Gina Fox
T-TH 11:00am
To Kill Or Not To Kill
That is not the question
I recently read a short story where a family gets tired of their Mom's crotchety
awnery old husband. I mean who could blame them. He acts up all the time and pees
on everything, basically it's become a real pain in the butt to keep him. They decide to
take him the Humane Human Society in the hopes of him "finding a better home". He's
not all bad after all so someone will surely see that and love him, flaws and all. When
they get to the shelter, the crotchety old man starts swearing at other customers and the
kennel crew. The staff informs the family that he will most likely be euthanized because
he's old and disabled and so awnery. The family makes the shelter promise they will try
their best to find him a good home. The next day they look online to try and find his
profile. They see a profile with no photo, with his name, and in order to ease their guilt,
they assume the photo is of the old man (Smedstad ). This short story brings about
several lessons and points when it comes to shelters in America. It's trying to drive
home the fact that even at no kill shelters, often times animals are euthanized. But the
question this short story left me is "Is that our only choices? To kill or not to kill?" There
has to be another option.
There are several strong arguments on both sides of the fence. We hear all the
time from animal right advocates that euthanizing animals is inhumane. What is
surprising is that PETA has spoken out against no kill shelters. They believe that placing
an animal in a kennel for any long period of time is actually more inhumane then just
peacefully putting the animal down. They argue that the longer the animal is in the
shelter environment the more "unadoptable" the animal becomes. One PETA staff
member recalls a situation that occurred in a "no-kill" shelter she managed in the past.
She had a change of heart after seeing "... a pit bull who had lived in a cage for 12
years. He had gone mad from confinement and would spend the day slamming his body
against the sides of his cage, becoming so enraged that the workers were afraid to
handle him" ("Animal Rights Uncompromised: 'No-Kill' Shelters"). After witnessing his
decline into what she calls "this miserable life" she realizes that some fates are worse
than death.
Others argue that all of them are savable and with proper funding and training
they can all be happy. Documentaries like HBOs "One Nation Under Dog" show us how
scared these animals can be when they are first brought to a shelter. Potential adopters
often mistake fear for aggression. They make the point that it's hard to tell just how
adoptable they are when we aren't able to see their true personalities ("Part
3:Betrayal"). This fear often leads to the dog being in a shelter for longer periods of
time, and puts them at a higher risk of kennel craze. There has been proof that with
proper handling of the animals while they are living in the shelter environment, the
problem can almost be eliminated. In the article "Curing 'Kennel Crazy' Dogs Increases
Adoption Chances" written by Ronda Scholting, she writes of a shelter in Colorado that
has implemented what they call the PHAT (psychology, health and training) program in
order to combat kennel craze. "The keys to PHAT are exercise, socialization, discipline
and affection but this program differs from others because it's based on how the dogs
see the world" (Scholting). Through this program each dog is walked, played with, and
handled daily, each cat is given time outside of a kennel and cuddled daily. At the time
of this article 100 dogs had complete this program and 80 of those were adopted within
weeks of completing it. Even with this success rate, we have to wonder about the other
20 dogs left at the shelter.
One of the most popular arguments for euthanasia is the problem of
overcrowding, keeping unhealthy or other unadoptable animals leads to shelter over
population and we need to make room for the animals that have a better chance of
finding a home. Phyllis M Daughtery writes about the issues of overcrowding in her
article " 'No-Kill' Animal Shelters: Reality Or Illusion?". In this article she points out the
ugly side of over population in shelters, she describes the results of this problem as
"... rapid spread of painful, often fatal, diseases, a lonely lifetime in a cramped cage or
kennel with little human contact, or being crammed into an inadequate space where
fighting against aggressive kennelmates is the only way for an innocent, lost pet to
survive-- and often how it dies" (Daughtry).
Animal rescuers and activists have spoken out against the myth of
overpopulation in shelters. They claim that the majority of shelters euthanize animals for
many of reasons but overpopulation is not one of them. Nathan Winograd, a leading
expert on the proper way to run no kill shelters, is one of people. He states "They kill
because they make the animals sick through sloppy cleaning and poor handling...They
kill because they do not effectively use the Internet and the media to promote pets.
