Why PETA Euthanizes

[AnimalAvenger]

WARNING: Contains graphic pictures.

blog.peta.org/archives/2009/03/why_we_euthaniz.php?c=euthanasiag0309&gclid=CIie5aal8JsCFVRM5QodagoX_w

What is your opinion on this?

[Torii-Lee]

I think it's the right thing to do for 2 reasons.
1) Those animals are suffering while alive.
2) PETA cannot possible find homes for all those animals (especially the very sick ones)!

[hello]

i hate seeing creulty pics and vids.
so i didn't see it.
but they are hypocrites..
just saying

[AnimalAvenger]

I'll copy and paste what the blog says, then.

[AnimalAvenger]

In my first year working at a grossly substandard animal shelter in Maryland, I forced myself to go in early to euthanize dogs by holding them in my arms and gently helping them escape an uncaring world without trauma or pain and to spare them from being stabbed haphazardly—while they were fully conscious, terrified and aware—in the general vicinity of their hearts with needles blunt from reuse and left to thrash on the floor until they finally died by the callous people who would arrive later to do the job.

I always wonder how anyone cannot recognize that there is a world of difference between painlessly euthanizing animals out of compassion—aged, injured, sick, and dying animals whose guardians can't afford euthanasia, for instance—as PETA does, and causing them to suffer terror, pain, and a prolonged death while struggling to survive on the streets, at the hands of untrained and uncaring "technicians," or animal abusers.

It's easy to point the finger at those who are forced to do the "dirty work" caused by a throwaway society's casual acquisition and breeding of dogs and cats who end up homeless and unwanted, but at PETA, we will never turn our backs on neglected, unloved, and homeless animals—even if the best we can offer them is a painless release from a world that doesn't have enough heart or homes with room for them. It makes it easy for people to throw stones at us, but we are against all needless killing: for hamburgers, fur collars, dissection, sport hunting―the works. PETA handled far more animals than 2,124 in 2008. In fact, we took in more than 10,000 dogs and cats and work very hard to persuade people to spay and neuter their animals and to commit to a lifetime of care and respect for them. We go so far as to transport animals to and from our spay/neuter clinics, where they are spayed or neutered and given vet care, often for free! Since 2001, PETA's low- to no-cost spay-and-neuter mobile clinics, SNIP and ABC, have sterilized more than 50,000 animals, preventing hundreds of thousands of animals from being born, neglected, abandoned, abused, or euthanized when no one wanted them. And on a national level, PETA is focusing on the root of the problem through our Animal Birth Control (ABC) campaign.

If anyone has a good home, love, and respect to offer, we beg them: Go to a shelter and take one or two animals home. The problem is that few people do that, choosing instead to go to a breeder or a pet shop and not "fixing" their dogs and cats, which contributes to the high euthanasia rate that animal shelters face. Most of the animals we took in and euthanized could hardly be called "pets," as they had spent their lives chained up in the back yard, for instance. They were unsocialized, never having been inside a building of any kind or known a pat on the head. Others were indeed someone's, but they were aged, sick, injured, dying, too aggressive to place, and the like, and PETA offered them a painless release from suffering, with no charge to their owners or custodians.

Every day, PETA's fieldworkers help abused and neglected dogs—many of them pit bulls nowadays and many of them forced to live their lives on chains heavy enough to tow an 18-wheeler—by providing them with food; clean water; lightweight tie-outs; deworming medicine; flea, tick, and fly-strike prevention; free veterinary care; sturdy wooden doghouses stuffed with straw bedding; and love.

What we see is enough to make you lose faith in humanity. One pit bull we gained custody of, named Asia, looked like a skeleton covered with skin when PETA released her from the 15-pound chain she had been kept on for years. Asia suffered from three painful and deadly intestinal obstructions, which prevented her from keeping any food down. She faced an agonizing, lingering death, so our veterinarian recommended euthanasia to end her suffering. We pursued criminal charges against those responsible for her condition, leading to their conviction for cruelty to animals. That is just one of the dozens of cases we see every week.

The majority of adoptable dogs are never brought through our doors (we refer them to local adoption groups and walk-in animal shelters). Most of the animals we house, rescue, find homes for, or put out of their misery come from miserable conditions, which often lead to successful prosecution and the banning of animal abusers from ever owning or abusing animals again.

