SPCA column - Mother Nature is tough

I was recently asked "what would happen if there was no SPCA?"
This has led me on a thoughtful journey into the reality of this actually being true.
The first result is you, the community, will have more than 4000 animals on your streets, because that will be our incoming figure for this year. Four thousand animals dumped and abandoned, breeding at an astronomical rate, as nearly all animals picked up are not de-sexed. Four thousand animals living a miserable life; scavenging for food, water and shelter and frequently finding none of those.
Mother Nature is tough. The weak die through starvation and sickness.
Of the hundreds of kittens and puppies we received over the past four months (and still receiving now) many would have died from the environments and conditions they are born into.
Who would be there for the many animals that we receive with wounds and injuries?
Would they just slowly and painfully pass away? Probably, not many individuals are prepared to use their own finances to pay a vet bill for a stray animal.
What about all the stray animals the SPCA has been called to who are finally so sick they have collapsed in people's back yards, simply unable to move any further.
They have probably been living with serious sickness for many weeks or months, so what was once a beautiful white cat now lies struggling to breathe. The SPCA finally, and with great sorrow, frees them from their pain.
What about the aged cats that we take in because their owners have passed away.
I just simply cannot get my head around "what would happen if there was no SPCA"? Can you?
Nicolle Smith is the education officer for the Tauranga SPCA.