For those of you who still think that no-kill is the answer, please read the logic behind this letter.
Dear Mayor and Council,

I am writing to you with regards to the “No-Kill” policy that the Vancouver Humane Society is urging you to adopt for the Vancouver City Pound. Although I would truly love all pounds and shelters to be no-kill, I strongly feel that it is both premature and idealistic, and I would caution you to consider carefully the ramifications for both the animals and the no-kill concept, by making such a statement at this time.

While I heartily encourage Mayor and Council to adopt and enforce bylaws that recognize both emotional and physical animal abuse/neglect, I feel that publicly supporting the VCP no-kill policy would jeopardize this concept for future generations. The reason is simple: if you adopt a no-kill policy before ideal conditions exist, then the public will find out that animals are still being killed, and this will ultimately harm the policy’s integrity and ensure its failure. As well, the no-kill policy will give the public a false sense that all is well in the animal community and nobody needs to change their attitudes or behavior. In other words, the public will have no incentive or reason to spay/neuter their pets, take their dogs off chains, or treat their animals kindly to avoid aggressive un-socialized behavior. And why should they if they know that the VCP will take their pet, spay/neuter it, socialize/train it, and find it a suitable home? By promising to not kill their “problem” they are emotionally off the hook and will never change their ways.

Until such a time when the animal bylaws in Vancouver have been re-written and are enforced, and the BCSPCA has truly reformed and will channel its resources to both prosecute animal abusers and properly educate the public about animal overpopulation, the no-kill label is simply a whopping lie. Despite the fact that the Vancouver City Pound has taken credit for being no-kill, and the former pound manager was treated like the Animal Messiah, there are many who know this to be untrue, including several outspoken VCP employees. If you think about it logically, it is impossible for them or anyone else to be no-kill under the current conditions. Unfortunately, there are just too many animals with too few good homes for them, and too many animal abusers and dumpers with inadequate laws and enforcement, making no-kill unrealistic.

In summary, I feel that only when the appropriate bylaws are enacted and enforced, and the pet population begins to decline as a natural progression of these changes, can we honestly have a no-kill policy anywhere. I also feel that as leaders of your community, you have a responsibility to be honest with the public, and not to hide the seriousness of this problem with a no-kill policy that cannot be sustained.