[SoccerDude28]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070216/ap_on_re_us/animal_shelter_outbreak

[eriq]

OMG. sad sad.

so not fair.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Yeah, I saw the headline last night but didn't have the heart to read the story. Crap, it's only a matter of time before Snorkle sees this.

[Melanie68]

It sucks, sucks, sucks.

It's the reality of infectious disease in a shelter situation. You must have a different mindset when dealing with many animals in close quarters where infectious disease is spread rapidly. I'm not sure what kind of veterinary support this particular shelter had, if any. Sadly, many of them don't which is why UC Davis has a Shelter Medicine Program to train veterinarians and hopefully prevent horrible things like this happening in the future. Having seen and treated both canine parvovirus and feline panleukopenia (they're both the same type of virus, just species specific), they're awful diseases and if these animals were truly suffering, it was probably a kind thing to do. I personally think that just euthanizing them after 72 hours if they don't find a home isn't going to solve their problems. There are other no kill shelters that succeed (there's one here in Sacramento). It's a matter of having a population medicine mindset - don't introduce new animals to the general population, fully clean kennels between animals, etc. Arg, I've ranted enough. I hope to God they're getting some good advice.

R.I.P. all you dogs and cats.

[bulldog]

I read the title and I couldn't read any more

[Davies]

Wow. I don't think any animal shelters or rehoming charities in Britain ever euthanise animals (except for medical reasons). They'd be shouted out of existence -- Brits like their animals much too much for that sort of thing. Pets that can't be rehomed at all, for instance if they're just too nervous, end up spending their lives in a charity home like Dogs' Trust or Cats' Protection League. Dogs' Trust even has a dedicated geriatric dogs' home.

[Spiwak]

Fuck I hate people.

[rlpw]

We had a similar thing happen in the Mayfield Kentucky Animal Shelter where they destryed all the animals to to an outbreak of distemper.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

In many US urban areas, they haul them away by the dumpster full weekly. So sad.

The last time I lived rural, I had a neighbor with 3 cats that got pregnant every spring. One day, I said "ever thought about getting them spayed?".

"Aww, people come take some, the road [next to the house] takes the rest."

I was floored. If I had it to do all over again, I'd capture his cats when he was on vacation and have them spayed myself.

That was 15 years ago. My current (and only) cat was one of the assholes litter. Here's the fearsome lioness herself:

[SnorkleCat]

Well...this is just another beautiful example of people having no regard for anything but themselves. I need to rant for a moment. More than a moment, actually.

I absolutely blame "pet owners" for this one...you know the ones I mean. The ones who think it would be nice to get the kid a puppy (as if it's a toy) and then no one really loves the animal as soon as it grows up...Then there's the person who decides to move to a new apartment that doesn't allow pets, so they think THIS is an adequate excuse for abandoning an animal or sending it to a pound. FIND A DIFFERENT APARTMENT! PERIOD. It wouldn't even OCCUR to me to go where I couldn't bring the animals. I'd live out of MY CAR before I abandoned mine. Nothing pisses me off more than people who claim to "like" animals but still think it's okay to get rid of them when it's no longer convenient to have them.

The ones who refuse to spay and neuter piss me off just as much. The ones who insist they let their cats or dogs have at least one litter so that their kids get to "witness the miracle of birth"....BAH!!! Watch the freakin Discovery Health Channel! When are these insensitive people going to WAKE UP and realize the gravity and responsibility of bringing more life into the world? You can't PAY people to take kittens! Most will be euthanized.

It can be a big headache having animals, because the world doesn't necessarily make it easy. The entire year leading up to my move to South Africa was, without any doubt whatsoever, the most stressful time of my life, because making an international move with a large dog and two cats is not easy. The costs were phenomenal, the red tape was unbelievable. But we did it; it would never have occurred to me to drop them off at an animal shelter. When the time comes for Jacog and I to move from this place, we're taking all 8 cats and the dog. Simple as that.
Having a pet is a RESPONSIBILITY...one which so many people seem unwilling to meet and it just drives me nuts and leads to tragedies like these.

The mass euthanizing at this shelter probably makes little difference overall. How many of those animals would have been adopted out? How many would have been kept BY THE SAME FAMILY FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES?
I wish all shelters had no-kill policies.

Ugh. This topic upsets me so much. We have so many animals in our family mostly because of stupid people. Snorkie of course we picked up as he was being chucked in front of our car by some kids who were hoping he'd get smashed- and they were laughing about it. Heksie we got when he showed up at our house as a lean, hungry, un-neutered wild cat. It took some time, but he's fully socialized and plays with the dog and the other cats now. And he seems HAPPY- which he never did before. Before, he always acted is if he thought someone was going to hit him. Someone gave me Grendel, because the "family" she grew up in didn't want her anymore and the father of the house was threatening to shoot her...Pixie was a tiny stray kitten about two weeks old discovered near her mother who had been killed by a car. Her other litter mates died...Mumu was one of those grocery store kitten give-aways...Findlay was a reject from an Alaskan sled dog kennel and slated for cheap euthanasia (meaning a shot to the head)...They're all such beautiful individuals and it just tears me up to think that other people didn't care about them.
When animals just show up needing care...what are you going to do? I just hope that we can always make room for more.

Blegh. Now I'm all depressed. This sucks.

[undeaf]

These things don't deserve to be called "animal shelters". That implies that they're somehow caring for the animals. The reason they're there is so that people don't have to share their habitat with stray and feral animals, they're more like concentration camps.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Originally Posted by undeaf

These things don't deserve to be called "animal shelters".

Or how about "The Humane Society"? Oh, the irony.

[Melanie68]

So in the widespread condemnation of shelters/humane societies, what would happen if they didn't exist? Yes, there is disease and these animals have to live in cages and they get euthanized if they don't get adopted. But without them, many people may not care for their pets at all, there may be far more dumping of pets than what there is now and we would end up with a large feral dog and cat population. As I said in my previous post, there are efforts to make shelters better. It's not going to happen overnight but it's far better than just giving up on shelters entirely.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Fair enough.

[Melanie68]

Man, I sounded harsh.

They aren't my favorite places either but then I think of the alternative we have now and it makes me feel even worse. That's why it's important to make them better places. There's actually this no kill shelter in Sacramento that I hope all shelters are like one day.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Oh we have a few no-kill shelters here too, but they're still in the minority.

[Davies]

These are the two really big rehoming charities in the UK:

Dogs' Trust
"The health and happiness of every dog is at the heart of all our efforts, and we try to find each and every dog in our care a loving home for life. We never destroy a healthy dog."

Cats' Protection
"Rehoming is about giving them a new start, with a new family who can offer them the love and attention they deserve. We never put a healthy cat to sleep and will look after a cat until a new home is found."

Battersea Dogs' Home has a similar policy, although I know they sometimes end up being forced to put an animal down because of incurable behavior problems (e.g. a dog so savage that it's dangerous) as well as physical health problems.

I believe the RSPCA also prefers never to put an animal down, though long-term residents may be transferred to other rehoming charities to take pressure off the RSPCA kennels. I don't support the RSPCA, though, because of its hard-core political campaigns.

[undeaf]

I wasn't saying that there shouldn't be animal shelters, just that there shouldn't be "animal shelters" that are alowed to kill animals for no reason. If there were feral animals everywhere, maybe people would be willing to properly fund animal shelters or, even better, they might not let animals breed out of control in the first place.

[undeaf]

On a related note, what do you all think of farming practices and eating meat?

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I'm not a vegan, but I'm all for ethical meat farming practices. Surely there could be a whole thread devoted to what constitutes an ethical meat production process (if one agrees there could be one).