Bumble looking for a home West Cork Animal Welfare

I had heard by way of the Feline Leukemia Newsletter, that the animal welfare organization PETA was taking adoptable animals and euthanizing them in the back of a van, even before they had arrived at a shelter,  so I wrote the following email to them:

I recently joined Peta and heard something recently which I would like clarified.  
Is it true that Peta takes stray cats from shelters and then euthanizes them? If this is true kindly tell me why this is done?
I would very much appreciate a reply so that I can carry on supporting your work and telling others about you.
 
This was the reply that I received the next day:

PETA is on the front lines of the battle to turn back the tide of unwanted dogs and cats. Our caseworkers tirelessly rescue homeless animals from environmental dangers, as well as cruelty and neglect (http://www.HelpingAnimals.com/about_cap.asp). They crawl through sewers, poke through junkyards, climb trees, and dodge traffic in order to reach animals in danger. During floods and storms, they are out saving lives at all hours.

Some of the animals we take in are lost companions with loving families who miss them; we are always happy to return such animals to their homes. We have also managed to catch and return some highly elusive animals other agencies had given up on. PETA does not operate a shelter, but—even though we foster many healthy homeless animals that we have rescued in homes (often our own) or take them to shelters to await adoption—the reality is that thousands of adoptable animals are euthanized every day in shelters across America due to the lack of good homes.

Because most area residents take healthy, adoptable animals directly to local shelters, the majority of the animals we receive are extremely sick or injured beings for whom euthanasia is, without a doubt, the most humane option (http://www.PETA.org/feat-overpopulation_crisis.asp). To learn about one local instance, please see http://www.HelpingAnimals.com/f-asiasstory.asp. On another occasion, when a power-line transformer explosion burned a flock of starlings, PETA was the only agency to come to the birds’ aid; if our trained technicians had not been ready to end these starlings’ misery, the injured birds would have suffered in agony for days before finally succumbing to a painful death.

In addition, PETA provides free euthanasia services for local residents who have very sick, critically injured, or geriatric companions but can’t afford to take them to a veterinarian. One family, lacking money for vet care and transportation, turned to us for help for their cat, who had barely crawled back home after being mauled by a pack of dogs. We were able to help by giving the cat a peaceful end to her intense pain.

We also began offering our services to pounds in North Carolina in 2000, after PETA was contacted by a police officer who was distressed by conditions in a county pound. When we step in to properly euthanize animals (at no cost to the participating shelters) as we do in this instance, our involvement prevents animals from being shot to death with a .22 caliber firearm, gassed to death in a rusty metal box, or injected with a paralytic that causes slow suffocation without loss of consciousness. It prevents their suffering for weeks on end from disease and illness, or worse. We know from bitter experience that for homeless animals—even those in some shelters—there is such a thing as a fate worse than death. If you would like to learn more about our work in North Carolina, please visit http://www.HelpingAnimals.com/f-nc.asp.

We wish that there were other acceptable options available. We cannot bring the majority of these animals back to Virginia for placement—the same issues regarding adoptability of injured, sick, or old animals exist everywhere, and “open-admission” shelters, which never turn their backs on any animal (unlike so-called “no-kill” shelters, which turn many animals away) are already unable to cope with the overpopulation of animals. There simply are not enough homes for them. Using Virginia shelters also means that there would be fewer homes for animals already in Virginia adoption facilities.

Some might argue that the solution to this crisis of overpopulation of so many unwanted animals is to open sanctuaries. But the sad reality is that the math doesn’t add up. There is not enough money available to us or anyone to build enough sanctuaries or organize enough animal-adoption programs to keep up with the number of unwanted animals, particularly those animals deemed “undesirable” because of their infirmities, age, or behavior. Abandoning domesticated animals to fend for themselves would be irresponsible, of course, but to keep them in cages or pens for a lifetime is no more humane for homeless dogs and cats than it is for animals in laboratories or circuses. To learn more about “no-kill” sanctuaries, see http://www.PETA.org/campaigns/ar-nokillshelters.asp and http://www.PETA.org/feat/acgas/index1.asp.

Putting all our resources into kenneling unwanted animals would also do nothing to stop the flow of more and more unwanteds. The source of the problem—trying to prevent the births of unwanted animals—is where money and efforts need to go. PETA runs a mobile spay/neuter clinic (http://www.HelpingAnimals.com/about_snip.asp) seven days a week, focusing much of our work in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where we offer free and low-cost surgeries and other services such as flea/tick treatments and worming. In the last year, we have sterilized thousands of dogs and cats—many free of charge and all others at well below our own costs. Support for this program is much needed, as you can imagine.

We hope you understand that it is heart-wrenching for those of us at PETA and at shelters across the country who care deeply for animals to have to hold animals in our arms and take their lives because there is nowhere decent for them to go. Those who truly seek to make a difference for animals understand that it is necessary to do the right thing—even when it’s unpleasant—rather than supporting false “solutions” simply because they make us feel less uncomfortable. PETA has always spoken openly about euthanasia on our Web site and in our publications, and—although we understand that it is upsetting to think about—euthanasia will continue to be necessary in this imperfect world until people prevent dogs and cats from bringing new litters into the world and as long as people hide their heads in the sand and leave the dirty work to others.

Last week I received the following information about Peta’s activities, care of the Veterinary Secrets Revealed Newsletter which cited that according to records published online that the ‘People for the Ethical Treatmenet of Animals’ (Peta) killed 95% of the adoptable animals in their care during 2008. For details go to the following website: 

 PetaKillsAnimals.com.

I know that there is no easy answer to the problem of unwanted pets and stray animals in general, however by killing 95% of the animals in its care PETA shows that it did very little or nothing at all to find these animals homes.

I would assume that unwanted cats and dogs are not considered ‘high profile’ or ’important’ enough for Peta to allocate the financial and human resources that would be required to build shelters and re home the creatures.

I for one, will not be supporting PETA in the future.

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