Berger I MLA Research Paper (Berger) Why should there be No- Kill Animal Shelters? Mikaela
Berger II Writing 101 Professor Kathy February 23, 2015 Outline THESIS: While many animal shelters believe that euthanasia controls the population of homeless animals, and is cost effective, the philosophy of No- Kill shelters allows for shelters all over the United States to save millions of lives of helpless dogs and cats and provides increased revenue to shelters and their communities. I: 1,000s of unwanted, abandoned, strays end up in shelters everywhere every day. A: Roughly eight million animals enter shelters every year! Roughly four million animals are killed by euthanasia every year! B: Many shelters still kill more than 90% of the animals they take in. C: Getting a spay/neuter law passed will help reduce & hopefully end the homeless animal crisis & the need for euthanasia. II: Finding homes for one animal saves one life, spaying/neutering saves 100s if not 1,000s of animal s lives.
Berger III A: Private shelters do a good job at placing animals but they often kill (or refuse) animals that are hard to find homes for. B: If municipal shelters are under the administration of a large department, they often get shorted of funding and staffing. C: Additionally, these shelters may be staffed by friends and relatives of political appointees. Such people may have no background in the care of animals and no sense of duty to the animals. III: Myth: No kill is too expensive, our community can t afford it. A: Fact: No kill is a cost effective, responsible, and a great economic boon to local communities. Municipalities which want to enact good policy and improve the local economy should invest in lifesaving at their local shelter. Given the cost savings and additional revenues of doing so (reduced costs associated with killing, enhanced community support, an increase in adoption revenues, and other user fees, and additional tax revenues), as well as the positive economic impact of adoptions, a community cannot afford not to embrace No kill. B: Although costs vary somewhat, impounding, caring for, and ultimately killing an animal and disposing of his/her body costs approximately $106.00 ($66 for impoundment and $40 for killing and disposal). C: In just one community, a No Kill initiative yielded $250,000 in increased revenues at a time the shelter also significantly reduced expenditures. In addition, the positive economic impact to businesses due to subsequent spending by adopters on those animals
Berger IV totaled over $12,000,000 in sales annually. Over the course of the lifetime of those animals and subsequent adoptions, it is estimated that these animals will generate $300 million, bringing in over $20,000,000 in sales tax revenues. IV: Think there are too many animals and not enough homes? Think again... A: Nationally, roughly four million animals are killed in shelters every year. Of these, upwards of 99% of all shelter animals are healthy and treatable. The remainder consists of hopelessly ill or injured animals and vicious dogs whose prognosis for rehabilitation is poor or grave. That would put the number of savable animals at roughly 3.8 million. At the same time, over 23 million Americans will get a new pet every year, and 17 million of those households have not decided where they will get that animal and can be influenced to adopt from a shelter. Even if upwards of 80 percent acquired an animal from somewhere other than a shelter, U.S. shelters could still stop killing all healthy and treatable animals. On top of that, not all animals entering shelters need adoption. Some will be lost strays who will be reclaimed by their family (shelters which are comprehensive in their lost pet reclaim efforts, for example, have demonstrated that as many as two-thirds of stray dogs can be reunited with their families). Others are unsocialized feral cats who should be neutered and released. Still others will be beyond a shelter s ability to medically save. In the end, a shelter only needs to find new homes for roughly half to 60% of all incoming animals to end the killing. And in more and more communities, that is exactly what they are doing. B: For too many years, the killing of millions of animals in our nation s pounds has been justified on the basis of a supply and demand imbalance. We ve been told that there are
Berger V just too many animals and not enough homes. In other words, pet overpopulation. BUT PET OVERPOPULATION DOES NOT EXIST.
