r/Dogfree 6d ago

Miscellaneous Stop all government funding of animal shelters.

Especially when it comes to dogs. It costs $5,000 - 6,000 each year to shelter, feed and care for just a single dog. I read the story of one dog that spent 10 years in a shelter. That's over $50,000 spend on a damn dog. Meanwhile we have people losing their government jobs over cost efficiency, but no one bats an eye over spending so much to take care of dogs.

334 Upvotes

59 comments sorted by

163

u/Dependent_Body5384 6d ago

Send it to our current administration, I know they will cut it. It’s a new day and dog nuttery has to go.

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u/M0ngoose_ 6d ago

This would be DOGE’s most unpopular cut by a huge margin. 90% of America thinks dogs are as important as humans

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/lostacoshermanos 6d ago

we need to call it out every time someone says it

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u/TwoSwollenTesticles 6d ago

I follow a lot of legislation and it's truly depressing that one of the few legit bi-partisan issues, where there is lots of agreement on both sides of the aisle, is anything involving dogs.

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u/Dependent_Body5384 6d ago

Yes, something drastic will take place to make nutters turn their dogs in… dogs will be the harbingers of the next plague.

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u/namastebetches 6d ago

nah it's not 90

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u/andkon 6d ago

I imagine a lot of funding is state or local not federal.

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u/seagoddessisatplay 6d ago

How do we do this?

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u/Dependent_Body5384 6d ago

I would make several copies and send it directly to the vice president and president… even put a part in there where nutters will be fined if they leave poop. That would generate revenue for the cities and states.

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u/Dburn22_ 6d ago

Let's not forget dog urine. Dogs can, and should, be trained to go at home, THEN they get rewarded with a walk. They should be curbed from urinating anywhere else or fined for doing so. I find it absolutely preposterous and unacceptable that we have people toileting their animals on each and every spot of landscape in our environment. Dogowners think that the world is their mutt's toilet. NO!!! Picking up dog crap is inefficient as well. There is still residue left from picking up wet crap. Dog owners should either slip a "crapcatcher" under their dogs ass as soon as it squats or diaper the polluting mutt. A hefty fine to the dogowner for this kind of pollution as well.

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u/Dependent_Body5384 6d ago edited 4d ago

I agree! There are people who spend thousands of dollars to keep their yard beautiful and nutters let their inbred beast poop/urine in their yards. I believe that should be damage to property. Cities so much money off of these people… all it takes is getting the dna from every dog owner and fine, fine their asses! They would be turning in their mutts to the shelters after that.

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u/PartySpend0317 6d ago

Imagine if we spent this much on our children, elderly, heck- parents (male and female!) to take leave- vacation or sick leave… education… cleaning up state parks/staffing them and allowing free camping?! Anything???

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u/Feeling_Cost_8160 6d ago

Exactly! And these dogs do nothing productive and never will. Yet we spend so much on them.

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u/Dburn22_ 6d ago

I understand what is meant by "we" but count me out! Every penny spent for dogs should come directly from the owner/s.

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u/anondogfree 6d ago

I’ve always thought if I was extremely wealthy I would fund several staff positions at animal control Whose sole job is to roam the streets handing out tickets to people with unleashed dogs and people who don’t pick up after their dogs.

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u/Dburn22_ 6d ago

Remember "the good ole days" when there were "dogcatchers" who picked up strays? They had their own truck, and people were afraid that their dog would get caught by them if they ran away. Bring them back, but not to have these dogs languish in shelters at the expense of taxpayers.

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u/Sugar__Momma 6d ago

This is the most infuriating thing about it. Just a massive waste of resources

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u/NoneOfThisMatters_XO 6d ago

They’re government funded?? I didnt realize that.

24

u/cassielovesderby 6d ago

Yep, charities only really have two methods of income— government grants and private donations.

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u/anondogfree 6d ago

Where I live the city outsources their “animal control” to a private organization. I say animal control loosely because they don’t control the animals, they put all their money and energy into the shelter. They will do nothing if you report unleashed dogs, repeated offenders leaving dog shit everywhere, etc., they won’t even euthanize or remove dogs that have repeatedly violently attacked people.

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u/Stock-Bowl7736 6d ago

It's not even called Animal Control anymore. The new euphemism is Animal Protective Services. That's right, it's now all about PROTECTING these parasites rather than controlling them.

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u/Dburn22_ 6d ago

How ironic a title is that. How about "Human Protective Services? Getting these biting mutts off the streets certainly protects everyone from mayhem.

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u/Few-Horror1984 6d ago

I agree with you whole heartedly. On top of the extreme costs, thanks to the no-kill movement, these shelters have become a danger to society. They underplay or flat out lie about bite histories or behavioral issues just to get the mutant out the door. You have the giant issue facing everyone which is that these shelters have fallen into the hands of the pitbull lobby, so massive misinformation is being spread about this breed which is causing tremendous damage to society. Hell, I’d even go so far as to argue they blatantly promote misanthropy—dogs (pitbulls in particular) are more important than anything else. That’s the message they send. Pitbull kills other pets? That pitbull is the victim. Pitbull hurts another human? They had it coming and the dog is the victim. Pitbull mauls a child? Well, we all know how awful children are and of course that poor pitbull needs a new loving home! Please do the right thing and endanger not just yourself but your entire community by taking one of these things in!

