Animal rights, is about an animals right to life, and exploitation. If you take away the animals life, then, you believe that that animal doesn't have a right to life. You believe that you, or someone else, has more of a right to decide whether that animal lives or dies.
Therefore, when people, or groups, argue in favour of kill-shelters, effectively what they are saying is, that animal doesn't have a right to life, and I (or my group) has more of a say in whether that animal lives or dies.
There are several reasons why kill-shelters are wrong, and here, we are going to take a look at some of the reasons why they are wrong.
(None of these are marked in a particular order)
The will to live
If an animal in a kill-shelter is displaying the behaviour of wanting to live, then we don't have a right to kill them.
Old animals
But another thing. When charities, or kill-shelters state that one of the animals which should be killed are old pets, it encourages people to only see value in young pets. It also encourages people to dump older pets, for newer ones.
Sadly, this is already far too common, people dumping older pets in shelters for newer pets. This problem already exists, therefore, animal charities should know better than to state than one of their targeted euthanasia animals are old pets.
Sick pets
If so, this is based on ignorance, and laziness to research the facts about disabled animals. Disabled animals can, and do live health and happy lives. There is already to much stigma and ignorance which surrounds disabled animals, that this doesn't help.
Homelessness
What would PETA do with the billions of farm animals that would be no longer in use. Would they kill them too? If so, what is the point of PETA at all. If not, then there stance is hypocritical. So either way, PETAs stance is antagonistic.
Killing animals just because they are homeless is a lazy excuse.
Kill-shelters do not work
Kill-shelters do not work, the numbers show that kill-shelters do not work. The number of pets is increasing, not decreasing. If kill-shelters worked, then number would be going down.
Kill-shelters are part of the problem
Instead of using the money to educate people, offer free spay and neutering programs, funding kill-shelters encourages people to withhold getting their pet spayed or neutered. Why? Because, people know that if they have unwanted animals, if their cat has kittens, they can just dump them at a kill-shelter.
Instead of putting money into kill-shelters and encouraging this attitude that animals can be just dumped at kill-shelters, we need a different approach.
Two things that we can do to create a different approach is:
1) Education
Educate people about the pet overpopulation crisis. Educate people about the importance of spaying and neutering their pet.
2) Offer free or partially paid spay and neutering programs
Instead of putting money into kill-shelters, put the money into free spaying and neutering for pet owners. This is a better approach, and a quicker approach to solving the problem.
-----
Kill-shelter do not work, they are slaughterhouses by another name.