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Putting the responsibility for shelter killing on the public makes working for no kill a discouraging and hopeless endeavor, because the public is not going to change.

For that reason, someone who believes that spay-neuter is the only solution to a pet overpopulation crisis is not going to be a very effective proponent of no kill.

We need to have a bright line between the myth that shelter killing is caused by the irresponsible public and the truth, which is that shelter killing is the responsibility of shelter management.

Advocates of small-scale, nonindustrial alternatives say their choice is at least more natural. Again, this is a dubious claim. Many farmers who raise chickens on pasture use industrial breeds that have been bred to do one thing well: fatten quickly in confinement.

In essence, what we see as natural doesn’t necessarily conform to what is natural from the animals’ perspectives.

confinement pays

confinement pays.

These businesses — no matter how virtuous in intention — would gradually seek a larger market share, cutting corners, increasing stocking density and aiming to fatten animals faster than competitors could.

Barring the strictest regulations, it wouldn’t take long for production systems to scale back up to where they started.

advocates of alternative systems make one undeniably important point about the practice called “rotational grazing” or “holistic farming”: the soil absorbs the nutrients from the animals’ manure, allowing grass and other crops to grow without the addition of synthetic fertilizer.

In other words, raising animals is not only sustainable, but required.

employs chickens to enrich his cows’ grazing lands with nutrients.

he feeds his chickens with tens of thousands of pounds a year of imported corn and soy feed

on the shoulders of the very shelter directors who find killing easier than doing what is necessary to stop it

on the local governments who continue to underfund their shelters

place them under the regressive oversight of health and police departments

and even under sanitation!