#Nomorekillshelters Jake Bond
"It has been said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way that its animals are treated." Dogs are known around the world as wonderful companions, but for some, they will never get to feel the love of a human or the warmth of a home because they are destined for death. The #nomorekillshelters movement, that started in the late 80's, wants to alter the destiny of these dogs and give them a chance at life. Kill shelters are the reason that so many dogs get euthanized every year. Kill shelters need to stop what they are doing and find a home for every dog out there. An organization like the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) has been around since the 1800's fighting to prevent animal cruelty. Other organizations like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and Best Friends Animal Society have followed in their footsteps. Best Friends, a national organization, became the leader in the no kill movement. Their mission is to bring about a time when there are no more homeless pets and a better world through kindness to animals.
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| A 2 month old puppy given to a kill shelter because her owner didn't want her |
This hashtag is still used today because of the continued overpopulation of homeless dogs. If all of the kill shelters were turned into no kill shelters, no animals would have to be euthanized. I think that no kill shelters are great alternatives to kill shelters because dogs are treated humanely and get taken care of rather than just killed after a short amount of time if they don't get adopted. In just the last year alone, 1.5 million animals were euthanized in kill shelters, which amounts to about 4,100 a day. These staggering numbers are concerning and fully justifying this hashtag movement.
The main reason why this hashtag movement was started was because people realized that so many animals were being euthanized for no reason every year. The movement was started in San Francisco, CA, in 1984 by the president of the San Francisco SPCA, Rich Avanzino. In 1984, over 17 million animals were euthanized in US kill shelters. Why such a large number? It was mainly due to the overpopulation in large cities. For example, “Take parts of Los Angeles, which has had an explicit no-kill policy for its shelters since 2012. At the moment, every public shelter in the city is full, and the South Los Angeles shelter, in one of the most densely populated and disadvantaged parts of town, has been crowded for months, with dogs being housed two and three to a cage.” This is an example of the positive and negative effects of having no kill shelters. All the dogs are being saved, but they are living in over-crowded and possibly unhealthy situations with no home to go to. What can be done? Could they be moved to less crowded shelters in other parts of the country? Are they using social media as a means to inform the public that these dogs are waiting for a forever home?
Countries around the globe are also battling the issue of reducing the number of dogs euthanized in shelters. Costa Rica, located in Latin America, became the first “No-Kill nation” in 2003. Their government voted to ban euthanasia and as an alternative, focuses on “high-volume, low cost” spay and neutering programs. In Berlin, Germany, the Falkenberg Animal Home is an elite no-kill shelter that can house up to 2,000 animals at a time. While animals, particularly dogs, wait for their long-term home, they have plenty of space to move about and trained staff to care for them. Euthanasia is only an option if the animals have dire medical needs. “Italy has outlawed the euthanasia of healthy companion animals since 1991 and controls stray populations through trap, neuter and return programs.” The trap, neuter, and return program or (TNR) is a helpful way to insure that stray dogs can't breed anymore than they already have and not cause more of an overpopulation.
Unfortunately, not all countries around the world are committed to keeping dogs alive. In countries without animal control guidelines or laws, stray dogs are eradicated by all means possible, including poisoning and beating. There is nothing humane about this. Organizations like PETA and the SPCA continue to combat animal cruelty across the world.
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| An IKEA store in Italy has opened its doors to stray dogs during the winter |
MLA CITATION:
- Mithers, Carol. “Are We Loving Shelter Dogs to Death?” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Aug. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/opinion/shelter-dogs-no-kill-policies.html.
- “No-Kill Timeline.” Best Friends Animal Society, 19 Jan. 2018, bestfriends.org/about/our-story/no-kill-timeline.
- “No-Kill Shelter.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-kill_shelter#cite_note-15.
- Houser, Susan. “The No Kill Movement's Place in History - And Why It Matters.” Out The Front Door, www.outthefrontdoor.com/2016/12/14/the-no-kill-movements-place-in-history-and-why-it-matters/.
- “How the U.S. Compares to Other Countries in Terms of Caring for Homeless Animals.” One Green Planet, 6 Nov. 2014, www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/how-the-u-s-compares-to-other-countries-in-terms-of-caring-for-homeless-animals/.
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