Submitted by Webberbear on Sun, 10/30/2011 - 11:13am. The shelter had "promised" to give the family some time to find a place while they "held" the dog, but promises mean nothing to a kill shelter.
Just can't let that go unchallenged, Webberbear--have you ever worked or volunteered @ an animal shelter of any type? The majority of them are staffed by animal lovers whose souls die a tiny bit each day as they care for the pets that other humans have cast aside for one excuse or another, and these people go to great lengths to try and save as many adoptable dogs as they possibly can. But there are limits to the number of animals that can be held within a location, legal limits that dictate the minimum amount of sq footage that must be available per animal, and the shelters MUST obey these laws or they will be shut down...and where will the resident animals go then, hmm? I'm sure that when the shelter worker assured your family that they'd try to hold the Bluetick until the family could figure something out, they had every good intention to do so, but if the population in there hit the limits, any animal that's surrendered by the owner (or owner's proxy, in this case) is going to be among the first to be put down at a 'kill' shelter, since generally, by law, stray animals have to be held at least a few days. It's painful for the workers to do, but until we become more responsible as a species, it will continue to need to be done. That's fairly typical of nearly everything in life. Even the 'no kill' shelters have to live within the legal requirements, but instead of putting dogs down, they simply stop accepting any additional animals until they have a vacancy...and far too many of these are at their limit perpetually.
If the family wanted to be assured that the dog would be in safe keeping, they should have taken it to a BOARDING KENNEL, not an animal shelter--but a boarding kennel would have cost them $$, whereas taking the dog to the shelter cost them nothing...but it cost the dog his life. Sorry, but the fault lies with the family, not the shelter.
As a vet tech, I've spent time working as a volunteer in shelters, and can't allow their employees to be condemned for doing an task that THEY didn't create the need for and which most people couldn't survive having done for more than a day. I'm glad Daniel survived, and I have no doubt that he'll get a phenomenal home because of his experience, but in the meantime several more 'Daniel' type dogs have already meet their demise in the same euthanasia chamber on Friday, and more will do so all across the US tomorrow, too. And that's why most 'kill' shelters also have a policy that any dog which survives being put down gets a 'free pass' to stay there until a home is found for them.
I'm in favor of states requiring a license for anyone who keeps even one unspayed female dog or cat, and charging a hefty fee for that license...and setting a heftier fine for anyone who fails to get that license yet has puppies or kittens born under their care. A portion of the fine could be waived upon proof that the female dog or cat has been spayed within 90 days after they last gave birth.
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"Men have forgotten this truth," said the fox. "But you must not forget it. You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
--"The Little Prince", Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry
Source: http://dlisted.com/2011/10/30/hot-slut-day
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