Hell In Kennels Research Paper

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Hell in Kennels: Issues in Southern Oregon Animal Shelter Practices and Funding Veronica E. Watt Rogue Community College Hell In Kennels: Issues in Southern Oregon Animal Shelter Practices and Funding “‘People wonder whether animals love one another. If you define love as an enduring, long-term bond in which creatures travel together, consort together, whine when alone, seek one another out,’ engage in various kinds of ‘voluntary, cooperative behavior,’ and refrain from harsh treatment such as by ‘not biting as hard as they could,’ then ‘if you say that humans can love one another, you can say that about animals, too.’” - (Mark Bekoff in Clemmitt, 2010) The above quote, by a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the…show more content…
“Spaying is a general term used to describe the ovariohysterectomy of a female animal” while “Neutering is a general term used to describe the castration of a male animal (American Humane Association, 2011).” In more simple terms, spaying and neutering renders the animal sterile through surgical means, and therefore, it permanently prevents them from having litters. In addition to the sterilization caused by these procedures, there are also health benefits that arise from having your pet spayed or neutered. According to the American Humane Association, there are both instant and long term benefits of these procedures. A spayed a female cat “eliminates the constant crying and nervous pacing,” and “eliminates the messiness associated with the heat cycle (American Humane Association, 2011)” for female dogs. In both male cats and dogs, neutering can “prevent certain undesirable sexual behaviors, such as urine marking, humping, male aggression and the urge to roam.” Also, animals in multi-pet houses are far more likely to get along with one another if they are “fixed.” Long term health benefits for spayed females of both species (when completed before the animal’s first “heat” cycle) include nearly completely eliminating the risk of breast cancer, and fully eliminating any chance of uterine infections and uterine cancer. The long term benefits of neutering male…show more content…
No-kill shelters have a long way to go before this question can be answered with a definite “yes,” but it is plausible that they could eventually reach that goal. However, there is another possible solution that was brushed upon within the research from this paper. As for this idea, it still utilized no-kill shelters. In fact, that is still really the main premises. But, it emphasizes the cooperation of communities as a whole to become no-kill. Yes, this is an even larger aspect to tackle than simply just turning shelters away from the “dark side,” but it actually makes full sense once the article is read. The article basically states the same things as above about how no-kill shelters tend to inadvertently dump loads of left over animals onto other shelters for them to deal with: “[C]hoosing to be limited admission by limiting the number of animals you accept, then touting yourself as "no kill" while leaving other rescues to deal with the animals you didn't accept only divides the animal welfare community...which in the end is bad for the animals.” ("KC Dog Blog,"

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