Dear Editor,
The fact that we're still dispassionately and matter-of-factly explaining the differences between "kill" and "no-kill" shelters is in itself an extension of the monstrous, humanity-diminishing societal failure we're guilty of toward our dogs and cats, which is like a tragically huge void in human development.
The aggregate financial and emotional cost due to our societal failure to have produced a sensible humane population control program (surely an achievable objective) for animal companions is incalculable.
There are so many accompanying horrors that the public is appallingly ignorant of concerning this overpopulation that aren't even remotely alluded to in your article, such as parts of this country lacking in formalized animal sheltering where animals are gassed, shot, drowned and not ever given any chance for adoption.
Consider also the deprived lives of dogs and cats even in the best of shelters; the deterioration they experience from lengthy lives in cages, the fact that we'll never adopt our way out of this overpopulation, the common misidentification of breeds, which frequently condemns animals to death, the almost impossible ability to honestly evaluate and assess animals in even good shelter conditions due to their frequently confused, frightened, state of mind, which can often also condemn animals to death.
With all due respect to your article ("Issue of 'kill' and 'no-kill' shelters not so clear-cut," Oct. 18, 2005), at the least, perhaps you should consider researching and printing an article on why we consistently fail to produce a humane population control program on a national level. Depending on voluntary compliance to spay and neuter is insufficient. As unlikely as it may seem, it would appear that we could use an amendment to the Constitution to establish mandatory spaying and neutering on a national level, instead of depending on local and state governments for this type of legislation, notwithstanding powerful vested interests and pet industry lobbying groups who would fight this tooth and nail.
One thing for sure, if ever there was a place for "thinking outside the box" it's here.
Joseph Pastore
Animal RescueTransport Driver
New York City
