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Forum THE LOUNGE Opinions on adopting from euthanizing shelters?

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    • MimzMum
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        Our local shelter used to be no kill because we had a vet in charge some years ago who was firm in her belief that a home could be found for every animal. She was a holistic vet also, btw. Saved a good friends’ dog from terminal bone cancer and he lived to be 13. She was fantastic.

        Upon researching the shelter recently, I see this vet no longer has affiliation with them and as such their policy has changed. Which makes me wonder…of course one would want to see as many animals as possible adopted from such a shelter to save them…but what about the fees they charge for adoption? Some of these, I assume, will only go to the euthanization of other animals?

        Is it supporting the shelter kill policy to adopt from here? Or should the principle be damned and adoption encoraged just to get homeless animals out of range of the needle?

        What would you do? Discuss.


      • Monkeybun
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          Oh dear.. wonder why the vet is no longer there? Is it the only shelter nearby? If so, I think its worth it to adopt over a pet store, at any rate…


        • wiseleyd
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            I guess, I would support adoption, regardless of what the adoption fees would go to simply because that animal would be saved and it opens a space for another animal.


          • BunnyLiz
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              I would support a no kill shelter. Because in the long run the adoption fees would help expand those types of organizations, and shrink the kill shelters. Thats what I say logically, but you meet one of those cute faces at a kill shelter and anything can happen!


            • MimzMum
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                And of course, there just happens to be a lovely white and black one year old lop female there tonight. >.<
                This is the only ASPCA in all of the Interior. There isn’t enough money to open others. That’s why they are a euth shelter.
                I had hoped someday to open a sanctuary, for rabbits at least. But with how my hubby seems to be developing his own allergies to animals (and that he doesn’t want any more simply for the loss factor) it doesn’t look promising.
                You can’t imagine how many dogs and cats they have there.


              • Monkeybun
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                  Move to oregon, I’ll open a sanctuary with you! wouldn’t help alaska animals any, though.. poor critters. Sucks theres only the one


                • LizzieKnittyBun
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                    Really interesting idea for a thread, MimzMum!

                    Tough question… like Monkey said, it’s still probably better than a pet store, but definitely worse than a no-kill shelter. I guess you gotta pick your battles when it comes to saving animals.


                  • Beka27
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                      This is an interesting thought. I think it all comes back to the philosophical and horribly depressing thought… “You can’t save them all.” None of us can save every dog, cat, rabbit, guinea pig, iguana, and goldfish from harm. We just can’t. But we can speak with our money and actions and we can encourage others to take the responsible route: spay/neuter and rescue.


                    • wiseleyd
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                        Of course you can save ONE lovely white and black lop!!!!


                      • KatnipCrzy
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                          As horrible as this may sound- I have NO problem with shelters that euthanize.  I am speaking from experience of working at our local Humane Society as a kennel tech and lead kennel tech- I have personally euth hundreds of animals.  And since then have worked at a vet clinic and am a volunteer for Aussie Rescue.

                          Euth is necessary unfortunately- even for perfectly healthy pets.  It is not the shelter that is the issue- but irresponsible people that do not spay and neuter their pets.   It is great that some shelters can be no kill- but without shelters that do euth- what would happen to all those animals?  They would be stacked in an increasing numbers of cages- being exposed to more and more new animals coming in- disease could run rampant- the cost for treating would be insane, and not treating would be inhumane.  There just really has to be a limit to how many animals a shelter can take care of between their cages/kennels and foster homes.

                          The local Humane Society has changed a lot in the 10+ years since I worked there- they now double kennel some of the dogs and they have cages lining the front office enterance area filled with cats (in addition to the cat room that is full).  I understand they want to give every animal a chance- but it gets to a certain point where you have to make decisions that are best for the shelter.  Just because you can house 50-100% more animals does not mean 50-100% more animals are going to be adopted.

                          And in the past when someone was going to surrender- they would flat out tell people- “we have no room, your pet will most likely be euth”- so people stopped taking their pets and strays there- so what happened to all these unaltered pets that did not go to the Humane Society- I can safely assume that most of them are creating more dogs and cats compounding the problem even more.

                          So PLEASE do not hold it against a shelter if they euth- SOMEONE has to.  It would be nice if everyplace could be no kill- but that will take changing the general population- not the shelters.  And I know some no kill shelters are more selective in what they can and will take in.  I would rather see a rabbit go to a kill shelter than be set loose outside- I think at the shelter it has a better chance of a good life.


                        • Moonlight_Wolf
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                            I think that you should support any shelter, ones that euthanize and ones that don’t.

                            It is sad to have an animal euthanized, but the shelter is doing all it can to save the animals it can. Shelters are not immune to economic situations or overcrowding, so sometimes euthanizing is unavoidable.

