Should No-Kill Shelthers Euthanize?

I think that whatever an organization wants to do with it's money, it should, so long as dogs are being taken care of and are safe. If you don't like what they do, don't support them.

I've worked at "no-kill" shelters and a true sanctuary. I enjoy knowing that some people really just want to give dogs who truly wouldn't be alive otherwise a quality of life. At the same time, adoptable or semi-adoptable dogs being in a sanctuary for two-three years could be considered money wasted and could have saved 20-30 other dogs.

No kill/kill shelters tend to give a less quality of life to the dogs, but they get them out or put them down in a timely fashion. Sanctuaries keep them for a long time and give them a decent life. *shrugs*

Well, my personal experience with the local "no-kill" shelter has been pretty negative, so that probably colors my opinion.

But I agree with the definition Xandra pulled -- "no kill" is actually supposed to mean they they won't kill a reasonably healthy, sound dog for space/convenience and call it "euthanasia." They can however euthanize a dog who is medically or behaviorally compromised to the point they don't think saving them is practical or responsible. At least I think that's how it's supposed to work.

I photographed dogs for 2yrs. at our local no kill SPCA. There's a reason I stopped.

I couldn't handle the whole "but.. they're ALIVE!" mentality when some dogs were literally going insane from being in a shelter situation for so long. I stopped photographing their dogs a little over a year ago.. just looked at their website and some of the dogs I took pictures of are STILL there. If they put dogs in foster homes, that'd be different. This shelter also continuously sent dogs to a local "rehab" center (think Cesar Milan mentality) which cost $1k per dog. I personally knew of at least 5 dogs that they sent there. Think about all the dogs they could've saved/helped with that $5k!