Why does the ASPCA claim to be a no kill shelter?

Question

They seem to kill more animals than anyone else. I can almost understand when they kill wild cats and fighting dogs. But when they talk about how an animal goes weeks without food and then wonder why the dog bites when you put a hand in it's bowl they kill a dog that has an easily fixable food aggression problem. Animal Planet used to be a good channel but they play that all the time and it just makes me sick to watch them kill animals for no good reason. Whats worse is people call them expecting them to help the animals and all the help they give is helping them to an early grave. Just wondering if anyone else felt like this.

Answer 1

OMG IK!   Most of the animals haven't eaten in a lonngggg lonngggg time. Heck, if it was my first time eating in a long time and I was straving i would bite anyone who got in my way of eating food too!!!!  They could at least give them a few weeks and then test it!!!! and even then if the dog still bites they could still put it up for adoption but only for families with out any kids!!!!

Answer 2

I work for the Nevada Humane Society, which is also No Kill, and the ASPCA works almost the same way.

First of all, not ALL aspca's are No Kill, perhaps you heard one aspca, from one town, say they were No Kill, and then saw another one killing dogs for no reasons. Possibly?

Second of all. No Kill, does not really mean No Kill. Even an animal shelter that claims to be No Kill, still euthanizes many animals.

At the Humane Society we euthanize any animals that come in with terminal or unfixable illnesses, agression problems. (Not just any agression problems though. If we think the dog can be helped, we will keep him and train him to be nicer. Or we will send the dog to a different, private shelter, where he can recieve professional and extensive training. But if it's just an uncontrollable, mean, dog, that our professional behaviorists say can't be helped, we will put it down. ) We obviously wish we didn't have to do this, but we do it for the safety of our employees, our volunteers, our customers, and all the other animals in the shelter.

What if someone tried to take that dog for a walk, and it got off it's leash, and attacked a child, or anyone else for that matter?

So we do kill animals. Which is sad, but it's just not possible to help every single animal that comes to us.

The difference between a No Kill shelter, and a Kill shelter is this:

No Kill shelters only euthanize when they need to, under special circumstances. Otherwise we take the dog in, and give it a home until it is adopted. If it is NEVER adopted, we keep it and feed it and love it until it dies on it's own.

Kill Shelters will take a dog in, wait two weeks for it to be adopted, and then say "Time limit is up" and put it down. They also put down any dog that does something as simple as bite someone, or even just growl too much.

So, No Kill shelters, do still kill, but only when it is necassary.

So that's probably why you heard someone say "NO KILL", and then saw them killing animals.

I know, it's kind of confusing, and I hope I cleared it up for you.

=)

Answer 3

The ASPCA is no kill for space.. That's what most No Kill shelters mean, no-kill doesn't mean NEVER kill.. No kill means they don't take in more dogs so that other adoptable animals get euthanized.

I honestly don't mind the way they do it, while a few people will take dogs with bite histories, MOST people won't. My dogs have bite histories, but, that's not something that bothers me. The thing is, there are so many adoptable animals out there, that euthanizing a biter makes space for another reliable dog that has a lot more chance of being adopted and staying in it's new home..

They have limited kennel space, so, they could keep the known biter, but, he'll be at least three times as hard to adopt out. So, he will take up a kennel that could've saved the lives of three other dogs in the length of time it takes to get him adopted. New York City Care and Control euthanizes thousands of dogs every year, including ones that do not have a bite history and that are highly adoptable. The ASPCA could either take three of those dogs, or hold onto the known biter and let those three they could have saved die..

Euthanizing unreliable dogs lets them save a lot more animals in the long run. Is it sad for that dog? Sure it is. Is it fair to have him take up a kennel for so long that it ends up in the euthanasia of a lot more dogs they could've saved?

Those are the faces you don't see, the dogs that were saved because that one died..

Edited to add: A private shelter around here adopted a dog out with a bite history, after a year in it's new home it killed a child. Not only did a child die unnecessarily, but, the shelter was sued for millions and is now closed. Because they saved that dog, they can never save another and a child died. If they would've euthanized that known biter, they would still be saving dogs and that child could still be alive. They did disclose that the dog was a known biter, but, that didn't stand up in a court.

Answer 4

Would you want a animal that would bit or attack you or someone you know. Do you want an animal that will live only a few days because some A**h*** didn't want/couldn't  take the pet to the vet and now it is in so much pain it won't let anyone touch it.  There is also liability for the placement of the animal, if an animal hurts someone that the ASPCA adopted out the injured person could sue the ASPCA.  I don't like that they put down animals either, but what an animal goes through can't be fixed with love and caring and until animal owners understand that dogs, cats,  birds, cows, horses, ect  need care from the start the ASPCA will have kill animals.  I hope this helps.