I know the photos are upsetting, believe me. But you have to understand a problem in order to fix it. And that's what we want you to do—to start understanding the real source of the problem. The killing of homeless and unwanted animals isn't going away, and it's not because animal shelters don't care (they do, and many workers pour their hearts into their work). The real reason—and here's the truly shocking part—is that many dog and cat lovers are the problem. That's right—the very people who should care the most are often the ones who create the problem.

It took several days to trap this hound, who likely had gotten lost while hunting or had been abandoned at the end of hunting season. He was suffering from a crushed femur, a dislocated leg, heartworms, hookworms, and Ehrlichiosis, which is similar to Lyme disease.

Shelter workers will tell you that dogs and cats come through their portals with embroidered blankets, painted toenails, or folders filled with "papers"—signs that the animals were once valued. Some were bought on a whim as Paris Hilton–style "arm candy," and others were surrendered because their guardians went off to college; went on vacation; moved north, south, east, or west; married someone who was allergic; got divorced; or couldn't be bothered to cope with the animal's barking, fur, size, or normal physical and psychological needs. (Surprise—animals actually need to be fed and walked, and their litterboxes need to be cleaned too.)

This feral cat was likely attacked by another animal; the attack left the tendon in her leg painfully exposed.

Many of the "dumped" are living, breathing testaments to the collapse of sub-prime mortgages and loans. We acquired beyond their means, so when times got hard, pink slips arrived, and bills mounted, thousands of Princesses and Peppers and Peaches ended up on the street, literally and figuratively. And they're still pouring through the doors of animal shelters—the ones, that is, who weren't left in abandoned houses, later to be found barricaded inside closets or on chains in backyards.

This dog's penis had been prolapsed for over a week and had become painfully infected. The dog's guardian had no money for vet care and called PETA to help ease the animal's suffering.

Some refugees from human failures and home foreclosures will languish in a shelter cage for life. You can see them, turning in ever tighter circles; barking frantically at every visitor, as if to recount their story; or sitting with their backs turned to the world, unresponsive to sweet talk, all hope gone. Every one of these anxious individuals must wonder how it is that this guardian or that family, their family, their person, who they believed would always be there to care for them, has vanished, leaving them confused and displaced in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable cell.

This cat's guardian allowed her to roam outdoors. She disappeared for several days, and when she came back her leg had been degloved and all the bones were exposed.

Unwanted dogs and cats are, in their own way, a bit like carbon emissions: They are invisible to most of us because they are kenneled in animal shelters that are often tucked away on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, in impoverished neighborhoods, or down country roads. They are hidden, unlike the animals in bright, shiny mall pet shops. Like carbon emissions, they are the product of careless and egocentric lifestyles and a reluctance to connect the dots.

A hoarder had allowed this kitten to suffer from a prolapsed rectum.

This year, animal shelters will be forced to kill millions of wonderful dogs and cats for want of one thing: a good home. Why? Because many of the people in your local dog park or veterinary waiting room—people who truly love their dogs and cats—have behaved irresponsibly by obtaining an animal from a pet shop or breeder and failing to have him or her spayed or neutered.

These are the people who are responsible for taking the lives of homeless animals—not your local shelter workers. For, just as buying clothes that were made in sweatshops supports child labor, buying a dog or cat from a breeder or pet shop contributes to the death rate in shelters. Let me be clear: There is no such thing as a responsible breeder.

When people buy a dog or cat, perhaps they think that homeless animals don't factor into their purchase, or perhaps they are honestly oblivious to the hundreds of thousands of animals who are waiting on death row at that very moment. I'm sure that such people don't see themselves as signing some animal's death warrant when they sign their credit card receipt, but that's what they are doing. They have room in their home and heart that could be filled by rescuing one of those wonderful, loving dogs or cats who were booted out, got lost, or fell victim to a human's accident or death. They would have felt that animal's gratitude for years to come.

This feral cat was found roaming the streets and suffering from serious neck wounds that had been left untreated.

