A violent word

The word Kill is a violent word. To be Killed is even more violent.

People choose to work at an animal shelter because they love animals. They must be trained to end the life of a pet that is not suffering or a real danger to the community. They must be desensitized and told there is no other choice and the service they provide is important. That their actions are an act of mercy and they call it euthanasia because who would show up for a job that asked you to kill pets?

This is what we are ending.

We are restoring euthanasia to its dictionary definition of ending a life as an act of mercy and compassion for an animal that is irremediably suffering or an immediate danger to the community.

Accuracy of language matters not for the purpose of name calling, but for problem solving. We can solve for what is broken when we accurately identify what it is happening.

Asking people that love animals to kill them is abusive and creates an unsafe workplace. Elected and appointed officials are responsible for ensuring that their employees and contractors work in a safe environment. Requiring employees to kill pets is not providing a safe workplace.

Advocates putting pressure on only the people that work so hard, often with so little, at the shelters will not solve the problem entirely. Yes, there is much that can be done in the shelter almost immediately, often free and at little cost, to stop the killing of healthy, adoptable and treatable pets, but the accountability is all the way at the top in a city or county.

We wouldn’t settle for sub-standard schools, libraries, fire and police departments, we shouldn’t settle for an animal shelter that is lethal for pets and unsafe for people.

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