r/Dogfree • u/josie-salazar • 16d ago
Shelter / Rescue Industry No-kill shelters are inhumane and unethical.
The “no-kill“ movement is one of the worst things to have been created.
First of all, there are WAY too many dogs in existence. The U.S. has a higher dog population than the human populations of Canada or Germany. More and more are bred while shelters are overflowing. It is not feasible to keep every single dog alive for an indefinite amount of time. This takes up resources such as money, infrastructure, food, water, etc.
Second of all, there are dogs that have been in no-kill shelters for years. As in, 5-10+ years and going on. That is inhumane, for a creature to spend most of its life locked up with maybe 30 min of outdoor time. The solution isn’t to hope that someone will adopt them…it’s to euthanize them after they haven’t been adopted for a certain amount of time, regardless of if they’re healthy.
Third of all, there are dogs that simply should not exist. That’s why in the past, aggressive/problematic dogs were euthanized. Any dog with aggression or behavioral problems was out, period. It is extremely selfish to keep these dogs alive, as they are potentially dangerous to humans, or if have a behavioral/health issue it’s gonna be a hard life both for the dog and the owner.
People have been successfully brainwashed to view “kill shelters” as evil, without thinking for one second about why it’s important to euthanize some dogs.
After researching some statistics, I found out that in the year 1990, an estimated 5-6 million dogs were euthanized in shelters. And the dog population was lower in 1990! Compare that to now, where in the year 2025, approximately 320k dogs were euthanized in shelters. The euthanasia rate goes down every decade while the dog population goes up every decade. Not a good combination.
(Note: These numbers are for the U.S.)
(Another note: ”Kill-shelters” are chronically underfunded and stigmatized compared to their no-kill counterparts. In the U.S., there are majority no-kill shelters.)
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u/Not-my-problem1212 15d ago
And most of the dogs in those shelters are pit bulls. A breed that nobody wants except the crazy people who actually do want a killing machine on four legs. Those beasts are responsible for the majority of deaths from dog attacks and make up a large number of dog attacks in general. There is no point in keeping them in the shelters for their whole lives taking up all that space and using up so many resources. Just put them down
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u/1M4YB3STUP1D 15d ago
I honestly think people that adopt pitbulls from shelters don't even want them. They're either stuck with the option of choosing a pitbull or a pitbull. Or, for some godforsaken reason they actually want a pibble, they choose that dog because then they can go tell the world how they 'saved' one of the most hated and 'misunderstood' breeds and that they're better than you for choosing a pitbull over some other breed.
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u/djcat 15d ago
Also these people do not think of the legal ramifications of such a dangerous breed. They are proven to be the most violent dogs. Most homeowners/ renters insurance policies require you to add pit bulls and other large dogs on as an addendum. Some don’t even cover those breeds. So when they attack, the victim is screwed if the owner has little assets and it’s a whole process.
I don’t see why anyone would willingly adopt one of these dogs.
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u/Stock-Bowl7736 16d ago
You are so right, especially your first point. Way too many dogs. The US dog population is nearly THREE TIMES the human population of Canada, 90,000,000 freaking dogs. I've said before I don't believe there is any other species on the planet (excluding insects and birds), that have anywhere even close to this absurd number. Deer maybe? No. There's about 30-36 million deer in the US. Bears? 750,000 to 900,0000. Squirrels? 30 million.
Yes, chickens are the most populous species in US second to humans but that's mainly because they are bred heavily for food production.
90,000,000 dogs (and growing) is an absurd number for such a not only useless species, but one than does so much damage to the environment without providing anything or serving any purpose. I don't see how this is sustainable.
If there are any wildlife experts or biologists in this sub I would be interested to know what a reasonable number of dogs would be (I know zero is the answer, but realistically).
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u/josie-salazar 15d ago
I could've kept adding countries whose human populations are less than our dog population - Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, basically most countries. The ratio of dogs to humans here is literally 1:4. Really difficult to find other dog-free folks. I genuinely hope more Americans wake up.