There is one more way in which people add to the crisis, and that is by fooling themselves into thinking that it doesn't count if they breed their dog or cat just one time. But it does matter very much. Please join PETA in calling on the governors of all 50 states to endorse mandatory spay-and-neuter laws that would require dogs and cats to be sterilized unless their owners purchase an annual breeding permit—the cost of which would fund low-cost spay-and-neuter services.

Everyone who breeds their dog or cat believes that their friends will flock to take home the new arrivals. After all, that animal is the prettiest and smartest in the world. But again, a pound pup or shelter Siamese could fill that space (to say nothing of the spaces that will later be taken up by the descendents of those new puppies and kittens if they aren't spayed or neutered before they're given away). And if homes can't be found for all those adorable pups and kittens, people find themselves handing them over the counter at the animal shelter accompanied by those six conveniently guilt-shifting words, "You won't kill them, will you?"

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

Warning: Graphic photos below.

This blog post may shock you with its bluntness, but it is the truth. It's also a call to action. This is your chance to weigh in and help the unloved, the unwanted, and the throwaways from our convenience-oriented society. I want to ask you to look at some photographs that may haunt you, but they may also prompt you to act.

After crawling inside a car engine, this kitten suffered gruesome injuries but was still alive and screaming in pain.

PETA never turns away an animal for being "unadoptable." Ever. In fact, in our area, as is likely the case in yours, the "no-kill" facility is usually full—full of dogs and cats who have been sitting in cages for months and, in some cases, years. And that facility, while basking in the glory of its "no-kill" pledge, often refers animals to us and to the city pound. We receive calls from desperate people who cannot afford the "no-kill" shelter's admission fee or can't cope with its waiting list. We do not turn our back on these animals. Never have and never will. So we take in the animals no one wants, and we ease their pain so that they don't languish unaided or fall into the wrong hands—which often would mean going right back to where they came from. We will always be here for animals who need and deserve a kind hand, a loving word, and a peaceful exit from a world that has treated them like trash.

A passerby called PETA after spotting this dog, who had a chain deeply embedded in her neck and reeking of infection.

Last year, PETA did many things: We helped countless dogs and cats in "our own backyard." Our phenomenal mobile spay-and-neuter clinics sterilized 8,677 animals (562 of whom we picked up for surgery and then took back home in PETA's Animal Birth Control van). We built and delivered more than 300 sturdy doghouses and delivered about 5,000 bags of straw to warm up cold dogs who were chained or penned outside in all weather extremes. We provided free veterinary care for animals with infections, wounds, and illnesses. And we did something else that made a difference: Our shelter of last resort took in 2,352 injured, ill, elderly, and unwanted animals for euthanasia. Our Community Animal Project staffers showered each of them with love and affection in their final moments, gave them their very first soft caress, in many cases, and told them, "Good puppy!" often for the very first time.

These two starving, abandoned puppies were suffering from a severe case of demodectic mange covering about 80 percent of their bodies. They were surviving off scraps that neighbors and passersby left for them. A veterinarian recommended immediate euthanasia to end their suffering.

No one feels anything other than crushed to euthanize animals; those who hate euthanasia the most are the truly kind people whose job it is to perform it—people on our staff and in other animal shelters. It's so easy for some people to turn away, to condemn, or to create the very problem that these brave souls deal with, but they are only cleaning up after the people who neglected those animals; who never showed them a shred of commitment or an ounce of compassion, who thought nothing of crating, penning, or chaining them up with a tractor-trailer chain because it was inconvenient to walk them or secure daycare for them; who didn't think twice about leaving them behind when their house was foreclosed on or dog food became expensive; or who left the door open and let the dog or cat get hit by a car. Our staff is grateful that people in our community know to call upon us when someone needs to do what's necessary.

This rat's guardian came to PETA to have the terminally ill animal euthanized after a local animal shelter turned her away.

