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XUEQING XU

Prof. McClure

Writing 39C/ HCP Essay

6 May, 2018

The Problem of Killing Stray Dogs in The Shelters

Introduction

In today’s society, it is a bad social phenomenon to abandon dogs so that there are so

many stray dogs roaming the streets. Some stray dogs have to fend for themselves, while others

are lucky to be taken to the dog shelters. The dogs may believe they have arrived in a very safe

place, where they can live and escape from torture. But, in fact, that is not the case. At the same

time, stray dogs have caused serious social problems: the dogs in the shelters will be euthanized

and abused, because there are too many dogs in the shelters so that they need to kill some dogs to

ensure the constant number of stray dogs that they can care. According to the article, Rate of

Euthanasia and Adoption for Dogs and Cats in Michigan Animal Shelters, Paul C. Bartlett, a

researcher who studies on large animal clinical sciences, states that “In 2003, Michigan shelters

discharged 140,653 dogs. Of these, 56,972 (40%) were euthanized; 40,005 (28%) were adopted”

(Paul). And on the scientific website, American Humane.org, the statistics demonstrates that in

1997, roughly 64 percent of the total number of animals that entered shelters were euthanized.

And also 56 percent of dogs and 71 percent of cats that enter animal shelters are euthanized.

These animals may have been euthanized due to overcrowding, but may also have been sick,

aggressive, injured or suffering from something else. Based on these statistics, this is actually

very different from the original purpose of the shelter, which can provide the warm home and

care for those stray dogs. In this way, shelter problem has existed for nearly a century, from only
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one shelter that euthanized stray dogs to a larger scale, but very few states or professional

scholars focus on this unimpressive problem. Therefore, the problem of dog shelters should be

addressed now. Problems concerning the no-kill dog shelters are related to everyone in the

natural society because dog, as the closest animal to humans, will affect people’s daily lives,

such as ecological balance or natural environment. The related stakeholders of this problem are

dogs and dogs’ lovers. Definitely, if the problem of dog shelters continues to be ignored, then the

world will greatly reduce the presence of dogs and the most loyal partner of humanity.

Gradually, this phenomenon will greatly destroy the ecological balance and make the world

worse. Through this literature review, audience will know the reasons and facts about stray dogs

are euthanized and the social impact of this social phenomenon.

Fig. 1. Graph showing the stray dog lays on the street and no one notice him.

The Reason for Killing in The Dog Shelters

There are many different reasons for euthanasia in the dog shelters and the biggest reason

is that those dog shelter organizations want to maximize their benefits and profits. Prosecutors

show that the staff in the animal shelters kill dogs in order to free up space for animal shelters for

more profitable activities. Laura A. Reese is a professor at MSU and her works on the researches
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about animal welfare policy and local governance and management. She shows that “As a result,

estimates of animals in shelters range from 3 million to 8 million, and due to overcrowding,

euthanasia is common” (Laura). From this data, we can conclude that according to a larger

amount of demand, the number of stray dogs in the dog shelters exceeds the maximum that can

be accommodated, and in order to give enough space and care to some dogs so that they will

decide to euthanize most other dogs. The staff in the dog shelters will inject sedatives into dogs

and then give euthanasia to dogs. With the purpose of maximizing their own benefits, people

deprive the stray dogs of their right to live. Definitely, even though some people realize that it is

very unreasonable to implement euthanasia for stray dogs in the dog shelters, they still violate

morality to abuse dogs. According to the article, Euthanasia in Animal Shelters: Management’s

Perspective on Staff Reactions and Support Programs, Jennifer C Brandt, who is a clinical social

worker and her medical specialization is social worker- clinical, states that “While care and

adoption are the primary goals of virtually every animal shelter, an estimated three to four

million cats and dogs must be euthanized by shelters each year” (Keith, 570). Based on this

source, because of the need for benefits, human beings directly contribute to the euthanasia of

stray dogs in the animal shelters.

Fig. 2. Stop Shelter killing. Join the No

Kill revolution. Adopt a Shelter animal.
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A Trend About the Euthanasia of Dogs with Diseases

On the other hand, staffs in the dog shelters sometimes feel that the dog’s disease will

make them very painful so that giving them the choice of euthanasia is the best way for them to

release and let them liberate. Not only those stray dogs will be treated unfairly, but also stray

dogs with diseases will be killed in the dog shelters directly. Kevin N. Morris, who is a director

of research at the Animal Assistance Foundation and he interests in the researches about animal

health and welfare and animal-assisted therapy, claims that “Although some euthanasia requests

were likely for relatively healthy animals, healthy intake is defined as the total intake minus the

DOA /euthanasia requests, because the majority is assumed to be either unhealthy or dead”

(Keven, 61), in the article, Trends in Intake and Outcome Data for Animal Shelters in a Large

U.S. Metropolitan Area, 1989 to 2010. As the scientific evidence, it exposes an undesirable fact

in the stray dog shelters. For those dogs in the shelters that are considered unhealthy, people will

target them for euthanasia because the shelters cannot allow diseased dogs to live with healthy

dogs in an attempt to prevent them from being infected with disease. In the other article, Effects

of Phenotypic Characteristics on the Length of Stay of Dogs at Two No Kill Animal Shelters,

William P. Brown, a scientific researcher who studies on the natural science, claims that “Few

shelters in the United States are “no kill” facilities, defined as shelters that euthanize animals

only for reasons of critical illness or poor temperament” (William, 3). For the unhealthy stray

dogs in the dog shelter, it causes a big social issue. As we can see, the number of unhealthy dogs

is increasing, which means that this trend will lead to a large increase in the death of dogs in

shelters. In fact, if these dogs with diseases are euthanized directly in the shelters, they will have

no any hope of survival. Instead, if people can play the role of animal shelters to take good care

of them, they may have a glimmer of hope. However, from these evidence, we can see that facts
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are not what we think. Over time, these stray dogs have no rights at all to choose to live or die

and protect themselves so that they are brutally executed.

