Orange County, Florida has a major issue with animals right now. The amount of stray animals has exceeded the amount of space in local shelters. According to the law, if the shelter cannot contain all the animals it collects, they must be put down. In fact, in may alone orange county put down 1,200 animals
"they have to be held legally at the shelter and shelters are short on space, meaning an adoptable cat might actually have to be euthanized just to make space."
Due to the lack of space to hold, and care for the stray animals - Over one-thousand animals have been put to sleep. An interview with a local animal shelter volunteer, Kennedy was recorded. "We are forced to make life-and-death, difficult choices, every single day. Shows us how binary the decisions they are forced to make are. There just isn't an alternative right now. If the shelter cant hold the animal , they are forced to kill it.
To Kennedy's remark a local psychologist, Dr. Robert Janne replied "This is a mental health issue. It is not OK. This is negatively impacting their life"
I agree with Dr. Robert Janne, as this is most likely having a bad effect on local residents. The concept of behaviorism shows us that the actions humans take will effect them psychologically. And I believe through killing innocent animals, the locals may come intact with feelings of sadness, regret and even anger towards the shelter - and the laws that dictate how it deals with the animals.
(Article written by Andrew Hoffman)
I’m not sure if this is having a bad effect on the local residents, they aren’t the ones making the decision to kill the animals. It is common knowledge that animals that stay in shelters to long get euthanized; while I agree that it is sad, not everyone is walking around sad or disgusted with animal shelters. I believe this many have an adverse effect on the employees of the animal shelter, thought I think they should already know that it comes with the job. To me it is somewhat the same as conducting experiments on animals and having to kill them afterward. The researchers know from the start that the animal will have to be euthanized, just like the animal shelter employees know that animals are euthanized due to laws. I believe that the concept of behaviorism previously mentioned applies more towards someone killing for fun rather than this.
ReplyDeleteI don’t agree with the comment above. Animals should be loved and cared for; they should not be killed because there is not enough room for them. The population in some cities and states in the United States is increasing rapidly, police officers are not going to go around and kill people to have more room. Most people would agree with me that it is ethically wrong to murder innocent people. It is just as wrong to murder helpless, scared animals.
ReplyDeleteI disagree and agree with the article.I think residents would be affected more if these animals were left in there habitat(our backyards and alleys) or if the state had to raise taxes to pay for more shelter space, and all the things that caring for them involves. I would say that as for the residents for this to be considered behaviorism it would need to be more directly related to each individual. I do agree though that the behaviorism may imply more so for the employees that deal with these animals day in and day out.
ReplyDeleteWhat if the pets we were speaking of were snakes or rats & not cats or dogs? Emotional thinking would say it is sad to put these animals down but if a city became over populated with rats, instead of humanly putting them down, traps or poison would be deployed to rid of the infestation. Is it better they die in a shelter or starve to death? Rationale thinking would say that it is no different to put down a cat than it is to put down a cow. A vegan may say that it is wrong to kill a cow, but if we go into an ice age, I'm sure if plants cannot be grown than we will have to rely on meat as a source of food. That is why we as humans are far more adaptable than other animals. We can eat both. This ability should be retained for future generations. What if every human stopped eating meat than would we would lose the ability to digest it?
ReplyDeletePrevention is the key in this situation. Why breed for greed & let the already living animals die? I'm sure in most shelters the animals that are pure breed would be selected to keep breathing rather than a mutt. What do we end up with? We end up with black labs with hip problems. It's like buying a new car when an old car serves the same purpose, & to make a new car takes more resource. Money really is the root of evil in this case.
Education in grade schools could solve this problem. Making the next generations aware of the danger of adoption of a pet you may not have the mean to care for. Who wants any old dog when you can get a puppy? If you take that puppy home & learn that you just don't have the time to train the animal & it becomes unruly so you get rid of it. Who will adopt it now that it is an older dog that can't easily be trained?
Why is it that these animals, if being cared for, are breeding? If you do not have the means to spay or neuter your pet, than you do not have the means to take on the responsibility of that animal’s life.
Wolves control the deer population & deer control the grass population. The human animal is far more aware of what can be done to balance nature. If it were up to lions, they would eat the problem. As humans we must be responsible, knowing that we are the only animals on this planet that can do anything to make a difference. If you know someone that is taking on the care of an animal & they can't even tell you were the animals natural habitat is, then you should persuade them to make a choice in an animal much easier to care for. Instead of owning a bearded dragon adopt a mouse, which is an easies animal to care for. Many animals other than cats or dogs die from improper care. Some are released in an environment not like their own & die because their diet was not available or in other ways. The focus is only on the animals that give humans an emotion response. The focus should be on life & a respect for it but I'm sure no one has ever swallowed a spider while sleeping. Does that mean you murder it? No, that's just life.
The sad part about this is, we have so many people in this country who think they are smart & hold degrees but we can't even prevent something like this from happening. I think people are just focused on what Mel Gibson is doing rather than turning off their television to come up with a solution to prevent future slaughters. Don't expect someone else to do it & place blame. Research & develop ideas yourself, because someone else hasn't done it yet regardless of how smart they are. Talk really is cheap, but education is not, unless you personally give it away.
I agree with Valerie, I think that the people who work in shelters should know what their job is before they take it. As for the animals I understand that it is not their fault but the people who abondon them for whatever reasons. As for the rest of us responible pet owners, it is sad, but if we were to do nothing this problem would become overwhelming and the animals would be tortured and killed for fun just for being a nussance. I beleive this would change the behaviorism of the affected areas.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I think there truly is an abundance of cats and dogs. I agree with tim, I think it is not the animals fault as well but the people's fault whom abandon them. If only these animals could talk our language and we could understand how they felt about this situation that they are put in every day.
ReplyDeleteIt is very sick to see animals in a shelter in the first place. I see people abuse and mistreat animals all the time on specific tv shows and its very sad and horrifying. But honestly there are only so many shelters out there that can only hold so many animals. So if euthanizing animals is the way to go to make more space for other animals what else can we do? I hate to see or even hear about animals being put down but honestly there is so many rules and regulations to adopting these animals that alot of people are unable to adopt them. So in certain circumstances like that what are people suppose to do.....nothing, all they can do is put them to sleep. And I can see why locals would be very sad due to that because honestly I would be one of those locals!
It's not the animals it's the people who had the animals. Not right killing animals. Need population control of some kind there. it is getting way out of hand in the shelters.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that the ideal of that many animals having to be put down in the month of May alone is way beyond the norm. I am a big fan of having ALL of your animals fixed. If people were more responsibly with their animals, things like this wouldn't be happening. Just two months ago we,(PAWHS) had a free spay an nuter clinic in Deer Lodge, you would not believe the number of people that did not bring their animals in, either because they wanted to bred them, or they did not want to be bothered with it on a Saturday. I think people like that should be the ones to have to fix the problems that they have caused, maybe that would help to cure some of them of their stupidity.
ReplyDeleteI believe that all dogs and cats should be neutered and spayed for population control. But also just because a pet owner does the right thing does not always mean that they will properly take care of their pet. Some people just get tired of their pets and turn them out to fend for themselves,so something has to be done with them.When a town gets overrun with animals euthanasia may be the only solution. It would be fun if we could build an town in the country just for unwanted dogs and cats.
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