‘Either talk about euthanasia or keep watching dogs die in the streets,’ Fresno dog rescuer warns

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – The founder of a Fresno-based animal rescue non-profit says Fresno’s dog population is so out of control that the city and county-run shelters need to have an uncomfortable conversation.

Mel Garcia, founder of Mell’s Mutts , has worked with animals for years, chasing, trapping, rescuing, and fixing stray dogs in Fresno. She says crowded shelters and volunteered rescues have left the City of Fresno with an impossible problem and uncomfortable solution.

She says the solution is to start euthanizing dogs.

“I know that nobody wants to talk about that,” Garcia said, “if there’s a different option I’d love for somebody to propose that.”

She says efforts to spay and neuter have gone up significantly, and that the efforts of everyone involved have made a difference, but it may be too little too late.

“We have an overpopulation problem and spaying and neutering is going to help, but it’s not going to help right now – there’s still too many dogs running the streets.”

Garcia says the inability of local shelters to take in more animals has forced everyday people like herself to take responsibility instead.

“The people taking in dogs, that is very commendable,” she said, “but we also have to remember that animal control, they get paid.”

Garcia says the community should not bear such a heavy burden especially when they are less equipped to do so than government-run agencies.

“My rescue survives off the donations of good-hearted people, so I don’t even get paid.”

Garcia says despite her love for animals, she is only capable of so much.

Her energy, resources, and will like anyone else’s are finite, and she’s tired of seeing dogs dying in the streets of Fresno.

“My question is, are we as a community saying that it’s better to let these animals die a horrific death like that, or run at large than humanely euthanizing them?”

For those skeptical about the situation, Garcia said she urges them to find 500 people who want dogs.

YourCentralValley.com has reached out to Fresno County and the City of Fresno for a statement in response.

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