Shelby County No Kill Mission vs. PETA

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By Karen Harrison Binette

Our post of August 26, Community Helps Overcrowded No Kill Shelter to Preserve Its Mission, covered the good news that a county shelter committed to preserving the lives of the animals who come through its doors had been able to continue its no kill policy in the face of an overcrowding crisis.

The Shelby County Animal Shelter in Shelbyville, KY has maintained its no kill mission for the past 4 1/2 years, but had to put out an appeal to the community as overcrowding and slowed adoptions put its no kill status in danger. The shelter reluctantly set a date of September 1 to begin euthanizations unless there was some relief from the trend of increased intake and fewer adoptions. The public responded to the appeal and the shelter did not have to begin killing the animals in its care. Many animals were adopted or taken by rescues, as the public expressed their support for the shelter’s missing with both actions and words.

PETA responded to the crisis and appeal in a different way, sending gift baskets to county officials, with notes congratulating them on their decision to begin killing animals.  The note says, in part, “Thank you for doing the right thing for the animals” in reference to the potential resumption of shelter killings.  PETA and the No Kill movement are adversaries, with each side making its own case to win hearts and minds for their side in the battle over the lives of animals. The gift basket might be interpreted as a welcome to the other side of the battle or a taunt over a failure. Either way, it was not appreciated by those working to save lives at a crisis point for the shelter.

Shelby County is the first no-kill county in Kentucky. A nonprofit effort by volunteers provides fostering, fundraising and support, and maintains  both a Shelby County No-Kill Mission website and Facebook page devoted to the no-kill mission.

Shelby County No kill Mission provides this introduction to their video, which celebrates Shelby County’s remarkable success rate at saving lives, while deploring PETA’s reputed Pro Kill stance:

This video, produced by Shelby County No Kill Mission, was created in response to PETA sending county officials gift baskets thanking them for announcing that the shelter will begin killing again after four years as a No Kill shelter. The killing did not happen. Unlike PETA, others also reached out to help save animals and the animals are now safe

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5 thoughts on “Shelby County No Kill Mission vs. PETA”

  1. Once again the PETA people are off the mark. Fanatacism in any form is bad, once you become an extremist you lose perspective. They are too over the top.

  2. There are fanatics in groups all over!! Look for the good things individuals acaccompsh in groups. Do I have to name the groups that have both good and bad in them? Watch the news! I would not discount you because of bad behavior of one of your family members. All or nothing thinking is actually a self- defeating behavior. Open a psychology book.

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