A shelter manager speaks

Today, I received an email from a reader who had heard that one of our local shelters, PAWS, puts animals down and people have seen bodies being carted out from the shelter. I wrote to the manager to seek clarification and his reply is reproduced (with permission) below:

Yes, I won’t deny that we put animals down on Wednesdays. We as a shelter with limited resources and with the increasing number of strays that come in everyday, we have no choice but to put them down. Most of the animals are from the local councils. We cover 3 local councils in this region and we do have a policy on euthanasia. Most of the animals that were put down fall into that policy and they are put down as humanely as possible. They are old, sickly and aggressive. Those strays that do not fall into that policy are placed into the main population (to await adoption). It is easy to misunderstand us when they see all the bodies being carted out from the shelter, I can’t blame them. The public themselves can do its part to help control the numbers of strays in the streets and not be quick to blame the shelters, locals councils and the NGOs for cleaning up the mess.

This is something that has been bothering me till this day but I can’t stop taking in stray animals from the councils. Those animals will have a better life here though it’s short. Do I need to say how they are treated in the pound? If I can find a way to stop all these killing, I will and that is why I choose to have the mobile neutering clinic (courtesy of Berjaya Cares Foundation) instead of a new puppy kennel that Paws is so in need of. I sacrifice the puppy kennel for something that I hope will bring down the number of strays to reduce the killing. I know the killing will never stop and can only do what I can to reduce it as much as possible.

There are the no-kill shelters and there are those that have a euthanasia policy. As far as I understand, PAWS has a policy of euthanasia for animals that are (1) too young, (2) too old, (3) sickly or (4) aggressive. It is not a no-kill shelter, and its policies are made known to members of the public when they surrender animals there.

There are also, as far as I know, surrendered animals who have lived in the shelter for months and years. One such cat-family is Kwanjit and her 6 children who was finally adopted to a loving and happy home. Another would be two dogs surrendered as puppies and both are still at PAWS now, awaiting adoption and it has been several years that they have been there.

There are also animals who were surrendered, found to have life-threatening diseases, and had to be put down.

Life is never perfect (and it will never be). We can only do our best and let others do their best. While we subscribe to a no-kill policy, we have never condemned or judged other groups, organisations or individuals who have to resort to euthanasia. I am sure it is something no one wants to do unless one cannot find a better solution with one’s limited resources.

Finger-pointing and blaming aren’t very productive activities. Let’s work together instead and focus on doing our very best for the animals.

The good news now is that PAWS has requested for a mobile neutering clinic from Berjaya Cares Foundation and will be getting their van soon. The Klang Valley will soon have its services.

We are happy that PAWS is supporting the CNRM concept and hope members of the public and more street animals will benefit from its mobile neutering clinic.