I'm taking a bioethics course right now, and we got to choose a topic for a term-long project. My topic is bout animal rights. I've volunteered tons of hours at my county animal shelter, and am in the process of interviewing various people to get any input they wish to share. I'm specifically focusing on euthanasia, and, if, at all acceptable, the point at which to perform it. Please leave any feedback you wish (it would be helpful if you were to leave your first name, but only if you feel comfortable)Thanks so much guys!!!!

My name is "Stevie" and yes you can use my name.

My feedback on euthanasia comes from working six years in an animal shelter and seeing and helping with it first hand.

Do I like it? No. Do I think that it should be done? No, because I know that it is something preventable through spaying and neutering your pets.

But I understand the reasoning behind it and why. Evey animal that was ever pts (put to sleep) was shown compassion and a sense of love before it died. No one in the room was allowed to talk about anything that had happened that day, etc. We were all there to show the unwanted animal that it was loved and wanted by at least someone before it left.

I agree with the person below me when they said it can be an act of kindness when your animal looks in your eyes to let you know it's their time to go. When their qaulity of life goes, their not a dog/cat anymore, they're in pain and are suffering.

I, however, don't agree with them when they say it shouldn't be done when a shelter is running out of room. There is no such thing as a no kill shelter when people refuse to get their animals spayed and neutered. That doesn't make euthanasia any easier for the technician to go and play "God" if you will with a precious life like that, but you have to look at it through more than one set of eyes.

If not for a humane and compassionate death, when an animal is turned away, they are dropped and then poisoned, shot, or run over and then what? Do you really think someone is going to stop and take an injured animal to the vet and pay an expensive bill because someone was turned away from a shelter that was too full?

Ok, my first name is "Ren", feel free to use it if need be.

My opinion on euthanasia is that it is an unpleasant, and often deeply hurtful duty that we sometimes have to the animals in our stewardship. I do NOT think it is permissible to do it when a shelter is running out of room, or in similar situations to that. However, if an animal is getting very old, or very sick, and the vet bills are too high for a person to provide the animal with a reasonably decent life, then euthanasia may be the kindest option for the animal.

If a creature is in pain, and looks to you to end that pain, and you have no other way to do it, then you are doing what is best for the animal, hard as it may be to do.

Now, in some cases there may be other options; some vets may be willing to waive certain charges, or a local animal welfare group may be able to donate some money towards paying them, but in many cases there aren't options like these.