Home Dog Adoptions Death Row Pets - The Plight of Unwanted Animals

Death Row Pets - The Plight of Unwanted Animals

Overcrowded shelters across the United States have resulted in the deaths of unwanted pets. This three part series explores the desparate situation in Long Island, New York

October 7, 2004
by Alicyn Leigh

Part I

Rudy is an adorable 5-year-old miniature schnauzer, with big brown eyes and a long, silky white coat—the kind of cute little dog you see in commercials or a calendar. At one time, someone apparently taught him basic commands, because he sits readily when told, and though his fur is severely matted and he's covered in filth from head to toe, his coat still bears the signs of professional grooming. At one time, this loveable canine was someone's pet, but now he sits in a pen in a town shelter, emaciated and shaking with fear, waiting for a kind soul to come along and give him a second chance at life, before it's too late.

There are thousands of animals abandoned on Long Island each year. These animals are usually either dumped outside a shelter or placed in one. But with pet overpopulation at an all-time high, shelters are often filled to capacity. When people cannot adhere to the responsibilities of pet ownership, pets suffer. I know firsthand, because for the past 10 years I have been involved in animal rescue, saving and rehabilitating feral and unwanted animals.

"Many people adopt puppies and kittens because they are cute and look like fun. They don't realize the responsibilities involved with raising a young pet, and the consistent training required to raise them to be well-socialized, well-mannered adult pets," explains Linda Klampfl, dog program manager at the Little Shelter in Huntington, a no-kill facility (a shelter that never euthanizes animals). "The inexperienced also tend to buy puppies that are completely inappropriate for their lifestyle, that is, they work 10 hours a day and buy a border collie puppy, not knowing that this puppy requires a tremendous amount of exercise and mental stimulation. They then surrender the puppy at 8 months of age to their animal shelter, because the dog is 'out of control, destructive and doesn't listen.'"

The Huntington Animal Shelter brings in approximately 1,000 dogs per year, and up to 700 cats, according to Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk County SPCA in Smithtown. Other shelters vary, some more and some less. There are 10 public animal shelters in Suffolk County, not counting the private shelters. Nassau County has three public town shelters.

Due to a limited number of cages, the only choice for some shelter animals is euthanasia. Many people who turn in a pet to their municipal animal shelter do not realize that the pet will be put to sleep if it is not adopted by a family or saved by an animal rescue organization. Many local shelters do everything they can to adopt-out their animals, and boast fairly successful adoption rates, but can do little to stem the incoming tide. According to the Humane Society of the United States, more than 11,000 animals are euthanized in this country every day due to overfilled shelters and unfaithful pet owners. It is a situation that may change—some believe cities such as New York will adopt no-kill policies in the coming years. But for now, it's adoption or death.

"Many people are under the impression that the town shelters have full control over euthanasia, but surprisingly, the town supervisor is in control," explains Jo-Elynn Vega, director of Circle of Life Farm & Rescue in Great River. "Budgetwise, it is cheaper to kill an animal than to let it sit in a cage and be fed every day. Shelters would become filled very quickly that way, but without any effort in trying to place any of these adorable creatures, their destiny is death."

A Disposable Society

Today's society is a disposable one. Many people buy a new car each time they get bored with the old one, while the fashion-conscious go through shoes like Imelda Marcos. The lives of pets have become disposable too. One local pet owner who had two pampered purebred cats for eight years decided one day to put them to sleep, simply because they didn't match the new décor at home. The owner asked a Huntington vet, who wishes to remain anonymous, to perform this disturbing act. Disgusted, the vet declined.

A security guard at a Melville office building tells of seeing a "moving garbage bag" in the middle of the road one night in September 2002, and finding it filled with newborn kittens abandoned by their owner to be run over. The guard says he took them to a veterinarian's office in Brentwood. Just recently, he found a pet lover entangled in the bushes outside his building, trying to help rescue a young cat that had been abandoned nearby in freezing weather.

"We live in a country where we place our family members in [nursing] homes—why should it be a surprise that we do the same for our animal companions?" says Susan Marino, founder/director of Angel's Gate Hospice and Rehabilitation Center in Ft. Salonga. "Here at Angel's Gate, we have cared for hundreds of animals who no longer fill the family's needs. Humankind needs to take responsibility in making lifetime commitments to our animal companions. All too many animals are being euthanized for human convenience."

An Ounce of Prevention

Overcrowding at shelters has many causes, but first and foremost is the lack of enforcement for spaying or neutering. There are no spay/neuter laws in New York State for individual pet owners who've bought or bred their own pets, but an amendment to Article 26 of the NYS Agriculture and Markets Law, effective as of November 1, 2001, states that any dog or cat adopted from an animal adopting organization (animal shelter, pound, dog control officer, humane society, SPCA and dog or cat protective association) must be spayed or neutered prior to its adoption, or arrangements must be made for the spaying or neutering afterward, either by including the cost of the procedure in the adoption fee or charging the owner a $35 deposit, refunded after proof of the surgery is submitted.

Education is part of the problem. Unfortunately, there aren't any formal education classes in schools where children can learn about spaying/neutering or proper pet care. Besides reducing the pet population, spaying/neutering pets improves the animals' health, with effects ranging from reducing bad behavior to preventing certain types of cancer.

"Educating people as to the need to spay and neuter is the key, but as in human medicine, very little money is ever invested in prevention," Marino says.

The obvious benefit of spaying/neutering is the decrease in shelter crowding and a reduction of feral animals, who can often spread disease. Illnesses such as rabies, distemper and feline AIDS—all of which are extremely contagious and eventually deadly—run rampant in feral animals, who struggle every day just to survive, from finding nourishment to defending themselves against acts of cruelty.

Some people are against spaying/neutering. They may believe that because pets are cute, they should be able to reproduce, or the owners are turned off by the idea of castration. Then there are those who want to show children "the miracle of birth." The late Doreen Bellas, from Brick, N.J., once called me to say she was going to breed her cat for this very reason. I begged her not to, but she went ahead anyway. She called six months later to tell me how horribly wrong it went, particularly the bloody, stomach-churning reality of a complicated labor.

Get the kids a book or video instead. Stories about "what an awful mistake that was" and how "the poor pet almost died on me," are told too many times. And after the miracle of birth, many times the unwanted litter is brought to a shelter, only to be euthanized. Although no shelter worker will say so on the record, many tell me that they had to make the painful decision to kill a litter of puppies or kittens. Even pregnant cats and dogs have been euthanized.

That's another topic on which no shelter worker would speak publicly. But I've heard many stories about the euthanization of pregnant animals during my days working in animal rescue. Several years ago, workers at a municipal animal shelter were going to euthanize a pregnant pit bull/bulldog mix because her time was up at the shelter and nobody would adopt her. The shelter director didn't have the heart to kill the dog and asked me for help. The dog was rescued and eventually had five happy, healthy pups at the home of one of my assistants, and all were adopted into loving homes, including the mother.

Part 2: The Case Against Breeding

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