All shelters and rescue orgs that foster face the same dilemma and come to
their own conclusions on what to do when presented with more animals than
they can possibly accommodate.

The so-called "no-kills" fill up quickly and become "no-accepts," turning
away all but the most "adoptable" animals. These shelters tend to be
nonprofits or privately funded who are not obligated to accept animals
they don't want. The animals rejected by the so-called "no-kill" shelter
go on to the city or county shelters (who are mandated to accept every
animal in their jurisdiction, regardless of available space) or are simply
abandoned. These publicly funded shelters then must kill animals unlikely
to find homes to make room for new arrivals.

I would venture to guess than a well operated conventional (public)
shelter saves more or at least as many lives as the so-called "no-kill"
facility. How many animals die in the process is a responsiblity shared
by both institutions; it's just that the "no-kill" gets to dodge the act
and the public shelter is stuck holding the bag (the one with a dead cat
in it).

And of course the ultimate responsibility rests squarely on the shoulders
of irresponsible pet owners.

Sharon Talbert
Friends of Campus Cats




On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Marty wrote:

A few questions:

How do shelters that don't euthanize keep the pets? Do they cut off
the amount of pets they can take in once they reach a certain point?
Are pet shelters that don't euthanize preffered over ones that do?

Thanks,
Marty