Late term aborting of animals - an ethical dilemma

I'm an animal rescuer. No secret. My blood runs rescue red. I do crazy things when it comes to helping an animal in distress. Dragging dying dogs from freeways, confronting abusive people hurting kittens, clambering through deserted factories trying to find the litter of kittens left behind after a bulldozer has crushed the mother, sitting for days and weeks gaining the trust of a feral dog and her litter of pups in a landfill, tracking down a stolen dog, calling politicians and animal shelter workers to prevent the euthanasia of so called unwanted animals - it's pretty well known that if you have an 'animal problem', my name is on a load of speed dials. Hundreds of animals have passed through my life to their second chance. I'm proud of that.

But I am not a sentimental person who talks baby chatter to their pet. I believe when it is time to end a life, we humans have an obligation to act in the best interest of the animal to end suffering, and with a pragmatic approach. If I spend 5,000 dollars on endless tests, experimental treatments, drugs, MRI's etc, is this for my benefit or the animal? How many animals could I have helped with that money?

And even as an animal rescuer I have authorized the killing of dozens of animals. Even healthy ones, like Mama and Yogi who last year almost killed my little dog Roo. I didn't have them euthanised out of anger - it was because there simply were no more options, nowhere for them to go. And with Hurricane Katrina animals flooding the sanctuaries, even the most generous places had to hang the 'no room at the inn' sign.

But I do have a moral dilemma with what happened with the sweet cattle dog mix we took to the vet to be spayed, the one found on the streets of Oakland. I had made it clear that if she seemed to be close to giving birth, if the vet felt that the pups might be close to full term, that I did not want her aborted. Full term pups are viable, living puppies. As a friend pointed out, if we found the dog two days after giving birth, we wouldn't have killed the pups, so why would we kill them straight from the uterus while they are trying to take their first breath and get to a nipple.

I do not like it, it's that simple. And as it turns out - she was full term. This is the reason she had come off the streets and abandoned herself to us - hey, take care of me, OK? Do you not think this animal has feelings in preparation for birth? Are her mammary glands not engorged with milk ready for hungry mouths? And how do we feel about vets having to kill viable, living creatures?

It's one of the paths along which I diverge from many of my animal rescue friends. These amazing caring people who fight like hell for shelter animals facing death because they have gone from being the family pet to the family pest - dumped, unwanted, inconvenient. My great friend Sarah says 'We don't need any more pups in this world', and I agree. But I cannot see these deaths as necessary.

And the mother - she will be fine, though she cannot communicate with us what it feels like, what her head and body are telling her is wrong. In all probability we will have to massage her mammary glands to ease what will be soreness from the swelling and unrelieved pressure of the unused milk.

I will throw myself in front of a moving car to pull a cat from certain death, I will tangle myself in barbed wire to retrieve a possum caught in it's grip, I will face down the toughest guy to save a starving brutalised dog. Sometimes though, I'm just a wimp. I'm not good at late term spay - it's killing those we have sworn to save.

Comments

[Deb in Minnesota]

Jill, give the mother doggy a pat on the head from me. You gave me something to think about with your post about late term pup abortion.

[Jill]

thanks Deb, sometimes I think I go too far with what I say. But if it provides paws for thought, I think it's good...

[Michele]

Why is it that I still cry at the mention of Yogi and Mama? and Mike cries watching a movie where a dog has to be put down? You speak of guilt, I have so much I don't think it will ever subside. I loved those dogs, I miss them, I miss you Jill. Thanks for all you do.

[Jill]

Michele, I have the same feelings, trust me. I can't go near West Oakland without my heart sinking. When I drive along 7th, I think of the day we realised the first set of pups had moved from the warehouse to that abandoned lot, so near the road, so close to disappearing like the others, and we knew we had to act fast. Maybe I'll write a blog about that whole thing. It was a beautiful thing we did.
I don't forgive myself for not making extra effort after Mama mauled Roo. One thing I know - they would have died horrible deaths had we - you, Mike, me, Sue, Karen and the vet Mary Allen - not gone out of our way to bring them off the streets. Remember the time Yogi was impounded in Emeryville, and it was only because Karen recognized him in quarantine, that we got him back? You gotta be kind to yourself about what you did do, not what we were unable to do.

[michele]

Thanks Jill, I am glad we did what we could for them and their pups, Good God, remember all those pups, cleaning up after them several times a day 7 days a week, what a job that was, and how loving a dad Yogi was, and Mama letting us touch them, and you finding them all good loving homes, it was a great thing we did. I have wonderful memories of them. I know none of us will ever forget them, they were quite a pair!!
I will look forward to reading their story in your blog. Take care.