Pro-kill extremists are confident, but that doesn't make them right

There’s a whole subredditesque bunch of extremists who want pounds to kill more animals, and they’re often mistaken for rational animal lovers.

Their response to the capitalist greed and accompanying propaganda of big organizations like Best Friends Animal Society and wannabes like Austin Pets Alive and Maddie’s Fund is to reject the whole idea of ending killing.

They see the results of APA/Maddie’s Fund’s HASS model, which attempted to “turn the community into the shelter” by severely restricting intake and forcing people to foster animals or leave them to die on the streets (both of which happened and continue), and they come to the conclusion that it’s an either/or choice: open intake with massive killing, or restricted intake with massive death by car/starvation/predation.

But that’s a false choice.

For a few years, Austin, in the heart of high-kill Texas, made amazing progress while keeping intake open except for a few days. There were still problems: volunteers who raised concerns were ignored or fired, dogs were needlessly killed, dogs were adopted out without proper screening, and on a few days, intake was restricted (and it was just a few days; I’ll post the source in the comments). But with intake of about 18,000 animals in 2018, fewer than 20 healthy animals were killed. Austin reversed course when it hired a new director in 2019. Chief Animal Services Officer Don Bland, who avoided being fired from his previous job by leaving it for Austin, began his tenure in Austin by closing the shelter on every holiday (when it had previously been open), using Covid lockdowns to shut out volunteers, restrict intake, and keep the shelter closed far longer than any neighboring municipality, and closing on Sundays for about a year, claiming—falsely—that Sunday was the day of the week with fewest adoptions when it was actually one of two days with the most adoptions. The other, of course, was Saturday. But despite the fact that Bland’s policies and practices were antithetical to No Kill programs, it was No Kill that was and continues to be blamed for Austin’s worsening animal welfare conditions.

Neighboring Williamson County has been open intake and No Kill for well over a decade, and despite being chronically underfunded and overcrowded, animal welfare remains stable and better than in surrounding communities that routinely kill for space.

We do not need to accept, much less advocate for, increased killing. We need to advocate for a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to sheltering to help every animal in need now, not someday after the single solution of spay/neuter or education has a couple of decades to work.

Please don’t confuse the confidence of pro-kill advocates with depth of knowledge. They are certain, but that doesn’t make them right.