                            What katnip says makes perfect sense. I personally do not know if our shelter is kill, or no kill, but personally I am going to support them no matter what, they are helping animals that can be helped and that is all that matters.

                            As Beka said, you cannot save all the animals, but you can make little differences. Its like that story about the boy who is throwing starfish that have washed on the beach back into the sea. A man asks him why he is doing it, because he cannot possibly save all of them. And the boy just says that while he cannot change the world by saving a couple starfish, the world is changed for those couple of starfish.


                          • Sarita
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                              I totally totally agree with Katnip – don’t blame the shelter, blame irresponsible pet owners. I’ve done rescue work for a long time and I’ve seen the different shelters out there – municipal, SPCA’s, Humane Societies, and every type of rescue in between and the bottom line for any and all animal shelters/rescues/sanctuaries, etc…there are too many animals to save them all.

                              I feel for shelter workers making the decision to euthanize.

                              Believe me too that the fee’s for adoption, those don’t nearly cover the cost for running a shelter/rescue/sanctuary. And many of the shelters in may are, they don’t have vets on staff and I think that’s pretty much par for the course for the majority of shelters.

                              I myself, will never ever purchase a pet from a pet store or from a breeder. I would always go first to a city shelter to adopt my rabbit and I go knowing that they will not be spayed and neutered and I’m fine with that no matter what the adoption fee is, small or large.


                            • ScooterandAnnette
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                                I know that here just because a shelter doesn’t euth doesn’t mean that they aren’t indirectly responsible for it. Just because a shelter is no-kill doesn’t mean that every animal gets a chance there. If the animal is too sick, too aggressive, doesn’t stand a good chance of being adopted, or they’re too full they just won’t take the animal in. I’ve even heard that some of the no-kill shelters will take their excess animals to the humane society. The humane society here is technically not no-kill although I know they try to do it as little as possible. I’m sure not all the no-kill shelters here operate that way but some of them do. So I guess really I’m not sure that there’s a difference between adopting from a shelter that will euth as opposed to adoptiong from one that might be indirectly responsible for euthing.
                                – Annette


                              • kralspace
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                                  I also agree with Moonlight and Katnip about the kill shelters. Ours has gone through a transformation in the last few years and the changes have been wonderful.They have made a tremendous effort to reach out to the community for help and support and Waco has responded. Besides the spay/neuter programs, they offer pet behavior training, classes and apply it to life at the shelter. Efforts are made to keep the kennels calm and friendly, treats and positive reinforcement used to help accustom the dogs to the environment so they are in a better frame of mind.

                                  Instead of walking into the kennel area and having rows of dogs going crazy and driving the quiet dogs crazy to boot, you’ll find everyone sitting at the front of the kennels, patiently waiting their turn for attention and treats, making a much better impression on the folks who are there looking for a dog and improving their chances for adoption.

                                  When that week of 20 degree weather was about to hit a public call went out for help for the 23 dogs in the outside kennels and within 24 hours every dog was spoken for and taken to homes for the duration of the storm and cleanup.

                                  Yes, they euth, but I agree, it’s because of irresponsible people. They encourage rescues to pull and just because an animal comes in with a problem doesn’t automatically condemn them to death. Because I had been looking for a rabbit, they called me when Toby was brought in as an abuse case. His overgrown teeth and pierced lips and gums were taken care of and he was gradually put on good food before they let me take him.

                                  I saw him the day he was brought in, skin and bones, teeth sticking through his lips, a dirty dusty deadhaired grey color (he’s stunning black now) just hunched down in a corner next to a cage of beautiful baby bunnies that had been surrendered. Compared to them, it would have been easy to brush poor Toby off as not worth the effort and put him down. They made sure I was willing to continue the dental care he needs every month before I was allowed to foster him (That certainly didn’t work out, Pringles made sure of that) and for $5 he was mine.


                                • TARM
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                                    I was going to say the same thing ScooterandAnnette said. MANY no kill shelters drop their ‘excess’ unadoptables off at the kill shelters and call it a “transfer”. They are technically not doing the killing but they facilitate it so, really, in my eyes, no kill shelters are worse than public kill shelters because they pass on their negative responsibility to someone else. Too many times I’ve seen a no kill shelter require a “donation” from someone surrendering their unadoptable pet to them just so they can turn around and transfer that animal out to the same kill shelter the person surrendering refused to take their animal too. And no, they don’t transfer that donation along with the animal, they keep it and let the kill shelter absorb the cost of housing, feeding, and ultimately euthing the animal that came with funds that were supposed to guarantee that it would live. It’s disgusting.

                                    Just because a shelter is no kill doesn’t make it a good one. And just because a shelter euths doesn’t make it a bad one.


