Stopping the Tragedy of Shelter Euthanasia

Would you like to do something to stop the death of shelter animals and to see every animal out of a cage and into a home? You can. There are practical steps that every individual who loves and lives with animals can take to resolve the problem.

The tragedy of masses of animals being euthanized in shelters across the United States is a deeply disturbing and challenging problem, emotionally and morally, for all of us who love animals. It is a complex problem in which the symptoms are often erroneously labeled the problem, and one in which the caregivers are often mislabeled the culprits. Even as a lifelong animal lover, for many years I was not aware that the United States has a companion animal overpopulation epidemic and that millions of unwanted animals die in shelters every year. And I was not at all aware that some of my own actions, such as buying a cat from a breeder, were inadvertently contributing to the problem. The purpose of this portion of the web site is to raise consciousness about the facts of overpopulation and shelter euthanasia, and to explore the symptoms, root causes and potential solutions to the problem, especially how every single one of us as individuals has the power to make a huge difference to save animals' lives.