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Originally Posted by lulusmom  If it was your intention to hold me up as an example of a radical anti dog breeder wingnut by demeaning me in public, you only met half of your goal. I am not a wingnut but you did a very good of demeaning me. |
I am very, very tired of some people blaming breeders for the deaths of shelter dogs. It is unfair and completely wrong, plus it is a horrible thing to say to someone -- that they contribute to the deaths of innocent dogs, when that is NOT TRUE. Such a baseless statement deserves to be harshly responded to, as it by itself is a harsh accusation. If you honestly think it's 'okay' to tell someone you don't even know that they are contributing to innocent animal deaths, you really need to stop and reflect how such a statement would probably get you into a fight if you said it in real life to a person, let alone on a internet forum. Such rhetoric is tolerated on many pet sites, and it's wrong. I'm really shocked that you claim you were not insinuating that breeding 'steals homes' from shelter dogs and contributes to their death, when you
absolutely did. It doesn't matter if you didn't use the 'exact words', the conclusion is the same. I cared about HER feelings, because she didn't deserve to have a stranger waltz into her thread, tell her to stop breeding and tell everyone she knows to adopt from a shelter instead, and lecture her about dying shelter pets. That's just uncalled for and bizarrely rude.
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Unless you are a shelter worker, a rescue worker or volunteer at a shelter, you have absolutely no idea how horrible things really are. Yes education might help but stupid and greedy people will stay stupid and greedy and unfortunately, highly educated and loving pet owners are unemployed and losing their homes today.
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Perhaps you'd like to click the many links in my first post to the rescues and shelters who are the sources of all my information? I don't believe that the ASPCA, Maddie's Fund, Spay-USA, The National Council on Pet Population, and HSUS are into lying about shelter and adoption statistics. All of those organizations are built upon SAVING ANIMALS. So I believe
them, because they actually did a lot of statistical research and see the
big picture across the nation. Their information is invaluable. You cannot take a scenario in your small corner of the world (which may truly be very bad) and assume it is the norm for the entire country.
Many shelters are actually importing animals from other countries now
because they have so many empty cages. I personally am appalled that this happens instead of them helping less fortunate
local shelters that are too full. But that is the poor state of shelters in this country -- many are not networked, not working with foster/rescue groups, do not do adoption outreach and advertisement, only open 9-5 on weekdays when people are at work, don't quarantine animals so disease spreads, do not have volunteer programs, do not use Petfinder, etc. etc. Their dismal adoption rates are then blamed on everyone else, instead of on
their own failed policies.
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To understand just a little of what I'm saying, check out the New Hope List on the L.A. City Animal Services website. Go through today's 42 pages and count the number of little mix and purebreed dogs that are on that very, very long list. To end up on the New Hope list means their days are numbered. The majority you see on that list will die because less people are adopting because of the economy, the rescues are full and fosters are few and far between. This is just one website that represents a minute fraction of the overwhelming amount of dogs, big and small, that are in shelters in four counties that our rescue and others cover so please don't misinform people by telling them that most little dogs get adopted because it is simply not true.
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It is in most parts of the U.S. There is a bigger picture going on that just L.A., which actually has a very high kill rate compared to many other counties. San Francisco, for example, manages to adopt out most of their animals. Perhaps L.A. should look into successful lifesaving programs that other shelters with high adoption rates use, like shipping animals to shelters that have the space/foster homes/rescue group connections to help rehome more animals. Does L.A. do that now?
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Dogs are one of God's most precious gifts so excuse me if I continue to ask people not to breed or buy as long as shelter dogs die.
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Quoting the
Animal Defense League's propaganda line is not a good way to convince people you are not anti-breeder. ADL invented that catchphrase because they see pet breeding as 'slavery', and the very demand of 'no breeding until shelters are empty' is completely unrealistic --
shelters will never be empty. There will
always be people who fail their dogs. There will always be strays or hurt animals that will need help. What we CAN change is the outdated practice of killing healthy animals for no other reason except that they are homeless. THAT is the real tragedy. Because it doesn't have to be that way. I feel bad for animal-loving volunteers who work so hard in shelters
whose leadership refuses to implement modern programs that could save more animals. It's a depressing and difficult job.
Animal Rights groups want pet breeding to end. They want all breeding of animals to end. They don't base their statements on facts, it's all just emotional propaganda to try to get anti-breeder laws passed by wellmeaning people who think it will help shelter animals, and to get people to be so vicious against breeders that they will stop breeding. It's not for any other purpose, it's not to 'help shelter dogs'. It's to end
pets. Quote:
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Pai, I have no idea what the shelter situation is like in Washington State but I can tell you that in Southern California, the situation is as dire as it has ever been.
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My own county's shelter has been exposed as starving, neglecting, and killing animals needlessly for almost decade now. Three separate groups have exposed deeply rooted apathy and greed in our shelter management. I do not believe that every shelter is 'doing the best it can' and killing only because they can't help it -- because my own county's shelter was doing it because it
just didn't care and would rather sit on their budget money rather than spend it doing
work to save animals. ou know what the kicker is? Our mayor defended them. Because he believes that it's normal for a shelter to kill so many animals and it's unrealistic to expect better.
All shelters are not equal. Some are wonderful, and some are terrible. But in general, there is room for a LOT of improvement in how we handle homeless animals in this country.
The 'warehouse and kill' model is almost 100 years old, and virtually unchanged in many shelters. And people just see it as normal. They believe there is no way shelters could do any better.
That belief has to change if we really want to save more homeless pets.
We were killing 20 million pets in shelters in 1970, and today we kill 4 million. We've come so far, and it's because of the tireless work of educators and animal welfare groups. S/N was unheard of before the 1980s, and now the majority of people S/N their pets. More people see their pet as a family member today than 20 years ago. And all that was achieved through education and outreach, not by laws, not by stopping breeders. But where we've failed is in getting more people to adopt -- ASPCA says 80% of people get their pet from
someplace other than a shelter. Why is that?
Because most people still see shelter pets as 'broken' in some way. They give
money to shelters because they feel bad for the animals,
but they don't want to adopt. We have FAILED to 'sell' shelter pets to people. We need to do better.
Seriously, read my links. They are all to shelters and organizations that are dedicated to saving homeless animals. They are also researching the exact reasons why animals are in shelters and how many there are, so they can actually implement constructive plans to reduce those numbers. Maddie's Fund, for example, is currently running a pro-adoption ad campaign in collaboration with the AdCouncil, and gives many grants and other help to shelters. There are places out there that are doing great things for shelter pets. If more people were willing to learn from them instead of repeating the same failed policies that result in 'most killed, only a few saved', we could do more good than we're doing now. And we can do it without attacking responsible people who breed, because breeders are
not all the same and they do NOT all deserve to be scolded by strangers on the internet.
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Bolded type and large fonts are pretty good indications that somebody is pissed off and trying to make a point.
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I know people often skim long posts, so I bold important things. The colored words are
links (I assume most people don't bother to read them, but I try to back up my statements). And yeah, I'm emotionally invested in the topic; I'm not ashamed to admit it.
Chihuahua Bred Sept. 7 
Re: Chihuahua Bred Sept. 7 
