Why Pounds?

[Twisterdog]

Originally posted by Glacier
IMO, there are fates worse than a humane death. An animal on the street is at risk of all sorts of hideous abuses by humans, they are at risk of being killed by cars, other animals, ect, ect. They may starve to death, they may be injured and die from their injuries or an illness. All of those are long, painful ways to die. At least in a pound, they are warm & fed for however long they have. Death comes quickly and painlessly. It's heartbreaking, but there are many worse things that could happen.

I have several dogs in my yard who grew up in a no-kill shelter or spent up to 2 years there. I adore them including their quirks and issues, but they are deeply damaged by the experience of being confined for months on end. Every one of them has some kind of issue and will continue to have issues for the rest of their lives. They came to me when the shelter finally said they were unadoptable and euthansia was their only other option. Fortunately, my home and life are set up to accomodate their issues, work with them and rehabilitate them as much as possible. There are not enough homes to take all the healthy, well-adjusted animals, let alone homes for the sick or emotionally damaged ones.

I agree 100%. Once you have worked the "front lines" of the animal overpopulation problem and have seen the hard, cold facts, you become far less critical of animal control agencies.

[grybai]

The city pound here in Tucson is pretty nasty. They keep several dogs all together, and they never get any play time or walks. Every day or two they hose down the kennels, so the dog poop ends up all over the dog's fur. The smell is sooo awful.

We got Payson there. They didn't even have leashes for the dogs. When we wanted to take him outside to check him out, the guy carried him out and then tied an old rope around his neck. Payson was covered in cuts and dried blood; the other dogs in his kennel looked pretty aggressive so I think maybe they were to blame.

The animals also are only given a very short period before they are put to sleep.

The paperwork I had to fill out for adoption was also insubstantial. It only asked for my name and address, if I had been convicted of animal abuse in the past three years, and I had to sign to release them of responsibility for my animal after adoption. That's it!

However, the purpose of the city pound is to remove unwanted animals from the streets, not to adopt out animals. So their lack of care and concern for the animals is somewhat understandable... even though I find it disgusting. They are providing a service, and although I don't like what they do, there's just not enough money and funds to make sure that every stray and unwanted animal is given a second chance. At least these animals are taken off the street so as not to contribute to further overpopulation.