Serious Question?

[jackiesdaisy1935]

This is a question that I have asked in my community with very mixed results. One of our members works for this shelter.


On the "Humane Society's web site in Raleigh County in Beckley, West Virginia" they post the pictures of the dogs who did not get wonderful forever homes and were euthanized. It is heartbreaking to look at these poor dogs, do you think it would make people think more about abandoning or turning their dogs into the shelters if they saw these dogs and knew they were euthanized? I believe this is the first shelter that is doing this as far as I know. The address is http://www.rcpets.org

Jackie

[ramanth]

It's hard to say. While the images would make me cry.. (sorry.. haven't gotten up the nerve to click on the link), I would hope that the harsh truth would either reduce the amount of dogs abandoned or at least up the number of dogs adopted.

Perhaps that is the reasoning behind the page..

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Jackie,

Despite my better judgement, I checked out the site and saw those precious animals that were euthanized. And I am so upset that I am crying.

Sadly, I honestly think that putting those picture up there will do no good. People who truly care about their pets and are concerend about pet over population and homeless cats and dogs would not take their animal to a shelter. I know that sometimes certain situations are different, but when you tae your pet to a kill shelter, you know in your heart and mind that there is a chance they will be put down. If you are OK with that, I don't think any pictures can make a difference.

I think the pictures of those animals only hearts the hearts of animal lover like you and I.

[aly]

The city shelter here (not the one I work at) has some pictures of animals that have been put to sleep, not all of them though. If they put up all of them, there'd be billions of pages.

I cannot tell you how many times I've been to that website and just cried for the rest of the day. It is torture to me, but I feel it is necessary. I think it can make some people think twice. I do see Souraya's point and also agree with her, but at the same time if it changes just one person's mind then it is worth it.

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Aly,

I do agree that if it will chance one person's mind, it is worth putting the pictures out there. It seems like I have lost faith in people. The people that care are always scarce

[aly]

Yeah I know what you mean. Try to focus on the good. I know its probably hard after seeing those pictures. I couldn't even go to the site. I imagine how horrible you must feel. I know its hard to lose the images of those poor little innocent faces But just try to concentrate on all those happy endings that did happen.

[jennifert]

I showed the website and the pics to a girl I work with here. She has a female husky/shepard mix that is about 1yr and 6 months and is not spayed yet. Her boyfriend thinks he wants to breed her someday. She's not a purebred and she came from an abandoned litter herself! I have been trying to convince her to take Lucy and have her spayed. I even got them a Friends of Animals certificate for $40 so $ would not be an excuse. They both keep saying that there is no rush. The problem is though that during the day when no one is home, Lucy is kept in a fenced in backyard alone. I keep telling them that if she goes into heat and there are any unneutered male dogs in the area, they will be in that backyard in a flash. The standard response I get is "Well, they would have to jump a 6 foot fence."
And they would, no problem, is what I keep telling them!!!
Anyway, my co-worker says she has no intention of letting her boyfriend breed Lucy but the dog is his responsibility and it's his problem.
It's so frustrating because it is everyone's problem if Lucy gets pregnant accidentally and ultimately the animals would suffer. These people are very nice but obviously should not own a dog. The pictures seemed to upset her as she looked away but it seems to be the mentality of if I don't see it, it's not happening! Makes me want to pull my hair out!!!!!!!!

[Dixieland Dancer]

Lucy's owners are so wrong in this situation. Do they really Love her??? If so then they would have her spayed. It is sad but a lot of people think they want to have cute little adorable puppies running around but they don't have the first clue about what all that really means or exactly what it takes to have a healthy litter.

As for posting pictures of dogs that are already gone.... I see no practical purpose for it. It is more heart wrenching than anything. If you are looking to adopt a dog and go there and see the dogs that are gone, it may be more than you (meaning the perspective new owner) can handle and give up. Plus, if it were me, I would want to see the ones I could choose from and not the ones that are gone. It is possible their dream dog was one of the ones gone and they could give up.

I guess I could see it being useful if it saved one life but I think it has the potential to do just the opposite. Knowing the dogs are gone already, I can not even bring myself to look at the site. I would be haunted by each and every face and would not be able to do anything about it.

[sasvermont]

If you look at the photos of the cats put down and the ones adopted, they are in some cases the same. That is not to say that the #s are not true, but the photos are just that. PHOTOS.

Thought it would make some folks cry less.

SAS

[Karen]

I don't think it would do any good. The people who care will just be saddened, the ones who don't wouldn't even go to a shelter website in the first place, never mind be swayed by the pictures. Just my opinion. I did NOT go to the site, as I do not need to see pictures to know the truth, and am not into making myself sad.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

What our shelter does (which is sadly a kill shelter) is put all the pictures of the dogs waiting for adoption on our logal cable tv local news channel. We have one channel just for ads and public notices and that type of thing. The shelter posts the pictures so everyone can see who is there for adoption. Sadly, it is like looking at inmates on death row but it gives them a better chance of finding a home. They do everything possible to find homes for them.

Posting pictures of all ready killed dogs would not help. If people are going to dispose of an animal they will do it.

[sasvermont]

Short of all shelters being No Kill, they don't seem to have a choice in keeping all the pets alive. I could never work with a kill shelter because I am so darn wimpy. I do, however, think in some cases, some animals are better off not suffering a life of cruelty etc. and they are better off, just "going to sleep"..... in a way, they are put out of misery. On the other hand, if the animal is perfectly healthy and just not wanted by anyone, its a darn shame.

Spaying and neutering should be free.

[aly]

I forgot to mention that after my lab passed away and I was searching the net for dogs in shelters near me, I came across several 'put to sleep' pictures. It felt as if my heart had been ripped out and I had to call my boyfriend at the time and cry and cry for hours. But that fueled the fire even more and I ran to the shelter and got a dog who had 2 hours left.

[mel55smiles]

I CRIED LITERALLY CRIED, THAT SITE WAS SO SAD..
THE DOGS AND CATS WERE SO CUTE.. I LOOKED AT THIER EYES AND CRIED I CREID FOR THEM AND I CRIED FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DUMPED THEM.. THEY NEED HELP!

[Sudilar]

The puppy picture was heart-wrenching. I clicked on it, but couldn't bear to get a bigger picture. It looked like a GSD. So terribly sad. I shouldn't have looked.