A: There are many reasons, but two main ones. The first reason is that shelter directors won't embrace the No Kill philosophy. They find it easier to kill than do what is necessary to stop the killing. They continue to cling to the two-pronged strategy of failure that says the best we can do for homeless animals is to adopt a few and kill the rest.

The second reason is that the myth of pet overpopulation allows shelters to continue killing without total condemnation for doing so. It is the political cover that prevents even the animal rescuers and advocates from demanding an immediate end to the whole bloody mess. And, at its core, it is an unsupportable myth. The syllogism goes as follows: shelters kill a lot of animals; shelters adopt out few of them; therefore, there are more animals than homes. Hence, there is pet overpopulation. It is as faulty a syllogism and as untrue a proposition as exists in sheltering today. But people believe it. And because they do, local governments under-fund their shelters, appoint and retain incompetent employees in animal control, and give shelter directors the carte blanche they need to kill because the problem is portrayed as insurmountable.

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