Lesson Plan:
Pet Overpopulation Scroll

Objective

To demonstrate how pet overpopulation happens, by creating a class scroll or mural which shows how quickly a few dogs can become many more.

Materials

• Roll of butcher paper
• 485 small pictures of dogs (can be drawn by students or cut from magazines)
• Bottle of glue

Procedure

Background: Start with one female dog. In the first year she could have a litter of four pups. If two are female, these offspring could produce another 12 dogs. If six of those are female, the third year could produce 36 more dogs. If 18 are female, there could be 108 dogs the fourth year. If 54 of those are female, the fifth year there could be 324 dogs, 162 of which would probably be female. All these dogs, male and female, could continue to reproduce if they are not spayed or neutered.

To create the scroll: Unroll a long section of butcher paper. Going from left to right, have students glue pictures of dogs in separate groups of 1, 4, 12, 36, 108, and 324.

Have students write these captions on the scroll in big letters so they will be easy to read:

• Where will all of these animals go?
• Can you find enough homes for all of them?
• Most of them will end up in animal shelters.
• Many will be killed because there are not enough homes.
• Please spay or neuter your pets.

Post this scroll as a mural on the wall in your school, so everyone can read and learn about pet overpopulation.