TV show 30 Days - Animal Rights  

I'm with you. I can't even walk into an animal shelter, unless it's a no kill shelter. There ARE things they can do, but it requires a great deal of effort, and willingness to do more then just punch in, do what the state requires, and punch out. Which is why most city shelters in the United States end up killing the majority of the healthy animals that are brought in.

I read a story once, where a vet was offered a job as the manager type person of a city shelter in New York. The were going to be giving him an increase in his salary, and helping him financially to relocate, so he took them up on the offer. The article said he was so excited on his first day at the shelter in New York.

That very first day, someone brought in a litter of puppies that they didn't want, to the shelter. One of the workers went up to this guy on his first day, who was now the boss, and asked "Okay boss, we just had a litter of puppies come in, who do we get rid of?" The guy asked what he worker meant by that, and he explained that there wasn't room unless they had one of the dogs already in the pound euthanised. The vet guy was appalled. He said, we don't have to kill anyone! He found a sturdy crate in the store room, filled it with rags, and placed the puppies in that crate, leaving them in the very front of the shelter so that they would be the first thing people saw when they entered the shelter.

Those puppies were all successfully adopted out within a couple days, they didn't take up more room, and no one had to die. He continued implementing various tactics, and the end result is that the shelter he operates is now effectively a no kill shelter. So, I know that there are so many things they could do, other then killing otherwise healthy animals. And, to be fair, many shelters around the country have started formulating various programs and implementing tactics that have drastically cut down on the number of animals that "have" to be killed.

So, yeah, that episode would make me cry too! And, I'm with you on the finding a way to get a large plot of land for all the unwanted animals too. A friend of mine and I were discussing that not too long ago, and how we'd like to create a ranch where we could take them all in, from all the shelters that were about to put them to sleep, and just let them roam free, after having been neutered/spayed.

I watched his series (on FX, right?) before but wasn't aware it was starting up again now. I'd better get it set up on record series. Anyhow, the only experience I've had with a shelter here - well I've had two - was trying to call them up and get them to take a kitten that was hiding in my garage. The reason I tried so hard was because my older neighbors had JUST brought the mother cat and the REST of the kittens in the day before. This one got away and snuck thru a hole into my garage and hid inside the bottom section of a broken copy machine and it took me an hour to get the kitten out. It was too small to be away from its mother and my hope was that I could get it over there before the mother cat rejected it. People are always adopting kittens, it would have been best. Well, they didn't answer their phone and I left a message. By the time I heard back from them, the kitten had gotten out of my house and disappeared! The second time was when my friend was trying to get someone to take her cat because her son had developed allergies to it. They refused and she called 2 other places. I was kind of mad because her son was suffering pretty badly plus the cat had scratched his face.

I am shocked that more animals are not adopted from shelters because they are low cost or free. Pet stores rip you off right and left!