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Concept
Shelter Dogs
Summary
Shelter Dogs is a 2003 documentary film directed and produced by Cynthia Wade about animal welfare in the United States and the ethics of animal euthanasia. Following a particular Upstate New York animal shelter and its staff over a three-year time span, Wade gives her audience a complex, honest look at the situations that arise when it comes to homeless animals and some of the difficult, controversial decisions that must be made within them.
Hundreds of thousands of stray and unwanted dogs are born into the world every day. When these animals have nowhere to go and no one to care for them, it becomes a situation that society needs to make a decision about. Animal shelters have become one solution for the issue of these homeless animals, but then the question becomes, what do we do with them then? This question is controversial, in that not all of them can be adopted. As a result, many animals are euthanized, a fate extremely controversial in itself.
Sue Sternberg, the founder of an animal shelter in rural area in upstate New York, does her best to help alleviate this issue. Sternberg and her staff take on countless animals brought to them for shelter and are forced to find ways to deal with making difficult decisions when it comes to them, including whether they will need to be euthanised or kept in the shelter. Some dogs of course are adopted out to loving families, but others remain in the institution for longer periods of time. The staff is also forced to deal with situations such as animals who have a history of aggression, and if it is ethical to keep attempting to place that dog in a home.
Since the documentary is filmed over a long period of time, from the perspective of the people actually working in a shelter, the audience gets a unique and honest perspective on topics that can often seem one-sided.
Sue Sternberg, the main subject of the film, is a well-known name in the rescue community. She is a self-proclaimed dog lover, and says “Dogs are my life—not just my own, but all dogs.
Official source
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