Posted on 08/13/2007 1:35:37 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - In the old lobby of San Antonio's Animal Care Services, a cheerful-looking sign written in neon pink, blue and yellow delivers a somber message: In a week's time, the city-run shelter took in 1,004 dogs and cats and adopted out or rescued 76. It killed 925.
The shelter wants to turn those numbers around. By 2012, San Antonio plans to become a "no-kill" facility, meaning it wouldn't kill any animal deemed healthy or treatable.
By reducing the homeless pet population through spay-neuter programs and working with other shelters to find permanent homes for animals, the San Antonio shelter believes it has learned from those that have tried, but failed, to become no-kill.
But the pitfalls are many, animal welfare advocates say, and some aren't at all convinced that the national trend toward no-kill shelters is always in the best interest of the animals that need help.
"It sounds very good, but the reality is that it will probably leave some animals to suffer," said Daphna Nachminovitch, director of the domestic animal department at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
No-kill shelters that have worked elsewhere in the country have succeeded because they partner with other local facilities.
"We are definitely seeing a broad movement toward no-kill," said Richard Avanzino, president of Maddie's Fund in Alameda, Calif., which aims for the U.S. to be no-kill by 2017. "And there are some isolated examples of horror stories where things have gone astray and people in their zeal have actually done harm. ... It's not something that you just flip a switch and it happens immediately."
National organizations want to reduce needless killing. The ASPCA this year launched "Mission: Orange" to increase adoption and reduce euthanasia in five U.S. communities. The American Humane Association has an initiative called "Getting to Zero."
But many no-kill shelters have no backup plan and hang onto animals for months, sometimes years, until they are adopted, causing crowding and health problems for the animals.
The practice of "warehousing" is a top concern for animal organizations when a shelter decides to go no-kill. And animal advocates say they understand that killing the animals is sometimes the only humane way to ease overcrowding.
PETA said it routinely receives complaints that animals are stacked in kennels one on top of another and allowed water only once a day so they don't urinate in their cages. Others spin around and around in their cages because they're rarely let out for a walk.
"I've been to good no-kills, and I've been to bad no-kills," said Jef Hale, the San Antonio shelter's director. "I was at a no-kill in Louisiana and basically what they did is they just put animals in a cage and they just continued to add animals to a cage. ... If we put them in a cage and we don't interact with them, we slowly drive them crazy."
But no-kill shelters that don't warehouse animals fill up quickly and are forced to stop taking in new ones.
"Now what's their alternative?" said Kim Intino, director of animal sheltering for the Humane Society of the United States. The animal likely ends up either in an open-admission facility that does euthanize, or worse, on the streets.
Animal Care Services has traditionally taken in 50,000 dogs and cats and euthanized 95 percent of them, Hale said. It once used a gas chamber, but switched to the more humane lethal injections about a year and a half ago.
Nationally, about 6 million to 8 million dogs and cats enter animal shelters each year. About half are killed.
"The problem of course is that 8 million animals are being discarded," Nachminovitch said. "If it were as easy as simply stopping euthanasia, then that would have been done a long time ago."
In pursuing the no-kill label, some shelters will only take in animals they're sure they can adopt out, said Charlene Jones, founder and director of Animals at Heart, a nonprofit in Jacksonville, Fla., that works to help people keep their pets longer. Others will adopt out potentially dangerous animals just to make space.
Another topic that has created a tense divide is the no-kill label. If one shelter is "no-kill," that makes the others "kill" shelters.
"There is no room for no-kill as morally superior," said Ed Sayres, president of the ASPCA.
That is the question.
Funny how PETA is waffling on this issue.
It’s like abortion “every animal a wanted animal”.
PETA is not waffling. It’s squarely in the “kill them all” camp.
A lot of no-kill shelters also have foster families who volunteer to care for pets in their homes until they find a permanent home.
That makes sense.
Liberals deem it ‘ethical’ to murder/abort unwanted children.
Animals too.
True, but if there are 6 - 8 million animals per year, then what.....
If you’re looking for a pet, try http://www.petfinder.com/
You can plug in your zip and even the breed of pet you’re looking for and it will access it’s database of shelters and rescue animals and present you with results.
But there’s a limited number of foster homes available. There are several million cats and dogs euthanized in shelters every year. With dogs, a harsh crackdown on breeding for profit and paper-selling for profit (i.e. the AKC) should be the first step. The whole fraud of “pure bred” dogs is disgusting. People are routinely paying over $1000 for puppy-mill bred dogs of unknown but definitely unhealthy parentage, accompanied by “papers” that deceptively mislead the buyers into thinking this is a “better” dog than one without “papers”. The papers are utterly meaningless, but they are what’s driving the whole puppy mill industry.
Expect a surge of Chinese restaurants to open soon in San Antonio..........
According to something I’ve read, their own operation isn’t no-kill, they can hardly stand up for it now.
Now why can’t we use the “kill” logic as being more humane to the goal of alleviating prison overcrowding?
Euthanize a cell block of child molestors... unlike a litter of puppies put in a bag and tossed into a pond, child molestors will not be missed.
bttt
You ain’t lyin’!
I watch those “Maximum Security” prison shows on MSNBC. The ones that show how the worst POS’s of society that are ware-housed like animals.
I think it would be far more kind, more compassionate if they euthanized those ————. The mental derangement those prisons cause is amazing. And the stress to prison guards is incredible.
And these gang-bangers are still committing horrendous crimes in and out of prison — right from inside their own jail cells.
I have done tenant build outs for Chinese restuarants in shopping plazas and there is ALWAYS a pet store nearby! Coincindence? I think not! ;-)
I just shudder when I walk by those places and see either the teenage girls fawning over the cute young animal trying to convince their idiot boy-friend-for-the-week to buy one for them -or- the spoiled brats trying to convince their lazy parents that they just *need* a new pet.
I tend to think that many of those animals end up abandoned in a shelter...or worse...as the new owner realizes it actually takes a little work and responsibility to own a pet.
“Now why can’t we use the “kill” logic as being more humane to the goal of alleviating prison overcrowding?
Euthanize a cell block of child molestors... unlike a litter of puppies put in a bag and tossed into a pond, child molestors will not be missed.”
***
Or those nice “immigrants” who killed/tortured those three teenagers in Newark. Or the guy who shot up that church in one of the plains states over the weekend (assuming he’s still breathing).
These are the ones I can think of off the top of my head, but there are probably more.
I don’t understand why LOW LOW cost spaying/neutering is not seen as a major portion as the answer to the problem! When it costs $100 - $150 to fix each animal, it’s no wonder that there is a plethora of animals!! And when it costs that much to adopt a critter from a shelter, people are going to think to themselves, ‘hey! if I just let Imelda and Fidel have at each other, in short order I’ll have a whole litter of freebies ... so why shouldn’t I? I can always just take the extras to the pound when we’re ready ...’ The system is broke and needs fixed!
Easy problem to solve. If your dog or cat is not spayed- nutured it is a 10,000 dollar fine unless you are a breeder. A breeders license cost 1,000.00 per year and require semi annual inspections and all pets must be sold in advance. End of problem. Any animals caught running lose will disappear.
I Wish you'd suffer and STFU as well
What you propose sounds like a totalitarian country. No thanks!
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