what happens to all the dogs that are put to sleep at pounds?

Question

are they dumped off in a landfill or sold or what? There must be millions of them.

Answer 1

*Sad to say you are right! There are millions of them every year! At our shelters they are euthanized & every Monday a huge truck comes around to the shelters and they are all shipped off to be cremated! So sad! People need to become resposible pet owners! Have your pet spayed or neutered & always adopt from your local shelter or rescue group! One pet at a time, we can make a difference!*

Answer 2

Well, I can't say for all pounds. However, I worked at a pound for a short time (long messed up story for the details). The dogs were killed by what I call, lethal injection, but it's the same stuff the vet would use to put a pet dog to sleep for the owner. It is then put into a heavy duty trash bag and then put into a freezer. When the freezer is full and fully frozen (usually every other day), we would load the bodies (still in the bags so we didn't have to see them) into the ovens. I don't know what they did with the ashes as I worked the morning shift and I guess the afternoon shift cleaned out the cremation oven.

Believe me, it's a lot easier to handle a frozen animal over a freshly killed dog.

There are several methods approved by the state to euthanize the animals. I know you can shoot a bolt into the skull of an animal, shoot a bullet, and I think you can gas it. All of these methods required special training to perform. When I worked at a vet clinic the freezer would be unloaded by a contractor who would cremate the remains. Once again, I don't know what happened to the ashes (unless the owner wanted the ashes returned in an urn).

Answer 3

It's sad to me that people will go to a breeder and buy a dog when there are millions in shelters and other organizations just waiting for new owners.
The bodies of the dogs are cremated or incinerated. You can actually have your animal creamated at almost any pound for a small cost and keep the ashes or spread them in your animals favorite space. This cost is then used to save animals from euthinization.
I used to live in VA and last year a funeral home that was supposed to be cremating the bodies of animals for the shelters wasn't doing it and dumping the bodies of the animals in the woods and near creeks. It happened more than once and I was truly upset.
The ashes are usually put into a landfill or area specified for that purpose.
Such a tradgedy that so many lovely animals lose their lives simply because no one adopts them in time.
God bless all the little animals in the world.

Answer 4

Some are incinerated, some are taken to a rendering palnt, and some dump them in landfills. It all depends on the budgets and resources of the individual group.

Answer 5

Most have an oven to cremate the bodies and then the ashes go into the land fill. but there have been numerous cases of pounds and vet offices just dumping the bodies in land fills. Sorry Lot!

Answer 6

They are used in dog & cat food & labeled as "animal-by-product". They are burned, they are dumped in landfills. It is horribly sad to think about this.

Answer 7

Mass cremation in their own incinerator, then ashes are scattered.

You can opt to pay for your pet's cremation to be separate and you will get a container back with just his/her remains. I wanted to say that we did this with my daughter's rabbit and we bought a cedar box and superglued her photo on the top inside one of those clear frames and it is nice because she has it in her room on her shelf where she can tell people about her as opposed to a cemetery, which I would not have opted for.

Answer 8

cavetroll666: I believe some of the animals are used in dog food or sold to laboratories where they are then used as dissection experiments for high schools and colleges. I could be wrong though.

Answer 9

I know at the shelter where I work, they are cremated. Most shelters do this. If the dog belongs to someone, it is creamated and the ashes are given back. We also have our own pet cemetary, if someone would like to bury and animal there.

Answer 10

Our local shelter puts them all in big cans. When they are so full of the dogs they incinerate them. Our newspaper ran a very distasteful full page ad on this subject.