Fig. 3. By using this

graph, we want to
show the audience a
fact that pets,
including dogs, will be
killed in the shelters.

A Serious Social Phenomenon

On the contrary, not only those unhealthy stray dogs in the dog shelters, even for those

healthy dogs, they must eventually face the result of euthanasia. For example, in the New York

state, the government set bonuses to reward those who found and adopted stray dogs. As a result,

most dog shelters managers would rush to take those stray dogs back to the shelters and get the

bonuses. That sounds good, but it is not over yet. Gradually, as the number of dogs in the shelters

increased, there was not enough space for other dogs. In this way, managers would kill and

euthanize those stray dogs in the shelters in order to create more space for the dog after, thus

getting more bonuses and profits. Stephen Zawstowski is a Masters in behavior-genetics and he

studies on animal behavior and animal welfare issues. In his article, Population Dynamics,

Overpopulation, and the Welfare of Companion Animals: New Insights on Old and New Data,

Stephen points out that “During this early period of animal control, primary attention was paid to

ensuring that dog pounds were run as humanely as possible, providing proper treatment of

animals and performing euthanasia in a painless fashion” (Stephen, 194). Hence, the stray dogs
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that are not adopted will be either killed by sticks or drowned. In short, for whatever reasons,

whether or not they are healthy stray dogs, most stray dogs will face death in the dog shelters.

Historical Events

People cannot find a balance between protecting stray dogs and killing dogs, thereby

hurting the dogs. According to The Guardian, the leader of an animal shelter is a woman named

Carmen, who is 72 years old. Eight years ago, Carmen committed crimes by killing hundreds of

healthy dogs in the animal shelters, and all these dogs have been suffering for a long time before

they died. In addition, the report indicated that because Carmen had not given dogs a tranquilizer

so that Felipe was responsible for suppressing the dogs when Carmen injected the drug into a

healthy dog. Furthermore, the court said that Carmen used only a small amount of drugs to save

money, and did not administer euthanasia to dogs as prescribed. The most sinful is that, instead

of using intravenous injections, Carmen directly injected the drug of euthanasia into dogs’

muscle tissue, causing the dogs to undergo slow and painful death. Prosecutors accused Carmen

and Felipe of killing 2183 innocent dogs between January 2009 and October 2010, with the

purpose of emptying space in animal shelters for more profitable activities. This social problem

has existed for many years, but the government has neglected this issue for a long time, so it will

cause the dog to be slaughtered in the dog shelters, which is totally inconsistent with the original

intention of the dog shelters. Hence, the problem of stray dogs’ death is caused by public so that

people have unshirkable responsibilities.

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Fig. 4. Using this data to

convey to the audience that

euthanasia is inevitable for

dogs in the dog shelters.

Conclusion

In a word, human beings are more ethical in their attitudes and minds towards stray dogs,

but people still kill them in the dog shelters based on their moods or benefits they can get. At the

same time, government and the media do not give a lot of attention to stray dogs in the shelters to

limit peoples’ behavior, not only staffs in the dog shelters. What’s more, it can be easily seen that

stray dogs live in a terrible environment and their lives are seriously threatened by human beings.

And also, they may face death at any time that they cannot notice. As a vulnerable group in the

society, stray dogs are always lack of attention to animal shelters, which will lead to a vicious

cycle if the social issue of stray dogs in the dog shelters always is ignored. About the problem of

dog shelters, this bad social phenomenon should now be taken seriously because it can affect our

daily life. Therefore, stray dogs in the shelters should have equal rights to live and protect

themselves. Finally, it can promote social stability and ecological balance.

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Fig. 5. Asking for the rights of living and

protecting themselves.
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Works-cited

Paul C. Bartlett, Andrew Bartlett, Sally Walshaw & Stephen Halstead (2010) Rates of
Euthanasia and Adoption for Dogs and Cats in Michigan Animal Shelters, Journal of
Applied Animal Welfare Science, 8:2, 97-104.

https://www.americanhumane.org/fact-sheet/animal-shelter-euthanasia-2/

Laura A. Reese, Mark Skidmore, William Dyar & Erika Rosebrook (2016) No Dog Left Behind:
A Hedonic Pricing Model for Animal Shelters, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare
Science, 20:1, 52-64.

Keith A. Anderson, Jennifer C. Brandt, Linda K. Lord & Elizabeth A. Miles (2015) Euthanasia
in Animal Shelters: Management's Perspective on Staff Reactions and Support Programs,
Anthrozoös, 26:4, 569-578.

Kevin N. Morris & David L. Gies (2014) Trends in Intake and Outcome Data for Animal
Shelters in a Large U.S. Metropolitan Area, 1989 to 2010, Journal of Applied Animal
Welfare Science, 17:1, 59-72.

Stephen Zawistowski, Julie Morris, M.D. Salman & Rebecca Ruch-Gallie (2010) Population
Dynamics, Overpopulation, and the Welfare of Companion Animals: New Insights on
Old and New Data, Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 1:3, 193-206.

William P. Brown, Janelle P. Davidson & Marion E. Zuefle (2013) Effects of Phenotypic
Characteristics on the Length of Stay of Dogs at Two No Kill Animal Shelters, Journal of
Applied Animal Welfare Science, 16:1, 2-18.

https://unsplash.com/photos/Z819bGz43B8

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