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We can’t save ‘em all
I am not at all comfortable with that statement. I feel it gives us permission to not try as hard as we might. It gives our heart an “excuse” when things don’t work out. And for some, it gives reason to not even get involved in the first place because “we can’t save ‘em all.”
With that logic in mind, who CAN we save? Which animal will we wave our magic wand over and rescue?
Do we pick the one that just needs to be brushed off and will likely be easy to place, say a healthy, cute one…. or do we pick the one with immediate and perhaps long-term needs? The one that may never look quite “normal;” the one whose life may not be as long because of it’s physical maladies?
In a kill-shelter where animals are routinely culled, the animal with serious injuries is often the first to be eliminated. Her life is deemed not worthy of the chance. She is too much bother, so put her on the kill list. And within hours of coming through the front door as living, breathing, feeling sentient beings, animals like this go out the back door dead — they are waste to be disposed of as you would trash, often to be sent to landfills.
But what if the answer doesn’t seem so obvious? What if from the outside both candidates look like they have good potential to be selected by a loving family?
In this case, the dog on the right, Jerome, is dead. A seven month old dog originally adopted from the ASPCA, the richest humane society in the US, was euthanized by a New York city pound who claimed that Jerome guarded his food, a condition which should never result in a dog being killed because the prognosis for rehabilitation is always good.
Who are the people making these life and death decisions? Are they even trained behaviorists/veterinarians?
I looked at the stats for a Canadian SPCA. The number of cats and dogs in the “euthanized for space” column seemed low with regards to their overall numbers, but the numbers for animals killed because they were sick/behavioral (yes, the two were lumped into one column) seemed high. They certainly seem to have a lot of very sick and/or very ill-mannered cats: 1844 killed in 2009 alone! And of the 316 dogs killed that year, 311 had medical/behavioral problems.
Wow! Maybe they need to re-evaluate the way they assess animals in their “care.”
I think we need to take a closer look at the statement, “We can’t save ‘em all.” We should change the word “can’t” to “won’t” — because that is what the original statement actually implies.
Then maybe we can add a few words at the end of the sentence so it reads something like –
We won’t save ‘em all — if we don’t try.
I am much more comfortable with that statement. It leaves me infinitely more positive that we WILL affect change.
With regards to the animals used in this post today:
Top left: Mika* — found on the street with a broken leg. Adopted.
Top right: Gülümser* (one who always smiles) — a four week old kitten almost completely devoured by worms. The vets treating her decided that if she wanted to fight back, she would be given all chances to survive. Adopted.
Bottom left: Kent* — about 1 year old; available for foster/adoption. If interested, contact v.larkhill@googlemail.com.
Bottom right: Jerome — dead because the ASPCA refused to pick Jerome up from the pound even though his microchip was registered to them..
* Rescued by Let’s Adopt! members
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Ciao, Holly
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11 Comments to “We can’t save ‘em all”
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Gabriela says:
Some days ago, I was reading a cross post, about some dog, adopted first, then coming back again to the shelter, because, well, the animal sheds?and for that, plus the guy can open the refri, is in some list to pts??? AHHHH!! and previously, some puppy, after two experts, test at her, well, too shy, and must put to sleep, also, because of that??? My parents should do it when I was 2, Im both, shy and clever, lol…
In my eyes, both…stupids reasons, I see, once and again, on Brindi's case also, some over ruled status quo, people lazy, ignorant, silly, untolerant, complaining for such a thing, like barks, some fight between dogs, or so.. with total lack of compromise, looking for excuses to get rid somes, and others, having and finding "reasons" to kill, fastest as possible, because, in fact, are so useless, they dont see another way to solve the problemm wich is large, but not impossible to solve, plus, some interests I really dont know, nor I do not understand. Thanks for the note
CaringAHT says:
I am really upset by this article. As a person who works in an open admission facility – the only one in Alberta to be completely honest (or in your blunt statement – a "kill facility") I am horrified and hurt by your cruel words. Although I am sure you are trying to get shock value to add validity to your article, you actually do not know what goes on inside our building. I work with super caring, hard working staff, who put continually put their hearts on the line trying to help every animal that walks through our doors. And let me tell you – that is a large volume. With all other places being closed door or closed admission – they have the opportunities to pick and choose who they will take in and adopt out. However no one yet has been able to answer the question – where do the rest of the animals go?
CaringAHT says:
It is great when all organizations are working to becoming "no Kill" however what happens with the animals that other places refuse for whatever reason such as "we are too full and have no foster homes". Do those animals get tossed out on the street? I find it appauling that we are all working towards to common goal of getting rid of homeless pets; however groups continue to attack each other. Where is the support? I have been at my shelter for over 10 years now – and I have cried over animals I could not save. Animals that I have spent my energy, love, time and devotion, trying to get out to our adoption floor, other rescue groups, flying across Canada, back to owners – whatever it takes. Yet you paint ALL HUMANE SOCIETIES with the same horrible brush. Yes, I know in the US there are a lot of HS that are not doing it right. Even here in Canada I have heard horror stories of cats being euthanized within 72 hours of arrival. It is not like that where I work, but stating "kill shelters cull routinely" you obviously know nothing of the staff and volunteers that are at my organization.
