"Public policy debates have become increasingly fractious and ugly, with opposing sides demonizing and bullying one another. Emotions and opinion replace facts, analysis and critical thinking.
When a policy debate is about a group that can't speak for itself, such as animals, arguments become more about the values of the advocates than anything else.
Animal sheltering began almost 125 years ago, and now 74 private shelters in Virginia serve a variety of communities. Each shelter operates independently, using a variety of names, such as SPCA or humane society.
While there is no requirement that organizations perform the same functions, for over a century in Virginia, private and public shelters worked in unison. Private shelters shared equally in the burden for their community's animals. An organization representing mostly private shelters had as one of its principles: No member shelter shall turn away any animal in need.
Traditionally, private and public shelters accepted stray and owner-surrendered dogs and cats, believing that citizens should have a place to take animals they could no longer keep, rather than abandon them to the outdoors, leaving them to starve or suffer in some other way. Bringing a companion animal to a shelter was the humane alternative. Since the community financially supports both public and private shelters, sheltering was viewed as a public service, as was euthanasia.
By 1995, before the current antagonistic climate, spay/neuter outreach and adoption resulted in an almost 75 percent drop in the number of animals euthanized in shelters."
Please visit this link and read the entire piece. So much damage has been done in the name of No Kill.