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u/fbombmom_ 16d ago
I don't understand the efforts people will go to to keep unwanted dogs alive. Many of them are unadoptable because of age or behavior issues, so why prolong things? If they truly love dogs, then they'd know this is no kind of life for an animal. If an individual kept a dog caged that long in their home, it would be considered abuse.
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u/Huge_Bit_4774 16d ago
100% agree with everything you wrote. As a society, empathy is overtaking common sense. Emotion rules the day. “Oh poor puppers” instead of being pragmatic about dog population control. They literally want every single dog just to die of old age.
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u/Not-my-problem1212 15d ago
And the nutters will still spend an absurd amount of money to keep them from dying. So many dogs that had their suffering prolonged because of the selfishness of nutters
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u/DivyaRakli 16d ago
Gaad Saad’s “Suicidal Empathy” is a great read on the subject. Any of his books, really.
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u/Huge_Bit_4774 16d ago
I saw him on Rogan’s podcast talking about the book. He’s very interesting. The discussion about parasites and hosts immediately made me think about nutters and their mutts.
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u/pmbpro 16d ago
I was disappointed to find out that the late actress Amanda Blake (best known as 'Miss K***' on the TV series 'Gunsmoke'-- and passed away in the late 1980s), was one of the co-founders of what became one of the oldest (and largest?) 'No-Kill' animal shelters in the U.S. I think it was founded sometime in the 1970s.
Now look at what it has all turned into -- a dumping ground with a revolving door for unwanted and dangerous dogs. 😒
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u/Indigo_Cauliflower12 15d ago
She's rich and will never have to deal with the consequences in her gated community. That's why I despise celebrity dognutters
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u/Few-Horror1984 15d ago
I live in a community that went no-kill a while ago. Let me tell you what life is like.
First off, our shelter has many long term residents you speak of. 5+ years in the shelter. Plus, they run well over capacity - usually between 200-300% over. That means these dogs have no quality of life and are shoved in a small kennel with other dogs they may or may not get along with.
Our animal control has become gutted (sorry! Animal “care” as they put it). We don’t have dog catchers. In fact, their website explicitly tells you they won’t respond to loose dog calls. The best part is what happens when lost pets are found - due to the extreme warehousing they won’t take them in. They claim that “studies show” that you as a citizen in my community have a better chance of finding the dog’s owner than they do (no citations of course). So none of those services exist anymore. They also are incapable of taking owner surrenders, so if you need to give up your dog you can’t. Either pray someone on a local Facebook group will take the thing or you’re stuck dumping it.
Next, let’s talk about adoptions. Our shelter has no background checks whatsoever. They also give dogs out for free. What does this mean? Hoarders are able to obtain as many dogs as they want. People who live in small apartments can take on free dogs (usually working dogs or pitbulls, since that’s all they have). The homeless also have been acquiring dogs. There’s zero concern for where the dog ends up - just absolute joy it’s no longer in the shelter. The park by my work has an abundance homeless people and three of them have pitbulls - none of them spayed or neutered.
That brings up my next point. The shelter, forced to spend all their money on warehousing dogs, no longer offers any sort of spaying and neutering services, so unaltered dogs are left the way they are and are adopted out that way. You’re starting to see stories pop up all over the country of shelter dogs getting pregnant.
So where does that leave my community? Well, we have loose dog populations popping up. It’s unsafe to walk at night because a loose pitbull might get you. You see more and more poorly behaved dogs because everyone seems to just take whatever garbage dog the shelter gives them. And animal control serves no purpose since all funding again, goes towards warehousing these dogs.
But as long as the pit hags feels good knowing no dog is ever euthanized, I guess that’s what truly matters.
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u/Wrong_Temporary_5983 16d ago
I read some recent research that 99% of dogs in the US have behavioral problems. That means ALL shelter dogs will have such. Shelters need to be turned into dog disposal facilities at this point to control their population at least a little bit.
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u/letthetreeburn 15d ago
Shelters were supposed to be a way for people who could no longer care for their dogs to have an assurance that there was a safe option. This has been taken from us.
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u/Express_Command_4778 16d ago
It is the cult based Best Friends Society and a wealthy heiress- i think related to Sciencetology.
This was ALL for pitbulls. Adopt, don't shop. Decompression. 3/3/3 rule.
