As for the NEED for euthanasia...it is just that. People are the problem. If people would responsibly spay or neuter their pets and properly identify them then there would be many fewer "lost". If people would change their attitudes about having a pet then they would be taken care of forever and not surrendered when the going got a little difficult and they couldn't find a rental that would allow a pet. MOST of our animals are surrenders...not found animals. People, by and large, still consider a pet a disposable item to be tossed to the curb when the money is slim and the pet is inconvenient. Many people also consider that having a pet in some sort of inallienable RIGHT rather than a privilege and luxury. Pets are luxury items. They should only be had by people with disposable income sufficient to pay for the pet's various needs. As for me, I see too many people still subscribing to the notion that it's ok to have a litter for the benefit of their children. They hold the notion that kids should witness the miracle of life. If people want their kids to witness the miracle of life they should have them watch the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet. ALL PETS SHOULD BE SPAYED AND NEUTERED. Animals should not be sold at pet stores or out of the backs of cars in the box store parking lot. Pets should be had for life not just for the first 6 months while they are cute and cuddly to be thrown to the curb when they aren't immediately trained. Pets are not ready made and they take work! Further, in my opinion, there is no greater tragedy than an animal held in a "no kill rescue" situation for the duration of its days. Dogs and cats are not created to live in a cage for their live long days and that, to me, is a fate worse than death. I would rather see my own dog dead if I were to die and his only other option was to live out his life in a kennel at a "no kill" rescue waiting for a home with thousands of other animals that have come into hard times. I would kill him myself first! Just my .02! As for Shelters, every community needs a shelter that is open admission. That means that anything that comes into the door is taken in. Animals are housed without discrimination based on adoptability, health status, age and breed. Our facility is an open admission facility and I thank God for that. "No Kill" facilities are all too often a place that can select what comes in and what is turned away...where do those animals turned away go? To an open admission shelter, that's where. They will be taken in off the streets where their irresponsible owners have left them. They will be cared for and a new home will be sought. Maybe it will be found, maybe not. Animals will be euthanized because of the simple fact of math...I only have so many spaces available to me where the public has an endless supply of stupid, heartless people that will have a litter and then expect that our open admission shelter find homes for them. It is so easy to spay/neuter. There is no excuse. Most of our animals are not "strays" as weebus suggests...they are either surrendered or abandoned to the streets and ultimately the Shelter. Take it from me...it's my profession. I see it every day! Our local shelter is filled with quality pets yet I stood in my community this very weekend and watched as our own citizens gathered around a horse trailer in a parking lot to adopt animals from outside our community instead. Why? Because the horse trailer was filled with puppies and kittens rather than adult dogs and cats like our shelter. People never cease to amaze me with their stupidity and lack of forethought. They lined up like lemmings to adopt sickly puppies and kittens out of the back of a horse trailer from out of town rather than visit a clean, odor free facility where the animals are already vaccinated and largely already spayed/neutered. They did this because the animals were babies. It made me angry and more than a little sick! What happens when those animals grow up? Was their only attribute that they were babies? I think so and that really scares me for their futures in the households that were "shopping" there. I give many of them 6 months before they end up in our Shelter. I think that the victims of Katrina are victims, yes. I think that the animal victims deserve the best possible homes. I think that if you did not find your pet for an entire year after the disaster then you should consider how much that pet meant to you in the first place. I think that you should be grateful that your pet found a loving home with a caring family. If they are willing to fight for the pet in question (many of these battles are being currently fought in various courts similar to child custody battles) you should be glad that they care that much! There is certainly no shortage of available dogs and cats in shelters that need loving homes. There's no need to fight over Fido like he's special because they are ALL special and they die by the millions.

That post was a scream, truly funny. Also a long way from the vituperative, often agonizingly ignorant posts I read before the last presidential election when I was terrified that Sarah Palin had a chance of being our VIP, and I was taking the temperature of popular opinion via the Hot Topic forum. Truly amazing, and to think some of those people might be your neighbors. The peanut butter post on the other hand was pure entertainment. I understand Jon had inside information about the possible inclusion of peanut butter in the royal nuptials. I believe the dish was to be "peanut butter and iceberg salad americaine". It will be sadly missed. Ingrid

bumping this on down.

I checked it out, not for me...for sure. I am too passive, and just like to talk to my friends that are easy going. I don't really feel so strongly about anything that I am willing to get hot headed. Just me. Never knew the Hot Topics forum existed, but glad I had a chance to visit. Thanks for sharing. Trin