The animals who come through PETA's doors are but a tiny fraction of the estimated 6 to 8 million homeless dogs and cats who are handed over the counter in animal shelters nationwide every year. These animals are abandoned, and many are left to languish in cages—waiting, looking up anxiously and hopefully at every person who enters, in the hope that he or she will save them and take them home. A whopping half of them will be "put to sleep" because that someone never showed up (the girl who stopped at the cage and giggled, the man who said, "Isn't he weird-looking?"—they moved on with their lives). The people who are kind enough to hold these animals and stroke their fur as they take their last breath are not to blame for any of it. The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of each person who refuses or "forgets" to have his or her cat or dog sterilized and everyone who has purchased an animal from a pet shop or a breeder instead of adopting from their local shelter.

After being hit by a car, this cat suffered a prolapsed eye and serious internal injuries but was still alive when a passerby found her.

PETA is calling on the governors of all 50 states to endorse mandatory spay-and-neuter laws that would require dogs and cats to be sterilized unless their owners purchase an annual breeding permit, the cost of which would fund low-cost spay-and-neuter services. You can help—you have a governor, and you may know a state senator or council member—or perhaps you could get to know one. Please join us in this effort, and please recruit everyone you know to do so as well. We will provide language for model legislation, but please, talk to everyone in the dog parks, at the vet's office, and on the street. Download our posters and fliers and hand them out and put them up; pick a low-income block and help the people there spay and neuter their animals; and please, go down to city hall or up to the statehouse and lobby so that next year the nation's homeless animal population will be lower. Individual dogs and cats would ask you to do this if they could.

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

thaindian / CC

The situation in Haiti is obviously bleak for all living beings. PETA is asking rescue and relief agencies on the ground in Haiti—some with rescue dogs from the U.S. and Europe who are helping locate trapped people—to please spare a moment if they can to aid any suffering animal by offering scraps, drops of water, or any other emergency assistance possible. We are offering funding for any emergency services, including for euthanasia to put badly injured animals out of their misery. We are appealing to every kind member of earthquake specialist teams as well as EMS personnel, news reporters, and any other person who is in everyone's debt already for going about the vital task of searching for and rescuing human beings.

All living beings—no matter what their species—deserve the kindness of others. We also ask aid personnel who come across animals who are suffering without any hope of being saved to attempt to be strong and to quickly—and as humanely as possible—put them out of their misery.

Keep checking our blog for updates on the disaster in Haiti and for ways you can help the country's animals.

Frail, undernourished, and lonely, Little Bit was a walking skeleton. She was confined to an electric kennel and rarely had access to food or water, and her only "shelter" was a tipped-over plastic table.

Shocked by the dismal sight of Little Bit's solitary confinement, an area resident contacted the police, but the officers claimed that they saw nothing wrong with the pitiful and dangerous backyard setup or the obviously malnourished dog. Our complainant continued to push local agencies in the hope that someone would come to Little Bit's rescue but hit wall after wall.

It took just a single day after the resident contacted PETA for Little Bit to find freedom from her life sentence—we were able to get a PETA fieldworker out to this property and convince Little Bit's neglectful owner—who allegedly worked for local law-enforcement—to relinquish her into our custody.

Electric fences like the one in which Little Bit was confined, and so-called "invisible fences," can cause physical pain and potentially serious injuries as well as incite patterns of fear and aggression in dogs. No dog should have to live in fear of getting shocked. If you know of someone using electronic fences or shock collars to confine or silence their dog(s), educate them about the cruelty associated with these devices. And always speak up if you witness animal abuse.

Written by Logan Scherer

The case of Oreo, a pit bull who inspired headlines and received an outpouring of public sympathy when her "owner" tossed her off a Brooklyn rooftop in June (she fell six stories and broke both of her front legs), has ignited a controversy. Oreo was nursed back to health by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), but during her recovery, her caretakers noticed that she was prone to bouts of severe, unpredictable aggression. If anything, the ASPCA goes overboard in trying not to euthanize any animal, but Oreo was beyond their help and had failed every test for psychological stability that the organization had put to her. So with great reluctance, the ASPCA made the tough decision not to put children, other animals, or anyone else at risk and euthanized Oreo.

