From Christie Keith ~ “The goal of the No-Kill Movement is not the general, indefinable, unquantifiable, “feel-good” goal of “a more humane nation.” Nor is it “reducing euthanasia.” The goal is to end the use of killing as a tool of animal population control. There is therefore no better term to describe it than “No-Kill.”
The reason that a lot of people who oppose this goal, or who have a vested interest in people believing it’s unattainable, encourage their networks to raise this objection is that “No-Kill” is a powerful, positive term to most people, and thus, has political and social power to help advance our cause. That’s why so much opposition energy, time and money has been invested in developing various arguments against it, such as the “it upsets and divides the humane movement” one that’s being deployed here.
For those who say they support that goal, or who really do support it, but still feel uncomfortable with the term, I would suggest that they don’t fully understand the goal of the movement, or possibly believe, as many of us including I once believed, that we could reach this goal hand-in-hand with those in the traditional sheltering movement.
What I have learned is that we don’t all want the same thing. There are shelters were the people who work there WANT to kill, and even ENJOY the killing. There are shelters where the fact that they kill large numbers of animals is a valuable propaganda tool about mass public irresponsibility that they aren’t willing to lose. It threatens their jobs, their fundraising goals, and their public image to admit a community can become no kill WITHOUT turning every citizen in the community into a model pet owner.
This IS a reform movement. It SHOULD HAVE a strong, reform-oriented name. That this name is one popular with the general public, and in harmony with the movement’s goal, is a huge plus.
It would be nuts to change it. Rather, I would suggest that true advocates of ending the use of killing as a tool of animal population control who don’t care for it should work on getting over their discomfort with it.”
