I've read this many many times
I'll come clean. I work in this industry. Its me that has to do the "final job". Its not nice. In fact its extremely upsetting at times. I go to the dog pound each week, hoping each time that they will say that there are "none to go". This last year has been pretty bad with up to 5 a week.
I actually think that "no kill" shelters actually increase the likelihood of this occurrence (because it legitimises dog dumping). The simple fact of the matter is that local councils will only pay for so long and the charities must pick up the tab for any longer stays.
The real issue is the fact that it is way too easy to acquire a pet and they are treated as a disposable commodity. Unfortunately (and I see this all too often) owners can be extremely irresponsible towards their pets. Thankfully the vast majority of pet owners are better than this and my experience is generally positive.
I sometimes wonder that if those "dumping" their pet were to see that pet put down (whilst still healthy), whether they would be quite so keen.
Apologises for the lack of amusement but its not an amusing issue soz.
(gearanach #wankwankwank, Thu 4 Mar 2010, 18:48, 1 reply)

Yes...and no
First, thanks for doing your job. It's an awful one, but at least it's not a death from abuse, starvation, or neglect.

Secondly, "no-kill" shelters can help--or hurt. Here's a link to PAWS Chicago, which has kept track of recorded euthanasias in the Chicago area for over ten years. Although PAWS is "no-kill", because they've put so much emphasis on a hugely successfull spay-neuter program, and worked on making the problem of pet overpopulation more noticeable to the public they've really reduced the numbers. They also take a lot of animals from "kill" shelters which have simply run out of room:

www.pawschicago.org/about-paws-chicago/mission/

The numbers are still horrendous, but they're far, far better than they were even a few years ago.
(herbivorous, Thu 4 Mar 2010, 19:09, closed)

I have a bit of an issue with no kill shelters to be brutally honest. Some of the dogs I've seen in shelters have been kept caged for too long and have developed behavioural issues as a result
which unfortunately no amount of training and TLC will correct. It happens in cats too, but not as often for some reason and it's always devastating to see. Sometimes the more humane thing to do is to euthanise.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 4 Mar 2010, 23:54, closed)

Totally and completely true
That's why the good ones, like the organization above, either work extensively with fostering, so the animals have long-term "homes" until adoption, or they're like PAWS, which has developed an interesting no-cage shelter. There's also a cat organization near my home which has a large, old house that they've split into different sections--each type of cat gets to live in its own section (Kittens, seniors, ill/weak animals, etc.)

There are a lot of stupid people that just say "OMG THE KITTEHS SHOULDN'T DIE!", but there are also a lot of intelligent folks that really strive to provide decent quality of life.

I honestly don't think it's feasible, yet, to have nothing but "no-kill" shelters, but I do like to reward the ones that do it well.
(herbivorous, Fri 5 Mar 2010, 15:27, closed)