To Kill Or Not To Kill

Are No-Kill shelters a dream? 

Back in the good old days, about forty or so year back, the overwhelming majority of all dogs and cats that ended up in animal shelters were killed. As if that was not enough, methods of killing were quite unsavory, cruel and torturous for the animals. Anyone who believes that disposing of unwanted dogs and cats was a merciful, quick and painless process in those days ought to read an article published at http://www.animalliberationfront.com/Practical/Pets/PetCare/EuthanasiaFacts.htm. 

Mind you, it might be a little biased, but I have few doubts that the euthanasia methods described were indeed used, are cruel and still in use in certain states, counties and shelters.

Moreover, in the late sixties and early seventies many more pets were euthanized than today. For example, in 1971 the City of Los Angeles killed 110,835 dogs and cats in city shelters. It represents the highest kill rate in the history of Los Angeles. On the positive side the slaughter was a wakeup call to city leaders and the public alike.

As a consequence, Los Angeles started to fund spaying and neutering programs for pet owners within city limits. The project resulted in a steady decline in the numbers of pets killed. In the best year (2007) 'only' 15,009 animals were euthanized. That represents a tremendous decrease in the killing rate by 86 percent. The years between 2006 and 2009 saw the four lowest euthanasia rates in Los Angeles City shelters.

(L.A. City Animal Services)

Unfortunately, in the following year more dogs and cats ended up in shelters because of the worsening economic situation. More animals in city shelters also increased the euthanasia rate for dogs and cats. In 2008 shelter intake increased by 20.8 percent. The resulting kill rate exceeded that of 2007 by 30 percent. The kill rate for 2009 was estimated to be at the 2008 level or slightly higher.

The number of pets surrendered by owners to shelters or simply abandoned tripled in the years after 2009 according to estimates from shelters throughout the United States.

As a professional who visited animal shelters at least weekly in the last four critical years, I can confirm from personal observation that more dogs and cats than ever are housed in shelters. I also know from first hand experience that the number of Chihuahuas and Chihuahua derivates has increased disproportionately. Today Chihuahua mixes rival the number of pit bulls confined in animal shelters. Pit bulls and their mixes have traditionally been the strongest group of dogs in many shelters.

Contrary to what many Chihuahua lovers might want you to believe, shelters find it rather difficult to find homes for these critters.

I wonder why . . .

While in 2008 in Los Angeles alone almost 500 Chihuahuas met their maker, it can be reasonably assumed that at least three times as many of them went on the big journey home in the following years. Since the number of Chihuahuas in city shelters grew faster than the intake rate of all other dogs, it is only common sense to assume that the euthanasia rate for Chihuahuas also will be disproportionately higher than that of other breeds. And still the shelters are overflowing with this breed alone.

If this does not illustrate the folly of choosing a pet as a fashion accessory or because of a movie, I do not know what else would.

Unfortunately, the pet pays with its life . . .

The human culprits move on to another toy.

Now, some say that a life is a life and a Chihuahua is worth as much as, for example, a pit bull. True, in theory. In practice it is an injustice at best.

Of all animals in shelters, the groups and breeds most at risk of being killed include domestic and feral cats, neonate kittens and pit bull breeds. Let's disregard cats because this article deals with dogs. (Do you really want to know the shocking truth about the fate of cats in shelters? Neonates, anyone?)

That leaves pit bulls, the bad boys on the block. Their population also decreased when overall shelter intakes were down and increased in 2008 and thereafter.

(Source: L.A.City)

Correspondingly, the number of pit bulls euthanized also fluctuated in accordance with overall intake and kill rates. More than 6,000 pit bulls were destroyed in 2008. No doubt, the numbers for the following years will be much higher.

This breed has fallen victim to irresponsible breeding and abuse by reckless people. Not as fashion but to serve the greed of their human owners. Because of careless breeding or breeding for ferocity and aggression, they lead dog bite statistics. One of the reasons is the fact that they generally inflict much more severe wounds than small dogs do. Therefore, their bites get reported while almost all bites from smaller dogs do not make the front pages.
In reality, the biters are small and bark a lot. I devoted an entire chapter of my booklet "Kid Friendly Dogs - What Parents should consider before getting a dog for the kids" to this issue.

