Animal Shelter

Beginning with a brief look into a day at an animal shelter, followed by an interesting overview of the beginnings of humane laws and the animal sheltering movement in the last quarter of the 19th century (SPCA, ASPCA and others), the book continues into the problems caused by animal overpopulation, human error, ignoarance and cruelty regarding animals, and how these problems are dealt with by the animal shelters and humane officers. The stories in each chapter are not only educational and informative, but they are also poignant and telling -- as are the many photos in this book. As then, and still, now -- the book makes a plea for the necessity of spay/neuter (which saves lives and can help keep many of those cages and killing tables in the shelter empty) more humane treatment of pets by their "owners", the need for informed and responsible pet owners (a pet IS for life -- and that pet can live for 10, 15 20 or more years) and the need for humane education. Euthanisia is covered in the book as well. As the book clearly implies, if more people would have a more responsible and educated attitude towards their pets, and if more people did the responbile thing and had their pets spayed and neutered, and responsibly cared for their pets as the family members that they truly are, alot of heartache and suffering on the parts of people and pets alike, would be avoided.