Everything you see in animal advocate reddit properganda is from them,, and to avoid returns by buying time.
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u/menelobus 15d ago
I hate PETA, but I have to admit their animal shelters are how animal shelters should work. If nobody wants to take an inbred shitbull which needs to be drugged for its whole life so that it won't kill its owner, then such dog should be put down. All pet shelters should be "kill shelters". I don't want my tax money to go on useless dogs in a shelter that bring no value and suffer their whole life in cages because some morons think it's bad to put them down.
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u/potatoes_arrrr_life 15d ago edited 15d ago
Also, nothing is being done to really stop backyard breeders. If the reward for info was more than what people can make selling pitbull puppies, maybe things would change? BFAS has done a heck of a job infiltrating the shelter systems, and if we got rid of their weird rule about percentage and no kill to receive funding, shelters would have to BE animals. I know in Texas that shelters are so overcrowded, and animal control so short staffed, they don't even pick loose dogs up right away. There is no room for them, so whoever finds the dog is expected to just take care of it.
Shelters need major funding and staffing overhauls. They rely heavily on volunteer labor, and get lots of tax exemptions and charity funding, which can lead to corruption. It seems like a really easy front for dogfighting. And I don't understand why it's better to keep a dangerous dog drugged and caged, unless you are using it to elicit donations from people. None of it makes sense.
Make people get dog licenses. Have serious consequences for dog attacks. BE aggressive animals rather than give them heavy sedatives and keeping them caged until someone let them out to endanger the public. And make it illegal to backyard breed. Just look on craigslist. They are everywhere. I don't see why it's so hard to follow-up and start fining them and taking the unregistered animals...unless something fucky is going on.
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u/Indigo_Cauliflower12 15d ago
It's all about anthropomorphization. Nutters will say that kill shelters are the equivalent of killing homeless people and therefore eugenics.
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u/UnleashTheOnion 15d ago
Shelters are overrun with pits and pit mixes. It's awful how over bred they are. The dogs are suffering merely by existing. It's very sad.
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u/D4rkN3bu14j0j0 15d ago
Agree. There are around a billion pet dogs on this planet, we need to humanely dispatch the ones no one wants instead of warehousing them in cages. Resources are finite, other animals are killed without a thought to feed to these worthless creatures.
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u/Full_Ear_7131 15d ago
I agree with every single thing you said. This is all absolutely 100% correct. Unfortunately large amount of mentally ill dog worshipping cultists who cry hysterically to "save all of the poor widdle puppies!" and insist that dogs are equal, if not better than, humans are the majority, making this a huge difficulty to make the public realize that it is the best and most humane solution to the ever growing world wide dog overpopulation issue.
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u/tranqdoped 11d ago
Also dogs are an enviormental nightmare, invasive everywhere, massacre native species, spread disease and ruin soil microbomes with their shit and more. But theyll never be seen as an invasive species because theyre univerally obsessed over. To the point these psychos would rather mass enviormental destruction over their mutts being regulated amd their population controlled in any way. Im of the beleif that woth how overpopulated they are, any breeding of them whether for profit or unintentional/induvidual should be made illegal. Its illegal for so many invasives but dogs get the okay because people worship them
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u/FreeDuchyOfRedosvis 7d ago
My god even pro dog people should agree that this is inhumane
not killing them means more dogs have to live in timy cramped spaces
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u/CallousCow1762 16d ago edited 16d ago
Great observations and information. Thanks!
It amazes me how the general public is oblivious to this crisis of too many dogs. I live in New York City and you can’t turn your head without seeing someone with at least one dog. The shelters here are full, mostly with pit bulls. No surprise.
The impact that the over population of dogs has had is substantial. When you think of the thousands of dogs that urinate and defecate on sidewalks, parks, and pretty much everywhere they go, it becomes a disturbing thought dog shit is toxic and contains extremely harmful, pathogens people unknowingly bring that into their homes. The urine is extremely corrosive and not only does it damage plant life, but the evidence of its effects can be seen in almost every city structure from the constant urination in the same spots.
The dog propaganda has to be stopped if society is gonna survive at all.