Seen this vid?

it is sad seeing those dogs behind bars and mistreated, but surplus pets is a growing problem....there is another problem that probably should not be posted here but I don;t feel like surfing..Congress has passed an ordinance that will prevent  about 100'000 horses, per year, from being slaughtered to become food for humans...I agree with it 100 % But  how else do we dispose of 100'000 unneeded or aged horses...My brother could send his dead patients to , I think Jungle land Safari in florida (withe the owners permission) for food for the carnivores....But aside from that how do we, as a nation, dispose of about 100'000 horses per year...there just are not enough  "animal retirement farms"
If this question does not belong here then anyone who can, remove it....cbh-dvm

Dvet - that is an excellent point

It reminds me of and email I got the other day from my friend who is president of a rescue here. She was imploring anyone who could to open their homes to kittens this winter - there are already 4 litters (17 kittens ) that she knows of that people are trying to care for outside their homes. However, as the weather gets colder, there kittens will probably starve/freeze to death. I just KNOW people are going to keep trying to take care of the outside their home, just to see the kittens live, and arent going to bother about spay/neuter, cause who can pay to sterilize 5-7 cats in one go?

Now here lies the quandary...it is sad to see these kittens die, yes, but for every one that makes it through the winter there will be another litter (assuming they arent adopted either)...and more and more feral cats around. It is sad thinking of dead kittens, but sometimes you just have to take a Darwinian perspective on things.

Another problem with the horse slaughter acts is that it completely mucks up equine euthanization rules/regs, but that is a discussion for another time.

I guess moral of the story is you can't save em all.

The whole problem is people. All the people that get animals and never get them fixed and let them run around outside and breed. They get rid of the puppies or kittens at shelters if they can't find homes for them then the shelters get overcrowded and they can't take anymore so the people just dump them outside. Then they grow up and breed there. Then you have the people who decide a dog is too much work so they dump it at a shelter, or it's too old so they dump it, or they're moving and don't want the bother of taking it with. Heck, the same can be said for cats.

As for the horses, if people didn't think getting rid of old or injured animals was an acceptable option, it wouldn't be so bad. We're a disposable society, if you have an animal you don't want, simple solutions are take it to a shelter, put it to sleep, or dump it in the country. Same can be said for horses, mainly. Yes, I know, horses are more expensive than dogs and cats, but the person wanted it when it was young and useful, but once it's usefulness is gone, sell it to slaughter or euthanize it. They wanted it to begin with, they should keep it for the rest of it's life. Only reasons I can see for someone having a perfecetly health animal euthanized are temperment problems or if it gets injured or sick and can't be, fixed is the best word I can come up with.

I know we need to do something about the pet overpopulation, but killing all of the unwanted cats, kittens, puppies, dogs, and horses is not the option. We need to find a way to change peoples minds about animals, make them see they aren't disposable commodities. No kill shelters are great ideas, but then when they're full they can't take anymore. I don't think all shelters should be kill shelters either, I mean, just because a dog has been somewhere for a year does not mean it should be euthanized, unless it's unadoptable. I do think shelters should use a little more discretion over which animals they put to sleep and which they don't. It shouldn't mainly be on the basis of how long the animal has been there, but on health and temperment. Then based on how long the animal has been there. I mean, my first cat was adopted from the kennel I worked at. Animal control for that city was based in the kennel instead of the shelter so people brought animals they found there. If she had been brought to the shelter they probably would have put her down, even though she was only a 6 week old at the most kitten. They probably would have put her down because the guy that brought her in said she bit and scratched him. She was just scared. She's a great cat now. My mom's one dog, if she had been brought to a shelter, depending on the shelter, would have been put down just because she's an American Staffordshire Terrier, and most shelters can't tell the difference between Amstaffs and pits. I personally think the best solution would be to euthanize the older animals, not right away, give them a chance for adoption, but if they're there for a set period of time and no one has expressed interest in them, then that would be best for them so they don't have to live in a shelter for years or until they die or get sick until someone decides to adopt them.

The main problem though is people. Until peoples thinking about animals changes, the overpopulation problem will never stop. We have 4 dogs and 4 cats, 2 of each are mine and 2 are my mom's, all but one are fixed. The only reason that he isn't, is because I can't afford it as my vet charges a fortune and I'm trying to get my other dogs problem figured out and fixed, but he will never get the opportunity to breed because he's always watched and doesn't run loose. And he will get fixed even if I have to convince my vet to let me make 2 payments. Some people still buy into the whole, it's good for them to have 1 litter before being spayed thing, or some people just don't want to subject their dogs to the oh so "horrific" surgery. And then they contribute to the overpopulation.

Shiva