CaringAHT says:
We need to be working on the irresponsible pet owner using kijiji to get rid of another litter of puppies/kittens, or working on low cost SN programs instead of fighting the groups that are all working together. Fight Pet stores that are encouraging people to continue to breed so they can turn a profit on puppies, not the shelters that are there when the people surrender for "too little time, kids not caring, too much work". Seriously. Spend a day in my shoes. See how hard my HS works to save lives. Taking the life of an animal is difficult and I cry about it – I don't do it for fun.
Viktor says:
Dear Caring..
The article was not written for shock value. There is no need to shock anybody.
What is really shocking here is to see how the North American community of animal lovers has accepted Kill as a solution to human irresponsibility.
Look, Let’s Adopt is a rescue organization. Without a shelter and exclusively run by volonteers we have rescued and rehomed successfully close to 2000 dogs in two years.
We started with two people.
We are not registered as an organization, cannot collect donations, we don’t have permanent staff of any kind.
Still… we have one thing.. our brains.
If the managers of Kill Shelters directed their leadership towards turning their organization systems around there would be no need to kill.
You should make and EXTRAORDINARY effort in building a community around your shelter.
Look at your shelter manager, look at the directors of your shelters, are you really going to tell me that they are doing ALL THEY CAN to make sure no healthy and adoptable animal is killed?
If the answer is yes dont hesitate to put them in touch with me via skype and I will give them a hand in finding a better way. Or even better, contact Nathan Winograd and hell surely be able to help.
Best
Viktor Larkhill
Founder
Let’s Adopt!
Holly says:
Trust me, I do not mean to understate the work you and people as caring as you do. Instead I mean to raise awareness that we have a long way to go to save the millions that are destroyed every year for no other reason than because they were born at the wrong time in the wrong place. That requires no “shock value” on my part; the numbers are shocking enough especially in light of research that shows there are homes for all these animals. We would be remiss in not putting this forth.
I do not believe there should be a “no kill movement,” but rather a consciousness that not killing them is mandatory and we take it from there.
While we can point to humane societies that are model groups — and perhaps yours is one of them, we must also remind people that many are still not there yet. And we must also inform people of the inhumane practices still being used to kill animals: heartsticks, gassing.
I would also note for those in the area that there is a peaceful demonstration this weekend against the horrendous gas chambers still being used in Quebec and across Canada:
Montreal, Quebec on Saturday, April 17, 2010, leaving from Parc Lafontaine at 1:00 PM
I am grateful to you for bringing your voice to this post from a perspective few of us have and I hope we can use it to work for the good of the animals. That is our purpose and our goal. I hope you will join Let’s Adopt! and continue to contribute to the discussion.
Jane Sorensen says:
Our wishes do not force reality or other people to take on the shape we desire.
To go no-kill, your target is the general public and public administrations – not the shelters – and it must be incremental and without polemic. We need to be undivided among the spectrum of animal welfare and animal care, from no-kill to humane animal use. "Divide and conquer" is why things have been so bad as they have been for so long. That, and the simple economy that animals breed willingly for free.
Shelter managers are not dummies. They operate in the land of reality, and work with a vision of a better future.
An update on "one who always smiles" | beingstray.com says:
[...] featured her in a post a few days [...]
Shannon says:
Viktor..as usual…you have a great vision BUT.. You seem to not understand here in the USA we do NOT have the becking of most of our government- We live in a country where the government supports commercial farmers and puppy mills.
WE are horrified and rescues overwhelmed- Yet because of the lack of compassion towards animals cruelty here and animals in general it cannot stop until breeders are stopped! The breeding and importing of animals is CRAZY! If breeders can’t find enough cats/dogs here- They import them.
The numbers here for euthanasia are WAYYY under what it really is-
MIllions every month seems more like it-
The breeding here in each CITY is UNREAL!
Especially for pitts and there is NOOOO way we can save them all until the breeding stops- There is not enough homes- spaces or rescues to take every animal available each year- To save the 10 million PLUS dogs and cats pts each year here in the USA there would have to be about 8 animals in EACH and EVERY home here- That did statistics this year.
And thats just the shelter animals… Then where does this leave all the ones bred? Then they have nowhere to go..Which is an even bigger number…
There is just NO room for all of these animals and we HAVE to have spay and neuter laws! People do not care about animals here- For the majority of the public this IS true- They do not have many rights and are punished-put in jail and put to death-simply for being born-
This cannot stop in the USA until our government puts breeding laws in place-
UNfortunately we have huge problems here and simply having No kill shelters won’t fix it-
Even now tons of people are putting animals in boarding for months- and making them go mental in order to “save” them- Because its so hard to find a PLACE for them
Heidi says:
One great way to reduce the number of unwanted pets would be to prevent/restrict breeding. Another is to require pet sales staff to be trained so they are able to match animals to people (I have met some who don’t even know the basics of handling of the animals they sell). Sales staff should be required to educate the interested owner with more than the information provided on a care flier, but also about the needs and the costs of a desired pet. Greater oversight over existing breeding and sales companies would be a must to reduce animals that end up unwanted. What I like with the rescue groups we adopt some of our animals from is that they offer to take back animals should a problem occur (never happened to us, but I hear that it happens to others, sometimes because of not well thought abut impulse adoptions). I thank everybody who is working for the benefit of animals. And hope this economic situation doesn’t hurt even more people and their pets.