Christopher at the Border Wars blog has a series up about, among other things, the attitude of animal shelters and rescues that breeders are bad and are somehow to blame when shelters choose to kill healthy, adoptable animals. You should
go read the whole thing. Here's a choice quote:
"What matters is that Shelters realize a few things:
(1) You are professionals, act like it. This means
running your shelter like a business not an internment camp. Enough
with the prison photos and run down facilities that look and smell bad,
have some pride in your presentation. Clean your own house before you
condemn others.
(2) The public is not your enemy, they are your customer. They are not at fault for your failures. You can not condemn them, resent them, and then sell your animals to them.
(3) Breeders are not your enemy and they are not at fault for your failures,
they are a competitor and you need to rise to the challenge not wallow
in pity that someone else loves animals and wants to pair good pets with
good people and is currently doing a lot better job of it than you are.
Up your own game instead of talking smack.
(4) Stop socially and politically exploiting animals as a fund raising strategy
that dwells on the physical abuse and/or neglect they suffered in the
past to invoke shame and disgust in the public. This moral pedestal
you’re trying to create with this strategy is not elevating the dogs
because you’re the ones standing on it to look down on everyone else.
Stop appealing to pity and outrage, you’ll put more dogs in more homes
if you appeal to the higher emotions and reason like love,
companionship, and pride.
(5) If you can foster hope and compassion for animals, have some for humans too."
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