This post makes it's way to TIL every of weeks, and is very misleading. The fact is that these local shelters reddit loves to rely on often have a no-kill policy to keep their hands clean. They accomplish this by giving those animals too sick to help to PETA, who offers euthanization services. This is why they have such a large percentage of euthanizations.

*There are way too many dogs and cats. Like way way too many. Like in the millions too many. That is why we tell people to spay and neuter them. That is why we spend probably billions of dollars to spay and neuter them. *With too many dogs and cats, euthanasia will be a thing. Demand for pets is inelastic (at some point we can't find new homes for them), so they will either starve in the streets, or die by our hands. In many countries they starve. *Because of marketing, some shelters will portray themselves as no-kill or low-kill. This is just marketing. Whether you take in the animal, or refuse it, the animal will have to be either adopted or euthanized. There are millions of animals that won't be able to find a home each year and have to be dealt with humanely somehow. *Peta doesn't opt-out of the blame like shelters do by refusing surrendered animals. They euthanize them themselves. That's just a matter of optics. I dislike PETA, but can commend them on taking the ugly tasks. I don't think it makes sense for them to set up a strong adoption program either, since each animal they find a home for will mean one less animal a dedicated adoption organization finds a home for.

Just to add on to the point about the corporate interests, the main site behind the defamation campaign (PETA Kills Animals) is run by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a right-wing non-profit funded by the fast food, meat, alcohol, and tobacco industries. They are fantastic at astro-turfing: presenting a corporate viewpoint as if it was a genuine grass-roots movement. I would be extremely skeptical about anything coming from a lobbyist group like them, nor trust them to stay off of sites like reddit for their propoganda.