nydailynews / CC

Oreo's peaceful death at the hands of people who cared about her has brought unjust criticism down on these individuals' heads from some "no-kill" advocates who believe in life at all costs—no matter the pain or the price. Oreo was deeply disturbed, perhaps because of head injuries or beatings—who can say? But I ask anyone who is upset that they could not "rehabilitate" this "celebrity dog" to please remember that she is at peace. Unfortunately, many thousands of other wonderful dogs who will never hurt anyone are still going to have to be euthanized in New York City every year. If you have a good home to offer, there's an equally worthy dog waiting for your help. Instead of picketing the ASPCA, go adopt one of these caring animals. And remember, there are hundreds of thousands—maybe millions—of pit bulls who remain in the custody of cruel people who see them as little more than cheap burglar alarms or punching bags. No energy should be expended fretting over Oreo's euthanasia when action needs to be taken in their behalf.

When I recognized a name on the list of the protesters who came out against the ASPCA's action, I felt compelled to come to the defense of shelter workers who have to make heartbreaking decisions every day and sent the following letter to the organization's blog:

Written by Teresa Lynn Chagrin
Animal Care and Control Specialist

A tree grows in Brooklyn … actually, many of them do. And from one of those trees, a pigeon dangled upside down from a piece of string that was caught around her leg and tangled on a tree branch two stories above a busy sidewalk, beside a busy street.

When a caring Brooklynite contacted PETA, the bird had already hung from that tree for days without food or water, surely full of panic and fear.

But luckily there are people—such as the Brooklynite who contacted us—who care enough to take action.

Local animal control agents lacked the equipment necessary to rescue the pigeon, but they referred our cruelty caseworker to the local fire department, which dispatched a truck minutes after PETA's call came in. Firefighters drove by to survey the situation and returned in a truck with a tall ladder, which they climbed to reach the bird.

The caller was on-site, and when firefighters handed her the pigeon—whose wounds were infested with maggots—she rushed the bird to a local veterinarian. Immediately realizing that the pigeon's back was broken, the vet was able to quickly release her from her suffering.

The anguish that pigeon endured during those days is almost incomprehensible. Hanging upside down with a broken back and suffering from extreme starvation and dehydration as maggots infested her open wounds, she must have been in severe pain. Had those caring persons—the caller, the cruelty caseworker, firefighters, and the vet—not stepped in to take action, who knows how long her suffering would have continued?

We've said it before, but it bears repeating: Please always be a person who helps an animal in need. You might be the first to take action, but if you reach out to others, you'll likely find people who care as much as you do.

Written by Karin Bennett

I remember the first hoarding case I ever went on. The woman would never open the door, and her blinds were kept drawn. Standing on her porch, you could catch a whiff of animal waste, but just a whiff. Since she was unwilling to work with local humane officers, there was only one thing left to do: get a warrant to remove the animals from inside her house.

That day is etched in my mind. When the door finally opened, the smell was so overpowering that seasoned police officers―including one who had just returned from Vietnam―called for masks. Fleas leapt up to bite us all over as we threaded our way through the piles of saved newspapers. There were dead cats among the live ones and, down in the basement, a maggot-covered floor, a broken hot-water pipe spewing steam, and feral cats living in the dark in the rafters.

Not every hoarder has reached that stage, but that was not the last house of animal-hoarding horrors that I saw or helped to bust.

Willow is one of nine puppies who were born to a dog living alongside numerous other animals in the dilapidated home of an indigent hoarder we talked to a few months ago. Our cruelty caseworkers coordinated with local officials to provide this woman with enough food to last her until a kind volunteer could arrange to take the animals out of there―to a decent, reputable animal shelter.

But then it was discovered that the pups were suffering from symptoms consistent with parvovirus. Crowded, squalid conditions—the conditions one typically finds in hoarders' homes—are incubators for communicable diseases. Parvo is a common yet preventable illness that causes uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea, loss of appetite, and eventual death in most cases. Willow was the only puppy to make it out of the house alive, along with nearly a dozen cats.

Willow's story does have a happy ending. The volunteer who drove her to the animal shelter was so smitten with Willow that she adopted her. As you can see from this picture, Willow is enjoying a great life in her new home!

