Dogs are truly man's best friend.
/ File
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- 40 years ago, the number of unwanted pets in the U.S. that were put down every year hovered around 20 million.
That number is now down to about four million, thanks in large part to sterilization programs and those efforts here might be increased here very soon thanks to a new drug that's being tested nationwide.
Despite efforts to control the area's unwanted pet population, Amarillo still euthanizes between 10 and 11,000 dogs and cats each year, according to Shannon Barlow, Amarillo Animal Control Assistant Director.
"Of the 38,000 we deal with and that's still too many animals," Barlow explained of the number of euthanizations.
Most experts agree that sterilizing your pet is the only way to got a handle on unwanted dogs and cats, which would result in the numbers here dropping dramatically.
"In a perfect world, if we could get everybody to spay and neuter and minimize breeding, we'd have a safer population for the public and other animals," Barflow said.
Next door at the Amarillo Panhandle Humane Society, they agree, noting that changing people's minds about spaying and neutering would make a noticeable difference.
"Spay and neuter," said Andrea Soliz, Executive Director at the Humane Society. "The males aren't going to look for the females and the females aren't going to go look for the males as well/"
This may all be tempered with news of a new clinical drug. Instead of having to pay upwards of $50 to have a pet sterilized, the new drug approved by the FDA called Esterisol is in clinical trials. It costs only $6 per injection and officials say it would change the playing field forever.
Concerning the drug, Barlow said, "I don't know all the specifics about it, but I think it would be phenomenal in controlling the amount of stray animals that we have in any city."
Soliz agreed, "It would make such a difference in our adoption costs so more people would come out to adopt. It would make a huge difference to the community; it would change the game and change the future of pet ownership as we know it."
