Because people in the notes are not getting this, let me explain:
No-kill shelters TURN AWAY animals. When theyโre full - and they often are because most of these no-kill shelters are small - they stop taking them in. While they areย โtaking their time to find the right homes for every single animalโ, many other animals never get in the door. Somehow they donโt count those animals, or track what happens to them. A success for them doesnโt include the ones they turned away. Theyโre taking their time because they can.ย
The No-Kills who brag about 100% adoption rates are the worst, because they tend to reject the most. The animals who will be difficult to adopt out? They just donโt take those. Special needs? Too old? If theyโre going to be hard to adopt out, they can claim to be full, even if theyโre not.ย
They are telling owners they absolutely cannot take their fifteen year old cat because they are full of litters of kittens. Adorable kittens that will turn over quickly, and boost their adoption numbers. So what happens to the fifteen year old cat? After days of being rejected at the shelters they get dumped on the side of the road somewhere, or worse.ย
You cannot imagine the VOLUME of animals that a city shelter deals with. The kill shelters are not allowed to turn anyone away. The difficult cases, the special needs, the elderly, the feral. The dog that bites, the cat that pees everywhere. Every animal is going to be taken in and treated with kindness. They are going to be assessed and treated for their fleas and conditions and behavioral problems. They will get their time on the adoption floor. They will get the best chance possible to find a new home. And if itโs not possible, they will be humanely euthanized, and that cage space will go to the next animal who is already waiting for it. It never stops. While you were working on the paperwork to adopt out 1 cat, three people brought in 4 more. Itโs a numbers game that you cannot win if you arenโt turning people away.
A lot of times kill shelters get the animals that the no-kill shelters refused to take. Maybe their owners bring them. Or maybe they got literally thrown in the garbage, abandoned, or put in a bag and tossed in the river, when the no-kill shelter said they were full. The police and rescuers will bring these poor injured animals to the city shelter where they will be cared for. The volunteers will spend days and weeks trying to wash the tar out of their fur, or treat their broken bones, or whatever other horrible thing has happened to them. They will feed and house them. They will put most of them in new homes. They will save many many more animals, by orders of magnitude, than a no-kill shelter ever will. A no-kill shelter will brag about dozens or maybe hundreds ofย adoptions. Kill shelters are dealing in thousands of successful adoptions, and they still have to euthanize because it just isnโt enough. There are just so many animals to take in.
And then, after all this, the No-Kill Shelters get to claim the moral high ground somehow, and self-righteous types will refuse to adopt from the only shelter that takes absolutely everyone. Itโs infuriating.ย
blakekathryn
stormborns
vaporwave
titsay
kaledo-art
