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Nathan Winograd's Redemption: "No-Kill" or No Clue?
If you have ever spent time volunteering at an animal shelter, you've seen it: the endless stream of dogs and cats—scared, lonely, confused—aching for a kind word or a reassuring touch. Some of them have been abandoned by their guardians, others have been rescued from the streets, but they all have one thing in common: They are victims of companion animal overpopulation.
Every year, 6 to 8 million animals are left at U.S. animal shelters and half of them must be euthanized. The statistics alone show the severity of our country's companion animal overpopulation crisis. Yet one so-called animal advocate, Nathan Winograd, is trying to convince the public that overpopulation doesn't exist.
Misplaced Blame
In his crusade to turn all animal shelters "no-kill," Winograd blames the shelter workers—who have devoted their lives to caring for homeless animals, giving them a chance at a home, and providing them with a painless death when no other humane alternative exists—for the euthanasia of millions of animals every year. This is akin to blaming hospitals for deadly diseases! This false "logic" lets the real culprits off the hook: people who breed (or fail to spay or neuter) their animals and people who buy animals from pet stores or breeders instead of adopting homeless animals from shelters. No one wants to see animals euthanized—least of all, those who hold the syringe—but denying that a crisis exists and blaming those who have devoted their lives to ending it solves nothing.
Too Many Animals, Too Few Homes
Winograd's calculations ignore the hundreds of thousands of puppies and kittens produced by breeders and sold in pet stores every year. When these animals are added to the millions of homeless animals who enter shelters each year, the number of animals in need of homes far exceeds the number of homes that are theoretically available to them. What's more, not every household that is considering acquiring a cat or dog (even those that currently have animals) is a "responsible" home that would pass a shelter's screening requirements.
The Key to a "No-Kill" Nation: A No-Birth Nation!
We agree that there will someday be a day when no animal must be euthanized for lack of a good home, but the only way to arrive at that day is by stopping the problem at its source, by spaying and neutering animals to prevent more animals from being born. Even if we could somehow find homes for the 6 to 8 million cats and dogs who will enter U.S. animal shelters this year, what about the 6 to 8 million animals next year and the year after that? Please, help stop this cycle by practicing your ABCs—Animal Birth Control! Always spay or neuter your animals, and never buy them from a breeder or pet store.
Crowded Cages, Disease, and Death
Ignoring the massive companion animal overpopulation and blaming open-admission shelters for the crisis have caused many shelters to implement dangerous policies and practices in an attempt to reduce their euthanasia statistics.
• After the Tompkins County SPCA in New York—where Winograd served as executive director and implemented a "no-kill" policy?became extremely crowded, it began accepting animals by appointment only and stacked animals in cages throughout the facility, including the laundry room and kitchen. According to the shelter's current executive director, the shelter slashed its adoption fees and lowered its standards for the homes in which it places animals—significantly increasing the risk of abuse and neglect—in an effort to move more animals out the door.
• In Brownsville, Texas, the municipal animal shelter was ordered by the town's mayor to stop euthanizing animals for three months despite the shelter's requirement to accept every animal it receives. At the end of the moratorium, the shelter was put on probation after the state department of health found problems associated with crowding.
• PETA conducted an undercover investigation into All Creatures Great and Small (ACGS)—a "no-kill" shelter in Hendersonville, North Carolina. PETA's investigator documented that animals were suffering physically and emotionally as a result of ongoing, systematic abuse and neglect. In addition, the investigator observed that dogs, cats, and other animals were frequently left to languish in constant confinement and were deprived of veterinary care, in addition to many other atrocities.
Examples like these abound when shelters are pressured to put euthanasia statistics above animals' welfare.
Turning Animals Away
Promoting adoptions, utilizing foster homes and volunteers, and encouraging guardians to work through behavioral or other issues that may otherwise cause them to relinquish their animals are all good policies that every shelter should follow. But when the shelter is full and there is no place to put even one more animal, what does a "no-kill" shelter do? Most simply refuse to take animals in, leaving them at the mercy of people who don't want them. This, too, often results in tragedy:
• At the Hancock County Animal Shelter in West Virginia, a man purposely ran over two kittens in the facility’s parking lot after being told that the shelter couldn't accept them.
• At the Venango County Humane Society in Pennsylvania, a man who tried to surrender his dog threw the dog from his truck and repeatedly ran over him after being told that he needed to make an appointment and come back later.
It's true that 'No-Kill' shelters don't euthanize animals, but by turning animals away, they sometimes condemn these same animals to terrifying, painful, and violent deaths. Open-admission animal shelters accept every dog, cat, bird, rabbit, hamster, rat, and any other animal who comes through their doors. They don't pick and choose, accepting only the young, healthy, behaviorally sound animals who might be easily placed. They pledge to help every animal in need, even when the best they can offer is a painless release from an uncaring world.
Please support open-admission shelters and help end the need to euthanize animals for lack of homes by having your animals spayed or neutered and by urging everyone you know to do the same.
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