# To end unnecessary shelter euthanasia?



## hollo321 (Apr 22, 2012)

Hi working in a shelter I've been pondering lately if euthanasia for overcrowding is the best solution. I'm just having a really hard time making sense and accepting the ending the life of a say otherwise perfectly healthy, adoptable dog just because there is no room for him in the shelter. About half of all unwanted dogs that enter shelters are euthanized. Now the only other realistic option i see is letting them roam, which I'm internally debating if is perhaps the better option. To take in only what the shelter can hold- the more healthy and adoptable ones as no-kill shelters do, and let the other ones free after neutering/spraying them,and just be like stray cats in my country, and send help to the injured ones and put down the very sick and aggressive ones. Ofcourse with this or the current system in place there are advantages and disadvantages, the real question what outweighs what.

The advantages of this being implemented i see are ofcourse no more unnecessary killing of healthy adoptable dogs. Instead of us making that choice and putting their life and death in our hands, leave it to nature to decide-survival of the fittest and luckiest. The dog is given the basic right to exist like a homeless person is regardless of their suffering or non-benefit to society. Another advantage is a greater chance of finding a home if they are in our faces and not out of sight. I know many people that rescued strays because in public the stray approached them or they felt sorry for them. Otherwise good chance those dogs would have never found another home and might have been euthanized. Also being in the public eye i think support for more no-kill shelters,foster homes,rescue organizations would increase. The biggest advantage i believe is this would put pressure on governments to eventually pass laws regarding neutering/spraying which will create the greatest benefit for the problem at hand of over-breeding and overcrowding.

One must also look at disadvantages of this alternative system. The big one being much more suffering. But what is more cruel, letting a dog die a slow death from thirst and hunger, or killing it? Then again is nature itself cruel or is it just is, and it is us who perceive it as cruel. Should it even be up to us the dogs fate of life and death if the dog isn't ours in the first place?...Other disadvantages are more accidents, and lots of all kinds of unfortunate incidents. It will not be pretty especially in the beginning but i think in time would improve as their numbers decrease. 

Or should things stay as they are? Otherwise healthy adoptable dogs are euthanased everyday and the streets are cleaner and safer without strays in sight thus most people have no idea of the problem at hand. Working in a shelter it is my everyday reality. The question is, is it the right one? thoughts?


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## Hiraeth (Aug 4, 2015)

Releasing altered dogs as strays is a horrendously bad idea. Letting a dog die slowly of starvation and thirst is indeed far more cruel than euthanasia. Also, injuries would go untreated, diseases would run rampant, and packs of stray dogs actually do pose dangers to adults, children and our domesticated pets.

Stray cats are a huge detriment to the environment and are decimating small animal populations.

I'm surprised that someone who loves animals would even consider that this is a realistic solution. "Let them all be strays" is something I see from old school-types who think that we baby our dogs with basic veterinary care and allowing them to live inside.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

You should perhaps visit a country with a huge feral dog population and see how that works out. 

I think that even keeping a dog in a shelter indefinitely is a fate worst-than-death. 

There is no doubt that many shelters could find more humane ways of euthanizing dogs and cats.


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## LittleFr0g (Jun 11, 2007)

RonE said:


> You should perhaps visit a country with a huge feral dog population and see how that works out.
> 
> I think that even keeping a dog in a shelter indefinitely is a fate worst-than-death.
> 
> There is no doubt that many shelters could find more humane ways of euthanizing dogs and cats.


Agreed. Don't even need to go that far, our native reservations up north have huge feral dog populations, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the reservations in the US are the same. Feral dogs are dangerous, and not at all the same as feral cat populations.


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## Prozax (Aug 26, 2014)

As someone living in a country where there still are large stray dogs populations, I can tell you that returning them back on the streets is not a solution. You can't image the suffering these animals go through, either cats or dogs. They get hit by cars and die slowly by the side of read, they starve to death, turn ill or get poisoned by people. There's also people who torture stray animals for fun.. 
A life on the streets is not a life at all. If these animals are euthanized in a humane manner, they are much better off.

In addition to this, having large packs of feral dogs running the streets is a really bad idea. They get aggressive and territorial. In my country there's cities overrun by dogs and streets where you can't walk at night in fear of getting bitten. Granted, the situation has improved in the last couple of years, but it still poses a problem. 
No solution was found here, as there's animal protection organisations that oppose mass killing of dogs. Their point, and I do agree with it, is that just killing off dogs while people are irresponsible and don't stop producing unwanted puppies is not a solution.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

They do TNR for dogs in Greece and Turkey, not sure of other places with programs like that. It seems to work out OK for them (I think they keep dogs who are deemed unsuitable for release in shelters)(they also keep them vaccinated and have resources for injured or sick dogs). I don't think Americans want stray dogs running around though. Plus a lot of the ferals dogs in the US are bully breeds, and that can cause a lot of trouble for people walking their pet dogs.

The dog problem in US shelters is not really that bad. There are many shelters who have gone no-kill for dogs and found that with a little tweaking of their management, it's do-able for the majority of shelters. It just requires a different mindset.

And yeah, I think shelters being killing stations just lets irresponsible yahoos off scot-free. Make the community take responsibility! But that requires a constant PR campaign by the local shelters.


