The numbers are an estimate. I literally can't provide the facts, because the U.S. doesn't keep track of this, but here are the numbers according to the
Humane
Society:
Over half of all the
animals are adopted, but still, those are some pretty grim numbers.
They aren't even accurate within several million.
Think of all the pets in your life whom you have loved. Now multiply
that a million times. This is the number of healthy, adoptable pets
put to sleep in shelters, including many puppies and pregnant dogs
put down in shelters because they have no system in place, and the
killing is completely arbitrary and chronological.
This
is the data; the question that is raised is, how will you look at it?
I have made a commitment to being positive in any situation. Every
thing which seems negative only serves to teach you a valuable life
lesson you use later on down the line. However, it is truly a
challenge to view a massacre like this and stay upbeat.
Experience
teaches that positive views breed positive results. In this spirit,
let's begin by examining the most positive perspectives first.
Best
Friends Animal Society tackles the issue with calm, positive
professionalism. They realize that not everyone in the world is
committed to this issue, and some people and shelters don't even
care. Instead of being outraged by this, they continue showing
leadership, guidance, support, and most importantly, results. They
prove that no-kill works, let the results speak for themselves, and
assist people and shelters in achieving the goal. Here is a quote
from their website:
“The
problem is a big one, no question...but we believe it’s possible to
make this senseless killing a thing of the past.”
Here
is the Facebook
page of BFAS.
Meanwhile,
another group represents a bizarre blend: positive encouragement and
self-admitted public condemnation of the organizations they are
opposed to; powerful strategies to encourage shelter reform and shock
value which may scare people away from adopting or volunteering with
county shelters, period; intense, accurate information on the
problems at hand, and pages of unsubstantiated hearsay of the “Oh
God I hope it isn't true” persuasion.
This
is the No Kill
Advocacy Center, and I pray that they meet new success in shelter reform,
but I also really wish they would give factual information on the
things they post on their Tour
page. As it stands, it's nothing more than a list of complaints with no attribution for the photos, which are likely sourced from various image search engines. I
could just as easily write down a list of the good things I've seen
in shelters. With 3,500 county shelters alone, and many more private
ones and rescues, obviously there are going to be people and entire
shelters in the good, bad, and “Satan incarnate” categories.
At
any given shelter, you have a workforce of apathetic workers who just
need money bad, caring workers who want to make a difference for
animals, volunteers who want to help animals in need, and volunteers
who are just happy not to be in jail instead.
The
NKAC Tour page also provides links to videos on the processes of
euthanasia used by animal shelters. I won't provide the links
directly, because I'm not man enough to click on them. Someday I'm
going to have to, if I want to have first-hand knowledge, or else
I'll just rest content just believing what people say, that it
perfectly painless and humane.
Here
is the Facebook
page of NKAC.
Finally, you have the
negative perspective, endorsed by the No
Kill Coalition. They seem to be entirely web-based, and they are
supportive of the frameworks put in place by the NKAC. However,
instead of focusing on success stories, adopted pets, pets available
for adoption, and shelters which do want to improve, they often
slander
kill shelters on Facebook.
It is indeed true that
many shelters deserve only condemnation; however, expressing hatred
serves to deter the public from having any interest in adopting an
animal from a public shelter. It deters potential volunteers and
fosters who would rather have nothing to do with an organization like
that... which in turn could result in losing the lives of shelter
animals, rather than saving them. I don't fully understand how a popular group like NKC can believe that behaving in such a
non-professional, jejune manner will help them win any support for
no-kill. Here is an excerpt from their Facebook page today:
“Rather than taking simple
steps that would save them - foster programs, working with rescues,
off-site adoptions, etc... The kill system would rather hold them for
a few days with minimal care, and then murder them when their time is
up.
The No Kill Equation WORKS,
yet the killers refuse to consider it. They resist reform efforts and
continue killing indiscriminately.
We have to force them to
change. For the little ones.
Learn about the No Kill
Equation:
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/no-kill-equation/
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/no-kill-equation/
Take ACTION!”
Well. I'm glad they are
promoting the NKAC and their useful toolkit and no-kill and all, but, really, how
is this helping anything?
They have no rational
reason to pretend like the majority of shelters eagerly want to kill
animals. Many public shelters do want to reduce the kill rates, but
most don't have any idea how to. This posting completely ignores
that. It doesn't motivate more people and more shelters; it enrages
more people and more shelters. It doesn't promote reform; it attracts
hate and derision.
As far as the shelters
that fit this description are concerned, imagine, for a moment, that
you are a shelter director who has no passion or sympathy for animal
life. Would you even care about the silly ramblings of a random group
on Facebook? Or, for that matter, the government. Does anyone
seriously expect them to get this mess cleaned up by tomorrow? Unless
you're thinking of a political tomorrow, as in, ten years from now,
maybe, the proposed policies will be admissible and no-kill will be
endorsed, pending further analytical review and however many years it
takes to draft and pass a bill.
The right action is to
motivate, inspire, lead, and pave the way with a foundation of
no-kill public shelters, rather than with flung stones. Yet, despite
their passion, the NKC fails to do this. They just debase and hate.
This doesn't make people like them or their cause, however good it is,
and it results in losing supporters rather than in winning them.
Personally, I'm
overwhelmed that it's possible for all shelters to become no-kill. I
didn't realize that even Las Vegas and Austin, two places I sincerely
don't see allotting very much money or media attention to their
animal services department, have dropped down to the no-kill ranks,
and with severely limiting budgets (in part because no-kill is
actually more cost effective. It just takes more effort and work.) I
mean, I've got to be honest. As outspoken about animals as I am, when
I think of Vegas, I don't automatically think of the homeless pets
who die there daily, playing their own lottery, which is currently
rigged in their favor.
Just over a hundred
years ago, society was perfectly comfortable with animal pounds
beating, starving, choking, drowing, shooting, and neglecting
animals. There were few regulations. Many shelters were piled with
waste, the cages literally crammed full of animals with nothing to
sleep on but concrete, and if they didn't get along in those
conditions, they were allowed to tear each other apart. It was just
like in Lady and the Tramp,
only with all the G-rated censoring taken out.
Through
the efforts and passion of animal lovers worldwide, things have
changed. In America, the Animal
Welfare Act was passed, but I'm not alone when I say that it's
outdated. It's time for reform. No kill is not a pipe dream. Shelters
don't have to kill animals because of overpopulation. It works, and
it's more effective than mass euthanasia.
I
won't be able to assess the claims made until I have more personal
life experience, but it would seem that the real reason why no kill
isn't practiced is because it's too much work. Killing the animals
saves time and energy. It doesn't require being active and marketing
the animals. It doesn't require much more than giving them the
federally outlined housing, food, and exercise requirements, and then
killing however many the shelter administration sees fit, without
even a system in place. No federal law prevents a disgruntled shelter
worker from arranging to have a noisy dog put down because it is
annoying. Public shelters don't have to put out the time and energy
to become no-kill, and so some don't; it has nothing to do with
overpopulation.
Thankfully,
many shelters aren't like this. The administration and staff do work
hard, every day, to keep the place open longer hours, reaching out
through simple social media posts and e-mailing to a network of
fosters and rescue organizations, making sure the special-needs dogs,
the ones who have suffered at human hands, aren't put down first but
are put in the right home first, and spending the effort required to get
more pets adopted.
Here
is the Declaration of the No-Kill Movement of the United States.
Thank
you for reading my blog, and God bless.
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