Berger VI Why Should There be No-Kill Shelters? Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of that number, approximately 3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats. Each year, approximately 1.2 million dogs are euthanized and approximately 1.4 million cats are euthanized. Approximately 1.4 million shelter dogs are adopted each year and approximately 1.3 million shelter cats are adopted each year. Of the dogs entering shelters, approximately 35% are adopted, 31% are euthanized and 26% of dogs who came in as strays are returned to their owner. Of the cats entering shelters, approximately 37% are adopted, 41% are euthanized, and less than 5% of cats who came in as strays are returned to their owners. (http://www.aspca.org/aboutus/faq/pet-statistics). While many animal shelters believe that euthanasia controls the population of homeless animals, and is cost effective, the philosophy of No- Kill shelters allows for shelters all over the United States to save millions of lives of helpless dogs and cats and provides increased revenue to shelters and their communities. Strays in Shelters Every Where Thousands of unwanted, abandoned strays end up in shelters everywhere every day. Roughly eight million animals enter shelters every year and about four million animals are killed by euthanasia every single year. (http://www.aspca.org/aboutus/faq/pet-statistics). There are so many animals in shelters and there are also plenty of people to adopt the shelter animals so that they don t have to be euthanized. One way of reducing the population of homeless animals is getting a spay and neuter law passed. This would stop the reproduction of more animals which would help shelters not to fill up with an endless amount of strays. These dogs and cats need our help. They don t need to be
Berger VII killed like they are every day! Johann Wolfgang Goethe s quote, Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid, motivates animal activists to be bold for those without a voice. Spaying and Neutering Dogs and Cats Finding a home for one animal saves one life, yet spaying and neutering saves hundreds, if not thousands of animal s lives. If everyone could get their dog and cat spayed or neutered then we could save so many helpless animals from going into shelters and being killed. If municipal shelters are under the administration of a large department, they often get shorted on funding and staffing. Additionally, these shelters may be staffed by friends and relatives of political appointees. Such people may have no background in the care of animals and no sense of duty to the animals. Some shelters kill simply because keeping a lot of animals is just too much work. One example is at the City of Los Angeles Animal Services Department, it has been reported that they kill every day despite the number of empty cages. Empty cages means less cleaning, less feeding and less work. (Redemption by: Nathan J. Winograd page 157) Some shelter directors simply lack compassion for animals and do it for that reason. Others do it because they falsely believe that no one will adopt the animals. As William Shakespeare once said, Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity. No-Kill is Too Expensive It is a myth that No-Kill shelters are too expensive. The fact is that No-Kill shelters are cost effective, responsible, and a terrific economic boom to local communities.
Berger VIII Municipalities that efforts want to enact good policy and improve the local economy should invest in lifesaving at their local shelter. Given the cost savings and additional revenues of doing so (reduced costs associated with killing, enhanced community support, an increase in adoption revenues, and other user fees, and additional tax revenues), as well as the positive economic impact of adoptions, a community cannot afford not to embrace a No-Kill policy. Although costs vary somewhat, impounding, caring for, and ultimately killing an animal and disposing of his/her body costs approximately $106.00 ($66 for impoundment and $40 for killing and disposal). In just one community, a No Kill initiative yielded $250,000 in increased revenues at a time while the shelter also significantly reduced expenditures. In addition, the positive economic impact to businesses due to subsequent spending by adopters on those animals totaled over $12,000,000 in sales annually. Over the course of the lifetime of those animals and subsequent adoptions, it is estimated that these animals will generate $300 million, bringing in over $20,000,000 in sales tax revenues. (http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/dollars.pdf). Killing helpless animals is just unbelievable! It is hard to imagine so many people and shelters do it every day. Richard Avanzino, President of The San Francisco Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animal says, What is unconscionable, abominable and outrageous is that animals, healthy and well-behaved, are being killed because someone says there are too many. That is something we do not accept. This is something we find intolerable. Pet Overpopulation It has been said that there are too many animals and not enough homes yet, nationally, roughly four million animals are killed in shelters every year. Of these, 99 percent of all shelter animals are healthy and adoptable. The remainder consists of hopelessly ill or
Berger IX injured animals and vicious dogs whose prognosis for rehabilitation is poor or grave. That would put the number of savable animals at roughly 3.8 million. At the same time, over 23 million Americans will get a new pet every year, and 17 million of those households have not decided where they will get that animal and can be influenced to adopt from a shelter. Even if upwards of 80 percent acquired an animal from somewhere other than a shelter, U.S. shelters could still stop killing all healthy and treatable animals. On top of that, not all animals entering shelters need adoption. Some will be lost strays who will be reclaimed by their family (shelters which are comprehensive in their lost pet reclaim efforts, for example, have demonstrated that as many as two-thirds of stray dogs can be reunited with their families). Others are unsocialized feral cats who should be neutered and released. Still others will be beyond a shelter s ability to medically save. In the end, a shelter only needs to find new homes for roughly half to 60 percent of all incoming animals to end the killing. (http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/no-killquick-facts/). And in more and more communities, that is exactly what they are doing. For too many years, the killing of millions of animals in our nation s pounds has been justified on the basis of a supply and demand imbalance. We ve been told that there are just too many animals and not enough homes. In other words, pet overpopulation. But pet overpopulation does not exist. Our society can be a No-Kill nation!! As Nathan J. Winograd states, If every animal shelter in the United States embraced the No-Kill philosophy and the programs and services that make it possible, we would save nearly four million dogs and cats who are scheduled to die in shelters this year, and the year after that. It is not an impossible dream.
Berger X Please Grade my Research paper! Mikaela Mikaelaberger@Comcast.net Thank You!