Businesses Classifieds Forums Photo Gallery Chat Events Videos Features News Clubs Bookstore
Reptile & Amphibians Insects Birds Cats Dogs Exotics Horses Aquaria Ponds PetHobbyist PetPress PetSupport RescueNetwork My Account
advertising rates - site news - help - contact

Looking for a pet? Try a rescue first! Alabama Alaska American Samoa Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Columbia Fed. St. of Micronesia Florida Georgia Guam Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Marshall Islands Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota N. Mariana Islands Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Palau Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virgin Islands Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Alberta British Columbia Labrador Manitoba Newfoundland New Brunswick Nova Scotia Nunavut Northwest Territories Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Territories Other click here to add your rescue

Stuff the turkey, not your dog: Thanksgiving safety tips for dogs! Friday Chats: Open Dog Chat, Multi-Cats, Pet Loss, and more!

Posted by jld on November 02, 2002 at 11:30:11:

First of all the thing that needs to be made clear is that there is no such thing as a "no kill" shelter and IF there was it comes down to either one of two things. Either a.) The shelter has never received an animal that meets the criteria for Humane Euthanization or b.) the shelter is commiting acts of animal cruelty by keeping animals who meet the criteria for Humane Euthanizaton alive.

Knowing that -What is a "no kill" shelter?

What the humane community would like us all to believe is that a "no kill" shelter is simply that. They do not euthanize any animal and find homes for them all. In REALITY a "no kill" shelter means that they do not euthanize on premises but rather take the animal to a vet (or in some bad cases a place not so nice) to be euthanized.

What is the criteria for Humane Euthanization? If an animal comes in terminally ill, diseased, badly injured with no hope of recovery,in some way in pain or whose quality of life is dramatically reduced or non-existant -those are, for the most part, the criteria for Humane Euthanization.

There are very few shleters that have policy to destroy healthy animals for the sake of opening up space, although I am sure it does happen. Even shelters with the best intentions often find themselves facing the difficult task of putting down healthy animals due to court orders. EXAMPLE -Recently in NH there was a pitbull case. Because the dogs had been trained for fighting, although most of them were healthy and some were puppies (never having been tained for anything) the court ordered that all the dogs be destroyed.

Making the decision to put down an animal, whether it is a personal pet or an animal in a shelter is NEVER easy. However, when an animal's quality of life is affected, the more humane thing to do is to humanely end its life. EXAMPLE -Last year an animal re-seller literally dropped an injured snake off to us. The snakes mouth was so deformed with scar tissue that it could not eat, it looked like someone had stomped it nearly to death. Now some may argue that the snake could have been tube fed for whatever remained of its life but the fact remains that the snake had no real way of telling us how much pain it was in. After consulting with the vet, the most humane solution we could find was to HUMANELY end the animals life.

So you see, "no kill" is not as cut and dry as some people would like us to believe it is.

Follow Ups:

• Re: What if a Covenant 12/16/02 (0)
• Re: What if a meow2me 11/03/02 (2)
  • Re: What if a jld 11/03/02 (1)
    • Re: What if a meow2me 11/04/02 (0)