The "no-kill" lie has spread like an epidemic and is being used just about everywhere in North America to describe animal pounds. It's a catchy phrase that makes the public feel better about dumping their pets, and also makes donors feel good about sending money, but for the majority of places it's a lie nonetheless. Regardless as to what criteria and temperament testing these places come up with, animals are still being killed for a variety of reasons, and to call themselves no-kill is simply not true.

Joining the ranks of the no-kill lie, is another new spin on an old term to further confuse (or manipulate?) the public. The word shelter has been substituted at some city pounds. Vancouver City Pound (VCP) is a good example of this. They have re-imaged themselves and are now referred to as " Vancouver Animal Control Shelter" (VAS).
But a pound and a shelter are two completely opposite things, so how can one place be both? A pound is just that: a place to "impound" stray dogs (not "animals"), also known as "animal control". They were created to control stray and dangerous dogs and kill the excess that were unclaimed, and they are financed by the city they are located in. A shelter on the other hand, can best be described by Webster's Dictionary as follows:

"Shelter"
"Something that provides cover or protection, as from the weather. A refuge; a haven.
An establishment that provides temporary housing for homeless people (or pets).
The state of being covered or protected.
Synonyms: shelter, cover, retreat, refuge, asylum, sanctuary
These nouns refer to places affording protection, as from danger, or to the state of being protected. Shelter usually implies a covered or enclosed area that protects temporarily, as from injury or attack. Refuge suggests a place of escape from pursuit or from difficulties that beset one. Sanctuary denotes a sacred or inviolable place of refuge."

The term "shelter" more accurately describes what the many thousands of private rescues are doing around N.America. It does not describe what pounds have ever done nor are they doing today.

This begs the question, are pounds using terminology like "No-kill" and "shelter" because private rescues are drawing financial resources away from them? Is this the only way they can compete, to change their image and make them sound as good and compassionate as private rescues? Or, are pounds just striving to be more like rescues because attitudes have changed and they want to change too?

I would like to think the latter is the case, but until pounds really do behave like private rescues, it is dishonest of them to change their title to something that misleads many people to believe that they don't kill dogs.

Misleading the gullible public means that the public will never demand a solution to the reasons that dogs end up at pounds and being killed. That is why the truth must be told, so that real change is made, more than just a name change.