Beliefs Case

Identify a belief:

It is my belief that there are not truly "No-Kill" animal shelters in existence.

Dialogue:

Socrates: Do you believe that there are true "No-Kill" animal shelters in the US?

Myself: I do not believe that there are truly any real "No-Kill" animal shelters in the US.

Socrates: Why do you believe this?

Myself: I worked in Shelter Medicine for five years. I was able to see what truly goes on in a lot of those shelters that refer to themselves as being "No-Kill".

Socrates: What did you see that makes you believe this?

Myself: Well, for example, the animal shelter I worked at actually performed a lot of euthanasias for shelters that told the public they were "No-Kill". They would bring us truck loads of unadoptable dogs and cats to put down because they cannot take in and save every animal that comes through their doors.

Socrates: Why did they bring these animals to you to euthanize?

Myself: Because they want the public to believe that they are not euthanizing just to create more space for new animals.

Socrates: And why is this not right in your opinion?

Myself: Because, it is society's own fault that we have to euthanize so many pets every day. If we had been responsible pet owners a long time ago, we wouldn't have the over population of pets that we have today. I don't believe that it is right for a shelter to say they are a "No-Kill" shelter just to try and make themselves look good to the public while the shelters that do euthanize get all the negative attention put on them when they are only trying to help the situation of what irresponsible pet owners have put us into today.

Socrates: Don't you think they are only also trying to help the over population of pets? Why do you think that what they are doing is bad?

Myself: Well, what a lot of people don't understand is that one of the biggest differences between "No-Kill" and "Kill" shelters is that "Kill" shelters take in every animal that walks through their doors, while the "No-Kill" shelters that don't perform euthanasia are constantly sending animals away because they don't have the room to take care of them.

Socrates: Why is it wrong for these shelters to turn animals away? At least then, they are not euthanizing more animals, which to me sounds like they are a real "No-Kill" shelter.

Myself: People that have never worked in an animal shelter don't understand what we go through