As long as animals are still purposely bred and people aren't spaying and neutering their companions, open-admission animal shelters and organizations like PETA must do society's dirty work. Euthanasia is not a solution to overpopulation but rather a tragic necessity given the present crisis. PETA is proud to be a "shelter of last resort," where animals who have no place to go or who are unwanted or suffering are welcomed with love and open arms.

Please, if you care about animals, help prevent more of them from being born only to end up chained and left to waste away in people's back yards, suffering on mean streets where people kick at them or shoo them away like garbage, tortured at the hands of animal abusers, or, alas, euthanized in animal shelters for lack of a good home. If you want to save lives, always have your animals spayed or neutered.

Posted by Ingrid E. Newkirk

NOTE: I do not completely agree with this and also am unsure if all of what it says is 100% true.

[kcares]

I'm pretty much choosing to ignore this, mainly because it would completly turn me off from all the good things PETA does.

[AnimalAvenger]

^I agree with you.

[streamofpassion]

euthanasia.. "good death"

I'm all for the mercy killing form of euthanasia. when a living creature is so far into the point of no return that it's constant suffering outweighs any little speck of brightness that can insert itself into that creature's day, there is no better option than the end that creature's pain. when it's the choice of a painless injection vs. an agonizing death, i am in full support of euthanasia.

however, it is when an animal that is completely adoptable is killed for insignificant reasons (such as the animal being of a specific breed, having lived in a cage for an extended period of time, having minor but very treatable injuries, is old, or because the money that could have been used to shelter and care for the animal was spent on publicity) that euthanasia is unacceptable. there is no justification for the killing of an animal who has the potential to live a full and happy life.

there is nothing good about the death of a completely adoptable animal, killed before his/her time. this form of euthanasia is not mercy killing but murder. there is no justification for that.

[Linn]

I think that people should regard euthanasia with a "quality VS quantity" view.

If there's a possibility that the animal is able to life a full and happy life, then give it the chance to. There's absolutely no excuses. So the dog isn't dog-friendly? Find a responsible owner, or train it. So it used to be a fighting dog? Same thing. So it's a pit bull? My pittie is the sweetest, gentlest dog I know!

But if you'd have to sacrifice its quality of life to extend it, then put it down. And be nice about it! Pet it and tell it that it's a good dog/cat/etc and that kinda thing. Do it like the vet does it, with the catheter and all that.

[GYARADOS.]

i agree, i mean what else are they supposed to do? not to mention all the good peta has done for animals, and all the serious issues they have brought to light, why stop supporting them just because they're forced to do the deed that shelters do just as frequently. i mean euthanasia is terrible, so are all the other things peta is fighting against. for me the pros by far out way the cons.

[streamofpassion]

Aug 12, 2009 22:34:03 GMT -5 GYARADOS. said:

i agree, i mean what else are they supposed to do? not to mention all the good peta has done for animals, and all the serious issues they have brought to light, why stop supporting them just because they're forced to do the deed that shelters do just as frequently. i mean euthanasia is terrible, so are all the other things peta is fighting against. for me the pros by far out way the cons.

Peta euthanizes an insanely huge amount of the animals that they take in. Many, if not most, of these animals are completely adoptable with full potential to live out a healthy and happy life- as long as they're not killed before their time.

The fact is that peta is not "forced" to kill such large amounts of adoptable animals, they choose to, in favor of spending their money on ridiculous campaigns instead of actually caring for and rehoming the animals.

I guess other people can turn a blind eye to peta's enormous role in the abhorrent 'deed' of pointless euthanasia, however I will not stand for that. I don't care what or how many other worthwhile causes they have, I simply cannot support a hypocritical organization that kills obscene amounts of adoptable animals.

Doing otherwise is like saying "I support an organization that works to save wolves! They raise a lot of awareness and get laws passed in favor of wolves, though members frequently like to go out with some rifles and shoot a bunch of wolves. I turn a blind eye to this abhorrent, pointless killing because I like how they do some good things for wolves! Yay!"

[dynastygal]

The images put a face to what many seem to ignore. I've no doubt a lot of the euthanasia is abuse cases like shown in the photos...

Every organisation has it's good and bad points. But unless I see evidence of healthy animals being put down I can't really fault them for putting down abused animals who are at the point of no return.