Almost a year ago I started The No Kill Nation website in the hopes that it could become a voice and a resource for No Kill advocates from across the country and the world. To get the site going we started by asking people to contribute answers to the question: What is No Kill? Although the answer seems...

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a café re-reading Redemption, when a friend looked at the subtitle and said, “’The myth of pet overpopulation’; I guess you can say anything with statistics!” In the brief conversation we had time for, he made it clear that he believes that denial of “pet...

The recent situation at the Escondido Humane Society emphasizes just how important language is when communicating to the public.  Co-opting the language of No Kill without the definitions and appropriate actions behind it could quite easily backfire.   So if you have a shelter that is seeking to achieve...

There is no doubt that the confusion behind the words “no kill” is mostly an animal-welfare debate.  To the average person on the street, they would probably understand the difference between “kill” and “euthanasia” more easily and fully than any person who has been...

This article originally appeared at www.petconnection.com/blog. Copyright 2007 by Christie Keith. Used with permission. All rights reserved. (http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2007/11/20/whats-in-a-name-playing-the-orwellian-card/) Ever since Nathan Winograd’s “Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation...

Our movement is constantly asking itself if language we use is in keeping with our values to promote the sanctity of life. We ask ourselves and others whether we are “owners” of our animals or their “guardians.” We ask whether animals should be referred to as “it” or as “he” and “she.”...

Is the controversy over the term “no-kill” just a matter of semantics? Some shelter industry insiders insist that it is, but their heated reactions to the words suggest that something else is going on. When we profess a commitment to “no-kill”, we create friction against their...