There was an article in the local paper a couple of days ago about the staff of the local SPCA being so traumatised by the need to put down animals that they need stress leave and counseling to help them cope.

Well, having just lost one SPCA refugee (who cost $50 fee when acquired) I am disappointed that the staff are killing so many animals when many could go to perfectly good homes if the fees were dropped to a reasonable level. Yeah, ok, so it costs money to feed/house/doctor/neuter these pets, but to do all that and them pay further money to dispose of them because nobody takes them home when people would happily adopt them for a small, a reasonable sized donation is just pathetic and a waste of the financial resources they have, which in the case of Tauranga SPCA is currently plenty thanks to a million dollar bequest by an elderly person not long ago.

We like saving cats lives and integrating them into our family; we don't like this implicit expectation that you will pay $75 to adopt a cat and commit yourself to paying for its needs for the rest of its life, and that if you can't afford a pet from the SPCA that it's better for them to kill it for want of a loving home.

Dumb.