Is that local "sanctuary" that you heard about run by a hoarder? What about that "no-kill" shelter on the outskirts of town? Hopefully not! There are lots of good facilities, for sure. But please be vigilant, because if no one investigates, animals can suffer greatly. Hoarding is a recognized symptom of a particular type of mental illness, which, if left unchecked, leads to animal suffering—and often a slow, miserable death for the animals involved. Hoarders "collect" animals even when they can't care for the ones they already have. They ignore or deny the increasingly substandard (and eventually appalling) living conditions that invariably arise and commonly refuse to seek veterinary care for sick or injured animals. They also often refuse to euthanize animals or take them to open-admission animal shelters—which is why so-called "no-kill sanctuaries" often wind up being a "front" for hoarders.

For animals who are suffering at the hands of hoarders, there is a fate worse than death—a fate that Willow escaped. I know that on my first hoarding case, we were able to rescue dozens of kittens from that horrid home, and I wept to think of how long they had lived like that and for the dozens more who had just crawled under the furniture and perished. To learn more about hoarding and what you can do if you know of a hoarder in your area, please read our factsheet.

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

Normally, I channel surf right through competitive food shows (nobody wants to eat trout ice cream, Iron Chef )—but ever since I found out that vegan Natalie Portman will be a guest judge in the upcoming season of Top Chef, I've been counting down the days until the premiere. Well, it looks like we vegans won't have to wait as long as we thought for our moment in the food TV limelight! Top Chef Masters (a Top Chef spin off) has just announced that next week, its contestants will be preparing food for a dinner party hosted by vegan actor and musician Zooey Deschanel. Check out a sneak peek of the episode, which will air Wednesday at 10 p.m.:

Ah, Mr. Smith, it looks like this'll be an especially good exercise for you if your specialty is greasy, unhealthy fried chicken and mac and cheese!

Big thanks to the folks over at Ecorazzi for shooting this our way.

Written by Liz Graffeo

I'm sure that once her career was over, Shawn would have been sent off to Japan and ground up into dog food anyway.

Written by Shawna Flavell

PLEASE NOTE: There's a picture below that is very disturbing, but for people who are concerned about animal suffering and homelessness, it's important to face the tragic reality of the overpopulation crisis and its consequences. Animals can't afford to have people look away.

Her name was Big Girl, but there was almost nothing left of her. She was so still, so slight, and so cold to the touch that field workers thought that she was already dead. But the tiny 6-month-old pit bull was still alive. Barely.

Big Girl never knew the love and care that we wish every dog experienced; by the time we arrived, she had endured prolonged, incomprehensible agony. When we found her collapsed on the ground, she weighed less than the chain she was tied to. She had clearly been starved—she was a pile of bones and had raw, mostly hairless skin with absolutely no body fat. A veterinarian later told us that Big Girl's stomach contained nothing but dirt, leaves, a piece of corn cob with two kernels on it, and a piece of dry, caked fecal matter. Big Girl had been left to suffer for so long that she had begun to decompose. Four different generations of maggots were eating away at her body. When we gently peeled her off the ground, she moaned. She could not see us or hear us, but we hope she knew that we were there to help her.

We sent Big Girl off to heaven with kind words and a gentle lethal injection. We wished we could have ended her misery much, much sooner. Those who condemn open-admission animal shelters and organizations like PETA for having to euthanize sick, injured, dying, and unwanted animals must look closely at the source of the overpopulation crisis—people who breed animals, those who neglect and abuse them, and consumers who choose to buy animals from breeders and pet shops instead of adopting from their local animal shelter.

No one hates the ugly reality of euthanasia more than the shelter workers who hold the syringe. Sometimes, especially when animals have known no kindness and are suffering, the best that we can offer an animal like Big Girl, Asia, and others is a painless and dignified release from a world that showed them no love or compassion.

P.S. The man responsible for Big Girl's horrific condition (as well as that of another dog, who suffered from a vaginal prolapse) was charged and convicted for the condition of both dogs, and he was prohibited from owning animals.

Written by Jeff Mackey