BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. — According to a handout from the Baldwin County Humane Society, one unspayed female cat and her mate can be responsible for more than 11,000 kittens in nine years.

That’s a lot of animals. And the statistics are even more daunting when you consider that about 10,000 people are born in the United States each day and around 70,000 puppies and kittens are born.

That means some pets won’t have someone to take care of them. They run loose, starve, find their way to people who will be cruel to them, get run over by a car or die of exposure. The list is gruesome.

“The first job is to get your pet spayed or neutered,” said Casey Reynolds, the project coordinator for Maddie’s Pet Rescue Project in Baldwin County. Maddie’s Pet Rescue is a nonprofit organization that works with local shelters to help adoptable dogs and cats find their good “forever” home. To reduce the number of young animals in shelters, Maddie's Pet Rescue and participation shelters are having a “half-price” adoption special for pets under six months of age during the month of August. Shelters participation in the program are the Baldwin County Animal Shelter, Bay Minette Animal Control, Daphne Animal Shelter, Fairhope Animal Shelter and The Haven. The adoption fees for the young animals are half what they would be normally. Each shelter’s fees are slightly different, but the fees often include a young animal’s spaying or neutering, first shorts and a microchip. It’s best to contact the shelters directly for more information

In Daphne, it normally costs $75 to adopt a shelter puppy. That will be $37.50 in August. For kittens, normally the cost is $50, but will be $25 in August.

“They (the shelters) euthanize more than half (the animals that come to them) and some are healthy, behaviorally sound pets,” said Reynolds. “People don’t think before adopting pets.”

A prospective pet owner has to think not only about how to take care of that adorable kitten or puppy but when the animal is a lot larger and isn’t as “cute.” A pet requires food, shelter, medical care and other things, said Reynolds.

In an e-mail, Reynolds gave the grim statistics:

The following numbers are for the last full calendar year (2008), and include the Baldwin County Animal Shelter, Fairhope, Daphne, and Bay Minette shelters: 8,890 total intakes, 1,629 adoptions, 967 healthy animals euthanized, 5,575 total animals euthanized.

Reynolds added that the statistics for 2009 seem to be better so far, and are down from 2004, when the program began keeping statistics.

Reynolds credits the work of the Animal Control Officers she works with.

“I would like the public to know that the Animal Control Officers get a bad reputation. This work sometimes breaks their hearts.”

“What happens is that the animal grows up,” said Rhonda Jones, a Daphne ACO. She added that people come looking to adopt for Christmas, birthdays and other special occasions, but once, “the newness wears off” the animals are returned to the shelter or allowed to run free.

“It’s horrible,” Jones said, referring to euthanizing an animal. “It’s something you never get used to. It’s heartbreaking.”

“The ACOs are not the bad guys,” said Reynolds. “Euthanasia is a last resort.”

And whole the common conception of a shelter pet is a dog or cat with “problems,” most of the animals, “Come in here trained (housebroken),” according to Reynolds.

“They were owned, are well-behaved, but people don’t think to look at a shelter,” said Reynolds.

Jones mentioned one current case that is tugging on her heartstrings.

“We are trying to find a home for a blind cat,” she said.

The tabby, named “Hoss,” is a well-behaved affectionate cat. Because of his disability, he’d probably do best in a calm, quiet home and of course, he can’t be allowed outdoors.