Shoot the dog! or, What about humans?

Ukraine to stop killing stray dogs before Euro 2012 football championship, reports The Guardian. Now there's something strange in the Western attitude toward dogs. Like they say that killing the dog on film is a big no-no in Hollywood. And now British charity is trying to save stray dogs in Ukraine...

Let me tell you something. The dog's nearest relative is wolf. A pack hunnter. The pack would defend it's territory and may turn on any creature that isn't a member of a pack. And guess what? They can perceive small children as a threat. Well known for that trait, actually. You get regular reports on Russian news about another small child that was mauled by the pack of strays... and if the pack is big enough they'd take on grown men as well. Now guess what a dozen of intelligent carnivores with sharp teeth working together can do to a human... Ok, you can stop throwing up now.

Strangely there were no protests when US police shot some exotic animals that escaped from that private zoo in the US, making some endangered species even more endangered.I'd guess that have the pack of wolves escaped nobody would say a world were they shot by the police. But the dog is seen as the man's best friend... and here's where them dog lovers make a mistake. While ordinary pet dog is the best friend of it's master, stray mutts do not trust humans and unlike wolves have no fear of humans and won't hesitate to attack when feel threatened. Add to that the fact that many of them hate humans with passion and would attack even without being provoked and you have the rrecipe for disaster.

And what solution do them tender-hearted Brits propose (and Ukrainian authorities are willing to implement)? Why, build shelters for tens of thousands of them mutts, and if they run out of space in the shelters just sterilize and release them! The first one puts additional burden on the economy (who'd pay for the construction of those shelters and tons of dog food?) while the second one is no solution at all, as sterilized stray remains the same pack hunter with sharp teeth as it was before, posing exactly the same danger.

So shooting or otherwise killing the dog is actually the best solution. And if those with the stupid feel-good solutions want to save dogs – why, they could try to educate people who'd throw the puppy out as soon as it's not that cute anymore. They can encourage people to adopt the strays. They could help existing shelters to increase adoption rate. Maybe it would not be as dramatic as building hundreds of shelters... but I feel that it would make a difference. You have to decrease the number of strays, you kill them instead of feeding them. You want to decrease the number of strays without killing, you adopt them.

Oh, and one more thing. The last dog there was in our family was a stray mutt who just sorts of adopted us. It came one day and stayed for 8 years and it was one of the smartest dogs I've ever known. She had many puppies during that time, and we saw them all adopted by the people who really cared. Now that's what I call the solution: Happy people and happy dogs.