                                  • Elrohwen
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                                      I agree with Katnip. If I had a choice between a no-kill and a euth shelter, I would probably choose to support the no-kill so that they could take another animal from a kill shelter. However, if there was only one choice I would have no issues adopting from a kill shelter. I agree with others that someone has to do it, as sad as it is.

                                      eta: TARM, I just went back and read your post – that is very sad. I have only had experience with a few specific no-kill shelters and they would never do anything of the kind. Your story made me appreciate them more. Of course, they do often look for the more adoptable animals (especially in the case of the dog shelter) but they have been known to keep animals for 5+ years, despite their low chance of adoption, until the right owner came along.


                                    • LittlePuffyTail
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                                        I also think adopting from any shelter is the best option because whether the shelter euthanizes or not, they support spaying and neutering of all animals, unlike pet stores and breeders. If you buy a pet from a breeder, they will breed more and more as long as they are selling them. And I think the only way to stop the pet stores is to not support them.

                                        I know they can’t all be saved but it absolutely breaks my heart to think of one of my bunnies not getting a chance to enjoy life and happiness because the shelter happened to be too full.

                                        I really wish I was in a situation to adopt another rabbit because my local SPCA is overflowing with rabbits at the moment. They usually only have a few at any one time but now they have over a dozen and no room for them. There was a recent article in the paper about their rabbit situation and it said “if they don’t get adopted soon, other options will have to be considered.” I assume this means euthanizing. I think our shelter does euthanize (but I’m not positive) but it seems that most healthy animals have a pretty fair chance at getting adopted. I’ve seen ads for cats and dogs that have been at the shelter for over a year.  Unfortunetly, the only rabbit rescues are a few provinces a way so they don’t have the alternative of sending rabbits to another shelter if they can’t be adopted.

                                        I get so mad when I go on Kijiji and see ads for puppies and kittens for sale from breeders or people “looking for a stud dog”. Stupidity and lack of compassion is the reason the shelters are so full.


                                      • MimzMum
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                                          Thank you all for these very well-thought out responses! Wow, I think I lit a match in the gelignite factory with this one, which was not my intent.

                                          Please allow me to clarify my position. I think it is better by far for an animal to be put down rather than suffer needless litters, disease, or neglect. I have had personal experience with having to spay a friends’ cat who was going to be abandoned in their foreclosed house and adopting the kittens they were leaving there, and would willingly do it again. For years-because I was a minor and this wasn’t my mom-I had to to watch this same cat have litter after litter because the mother wouldn’t take the money she was using to go to Disneyland every few times a year to have this cat spayed…sadly, the kitty passed away after the operation because she was simply too old to endure it by the time I got it done. But at least I know that I didn’t just sit by and watch this cat get left behind and possibly succumb to an even worse fate. Nor did I just call the local shelters to have them picked up, which could’ve had a 50% chance of giving them good homes as well. A few of the kittens I took home became long time companions of my own, and so enriched my life.
                                          I just wondered how everyone here thought about the basic backgrounds of the kill/no-kill policy, and if you thought it would be wrong to support a kill shelter by adopting from there. We talk all the time about not buying animals from pet stores to keep the mills down, and I wondered if adopting from a kill shelter would be seen the same way.

                                          Again, thank you all for your responses. And yes, if I had some way of bringing home that one, I would do it. I’ve seen quite a few leave the shelter, then come back to the shelter within a month. So I know they are not brutal with their policy, but I would guess after working at such a facility for awhile, one would have to adapt to having a rather stoic face about it all, for the sake of preserving one’s own sanity.

                                          I am continually amazed and impressed by those members here who have worked/are working with shelters and rescue or are fostering. It takes a very special kind of person to give that much of oneself.


                                        • Lintini
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                                            I have an interesting thought to add.

                                            When I took honors physio and anatomy in highschool we got to dissect cats. These cats were from the animal shelter that were put to sleep.

                                            My thoughts are:
                                            I wonder how much money the shelter makes from this selling them to schools.
                                            This kinda goes into animal testing area (huge area)…but how do you feel about kids getting to do this in just highschool. I think it’s a bit bigger than disecting a frog like most other classes do. Not that frogs should have different rights but you know what I mean.
                                            Do you think some places take advantage of selling off their frozen euthanized animals?? You know how corrupt things can be these days…

                                            My thoughts are jumbled. I had a hard time in this class when we brought out the cats. We had to skin them and I love cats…and I cried seeing them all dead in bags. I’m sensitive…plus it didn’t help my lab partner wanted to name it after my pet cat. Skinning them was so terrible…people would break thier arms and legs getting the skin off. Ughhh. I feel like people disrespected the cats when my professor wasn’t looking even though these are straight A students wanting to get into med school…I just think it was too much for a highschool class maturity wise. I mean I went into music anyways…and believe me I can’t remember all the muscles that I had to memorize for that class. I don’t think I got much out of it at all. I also had to memorize every bone in the body. Can’t remember half of those either. Back to the immaturity thing of this …we would get an F on our cat if we “accidently” cut the large intestine …you have no idea how bad the smell was. So yeah.. I was mad at my class and mad that I had to dissect a cat so I cut it and I made my classroom smell terrible for a good week. It was my sweet revenge for doing something I didn’t want to do. No one knows I did it still so don’t go telling my story >:]

                                            So what do you all think about this?