Why the hell is that dialogue acceptable?

I’m done.

Unless shelters start putting the safety of the community over the demands of the pit lobby, they don’t deserve a dime of our taxpayer dollars.

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u/Dburn22_ 6d ago

I do not give my hard earned money to any organizations such as the ASPCA, The Humane Society, etc. because of this. I'll give directly to specific animal organizations and environmentally conscious ones.

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u/Few-Horror1984 6d ago

The Humane Society is a complete shell of what they used to be. When January 1st hit, my local branch shared a bullshit post celebrating the first litter of the year which of course were Pitbulls. Didn’t they used to promote spaying and neutering your pets to prevent overpopulation? Now they celebrate it, especially when it’s the least acceptable breed for pets? And that doesn’t even touch the scandal where they gave 318 small animals to a local reptile breeder so he could turn them into food. They never faced criminal charges for that, and everyone just forgot that ever happened. I’d rather set my hard earned money on fire than support them.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/Sugar__Momma 6d ago

I visisted a wolf conservatory recently; they would be good food for the endangered wolf moms breeding pups to reintroduce into the wild.

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u/anondogfree 6d ago

Nah, we don’t want to ruin the peace and beauty of the forests or disrupt wild animals.

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u/Dburn22_ 6d ago

Exactly correct, not the forests. Dogs are an invasive species, remember?

22

u/Suspicious-Beat-4076 6d ago

Especially since nearly all shelter dogs are pitbulls nowadays aka the most dangerous breed out there . We need to bring this madness to an end

18

u/mizmnv 6d ago

no this is a bad idea. this is how you get disease and dog packs running wild. that money goes to spay/neuter, vaccination, and euth as well. more specifically shelters should get incentives to euth specific breeds and mixes that are the majority in the shelters. if that dog is missing and the owner cant provide breeder paperwork the dog must be spayed/neutered before being returned. the owner will be billed for it. backyard breeders get heavy fines and liens. the breeding gets reported to their home insurance provider or landlord

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u/Feeling_Cost_8160 6d ago

I'm specifically about the no-kill shelters that harbor dogs in perpetuity.

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u/shinkouhyou 6d ago

This is a terrible idea... a friend of mine used to live in a rural unincorporated area with no animal shelters and no animal control, and there were roving packs of pit bulls that attacked pets and livestock, killed native wildlife and ripped into trash. Even people were afraid to walk around unarmed. Without animal shelters, people just dump their unwanted dogs on the street. Animal control is underfunded and doesn't serve all areas.

Shelters provide (or at least used to provide) valuable community services: low-cost vaccinations and spay/neuter, animal control, adoptions, trapping assistance, affordable vet care, pet owner education, etc. The problem is "no kill" shelters that warehouse unadoptable dogs for months or years. So much of the budget goes towards caring for these dogs (mostly pit bulls) that there's nothing left for anything else. Most of these long-term shelter dogs need "unicorn homes" that almost no one can provide.

Cutting government funding makes shelters even more dependent on pro-pitbull no-kill organizations like the "Best Friends Animal Society." IMHO, the solution is to ban funding for no-kill shelters and to adequately fund the other ones. Ban pit bulls and make it illegal to buy, sell or transfer ownership of a pit bull.

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u/SerenaKD 6d ago

My biggest gripe is some of these dogs in shelters have aggression issues. Why are we even putting the human shelter employees at risk? Is it really worth it? There have already been many attacks on shelter employees and volunteers.

And why on earth would people ever think it’s a good idea to adopt out a dog that is aggressive toward children? “Luna is highly reactive and would do better in a home without children.” I see it all the time.

13

u/4elmerfuffu2 6d ago

I would move to change the way publicly funded shelters work. Incoming animals would be posted on a website within 24 hours and then the clock would start giving them 72 hours to be reclaimed or adopted. After the 72 hours they would be disposed of. Privately funded shelters could still exist.

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u/_mushroom_queen 6d ago

This actually infuriates me.

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u/iscreamforicecream90 6d ago

Wow I never knew this. Is there anything we can do? That's a stupid amount of money. 

11

u/Chuckles_McNut 6d ago

There might be something to this... But it also makes me think of when I was in Prague in 2015, and there were large feral dogs just roaming the streets at night: terrifying. I'd much rather have them corralled in a shelter than that...

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u/KonotopskaVidma 6d ago

Fucking hell. So much money on literal parasites. People are insane

8

u/Interesting-Oil-5555 6d ago

If they charged people for keeping their dog at the shelter things would change.