Behavioral Euthanasia is defined as ‘Humanely ending an animal's life due to severe behavioral issues’. Behavioral issues is NOT referring to if the dog pulls on the leash too much or if the dog jumps on people when excited. Those are trainable issues that can be easily managed. Behavioral issues can look like Idiopathic Aggression, also known as Rage Syndrome, an organ that is damaged beyond repair, or even a terminal illness. Behavioral Euthanasia is usually the last resort in a journey trying to find answers. In some cases, however, the answers are pretty clear early on.
It is important to stress that not every owner, rescue, or shelter that chooses behavioral euthanasia must take every option offered. Board Certified Veterinary Behaviorists can be out of the financial scope for a lot of people, as can highly skilled behavior modification trainers. If the owner of the animal has done everything they are capable of doing, it is within reason for them to opt for euthanasia when quality of life is no longer present for the animal or themselves or other animals in the household. Telling someone that this is a last resort and they did not do enough is emotional abuse given the traumas they have suffered during that process and it is unacceptable.
Keeping dogs that qualify for Behavioral Euthanasia alive only prolongs the suffering of the animal. There are worse things than death and dogs being warehoused in the hopes to “Save Them All” is horrendously cruel and inhumane. We have discussed this in the past, but we will continue to revisit this until it becomes less of an issue in the present rescue and shelter system. Unethical rescues are hiding bite histories and adopting dangerous dogs out into the public which end up attacking, and sometimes even killing, people and pets. Behavioral Euthanasia can prevent those from becoming a reality that we are seeing all too often.
Behavioral Euthanasia is not an easy topic to talk about, but it needs to be talked about more. The hard conversations are how we grow to do better by not only ourselves, but the animals that rely on us to make the best decisions for them. Behavioral Euthanasia being utilized more opens the door for many healthy and sound dogs to have a fair shot at a second chance.
Making these decisions is not easy and we are only human with human emotions to tangle with. Hearts break a little more each time an animal is behaviorally euthanized. The person making those decisions must be handled with grace and dignity as they learn to forgive themselves for those choices made to protect not only their community, their adopting demographic, their staff, and themselves, but the animal itself. When discussing behavioral cases it is a matter of when management fails and someone is severely injured, not if. Management always fails, and it will be a matter of time in each case.
There may be cases within any rescue that should be euthanized, but they have not yet. This does not automatically make that organization unethical, it makes them human. We must give margin of error and emotion for others within this space as none of us that are in rescue ethically are here for any reason other than we love the animals we work to give better lives to. Sometimes it’s ok for a rescue to hold one dog a little longer than others to give more chances simply because of an emotional attachment.
Where we must be careful with this is when we have a number of unadoptable dogs taking up spaces within a shelter or rescue that is severely impacting the ability to move adoptable dogs. Additionally, other animals cannot be getting harmed to keep a behavioral case alive. Sacrificing those that have happy ends possible is where we must draw the line. As long as other animals and handlers are safe, it is not unreasonable to continue working with a behavior case.
We must know our limits with this, and there needs to be boundaries tailored to each animal. No two cases are going to be exactly the same and no two cases can be handled the exact same. Defining limits and boundaries for each animal beyond their basic criteria for a behavioral euthanasia will help them know when they have no choice but to let the animal go and open that space for other dogs in need.
Behavioral euthanasia is never an easy decision, and finding peace with that decision can sometimes take years depending on the circumstances. If you have made this choice, remember to give yourself grace and forgiveness somewhere along the way as you grieve and heal from that decision. If you have a behavioral case you are struggling to make that decision, know that you are emotionally supported as you battle with this cruel circumstance and that it does not make you weak nor less equipped to handle rescue as you battle with things outside your control.
Regardless of the situation you may be in, behavioral euthanasia is a kindness and peace you can give to both you and the animal in the end.
Comments