The following is the lead sentence from yesterday's San Jose Mercury News - "In an attempt to jolt public concern over the plight of thousands of unwanted pets in San Mateo County, the Peninsula Humane Society sponsored a public execution Thursday to promote what could be the nation's first all-out ban on cat and dog breeding."

Five cats and three dogs were injected with poison from a bottle marked "Fatal Plus" during a news conference while cameras clicked an onlookers gasped.

This is all part of a campaign by the Humane Society to promote an ordinance that would ban any breeding of dogs and cats in the county, and would be discontinued only when there were no more healthy animals scheduled to be euthanized in the county. Another campaign ploy was to place an insert in the local newspapers showing three trash barrels full of dead cats with the caption "This is one Hell of a job. And we couldn't do it without you."

The ordinance would make breeding an infraction subject to fine unless the owner could show proof of spaying or neutering within a certain time period. The director of the Humane Society suggests that it can use reports from the public and newspaper advertisements for kittens and puppies to put them on the trail of violators.

What do you think?