And I'd like to add that "kill shelters" are not without alternatives.
In Germany it is forbidden to euthanize animals for lack of resources or will to keep it. People often have to pay shelters to take their animals, and if they just abandon them somewhere, they may get fined or even prosecuted.
In general, Germans tend to ask shelters first, when trying to acquire a dog, cats also. It has gotten so far that shelters have more applicants than dogs they can give them, and the dogs which stay in shelters are not suited to an average dog owner (behavior, size, medical issues). We even import thousands of street/shelter dogs from all over Europe.
Cats unfortunately are too plentiful. There are always some feral/semi-feral populations who haven't been neutered. Shelters keep them, but they will often stay all their life there.
And of course, not all of the US is comparable to Germany in many regards. In Germany there aren't a lot of sparsely populated areas, and the animal protection laws are a lot tougher.
In Germany it is forbidden to euthanize animals for lack of resources or will to keep it. People often have to pay shelters to take their animals, and if they just abandon them somewhere, they may get fined or even prosecuted.
In general, Germans tend to ask shelters first, when trying to acquire a dog, cats also. It has gotten so far that shelters have more applicants than dogs they can give them, and the dogs which stay in shelters are not suited to an average dog owner (behavior, size, medical issues). We even import thousands of street/shelter dogs from all over Europe.
Cats unfortunately are too plentiful. There are always some feral/semi-feral populations who haven't been neutered. Shelters keep them, but they will often stay all their life there.
And of course, not all of the US is comparable to Germany in many regards. In Germany there aren't a lot of sparsely populated areas, and the animal protection laws are a lot tougher.