My mom and I call it the Cult of the Animal and are constantly amazed at how much the focus has gone from compassion for humans to extreme and sometimes unreasonable compassion for animals.
I love animals as much as the next person and my heart melts at any suffering or mistreatment.....but one has to be rational about things. The other day my librarian, who is a big animal advocate, was practically bullying me into voting on a grant for the local animal shelter so that they can become a no-kill shelter. Didn't even ask me if I had any feelings about it....just push, push, push...and then very judgemental and amazed when I had to tell her my thoughts on it.
Not every animal can be saved, nor should they be. Overpopulation of dogs and cats is a big problem and I think no-kill shelters add to it. When people insist on letting litter after litter be born because they know they can always take those cute little ones to the shelter and they will "find a good home", I think this lets them off the hook and lets them have a clear conscience. If they knew it was certain those kittens and puppies would be killed immediately, they might....and I mean
might, pause before allowing Bitsy to run the neighborhood each time she is in heat.
All the money collected to feed and care for all those animals could be better spent in aggressive neuter/spay programs that help people finance the operation. I know they have those now, but not nearly enough grant money is awarded for it.
I have two pound puppies, so I know the shelter is a good place for animals to be recycled, so to speak. But to never kill any animal and just let them build up and build up, to not eliminate the feral cats that abound in some cities and towns, to not put down the older and the extremely young overages in the kennels.....it sounds heartless, but its just a necessary thing. They are not babies or children, but animals that someone has carelessly created and discarded.
I cull my chicken flock when I have too many or some that are too old. Its necessary so that the others have plenty of food and space, so there won't be disease or illness. It should be the same for the domestic cat and dog population. Yes, humans are the culprits and the animals are innocent. I agree. But until you can publicly whip the repeat human offenders of careless breeding, its not gonna happen. Until then, there needs to be a fall back system in place. We used to have it when the shelters held animals for a certain period and then killed them humanely.
Sorry.....didn't mean to get up on a soapbox, but it is one of my pet peeves to see so much time and effort spent on something that has a simple solution and not nearly enough time spent on the many children of the world being raised poorly in foster care and orphanages....or just on the streets.
My house is 4 miles out of her usual territory...... 
