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Over the objections of PETA, Lawmakers in Pima County, Arizona (Tucson area) approved a trap, neuter & release (TNR) program to reduce the overall number of feral cats while preventing existing cats from being euthanized. In a letter to the County’s Board of Supervisors, PETA encouraged the County to euthanize feral cats on the grounds that they are not meant to live outdoors; they prey on wildlife; and they send a message to it’s okay for humans to abandon their pets. PETA also says that euthanasia is less painful than the deaths experienced by cats in the street.

I know I open up a can of (faux) worms when I ask this question, but are some feral cats better off being killed in a shelter than sent back into inhospitable and dangerous streets where their demise could be far more painful or where they are they abused by people? Do they depend on the kindness of strangers for food, only to be neglected? Do they prey on local wildlife?  Does their presence give people license to abandon their own cats, as PETA claims? Does the presence of feral cats give people license to abandon their cats? I don’t know. What I do know is that we are reckless and cruel by domesticating animals and then tossing them out into the street like garbage when taking care of them becomes inconvenient. I also know is that we must continuously remind the general public to spay and neuter companion animals and adopt from shelters instead of buying from pet stores and breeders.

The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) has released undercover footage of baby dogs and cats and their mothers being physically and emotionally abused in a barren U.K. lab owned by the pharmaceutical company Merck. The video shows young puppies being separated from their mothers, who are killed because their job of delivering babies to the lab was complete. It also shows the puppies being injected, killed and dissected in front of their brothers and sisters. In a Care2 article, the BUAV said that “While many of these animals could have been rescued, simply killing them and tossing their bodies in the trash is easier than making any effort to find them homes.”

https://youtu.be/5mE4uCacUmc

Like agribusiness owners, researchers who test on animals go to great lengths to hide their experiments from public view, knowing that people would be outraged to see how the imprisoned animals suffer and die. As PETA explains, “They languish in pain, ache with loneliness, and long to roam free and use their minds. Instead, all they can do is sit and wait in fear of the next terrifying and painful procedure that will be performed on them.” Modern day science has provided scientists with alternatives to animal research, but because of government regulations, laziness and money, the brutal experiments continue. To learn more about animal testing and find out how you can help, please PETA’s Animals Used For Experimentation website.