If animal shelters get full and people haven't come to reclaim their lost pets or adopt a pet that someone else abandoned, the solution is simple: Murder the poor animals (by putting them to sleep) and free up room that way. Logic! I hate humans! I can understand it if the animal has a severe illness, is suffering, and won't survive too much longer, anyway, but this I just cannot understand why it's ****ing legal to do.
I'm not a vegetarian; however, animals like cows were basically raised to be killed for their meat and so it doesn't bother me, whereas dogs were raised to be pets. Build more shelters or let them into the wild, as that's how they lived before humans came along, anyway. Anything's better than killing them.
That's why I think there should be more SPCA shelters around, but unfortunately animal cruelty is a topic that is quite frankly on the back-burner with all the other important issues out there. (Note: Not saying animal cruelty isn't just as important, but rather it's not as important to some people.) In my community, there isn't a shelter closer than 45 miles away. We only have a vet here, and they can't accept strays or rescues (though they slip a few in when they can) and it's up to the locals to take in the strays. Three of the four dogs my fam has had through the years were rescued either by us or by friends, and so was one of our two cats. As for an alternative solution, there are some available in some places (i.e. in large cities there are some no-kill shelters or SPCA shelters) but really, there's no true solution. The only way to keep shelters from killing dogs to make more room is by there always being more room, which would only happen if every pet owner was responsible to properly care and contain their pets, so yeah it's still a human thing at the root, but there's nothing we can do but our part. Pretty much, there is no optimal solution. Only in a perfect society would such a thing occur, and we all know there's no such thing as a perfect society. At least, that's my two cents on the subject. XD
...if they could build those shelters they would. Let them into the wild...ever heard of overpopulation? Know how that screws up an ecosystem? Killing them, while something I wish was avoidable, is often the most humane solution, whether or not you want to accept that. I'm not saying I like it, but it's better than leaving them to die in the wilderness.
You know that's not what I meant. Dogs, by humans in general, have been raised to be pets. If you raise your dogs for food, it still doesn't change the fact that the general consensus for dogs is that they're pets.
Building more shelters takes money. Those shelters need to employ people. The animals need food, water, and veterinary care. I know there are shelters that operate solely on donations but... And space is an issue because there's simply so many. People are more likely to adopt kittens/puppies over older animals. And as for releasing them, a lot of these animals are pets. They don't know how to take care of themselves in the wild. Dogs are many many generations removed from the wolves our ancestors domesticated. A lot of breeds simply are not wild worthy. The ones specifically bred by humans that introduced a whole slew of health issues. Like the bulldog. I mean: hip dysplasia, respiratory issues, the folds on their face require daily cleaning, susceptible to drowning.
So general opinion at a particular point in time and place decides what is humane and what isn't? That's an even more ridiculous idea than before.
Did someone really suggest making house animals strays is a better solution? Like, these animals without survival instincts should be let free and all will be well? Was that a thing said?
This doesn't really have anything to do with the conversation, but Parliament Hill in Ottawa has a LOT of stray cats. Seriously, there's a crap tonne of them. They used to be mousers in the 50s but now we have rat poison so they weren't needed anymore. What Parliament ended up doing is spaying or neutering them, building little cat shelters everywhere, free medicine donated by the local vet, food donated, etc. The population dropped naturally and the sanctuary was closed last year because there was no more cats. The end.
Okay, so why don't you come up with a better solution that doesn't involve a bunch idealistic nonsense that'll only come true in the perfect world that we don't live in? What if Amaury is actually a dog in a shelter right now?
