ANIMAL ADVOCATES SOCIETY OF BC - POUNDS

TRUE NO-KILL It’s simple – true no-kill doesn’t kill, except to relieve unrelievable suffering. True no-kill keeps the 'keepers", the old ones or the unfriendly or ugly or sick ones, the barkers, and fear-biters that no one wants. To do this a true no-kill shelter must be a "closed" shelter, a shelter that says, "We're full", instead of an "open" shelter that takes all dogs and so must kill some to make room for more. Saying, "We're full" and turning away people attempting to dump the responsibility for the dog they bought and then tired of is the only way to force the responsibility for all the dog-dumping back where it belongs - onto the owner. If it weren't so easy to get rid of a dog fewer people would buy pups in the first place. Open shelters encourage and enable irresponsibility and cruelty. (The SPCA does it for money.) The SPCA has used the gimmick of contrasting themselves as holier-than-thou open shelters (too kind to say No), and sneeringly referring to groups like AAS as closed shelters (nasty, elitist). The SPCA is open all right - open for business. Their pound contracts don't allow them to turn away dogs and that is one of the things that is so immoral about mixing pound contracting and animal welfare.

NOT TRUE NO-KILL Pounds and "shelters" that designate some dogs "unadoptable", kill them, and then say "We don’t kill any "adoptable" dogs. And God help the dog that a staff member doesn’t like, or is old, or sick, or barks too much, or panics under the "lunatic-asylum" conditions of a pound, and fearfully bites the strange hand reaching for it, or is withdrawn and unfriendly after being abandoned by the family it loved so much and would never leave, or the dog who is just not cute enough, or the dog that's matted...

CAN A POUND REALLY BE NO-KILL? No pound can be no-kill as long as there are no controls on breeding and no controls on the chained dogs that are dumped at pounds, completely unsocialized and often fear biters.

What can a pound do with these excess and unsocialized dogs? By law it must take them. And no pound has limitless money and space to keep the dogs that no one is ever going to buy.

Stray dogs can be returned to the owner, sold to someone new, or killed. There are no other options. This isn't rocket science.

It's now popular for pounds to announce that they are no-kill, but some dishonesty is required. It's in the use of the words, 'We don't kill any "adoptable" dogs'. Adoptable is just another word for sellable, and no pound ever did kill a sellable dog. That would make no sense, especially from a financial point of view. No-kill pounds are still killing and making their "adoption" numbers look good by selling to the first person to walk through the door with the cash, even people who clearly should not be allowed to own a caterpillar. Read the letter from an ex-Vancouver City Pound volunteer who quit because she couldn't stand the hypocrisy anymore. click here

VOLUNTEER PROGRAMS REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Vancouver City Pound is to be commended for the volunteer programs that have resulted in dogs being treated better and for its foster program, which has helped to make a lot more dogs adoptable. Full marks for the volunteers.

The problem with saying that the VCP pound is no-kill while it is still killing (albeit fewer) is that the public thinks that the VCP kills NO dogs. (we have been told this many times by a trusting public.)

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH SAYING YOU'RE NO-KILL WHEN YOU'RE NOT? If the public believes that their pound does not have to kill dogs, then the public will never insist that the City of Vancouver adopt controls on breeding and chaining dogs. Nothing will ever change. That's the evil in not being honest about what a pound is forced to do. The killing will never stop - not until the public is shown the truth.

VCP should show on its web page which dogs are going to be euthanized and why. That would be honest. That would result in change.

SELLING DOGS TO ANYONE WITH THE MONEY IS DISHONEST AND A BETRAYAL OF DOGS. It's also not honest to sell dogs to clearly irresponsible people, people with a history of neglect, people who take their dog home from the pound and chain it up. Selling to just anyone makes the figures look good, but it is a betrayal of dogs.

They don’t kill them. True no-kill provides for the "keepers". The true "shelter" will always have a few old dogs and cats that have made the shelter their home. But there’s surprisingly few of these old keepers. AAS has always found the perfect home for every dog and cat. We just keep looking until we find that right match, and the old dear is loved, warts and all.

You don’t kill. You don’t kill one dog to make room for another. That’s how pound-contracting works - what doesn’t sell is killed for what might sell. Friends of the Pound would create a network of foster homes to take dogs when the pound is full. Each municipal pound should only take dogs from its municipality. This will force other municipalities to deal with their own moral dilemmas. An open-door policy will result in failure of a no-kill pound - and failure isn't any use to abandoned animals or to the movement toward no-kill pounds. The West Vancouver SPCA can only maintain it's standards by refusing to take strays from other municipalities, although it will take dogs from other SPCA's and pounds if it has the room. It's up to other pounds to raise their standards, not up to no-kill pounds to lower theirs.

That’s a moot point – but it doesn’t excuse sanctioned killing. Some no-kill shelters in the USA decided to stop killing, and began turning away people when they were full. Instead, they counseled and helped people to look for good homes, or to find ways to keep their dogs, or helped them pay bills they couldn’t afford. Not surprisingly, when people were forced to take responsibility, they took it. There was no blood-bath.

Anyone can take their pet into an SPCA or the Vancouver City Pound, and pay to have it killed. These places have the experienced staff, the crematoria, and often the euthanol, and it makes good business sense to put it to work earning money. AAS thinks this is a moral contradiction if you also say you are humane or no-kill. Volunteers have witnessed people with no identification bring in animals they claim are theirs, and paying to have them killed. No true animal-lover would do this for any amount of money. In a true no-kill shelter, people can surrender their animals for adoption. If they wish them killed, they must take them to a vet (most of whom are more ethical than "shelters" and pounds, and won't kill a healthy animal). We believe most people will chose to surrender their pet for adoption, rather than for euthanasia, especially if they knew that their "pet" may huddle for days in cold, dirty, cell, waiting to be killed. (See M. Taylor's letter about this.)

WHY DOESN’T AAS RUN ITS OWN HUMANE POUND?

AAS wouldn’t be the poundkeeper for any amount of money. The poundkeeper has to return dogs to owners even when they know the owner is uncaring or mean. Poundkeepers have to ticket owners of dogs that are happily playing just outside a free-run area. Poundkeepers have to catch terrified strays. AAS wants municipally-run pounds, which will be accountable to its citizens. Read how to go about getting a municipally-run pound in your community, click here