The Future of Dogs in an Animal Rights America
by Walt Hutchens



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Understanding Euthanasia Rates

There are no nationwide shelter statistics. First, no one has mandated (or been willing to pay for) their collection. Additionally, data are reported in different formats and levels of detail; some shelters report only informally to local officals.

However good quality small sample studies have been done, mostly in the 1992-2000 time frame. Results at the time showed that nationwide euthanasias had gone down 75% in the preceding 20 years on a dog and cat population basis. With the increased emphasis on spay and neuter, and the emergence of rescue groups in the past few years, there's every reason to think that the trend has continued. If so, today, the national annual shelter and pound euthanasia rate would be around 4% of the total dog and cat populations. Numbers of the two species have been roughly comparable; however, the favorable trend in cats is slowing and may have reversed in some areas due to the establishment of feral breeding populations.

If free-ranging populations are being controlled, localities with rates significantly less than 4% are doing well. But the overall rate is only part of the story. The total figure must be understood piece by piece if it is to be evaluated.