Yeah, that is true. But they are just trying to help animals out (when people bring lost dogs and cats and stuff there). It is just really hard to keep all the animals. I know that they should find another way to get rid of animals when they don’t have room, but at least animals that have lived a hard life can have a nice warm place to stay. Even if the animal is put to sleep, at least it is a painless death, not like freezing to death or starving to death. But it is still wrong to euthinize them. 🙁

Having had associations with both "kill" and "no kill" shelters, I can honestly state that all shelters will eventually have to send an animal to its death one way or another. At the No Kill I worked for, what do you think happened to every animal we had to trun away due to lack of space or foster homes? They were referred to other shelters that may or may not have a euthanasia policy. Or sometimes the animals were dumped at our front door as the person left (so I sometimes had to transport the critter to the local SPCA because we could not fit it in at all). Or the animal would end up being neglected, etc. At one point, the shelter had a SIX MONTH LONG WAITING LIST for animals waiting to come in. Most owners wishing to get rid of a pet would not wait that long. So, just because we did not euthanize healthy animals on site did not mean we did not send hundreds to their deaths when we were full. Now they are working OUT OF THE COUNTRY to bring in pups to adopt out as opposed to going to the local SPCA to help them with their overcrowding issues! How fair is that? Work with other countries but not within your own to bring in puppies because they place so fast? What about long term behavioral issues from remaining months and sometimes over a year in a shelter? I have watched animals literally go insane and become unplacable because they spent MONTHS in a cage or a run. What happened? Well, eventually the animal was adopted, had so many issues that they were behavioral risks and were returned. We ended up having to have the animal euthanized because it was literally far more than the average adopter could safely manage now due to spending extensive time at the facility. How fair is that? I consider it cruelty myself to watch an animal die a slow, mental death to the point where placing is not an option. Now, SPCA’s fill a void because they do maintain a turnover because they will give an animal that is adoptable every chance to get adopted and even contact other rescues to see if they have the room for the animal. If an animal cannot be placed within a reasonable time or has severe medical or behavioral issues that cannot be reasonably worked out (and many SPCAs will bust their butts if they have the space and funding to help make a pet placable), then it is humanely put down. You want to stop animals from entering shelters where they may get put down? Then you stop all the pet shops, back yard breeders and bad breeders who really do not care for the long term life of what they are selling. You stop all the idiots from impulse buying pets and refusing to spay or neuter their pets and allow them to just reproduce because the owners are irreponsible. (A good breeder never breeds without a purpose towards improving the health, form and function of the animals as will insist anything that cannot be kept gets returned to them and not turned over to rescue – sadly, many owners do NOT adhere to this part of a contract often out of embarassment and STILL turn the animals to a shelter). And then, spend a few years working at shelters and rescue and discover the real reasons why animals have to be put down – irreponsible owners primarily and those breeding for the heck of it and selling to whomever. If it were not not these folk, there would be NO NEED for animals to be put down at rescues for the most part because there would not be the GLUT of unwanted pets being turned in. The rescue I now volunteer with started last year with something like 212 dogs in foster homes. Now, there were a few that had to be euthanized due to serious behavioral issues (biting and placing dogs with a biting history is a legal liability for the rescue) and a few for health issues. There were dogs adopted (forget the number) but every week there are more emails from the intake coordinators regarding dogs taken in who have or will need fister homes than there are requests for members to do home and reference checks on homes looking to adopt a dog. We started this year with about 213 dogs I believe. At some point, the rescue will be full and have to start turning dogs away because there are not enough foster homes to go around. Then what???

Many people who you are accusing of being irresponsible are really just ignorant. My family bought our first dog from a puppy mill, about ten years ago. It wasn’t until about five years ago that we realized why Blackie had died unexpectedly after only a few months. We never really realized why it was so important to spay/neuter pets until a few years ago. I know animal rescue agencies help for people who don’t have the money, but still…many people can’t afford it even with the discount offered by the SPCA in their area. You shouldn’t automatically assume that the owner is irresponsible or is only in it for the money.

i live in Guelph Ont Canada. there is an animal shelter in my town. I am in Poland on Vacation now and i visited the local shelter. There were 8 times (or more) more dogs then in our town (in our town 9) . The thing that confuses me is that in Guelph, you pay 300 $ to adopt a dog. But in poland the adoptions are free!! Shure, the dogs live outside even in winter and they dont come FIXED or MICROCHIPED. But they still live happy, and healthy untill adopted. if adoptions in guelph, And other shelters cost less, there would probably be 90% less animals. ??? ??? ??? ??? OOO, and they dont put animals to sleep unless they are way too injerd.Some of the dogs there are purebreed and Rejestered too!!! ??? ??? ??? ???

True……. 🙂

I know you Know its True, anyway going to the vet is alot cheeper here

I wouldn’t say that all spca’s are bad. Just two days ago I adopted my baby Ca$h. I have been check them out once a week for months now. And I finally found just what I looking for. And no matter what the cost or expense I am gratefull that I found my baby. I really think most of them do the best they can with what they have to work with.