ABSTRACT
It’s very difficult when we are inundated from spring until fall. Every single person who walks through the door has one more litter of kittens. And you only have X number of cages in your facility, and they are already full. So the animal may come in the front door and go out the back door in a barrel.
(Shelter employee, as reported in Arluke & Sanders, 1996)I think it’s [animal euthanasia] made me an angry person. I want to be alone most of the time. I drink sometimes to numb the stress of the day. I eat and sleep more than I feel I need. I used to feel that my work was helping “save” the world. Not anymore. It doesn’t seem to end. Although I believe that euthanasia isn’t the worst thing that can happen to an animal, it’s taking a toll on my life!
(Anonymous shelter employee, personal communication, April 6, 2002) THE MAGNITUDE OF PET OVERPOPULATION in the United States appears to make animal euthanasia a tragic and necessary reality. Each year, an estimated 4 to 12 million companion animals are euthanized (cf. “HSUS pet overpopulation estimates,” 2000; Nassar, Talboy, & Moulton, 1992; Olson, 1990). Although some have medical problems severe enough to preclude adoption and warrant euthanasia, many of the animals euthanized are healthy but unwanted.