Today's Word

The online American Heritage Dictionary defines genocide as:

NOUN: The systematic and planned extermination of an entire national, racial, political, or ethnic group.

In other words, it's deliberate mass depopulation.

 

Let's use this word in a sentence. I'll give you a news story from Today's headlines to help you with context, then you can form a sentence using the word genocide to describe the story.

California debates pet-sterilization law

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A bill that would require most dogs and cats in California to be spayed or neutered has brought howls of protest from breeders and threats from the American Kennel Club to pull the nation's second-largest dog show from the state.
 
The measure -- which would be the most sweeping statewide pet-sterilization law in the country -- passed the Assembly by a single vote earlier this month and goes next to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain despite the support of animal-loving celebrities such as Pamela Anderson, Lionel Richie and retired "Price Is Right" host Bob Barker.

 

It is aimed at reducing the estimated 500,000 unwanted dogs and cats that are destroyed in California animal shelters each year.

 

"The more animals neutered and spayed, the fewer animals born, the fewer animals coming into our shelters, and fewer animals are euthanized," said Pat Claerbout, president of the California Animal Control Directors Association.

 

The bill -- sponsored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, a Democrat from Southern California who is also pushing to phase out the incandescent light bulb -- would require pet owners to sterilize their dogs and cats by the time they are 4 months old, or face a $500 fine. (Ed. Note: The bill actually strikes 4 months and changes it to 6 months.)

 

Licensed breeders of purebreds would be exempt. But the law does not spell out which dog and cat breeds would be covered, and breeders wanting an exemption would have to apply for one from their local animal control authorities. The bill leaves it up to counties and cities to set the price.

 

Professional breeders complain that the measure would do little to curb "backyard breeders," that it would drive up their costs and entangle them in bureaucracy, and that it would amount to social engineering for animals.

How would you use the word genocide to summarize this news story?

 

Many people think that genocide only involves the extermination of groups of people--in this case dogs and cats--currently living. While this is true, genocide would also include the planned and systematic depopulation of a particular group by removing from them the ability to propagate their species. Think of it as future genocide--murdering future generations by making their being born an impossibility.

 

(Note: The above bill is Assembly Bill 1634.)