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## sandgrubber (May 21, 2014)

Where do you live? I find a lot of 'solutions' depend on local culture/environment. There are places where wandering stays (or street dogs) seem to have a pretty good life. There are other places where they get into big trouble, come to be nuisances, and invite a bullet. And other places where they may well just starve to death, or have a high probability of contracting rabies.


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## Prozax (Aug 26, 2014)

If you're referring to me, I live in Romania. I do agree that some dogs can have a good life on the streets. There's people who build dog houses in the gardens around the apartments buildings and feed and vet the dogs. There's old dogs that have lived most of their life in one place. However, this situation is not accepted by everyone as some people as disgusted by the very idea of a stray dog. Some consider them be to dirty, diseased and aggressive. When they are fed up, these people will take matters into their own hands and put out poisoned food for the strays.

In the end, it depends on where they end up and how lucky they are. 
I am only talking about cities, because around here that are no stray dogs in the countryside. Villagers drown newborn puppies resulted from unwanted pregnancies.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Prozax said:


> If you're referring to me, I live in Romania. I do agree that some dogs can have a good life on the streets. There's people who build dog houses in the gardens around the apartments buildings and feed and vet the dogs. There's old dogs that have lived most of their life in one place. However, this situation is not accepted by everyone as some people as disgusted by the very idea of a stray dog. Some consider them be to dirty, diseased and aggressive. When they are fed up, these people will take matters into their own hands and put out poisoned food for the strays.
> 
> In the end, it depends on where they end up and how lucky they are.
> I am only talking about cities, because around here that are no stray dogs in the countryside. Villagers drown newborn puppies resulted from unwanted pregnancies.


Never heard about the drowning part  But my bf is Romanian and yeah he's told me of multiple instances where he was almost attacked by packs of stray dogs  He also adopted quite a few of them from the streets too but he said that growing up it was sometimes scary walking home by himself because of the stray dogs.


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

I hope you are working in a shelter that cares as much about your emotional health and needs as much as they do their animals'. Compassion fatigue is a real thing and PTSD can happen even in jobs like yours. I am not at all implying you have any issues. But the reality is if you've "been pondering lately if euthanasia for overcrowding is the best solution" and "the only other realistic option i see is letting them roam, which I'm internally debating if is perhaps the better option," due to your time working in a shelter, you need to be honest about how your job is affecting you. 

To answer your post directly, I also think that it is not a good idea to set altered dogs loose... Too much risk for dogs suffering from other fates, people getting hurt by dogs (bites, hitting dogs on the road, etc), and environmental risk. I think there are so many things worse than death, which does not mean death is an ideal or acceptable solution in many cases.


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## hollo321 (Apr 22, 2012)

thanks for all the replys and helpful insights. Canyx, personally yes it has been hard knowing the unfortunate fate of many dogs i encounter, but the post isn't really about me , but towards whats best for the dogs. Like if the dogs can also live a life worth living as a stray and if the current system is the most beneficial for the dogs. The amount they suffer does indeed have a strong correlation towards their environment. For example right next to my shelter there is a very big forest where a feral pack of dogs live, they don't seem to cause any harm and are very lucky because we feed them everyday and they have the relatively safe big forest to reside. But im sure in many cities and other places around the world like you guys described it is a very different reality for them. From what ive witnessed and researched about feral dogs it seems the majority try not to be seen and are not aggressive, they are more afraid of us than anything. But yes there are some exceptions that are aggressive, that cause a couple rare deaths a year that needs to be considered as well. But any dog even home owned is capable and do bite and on the rare occasion kill strangers. But more than a million of shelter deaths a year in the US alone is not a small number. I wouldn't say the problem of strays towards society is so much their danger towards us but more of an image problem, our fear of them, their destruction of our surroundings...Very interesting didn't know about these countries that implement this neuter release like greece and other countries with their huge stray population. i was just travelling turkey and romania last year and didnt really notice any strays, which again dont think they are out to be seen. But this idea of about how to be able to get their numbers down without euthanasia not sure if would be successful as it seems from what im reading that Greece's numbers are of control esp since the program can’t afford to spay and neuter the strays, therefore these animal continue to breed on their own. Sadly there will always be a limit to how much we can help them in or out of the shelter due to funds. In my country of Israel stray cats are left as strays and i believe for them they should stay that way. yes they are occationally run over, yes they damage surroundings and environment, but i think most them live pretty forfilling lives. Dogs on the other hand are different, they are not as independent and able to survive on their own and yes their is small risk of people getting hurt, again like sandgrubber mentioned much of it comes down to where they are to how much they suffer. Perhaps you guys are right and there are worse fates than death and we are doing many a good deed as we save the unlucky ones the suffering, but its just sad to think about those that we save the chance of living that perhaps we should have.I guess the best we can hope and work towards atm is for a rise in neutering/spaying to help end the death and suffering


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## sandgrubber (May 21, 2014)

Chemical neuter is helping in some places. It's a much cheaper and easier way to prevent reproduction than surgery . . . doesn't require surgical facilities and can be done by a vet nurse. You can find many articles on it. Here's the first one that showed on Google for me: http://www.wsj.com/articles/too-many-dogs-a-simple-solution-for-sterilization-1417187544

Other sources put greater emphasis on Zeuterin.

This only does the males. I don't think they've got shelter-ready chemical spays.

Personally, I think they should chemically neuter any entire male dog found wandering, owned or not.


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