One of the common "Smoke and Mirrors" tactics used by many shelter directors in Wisconsin is the statement that their shelter does not "euthanize" for "time or space". You will see this on their Facebook page or website. This is an attempt to dupe the donor or volunteer into believing that they are a No Kill shelter.
The magic question becomes "If you don't "euthanize" (kill) for time or space what do you "euthanize" for?" The answer is usually any animal that the shelter deems "unadoptable" on that particular day.
Typically:
- Dogs and cats with behavior issues including things like litterbox issues, food bowl "aggression", barrier "aggression", leash reactivity and other problems that usually disappear when the animal is away from the stress of the shelter.
- Cats deemed "feral"
- Cats and dogs with ringworm
- Cats with FIV or FELV
- Cats and dogs that are owner surrenders that do not require the mandatory seven day stray hold.
Instead shelters should be:
- using a lifesaving matrix like the one from the No Kill Advocacy Center, to determine what is treatable.
- saving all healthy and treatable animals in their care which will be upwards of 90%, saving euthanasia for only the hopelessly ill or the dangerously aggressive.
- transparent - posting their statistics and their reasons for true euthanasia online.
And if they're not - they're just trying to fool you with what they consider a clever marketing term: "time and space".
"We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger." Tad Williams
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