1. The first and most effective way to combat over population in large cities is spay and neutering programs. View sites like Bide-A-Wee for information and Muffins Pet Connection for low cost NYC spay and neuter locations.

2. We all need to be more educated on both the actual state of NYC animal welfare and how to positively affect it. The ASPCA is always a good reference for animal welfare in your area. You can also try the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animal's for all types of resources. A website that is not particular to the New York area but has a large resource of animal welfare related links is AnimalConcerns.org.

3. There needs to be new and or updated animal rights legislation. A wonderful site for animal rights law is the Animal Legal Defense Fund. A New York City resource for animal laws is the Humane Society of New York. For an extensive, state-by-state, collection of animal laws try The Institute for Animal Law.

4. A vegetarian diet can have a positive impact on your health and on the state of animal welfare in general. More and more people are adopting the vegetarian lifestyle and the food industry is starting to hear their calls with better tasting meat alternatives. You can check out PETA'S new vegetarian site GoVeg.com. This page describes the benefits to a vegetarian diet, titled "49 Reasons why I am a vegetarian" (britishmeat.com/49.htm).

5. Get the word out that having an animal in your life makes you happier and healthier. It's a proven fact! Check out an interesting article on the physical and social benefits of having a pet (my.webmd.com/content/article/81/97060.htm). This article (quakeroatmeal.com/wellness/articles/FH_Pets.cfm)discusses the health benefits of having a pet and how to choose which pet is right for you. View this article about some of the scientific studies proving the health benefits from having pets.

This article and others like it can be found on Downtown Pets, a NYC dog walker website for Lower Manhattan.

Jon Decker is a head NYC dog walker and assistant NYC dog trainer for Downtown Pet in Lower Manhattan.