They kill because they think volunteers are more trouble than they are worth...They kill
because they don't want a foster care program...they refuse to work with rescue
groups...They kill because they don't walk the dogs, which makes the dogs so highly
stressed that they become "cage crazy." They kill because their shoddy tests allow the
to claim the anualse are "unadoptable" (Winograd). The City of Los Angeles Animal
Services Department kills animals every day despite the empty cages. Another shelter
killed approximately 70 percent of the cats that entered one year, all while there were
half a dozen cat cages sitting empty. There are hundreds of examples similar to these
all over the country. Nathan believes that shelters kill because it's easier to kill then not
to, while the belief of pet overpopulation protects them.
For too many years the main argument has been kill shelters vs. no kill shelters, I
believe the answer lies somewhere else. I believe that we need to stop the problem at
the source, before they are born. We need to shut down the puppy mills, stop purebred
breeding or at minimum make them buy a pricy license to breed, over 25 percent of
animals in shelters are purebred (ASPCA). Stop allowing pet shops to sell dogs. Impose
large fines to people who backyard breed; breeding a litter of "un-papered" puppies or
kittens in order to sell them in the local classifieds or on the street corner. Fine people
who do not spay or neuter their pets. Not only will less animals be born, people will also
be more apt to look at the local shelter for their next family pet.
People will always be irresponsible and unwanted puppies and kittens will always
be dumped, older dogs will no longer be wanted, and people finding themselves in over
their heads will always surrender their animals over to shelters. By offering more
incentive to foster, reducing the risk of dogs going crazy in the shelters. Building
shelters with the animals needs in mind, such as not having them face each other, and
by the way the animals are handled while in the shelters may be the best way to help
get these animals out quickly (Winograd). Also, most people look on-line before making
an inquiry about an animal they are interested. It has been proven that a good on-line
profile gives an animal a 5 times better chance of being adopted than a bad photo with
a bad write up. Shelters should also be looking for trainers both basic commands and
behavioralist for the more difficult cases. These trainers need to teach the kennel
workers and offer cheaper consultations for the families of newly adopted dogs, this will
lessen the chances of the dog being returned for issues that can easily be fixed (Berg).
Others way to help prevent overcrowding are with the prison and dog programs
that are currently being run in several prisons across the country. Dogs that need
training in basic commands or have behavioral problems are taken to special programs
in the prisons where they are "fostered" by the inmates. The inmates have been trained
to help these dogs. The outcome of such programs seem to be beneficial to both the
dog and to the inmate. The dogs get what they need in order to become more adoptable
and the inmates find the program rewarding as well. Not only are they receiving training
in a useful trade for later they often are "softened" by the experience. They often relate
to the rough start that these animals have had in life. Through training these special little
guys, the inmates find themselves breaking down walls and learning to trust again. They
have been quoted as saying they have found a part of themselves and having a higher
sense of self worth and confidence (Moody).
The question goes deeper and farther then what is currently being debated. We
are still debating this old agenda because it is what we believe, because it's what we've
been told for as long as anyone can remember. A bigger change needs to be made. By
stopping the problem before they are born to running better shelters and alternate
programs the debate of kill or no kill will be mute. When the focus becomes rescue
everybody wins, the animals and the humans alike.
References
Berg, Teresa. "focus on rescue." focuse on rescue. N.p., 05 Apr 2013. Web. 5 May.
2013. <http://focusonrescue.com/>.
Carchman, Jenny, dir. "Part 3:Betrayal." Prod. Ellen Goosenberg Kent. One Nation
Under Dog. HBO: HBO, 8 Jun 2012. DVD.
Daugherty, Phyllis M. "No Kill: Hayden Law, Overcrowding California Animal Shelters
(Graphic Video." Opposing Views. 19 01 2012: n.
, ed. "Animal Rights Uncompromised: 'No-Kill' Shelters." www.peta.org. People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals. Web. 5 March 2013.
<http://www.peta.org/about/why-peta/no-kill-shelters.asp&xgt;.
Moody, R Norman. "Inmate-trained dogs bring comfort to veterans in need." Florida
Today. N.p., 29 Apr 2013. Web.
<http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130429/NEWS01/304290019/Inmatetrained-dogs-bring-comfort-veterans-need>.
Scholting, Ronda. "Curing ‘Kennel Crazy’ Dogs Increases Adoption
Chances."www.zootoo.com. N.p., 05 Apr 2008. Web. 5 May 2013.
<http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/curing-kennel-crazy-dogs-increases-adoptionchances-566>.
Smedstad, . "No Kill" Shelter. Gregory Scott, 2010. eBook.
Winograd, Nathan J. Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill
Revolution in America. 2. Almaden Books, 2009. Print.