Together, pit bulls and Chihuahuas, which admittedly are an emerging but increasing problem, are among the most serious challenges to achieving No – Kill shelter status. Of the two, “Chihuahuas represent . . . (a) lesser concern, but one that should not go unnoticed.” (L.A. City Study)

Small dogs hardly ever are trained. Together with the ubiquitous flex leashes (if small dogs are even on a leash) and the noise pollution associated with them, comes their most significant problem: Most of them are not spayed or neutered. Unaltered dogs running free invariably result in more unaltered dogs.

Which brings us conveniently back to No – Kill shelters.

The fewer dogs in shelters, the lower euthanasia rates become. The best, proven method to reducing shelter intakes are spay and neuter programs. Los Angeles embarked on such campaigns quite successfully as evidenced by falling numbers of shelter dogs between 1971 and 2007.

However, experience gathered in many cities indicates that spay and neuter programs slow to a trickle after initial successes when all pet owners who are likely to fix their pets have been persuaded to do so.

Progress frequently stalls when the pet euthanasia rate is reduced to around 12 to 10 killings per thousand human residents of a city.

At this point further significant progress is limited until the more difficult human population groups have been convinced to participate. Prominent among these groups are for example, poor, elderly, non-English speaking residents and people who are opposed to spay and neuter because of some other, strongly held believes.

This is when the efforts of a city to achieve No-Kill status for its animal shelters hit the “wall”.

Los Angeles hit it in 2007 when it had reduced its pet euthanasia rate to 3.7 per one thousand human residents. Kill rates between 5 and 2.5 animals per 1,000 humans residents are considered normal 'wall' scenarios. The average national kill rate is 13.8. (ANIMAL PEOPLE’S 16TH Annual Shelter Statistics) Report)

In 2008 the euthanasia rate in Los Angeles was back up to 5. It was slightly higher in 2009 and will most likely show even higher numbers for the following years.

The average euthanasia rate for dogs in Los Angeles shelters is 24 percent. Forty three percent of all dogs killed are pit bulls.

Pit bull euthanasia compared to overall dog killings.

 

(Source: City of Los Angeles)

On average the euthanasia rate for pit bulls hovers close to 40 percent annually. It was the highest in 2002 at 44.5%. In 2008 it reached 43.6% as mentioned earlier and and continues to rise. San Francisco is the only city in California with declining pit bull populations, which is mainly attributed to aggressive spay and neuter programs targeted at pit bulls.

Since pit bulls already bear the brunt of all shelter killings, it would be unfair to burden them also with the proportional increase in dog euthanasia prompted by the avalanche of Chihuahuas hitting animal shelters.

The last thing shelters need is another 'fashionable breed' pushing the limits of shelter space, patience of employees and finances beyond any limit. Just as pit bulls are forced to pay for the sins of their owners and breeders with their death, so will fashion toys of fools have to do.

It may be heartless, but is a necessary educational step in conjunction with aggressive spay and neuter programs San Francisco style. It is not sufficient to find new homes for as many shelter Chihuahuas as possible at the expense of, guess what, more pit bulls. I realize fervent animal lovers favor this solution above all others and, maybe, even sincerely believe it to be the solution.

It is not.

Only an all out assault on puppy mills, retailers that sell puppies from the mills, backyard breeders and those that are against spay and neuter for cultural reasons has a chance of success. And let us not forget another main source of endless Chihuahua derivates: People that are afraid of becoming emasculated themselves when their macho Chihuahua undergoes the 'big snip'.

In addition, new, better and more effective spay and neuter programs will be required in order to reduce euthanasia to levels below the above rates. It will be hard, if not impossible, to achieve a permanent true no-kill status in a shelter.

Why do you think even PETA has a kill rate of close to 100 percent in at least one of their shelters?

If you do, please tell me. If you don't, I will tell you in my next article.

PJJ