According to the ASPCA, there are thirteen-thousand six hundred independent animal shelters in the United States alone, not including those affiliated with the ASPCA or the Humane Society of the United States. In the United States, approximately seven-point-six million animals enter shelters each year, and of these, about two-point-seven million are euthanized for being "unadoptable" or not being adopted within a certain time frame. This is partially the result of overpopulation because there are more animals than responsible homes. Another issue that exists is animal hoarding, situations in which an individual attempts to house more animals than is possible.

 In order to elucidate these issues, I created several illustrations and an illustrated book. I used charcoal and colored pencil for the illustrations which are 14"x17" in size, addressing the above issues. For the book*, I created a series of images that reflect a major contribution to overpopulation: animals not being spayed or neutered. Images were created in pen and ink before they were scanned into Adobe Photoshop to add color. The resulting project is 5"x7" when closed and will open into an accordion-folded structure.

*The images of the book will be added at a later date.