Animal euthanasia has been part of our culture for many years. Although “euthanasia” comes from the Greek word “euthanatos” which translates into “good death” or more precisely humane death, there is nothing humane about taking a life which is not ours to take.As a rescuer and after dealing with several cases where animals were severely hurt/abused and had a small chance of survival, euthanasia was never an option for me.I’ve heard a lot of “instead of putting a lot of money into treating an animal with severe injuries, why not use that money to rescue or feed other healthy strays”.My answer was always pretty simple: If your child was critically ill, wouldn’t you cross oceans and climb mountains to save her/his life? The same applies to the strays we rescue.Sure, putting the animal to sleep is the easy way out and it would save us a lot of money, but is it ethical?How can we sleep at night knowing that we deliberately took a life just because we lack the financial resources or because the animal might end up having a disability of some kind and hence finding a home for them would be nearly impossible?We should not hide behind “the easiness” of euthanasia, because as rescuers and animal advocates, our motto is “rescuing animals in need and giving them a second chance at a better life”.The moment we decide, for whatever reason, to end a life, then we are no longer walking our talk and we are breaking the …
IS EUTHANASIA THE SOLUTION?
