local shelter

I just read that our local humane society is going to be giving their cats away for free again for the next two weeks (they did this for a period of time this summer, too). They, like the rest of us, are having problems with the cat rush we've all been hit with and justify giving the cats away by saying they don't want to kill more than they have to. The thing with the shelter is, they are all friendly strays (kittens, generally) or owner surrenders...they either euthanize ferals or semi-ferals the minute they come in or call us to take them. So they already do a lot of euthanizing to begin with, i'm guessing. I understand where they're coming from but it just makes me feel sick.

During the summer when they did this they had a huge increase in the amount of adoptions, but i would really wonder about someone who will not adopt a cat for a 75 dollar adoption fee but will take two when they're free. Judging from some of the crazy people we have had to deny adoptions to lately, i shudder to think of where some of these cats could end up. In situations like this, i don't know what's better, life or death.

Anyway, that was just my on-topic rant for the holidays. Stuff like this makes me feel so guilty for only having four cats when i could probably take care of more. :sad:

We've never done free adoptions around here--I've never heard of it actually. I agree with what you are saying though. If someone didn't want the cat for a nominal fee, do they really want it? And if they can't afford the fee, how do they expect to care for the cat? I don't know how I feel about the practice, although I'm sure it is an effective way of getting the census down.

Actually Toronto HS did the same thing this summer,they were overwhelmed with cats,not something I agree with and they will more than likely end up with some of them back as strays:sad: