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Pet Overpopulation: An Artificial Construct Used to Excuse Killing in Regressive Shelters

No Kill Movement

Aug 18, 2017

Pet Overpopulation: An Artificial Construct Used to Excuse Killing in Regressive Shelters

Anyone who has followed the No Kill movement for very long likely understands that people who make excuses for killing in animal shelters frequently drag out the tired excuse that there are too many animals and not enough homes for them (i.e. "pet overpopulation"), therefore animal shelters *have to* kill. No one wants to kill, they say. It is a thankless job, but some one *has to* do it, they say. It is a mental construct that allows them to take responsibility for the killi

Excuses for Killing Are Lies That Hurt Animals

Aug 25, 2015

Excuses for Killing Are Lies That Hurt Animals

The image above has made the rounds on Facebook a couple of years ago, back when shelters in my area were still killing large numbers of healthy and treatable pets - a sad-looking puppy in sepia tone clearly designed to tug at heart strings. The text reads: When your local pound or shelter is crammed with abused Pitbulls, Chihuahuas with birth defects, and thrown-away hunting dogs, It doesn't point to a problem with the shelter. It points to a problem in the community. A

Pet Overpopulation: Myth, Meme and Zeitgeist

Jun 30, 2015

Pet Overpopulation: Myth, Meme and Zeitgeist

Myth: Noun - A fiction or half-truth, especially one that forms part of an ideology Meme: Noun - A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another Zeitgeist: Noun - The spirit of the time; the taste and outlook characteristic of a period or generation In 2005 a grotesque news story broke about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Two employees for the national anima