Why would you purposely not adopt from a kill shelter. Adopting from one of those purposely, effectively, and immediently saves a life?
It's a hard thing to take care of all these strays that people let accumulate and re-populate.
Dogs that are aggressive really need to be PTS imo. They aren't safe anymore. It may not be their fault that they are now aggressive, but if they bite someone or kill someone's pet because it wasn't put down...then it's whoever chose to "spare" it's life's fault for it's actions. You never know when that dog may rip the leash from your hand and go after something or someone. And they can all do it...they just may have not have realized they "can" just yet.
They have to PTS so many animals because there is no place to house them all. We have inmates sleeping in prison's with 5-6 people to a 4 person cell because they don't have enough room for all of them...and we have 3-6 puppies/kittens being born to every human baby, daily. That rreally adds up.
If we don't have enough room for all the inmates, and they aren't jumping up and down to make more prisons to house them either..do you think they are going to build more shelters to house more animals any sooner? No. So to end the suffering of them..and make room for others, to give them a chance, even if brief, they have to remove the ones that no one have shown interest in.
It's the plight of man..who chose to breed animals for domesticated human companionship in the first place. We, as humans, started this whole mess. it's kinda like Eve eating that apple she wasn't suposed to...now we all have to deal with the consequences of prior people's stupid, irresponsible actions..the best and most effective way we can.
It's sad, but IMO it's better to end a miserable existance then let them live...cooped up in a cage for the rest of, what one might call, their life...it's not really a life it's just existing basically, there is no quality of life in a cold, bare, cage with no view of the outside world..only a painted concrete block wall or another row of cages...with the occasional child walking by and poking their fingers in to give a small dose of human affection.
But then you have the people who say "why get an animal if you can't take care of it?", well what if when they got it they were able..but when the time came to have it fixed..they weren't? What if they didn't realize JUST how expensive getting a female dog/cat was gonna be? What if they adopted a stray they found wandering down their street or at their work? What if they got the dog/cat then they lost their job? What if their neighbor moved and left 3 animals behind?
What do they do with it? Take it to a shelter?
No win situation IMHO in those cases (I'm aware that not all are that way..and that most people are just irresponsible, lazy, cheap, adn ignorant..but I do like to give the ones who deserve the benefit of the doubt..just that).
It does make me sick, and sad, to think about how many die every year in shelters. It makes me sicker though, to think how many animals get put into shelters, or roam the streets, because people are in those above mentioned circumstances, where they can't get them fixed. Where they already have the animal, and they have no means to stop the re-population once it starts.
I think since it is SUCH a problem that the government should put a ban on or regulate vet clinics for charging SO freakin much to have a dog or cat fixed. I mean..they regulate the utility companies from price gouging us..why not them too? It is ABSURD what they try to charge people for spaying, and nuetering.
Before I discovered the Friends of Cats and Dogs Foundation's Low cost spay/neuter program..I paid close to $300 to have one of my female dogs fixed..and that was about 6 years ago....I can't imagine what it might cost now.
With the certificate I can buy now..it's $56 to spay a female dog...but it's not a "advertised" program either. Most people don't even know about it....and vet's sure don't push it.
The same people who want to *****, and make a fuss, about people not getting them fixed... are the same ones who want to charge so much for these procedures...that a low income, hard working, individual or elderly person basically needs to float a loan, or not pay a utility bill or rent installment, to be able to get their pet fixed.
And to be honest, if gas prices keep going up like they have (they went up .75 cents in 1 week here (.50 cents over night!) and keep going up..gas is close to $3 a gallon for the "cheap" stuff now) ..most of us are going to get bumped into the low income bracket soon.
They had a program here for a while, for low income families (the ones who have medicaid, either for themselves..elderly or for their children..healthy mid age adults don't qualify for medicaid) to get their animals (up to 6 animals, dog or cat, for each qualifiying person) fixed for a really low price (male cats $5, male dog $10, female cat $15, female dog $20)..but after a year they dis-continued it..why?
Because the vet's weren't making any money and wouldn't continue to support the program.
Even the low cost spay/nueter prgram is dwindling now...last year there were 50 vets in my area...now there are approx. 20...because vets don't wanna lose the "revenue".
THAT is what makes me sick. People want to complain about it and act all concerned about it...but when it comes down to a REAL solution..they him-haw around and back out..when there isn't anything in it for THEM.
Sorry....this subject riles me up lol.
Then they repeat it over again by getting another puppy not spaying or neutering it etc etc.
