things on my mind...

[Tink]

two issues i've been pondering lately..

first one i'm sure on my stand. i watched a program today where some men were hunting. my dad was a hunter and i understand it though i'm not very enthusiastic about it but i can understand when it is a sport and the game is consumed. HOWEVER, tonight's program they were able to get some old circus elephants, fence them into an enclosure, and shoot them with massive firearms that were extremely powerful. is this fair and is this merely to say they killed a beautiful creature because it shows they can defeat a larger animal? aren't elephants protected in most countries? and is it a fair fight if they are put in an enclosed area? the next segment they were hunting elk which was fine but they enclosed it again and shot powerful long distance range firearms and used a tape recording playing a female elk in distress to attract them. it just makes me sick. this is not a sport anymore, it's just murder for no reason. i understand survival of the fittest. if i ruled the world, i'd make sure that hunting was truly a fair fight. no enclosures, no long distance guns, no tapes or tricks or cheating. send em out in the wilderness with knife and do hand to hand combat. then that is a sport.

second issue i thought i knew my stand till i recently watched a documentary. when you hear of "no kill shelters" you automatically think that must be the most humane thing, right? well, at least i did. then i watched this documentary about a woman against them. i see her point now. basically, there are no kill shelters that keep dogs that are too dangerous and unpredictable to be adopted and it would be irresponsible to adopt them out. at first, that sounds nice to do that for them and give them a home. but then i saw it is not quite what i imagined. the dogs are in small enclosures outside seperated by a see through fence. they are all stacked up next to each other like jail cells. they sleep on asphalt and have no human contact with the workers. they hear barking 24 hours a day and cannot get a decent night's rest. is this really a good quality of life? why do we put down dogs with a terminal condition that are in pain but keep dogs alive that have no peace, love, or comfort? just to say they are still alive? this one i'm torn about. i'm not sure all of the no kill shelters are this way but it makes me think twice before 100% supporting it. i'm not sure what to think because i don't know all the facts.

anyway, those are my two things on my mind i am venting about..lol.

[sillylilykitty]

On the first part with the hunting, that is absolutely absurd! I cant believe that! What does that make them feel more manly or something? I know people who hunt too but as long as they us the meat afterwards and it's not done too often its ok. Hunting in an enclosure shouldnt be allowed, its totally unfair to the animals.

Ive never heard of a no kill shelter with kennels like the one you discribed. No shelter can be 100% no kill, what would they do with a terminally ill animal, they would have to euthanize it. But the animals at a no kill shelter are not put to sleep just because they ran out of time. At a regular shelter adoptable dogs and cats have time limits and when their time is up they are PTS, this shouldnt happen in a no kill shelter.

[dandysmom]

Hunting like that in a game preserve isn't hunting, it's slaughter! I think hunting for food is acceptable...real hunting, not the above. My uncle in Massachussets went to Canada every Autumn, shot one deer, and put it in the freezer: the family enjoyed it, That was the first time I ever ate venison.
The conditions you describe at that "shelter" are deplorable, and, I hope, not typical of a no kill shelter.

[Rosie]

Hunting is a total abomination and there is absolutely no justification in my opinion however "fair" it is perceived to be.

Secondly I agree that certain dogs that are so unpredictable they cannot be rehomed would be better off euthenaised than kept in such conditions.

[mable1718]

i agree with you tink