I can see both sides. We adopted our last dog from a no-kill shelter. While we were looking at dogs there, we saw a medium-sized dog named Tess that was a quiet, shy girl. The next week she was gone, adopted by a family. The week after that she was back, turned in by the same family for "temper" issues. Seems that when the brought Tess home, the kids basically jumped on her. She ran under the bed, and when they tried to force her out of there, she snapped at them. What idiots. Hopefully Tess was adopted by someone with a brain who would let her adjust to her new surroundings. The dog we adopted had been there 9 months and had social issues. She was very timid. We had to trick her at the shelter just to walk with her. When we met her in a room before adopting her, she backed away from us across the room and ended perched on the back of a sofa because it was the farthest distance from us. She turned into a loving pet with time and patience. Other shelters would not have kept her that long.
On the other hand, kill shelters are caught between a rock and a hard place. What are they to do when they cannot care for all the animals there? Do they ration food and medicine and let them all suffer malnutrition and disease? Kill shelters are deemed the bad guys, so they don't get the donations that the others get. I remember hearing from a person who worked at such a shelter, and they were not unaffected by euthanizing these animals. They were vocal proponents of spay/neutering to avoid unwanted litters.
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