Euthanasia - The ultimate dilemma
The subject of euthanasia when discussed within animal welfare circles always results in heated debate. It is a topic that raises moral and ethical questions, but it is also one that is underpinned with deep emotions. After all, people work with animals because they care for them and want to improve their lives. In most countries however, animal welfare organizations that open their doors to the public are inundated with large numbers of unwanted animals. Some of these are injured, ill or old, others may have behavioural problems that make them poor candidates for adoption. Most are probably healthy animals that are no longer wanted because they aren’t as cute as when they were puppies, they dig up the lawn, chew on the car, the owner is going away or moving to a flat, they have a new dog, or the owner is too busy etc.
In Trinidad and Tobago, we are faced with a huge stray dog/cat problem, and a population that is not properly educated on pet care and responsible practices such as spaying and neutering. In some cases the cost of care at private clinics is too much for owners or they have other priorities for their finances. Many people think nothing of allowing their dog or cat to breed twice a year and then handing out the puppies or kittens to anyone who will take them or just putting them in a box and dropping them ‘somewhere where they will get food’. Some owners will however give up unwanted animals to either the TTSPCA or the AWN.
TTSPCA data shows an increase in the number of unwanted animals relinquished to the northern branch over the last 4 years. In 2008 almost 8000 unwanted animals entered the shelter. They were either brought in by owners, or rescued from the streets, or removed from situations of neglect or cruelty. This is about 150 dogs and cats each week. In addition, four corporations brought in over 1700 dogs to the shelter. The AWN has no shelter facility and takes in a much lower number averaging about 800 - 1000 animals per year. We can then roughly estimate that in 2008 almost 11,000 unwanted dogs and cats were given in to the animal welfare organizations.
The TTSPCA shelter has kennels for about 100 dogs. Some of the kennels are assigned to boarding dogs, some to dogs from the regional corporations, some for recovering veterinary patients, and the rest, the majority, are for dogs for adoption. The shelter also has 16 kennels for cats. The kennel space available to AWN animals at veterinary clinics fluctuates seasonally with less space in the holidays when many of the kennels are occupied by boarders.
The average adoption rate for animals at the TTSPCA shelter is 35 per month or about 9 dogs/ cats per week. The AWN rehomes on average about 5 or 6 animals a month.
The question then is ‘what do we do with all of these dogs and cats? There are really only two options available. One option is for organizations to choose to go ‘no kill’ and to close their doors when the kennels are full and turn away all additional animals, leaving them to a fate that could include abandonment on the side of a highway. The other option is to take in all unwanted animals and to make life and death decisions depending on their suitability for rehoming and the space available. Overcrowding is not the answer, a properly run shelter should not subject animals to further cruelty. A minimum amount of space, and food must be provided, and dogs should have access to regular exercise. In addition, where are we to find good homes for these animals? You cannot take a dog out of a situation of neglect and poor treatment only to hand it on to a similar situation – potential owners and homes must be vetted to at least give the animal a fighting chance.
Organisations have to make these decisions. If the alleviation of suffering is our goal then euthanasia is often the only choice available. This is widely recognized, and in other countries where the resources are much greater it is still the common practice. In the United States 9.6 million animals are euthanized annually, 65% of all animals brought into shelters. An excerpt of the Humane Societies statement on euthanasia states that “The practice is still conducted for dogs and cats because open-admission shelters and animal control agencies do not turn away animals and do not have sufficient space to house all of the animals who need shelter ”.