Golden Retriever Dog Forums banner

To euthanize or not~~~~~~

1K views 14 replies 13 participants last post by  Taz Monkey 
#1 ·
Our local humane society is a no kill. They have had dogs and cats there for up to 2 yrs. The adoption rate is not that great as we live in a small town. The shelter does not get much money so its run mostly on donations and fund raisers. So simce the place is full, they have had to say no to any more dogs. So people are leaving their dogs and pups at the door during the night --they leave boxes of puppies and kittens next to the mailbox by the road (their in the country)--now the shelter is so overrun with animals that is is just a mess. But they still stay a no-kill....I used to be on the board and I disagreed with their policy. Now I don;t like to see animals killed after a few days but soemthing has to be done about so many unwanted dogs and cats. Right now, they are running a boarding kennel and not keeping up with the cleaning and feeding. I have heard that the place just reeks from so much feces. So what's the answer? Of course we have way too many ignorant people who are letting their unaltered dogs and cats run around to create more and more ---it just seems hopeless. What makes me mad is if I find a lost pet, I cannot take it to the shelter because its full. And you know what most people will do, take it to the woods and leave it. :confused::confused:
 
#2 ·
Tough call. My first move would be try to get any and all purebred into breed rescues, which should get some 20 or 30% of the dogs out of there. At least that many dogs at a shelter are usually purebreds. Finding a placement for a mix is harder, but small breeds usually are highly adoptable.
 
#3 ·
in some ways, i think its almost more humane to euthanize an animal, than have it sit in a kennel for 2 years or more... especially if it was previously someone's loved pet. just my opinion...

although i do think its horrible and wrong that animals are given mere days before being euthanized in some high kill shelters, but i agree that it is a very tough call determining what the appropriate waiting time should be
 
#5 ·
Your shelter is in a difficult situation but unfortunately the status quo can't continue.

They have very few options available to them, step up local placement efforts, ship a number of pets to other shelters located in larger markets regardless of kill/no kill status or euthanize some of the animals in their care.
 
#6 ·
If a shelter is no kill, I think people would be more inclined to leave animals rather then take it upon themselves to find homes for them. So it really compounds the dumping problem in my opinion. Not that I like shelters that euthanize...but there is no way our shelter could function as a no kill. Their are simply too many....Our shelter does designate some as adoptable and will give plenty of time for them.
 
#7 ·
They're in the "Catch 22" that almost all no-kill shelters are in. I don't envy them having to make some tough decisions in the near future. I know that until something is done about responsible animal ownership this problem will continue to grow. I would almost be willing to back a nationwide mandatory micro-chip program so that lost/abandonded dogs find their way home. If abandonded then the owners put on notice concerning their animals.
 
#8 ·
I seriously think there can be a fate worse than death...and if a dog has been in a kennel for YEARS then I believe that is it. I think of my own dogs and what it would do to their mental state to be nobodys 'pet' and to just exist in a kennel...well, it reduces me to tears. I volunteer in a shelter that never put down healthy dogs, only the ones that are very ill or the ones that have gone 'kennel mad' because they have been in so long...well I can't stand to think of the trauma they have been through to get into that state and believe their suffering should have been put to an end before it gets to that. The shelter is bursting with staffys, alsations, collie x's...some I know won't get picked out because they are just so sad and don't really want to even move out of their beds, you can see in their eyes they have lost all hope...it is such a sad situation.
 
#9 ·
You know, I felt a lot like everybody as far as time spent in a shelter until I saw the Kauai Animal Shelter that opened a couple of years ago. It is a caring environment that repects the animals that are there~so maybe that's part of the answer. I know if I was to build a shelter I would use ideas, blueprints and philosophy that they did.
 
#10 ·
That is so sad. It sounds like a lose/lose situation to me. I can't imagine the dogs and cats they stay in the shelter for 2 years have a very good quality of life. I can't stand the thought of them being euthanized although, I can't stand the thought of animals that are just being left abandoned either. That is a tough one.
 
#11 ·
As a former humane society volunteer, board member and employee (at different times), I have to say that keeping an animal locked in a kennel for months on end, just to spare its life, helps the people feel better to the detriment of the animals. They deserve better than that. If a good home cannot be found for them, at least give them the dignity of a humane death. And what about the animals dumped outside the shelter at night? What happens if they wander off, die of exposure, or fall victim to cruel humans before they are 'rescued' by the shelter staff? Life at all costs isn't always the right thing to do. Until people come to their senses and control their dogs' and cats' breeding, the problem will continue and the animals, as usual, will continue to pay the highest price.
 
#12 ·
For all it's worth I want to relay something that was said to me many years ago at the San Mateo (CA) Humane Society. My husband and I just happened to be there looking around and one of the workers came up to the desk to help us, but before she did she said to me, obviously referring to something that was just said to her, "People think we like to put animals down, but no one hates it more."

Helaine
 
#13 ·
I don’t think most no-kills shelters really work. Most aren't no-kill even when they say they are. The one's that truly are no-kill just have very strict rules for incoming dogs. They can't take them all and they have guidelines for what they will take.

The shelter I have experience with started to reach a point recently where they were euthanizing less and less. They weren't euthanizing adoptable dogs. Before the dogs are put in the kennels that are seen by the public there are some that are PTS. These are the dogs that will bite whoever or whatever comes near them. These are also the dogs that have reached an age or suffer from a disease that basically make it cruel to stick them in the kennels. Even these aren't hard-fast rules; some of these dogs who show promise are placed in the foster program in people's homes.

But the problem was in the dogs that did make it into the adoptable kennels. Because there were just some dogs that never got adopted. They were BIG problem dogs. The shelter has a large base of wonderful foster parents, but they could only take so many and only handle so much. These "adoptable" dogs just weren't very adoptable and you could see when they started to go nuts in the kennels. Kennel stress moves to kennel psychos. Being alive didn't mean much to these dogs anymore, even with dedicated volunteers and staff caring for them the best they could, the dogs were still in a kennel barking themselves hoarse and spinning circles 22 hours+ a day.

Around this same time where PTSing dogs became less frequent, a new program started. The shelter started sending dogs to prison, human prison. The long-short of it is the wild, crazy, unruly, dogs that had been rotting away in the kennels are sent out to prison and specific inmates work with them for 8 weeks on manners, obedience, crate/housetraining, agility, and all sorts of tricks. They come back after 8 weeks as unrecognizable from the way they left, lovely little canine good citizens.

That was really long explaination, I realize ;), but I could go on and on about it. I worked in-depth with the program a few months back for the first time, and I'm just the biggest supporter now. I highly recommend any shelter/rescue with a similar situation looking into starting a program like this. The benefits the inmates and the dogs are immeasurable.
 
#14 ·
I am against no-kill shelters and rescues. I've seen dogs that have gone kennel crazy and allowing an animal to continue to exist in that state is very, very inhumane, in my opinion.
 
#15 ·
I do not agree with no kill. A dog forced to live in a kennel for 2 years should have been PTS. If something happened to me, and I absolutely couldn't find a home for my dogs or cats (this is hypothetical, I have plans in place for all my pets in case of something happening to me), and my only option was a shelter, I would euthanize all of them. Some are adoptable, and would have a chance, but some are not, and would be euthanized anyway immediately. No kill just doesn't make sense sometimes.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top