low priority.
On that day I cited Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the scene of the second fatality, as an example of a tragic situation in which animal welfare organizations visit annually, but provide too few spays and neuters to impact the number of unwanted dogs, so canine population control is accomplished by tribal officers through collection and shooting campaigns. Animals suffer, residents are traumatized and the saga starts over each year.
Spay/neuter & killing programs side-by-side
Yes, spay/neuter programs and collection and killing programs exist nearly side by side, and no one seems to feel compelled to do whatever is needed to change the paradigm. High volume spay/neuter programs are the only hope.
Tragedy on reservations is accepted as an everyday occurrence. Indeed some adult Lakota men have a life expectancy as low as age 49. Last week however, the disparities loomed larger than usual, leaving a little girl who was sledding near her home dead, an adult dead on a reservation in Wyoming, and too few questioning how and why this happened.
Funds are donated to help animals in chronic poverty, trained staff are able to provide the services that are needed to meet the problem of excess dogs in Indian country head on, and some non-surgical options that could have made the services easier and less cumbersome have been ignored for decades. It is time to engage all of the resources, reach out to tribes preventively, and get the job done.
Symptom of something much deeper
This crisis evolved alongside many others in Indian country, following centuries of aggression against tribal people that left all tribes in North America damaged and some gone completely. The tragedy of overpopulation of dogs on reservations is well known; it is a symptom of something much deeper. The failure of the animal welfare movement to reach out with effective programs is symptomatic of how many things “get this bad” in underprivileged communities.
During the several centuries in which European immigrants came to occupy most of the modern day U.S., a dog or horse in the company of indigenous people generally fared far better than a dog or horse in Europe or among settlers of European descent.
The European invasion of the American west included efforts to exterminate native people by killing their local food sources, forced removals, and isolating their children. Starting in the 1890s native children from across the continent were removed from their families to be forcibly “civilized” in boarding schools run by the federal government and by the Catholic and Mormon churches. Childhoods ended abruptly, many brutally. In boarding schools, children were commonly beaten for speaking in their native language or for uttering traditional prayers. Whippings, flogging, and isolation were not uncommon. Traditional religious ceremonies were outlawed on the reservations.
Following years of separation, children returned to find traditional lifestyles gone, elders in despair and some children were unable to speak the same language as their parents. At least one quarter had been sexually abused and at all 33 sites of former boarding schools, graveyards inter the remains of the thousands of native children who did not survive. This gruesome era did not end until John Kennedy’s presidency. The right to enjoy religious freedoms was not fully restored to Native Americans until congressional passage of American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978.
Child, animal, & family welfare
Predictably, in the wake of untold despair and deeply disrupted communities, the welfare of children, animals, and families disintegrated. Now, just a few generations after families and tribal communities were assaulted to the core, the infrastructure of many tribal nations remains fragile. Bringing a small spay/neuter program isn’t changing the paradigm for dogs, and isn’t respecting the depth of the issues that reservations face.
Hopefully this raises the flags of racism and economic injustice.
Rosebud Sioux
In 2002 I was contacted by the health administration of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota) of south central South Dakota for assistance in developing a high volume spay/neuter program for the reservation. The administrator noted that a low volume program that had visited for the previous five years did not have enough impact without another program to augment it. The tribe’s goal was to discontinue dog round-ups and increase public safety (bite reduction).
The previous clinics provided around 200 surgeries annually. Our assessment revealed that eight hundred to one thousand surgeries were needed for the initial clinic. Transportation for animals from remote communities was also needed. Ultimately it became clear that preventing the first estrus cycles of the year was the only way to get ahead. Three clinics, starting in April, became the norm. We called it “targeted timing.”
Fearing animals were being removed for killing, during the first few years a few children clung to their pets. One young boy grabbed onto the bumper of the truck. Another told me his cat’s amazing attributes because he felt the need to beg for her life. No child should be forced to beg for their pets’ life; we can help heal the tragedies.
Time for planning & foresight

Beth & Merritt Clifton.
(Geoff Geiger photo)
It is time for high volume spay/neuter programs in Indian country to be a priority. It is time to create programs that are based on sincere cooperation with tribal agencies, and that reflect accurate assessments of need, short and long term goals, and that engage new and cost effective technologies, including intratesticular injections of calcium chloride to eliminate male canine surgeries at half the cost of a piece of suture.
Volunteers going to reservations during vacation time definitely help individual animals, but their services must be coordinated with others in order to maximize effectiveness. We can stop the suffering only if spay/neuter programs in Indian country are afforded the same quality of planning and forethought as would be engaged elsewhere.
It would seem that permanent clinics would be one answer and also address the need for basic veterinary services and education which most cannot afford, and microchipping too to get pets back home.. There also has been improvement in the development of spay neuter vans or vehicles with services brought to the community.
It is a tragedy that veterinary services in the United States, with a few exceptions, are provided only for the more affluent who can afford them. Veterinary schools, organizations, and the profession overall have failed many.
When I think also of the tens of thousands of dollars hysterically raised to “save” one mauling pit bull, then think about how many lives that money could save through spay neuter.. That is a tragedy too, by the well-meaning but misled.. Think of the change if fundraising went to running permanent clinics. instead of getting frittered away on hysterical but questionable fundraising gimmicks.
Will some sense ever come to this?
There also is the issue of dog fighting on reservation land. It’s there, it’s happening, and it is being tolerated too much.
“Outsider” pets are also being abandoned on reservation land, in some cases.
This is a well-thought-out and beautifully written article. thank you, Ruth, for being such an eloquent spokesperson for those who need help. And thank you ,Merritt, for featuring this. Hopefully this will result in some much-needed, long-overdue, change.
Esther thank you for the funding from Marian’s Dream that has helped support the program at Rosebud, and specifically supported calcium chloride castration of dogs–this is a huge game changer in areas of chronic poverty. Thank you Esther!
If high volume spay/neuter has worked for the Rosebud Sioux, then contact THEM to advocate with the other tribes, especially in the wake of these tragedies.
I’m betting if the tribes make the request, the humane organizations will mobilize. Besides, isolated impoverished tribes don’t need another program forced upon them.
Years ago the HSUS RAVS unit came to one of our reservations. It was an awesome experience. In less than 3 days, 300 animals were either s/n or given medical help. These volunteers come in, they don’t care if or where they sleep or eat. We did make arrangements for them, but they just wanted to work. Why aren’t the reservations taking advantage of this program more? http://www.humanesociety.org/animal_community/hsvma/hsvma_ravs.html
RAVS works at some locations but it is a limited service and in many cases 300 surgeries, provided in the middle of the summer after the first estrus has occurred, has no impact. Volunteer students sleeping on the floor is not the same as a coordinated program starting in early spring and relying on already skilled surgeons.
I wish that more could be heard from the AVMA on directly solving some of these problems instead of their preference for protecting pit bull breeding.
Thank you for bringing these unspeakable crimes of the last 522 years and counting to this forum; and certainly much alleviation of pain and suffering can and needs to be done on the rez, as well as everywhere else. One group that is actively engaged in spay/neuter and veterinary care for cats and other animals on the rez is Best Friends Animal Society. I thank them for their caring and their very important work.
Jamaka, I have found Best Friends Animal Society to be limited in making any kind of significant progress on “rez” work
The efforts are so limited and small, , it does not make sgnificant changes, and there is no gameplan for expansion and increased success
I have found that Best Friends in recent times is more interested in putting more funds into pit bull lobbying than concerted work ;like reservation work.
I hope that focus will change.