On one end of the spectrum we have condoms, and on the other is the vasectomy.

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Anything to make the vasectomy--surely among the most angst-filled and wince-inducing male surgical procedures--more palatable.

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"I imagined working with chickens, or maybe cows, " says this unflappable vet, as he performs a vasectomy on a five-year-old lion.

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The number of appointment requests spiked 30 percent in January 2009 on the Web site vasectomy.com, which links people with local urologists.

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Mr Martin, who says he has owned lurchers for 18 years, wants Humbug to have a vasectomy rather than having the testicles removed completely.

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William Walker, a 37-year-old father of two and a trader at an investment firm in Wilmington, Delaware, says he had trouble scheduling his vasectomy in 2006.

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"It gives people something to look forward to, " says Dallas urologist Richard Bevan-Thomas, who says he sees an increase in vasectomy bookings for all major golf tournaments.

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Among them is Zeneca, where researchers are working on a way of controlling male fertility in maize for the production of hybrids a sort of green vasectomy that can be turned on and off at will.

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Much like Jones, Dr. Marc Goldstein, surgeon-in-chief of male reproductive medicine and surgery at the Cornell Institute for Reproductive Medicine in New York, saw a 48 percent increase in vasectomy consultations compared with the same time last year.

CNN: In troubled times, vasectomies snip and prosper