Case of cruelty, or compassion?

PETA argues that while animals wait for homes or safe shelters tomorrow, they are suffering today. "We can't in good conscience oppose euthanasia as a means of overpopulation control when the alternative is animals being chained, deprived of companionship and exercise," says Daphna Nachminovitch, director of PETA's domestic animals issues and abuse department.

No-kill shelters often limit admission, adds Ms. Nachminovitch, leaving people little recourse but to abandon animals or take them to traditional shelters, where overcrowding can lead to discomfort and disease and where the least adoptable animals are often euthanized.

Even the adoptable animals don't always have a chance at a better life, says Kate Pullen of the Humane Society of the United States, which shares many of PETA's positions. "Just because an animal's considered adoptable and healthy doesn't mean there's a home for it," she says.

The two PETA workers, Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook, are charged with eight counts of illegal disposal of animals and 31 felony charges for animal cruelty. Each animal-cruelty count could cost them up to 15 months in prison. As the pair await a probable cause hearing, set for mid-August, PETA is trying to draw the public to its side of the no-kill debate. It has posted pictures on its website of the shelters from which the animals were taken and has written a newspaper article in their defense.

Local officials in North Carolina say PETA was supposed to try to find homes for the 31 animals, and to euthanize only the unadoptable ones, in Norfolk. PETA says the shelters agreed to hand over unwanted animals to PETA for euthanization by lethal injection.

Animal control officers identified the cats and dogs as the ones Ms. Hinkle and Mr. Cook had picked up from local shelters and animal hospitals earlier that day, says Det. Jeremy Roberts, the arresting officer in Ahoskie.

Veterinarian Patrick Proctor of Ahoskie Animal Hospital, who had released a cat and two kittens to the PETA workers, says Hinkle told him they would be adopted. The hospital no longer entrusts its orphaned animals to PETA representatives, he says.

Northampton and Bertie counties in North Carolina have also cut ties with PETA. The group had agreed to assess each animal and its suitability for adoption before euthanizing it, says Sue Gay, Northampton County's health director. "The question is, did that occur?" she says.

The US currently has 5,000 traditional animal-control shelters and 1,000 adoption-guaranteed shelters, estimates Mr. Avanzino. By accepting euthanasia, he argues, people are giving up on alternatives to animal overpopulation. "If we say, 'This life that we're responsible for right now can't find a home, and therefore it's all right to kill it,' that animal has no chance. It's a self-fulfilling prophesy."

He cites San Francisco's no-kill philosophy. The city now euthanizes about 2,000 dogs and cats annually, compared with 65,000 four years ago, he says.

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