An interdisciplinary team of University of Virginia researchers has been awarded a shot at a $25 million prize to develop a nonsurgical method for sterilizing cats and dogs.

There’s little doubt that we Americans love our pets. According to the American Pet Products Association, we’ll spend an estimated $47.7 billion on our non-human dependents this year alone.

Science magazine writer/editor David Grimm examines the global epidemic of dog and cat deaths and the $75 million program funded by a doctor’s foundation that could offer the solution.

Medical inventor Gary Michelson got rich waging lonely battles against big companies. Now he wants to spend much of his $2 billion to save unwanted dogs and cats.