Animal Euthanasia

Five thousand shelter dogs are euthanized every day, which equals about 1.2 million companion animals being put down annually. The majority of whom are healthy, loving and desperately needing a home. Yet, many Americans unsuspectingly turn to puppy mills to find their loyal family pet. With the idea of designer dogs sweeping the nation, consumers will pay an average of $800 and upwards of $2,000 for their fancy mutt. The concept of wanting such a specific mix breed, which would not exist without human interference, is becoming a widespread epidemic. The pet owner that is spending hundreds of dollars on purchasing a dog is also costing the lives of shelter pets nationwide who will never have a home of their own. Unfortunately though, that is not the only issue that is leading to high euthanasia rates in the United States. Many pet owners, for one reason or another, are choosing to not spay and neuter their companions, which leads to thousands of unexpected litters annually. Where do many of these mishap pets end up? In shelters. For this reason, pet owners and breeders nationwide need to be held responsible for the euthanizing of healthy dogs due to overpopulation from breeding for profit, and the reluctance to spay and neuter family pets.

The term euthanasia, also referred to as “mercy killing”, “putting a dog to sleep”, or “putting a dog down”, refers to the practice of humanely and intentionally ending the life of an animal - usually one that is suffering from an incurable illness and/or old age. The goals of euthanizing a pet are to eliminate its pain, minimize the anxiety, struggling, vocalization, agitation, distress, pain and/or fear that it may experience while dying, especially those associated with loss of consciousness and loss of the ability to breathe, and help it pass away with dignity. The process itself is painless and quick, and many vets sedate the dog with an injectable pre-anesthetic prior to administrating an intravenous injection of a barbiturate drug. This lethal dose is commonly injected into a vein in one of the dog’s front legs, and death is almost instantaneous. The animal’s loss of psychological function goes in the order of: rapid loss of consciousness, loss of muscle function, loss of lung and heart function, and finally followed by permanent loss of all brain and central nervous system function. Knowing the main purpose of euthanasia, being to relieve the pain and suffering of an incurable illness, we are left to question why it is administered to tens of thousands of healthy dogs.

The majority of these animals are euthanized due to lack of space in shelters – completely healthy, well-tempered and commonly under the age of two years. Though the number of shelters in the United States is not concrete, the Humane Society estimates that the number of licensed facilities is around 13,600 nationwide. These shelters take in an average of 3.9 million dogs annually. With a number that large, it is not shocking to think that shelters are simply running out of space. The average shelter dog has either a four or a seven-day stray hold where his owners, if he has any, can locate and pick him up. The main determining factor on whether a dog gets four or seven days depends on whether or not the dog can be identified as owned. This can be as simple as a dog having a collar on when it is picked up, or a microchip that lists the owners contact information. Those that come in without any form of indication that they are family pets are given a four day hold instead. This helps