                                            Oh, and I believe in supporting all shelters, even though I think how terrible it would be to even be the person who has to put an animal to sleep, which is the main reason I am not in vet medicine, it still really sucks. But to help in anyway possible than having animals running around loose, reproducing like crazy, getting hit by cars, etc etc


                                          • TARM
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                                              Lintini, I’m very surprised that you couldn’t opt out of dissection. Way back in the stone age when I was in high school we dissected rats, and I thought THAT was hard.

                                              Shelters don’t make very much money off of selling the euthed animals to labs but they also don’t have to pay for disposal when labs are willing to pay even the smallest amount for them. I have a huge problem with the shelters that sell their live animals to labs. I don’t even want to get into the ethics of that. :0(


                                            • Lintini
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                                                Ah I see. I don’t know how much they make – I thought it was just interesting since this subject was up and wanted too see what you guys think.

                                                I toughed it out, and got my revenge and got really nothing out of it. Like I said it opens up a huge can of worms for dissection and science. I mean med students dissect pigs/sharks/cows etc etc and even cadavers but I was so so SO sad to know these cats were unable to find homes and now ended up at my highschool to be nothing more but …I don’t know I just didn’t feel right. I’m sure you could opt out…but no one did and I don’t think anyone wants to be that kid who can’t do it…all that peer pressure and the teasing that would come from it you know?


                                              • Deleted User
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                                                  Adopting from a kill shelter saves that particular animal’s life. Kill shelters are usually funded by a town or county. They don’t practice euthanasia because people support it.


                                                • MimzMum
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                                                    Thanks, Petzy, I didn’t know that.

                                                    Lin, I am so sorry you had to go through that. I do recall dissecting a frog in biology in high school, but at the time it didn’t bother me. I had to do the deed because my friend (and partner) simply couldn’t manage it. I do find the inner workings of all animal bodies fascinating, but the cost just seems too great to me now.

                                                    I could not have followed through had it been a cat or other warm blooded animal. I remember my friend even felt sorry for the planarian (sp?) that the teacher split the head on to show us how it regenerated. I was thinking, “What? It’s just a worm?”

                                                    Of course there is precious little these days taught about the value of life in general.


                                                  • Sarita
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                                                      That’s absolutely true what Petzy says…our municipal shelters are funded by the cities, municipalities etc…in fact some of our city shelters in my area are run by the police department. There is also a shelter coalition for some of our very rural areas and they don’t adopt out at all, the animal must either be pulled by a rescue group or it is euthanized – I suppose that is because these rural areas just cannot support an animal shelter and what’s the likelihood of someone going to them to adopt an animal…not very likely. City shelters are also there to protect citizens from animal related injuries or disease so their primary function may not always be adoptions, spay/neuter, etc…


                                                    • Sage Cat
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                                                        I’m on the “don’t blame the shelter, blame irresponsible pet owners”

                                                        Of course it would be wonderful if there was room for all shelters to be no kill. But, it is just not possible.
                                                        It would also be great if every one would spay/neuter their pets. I don’t think that is going to happen any time soon.

                                                        Did y’all hear about Peta’s new billboard to encourage people to spay/neuter their pets: it features Tiger Woods!


                                                      • LittlePuffyTail
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                                                          Lintini- You had to dissect a cat? That’s terrible! I would not have been able to do that. I remember going to an “open house day” at a veterinary university and there were cats in display cases opened up with all their organs labeled. I was so enraged and sad to see this. Like you said, it’s sad that this is how they end up, no animal deserves this.

                                                          In high school I had to do a frog and a fetal pig. Some of the classes had to do a mink. If I had the option to go through it again (isn’t that the dream…relive high school with what you know now?) I would definitely stand firm against it. There is absolutely no need for high school students to dissect anymore.


                                                        • MimzMum
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                                                            I’d heard Woods was going to sue them because they didn’t have his permission to use his picture. 0_o
                                                            This is why he had to share himself with so many women, he was just too full of himself. >_o

                                                            On dissection…we’re supposed to be able to grow organs and tissue now, right? So why is this nonsense still going on?
                                                            And don’t even get me started on taxidermy. Somehow your post brought that terrible practice to mind, LPT…labeled organs of whole animals on display? Yuck!

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                                                        Forum THE LOUNGE Opinions on adopting from euthanizing shelters?