I am the Shelter Liaison for the wonderfully effective new dog adoption website www.dogsindanger.com. I am a Colorado resident.

DogsInDanger.com is dedicated to shelter dogs facing euthanasia because of shelter overcrowding, their age, their breed, their behavior (shy, food aggressive, depressed,etc) or medical needs.

Shelters are the last line for millions of innocent dogs. The public has no idea of the magnitude of this national tragedy. The sad reality is that over four million dogs are killed each year in shelters. Why, in a country of dog lovers, are so many dogs homeless? Because their families abandon them, for reasons like loss of their home, job change, divorce and new baby... and most shelters don't have the necessary programs to get the dogs the exposure they need to find new homes. Shelters find homes for many dogs, but millions are euthanized.
And yes, it's happening in staggering numbers in Denver, CO.

Even though we have reached out to each of Denver's shelters and urged them to join this free service, sadly, only Mile-Hi Humane is participating. The shelters continue to label an unbelievably large number of their dogs as "unadoptable" so that they can justify quietly euthanizing thousands of them each month. Some shelters even pre-sort their dogs into two categories - "adoptable" and "to be euthanized." Shelters also use the reason of not having pre-determined euthanasia dates for their dogs as an excuse not to participate. In order to post dogs on DogsInDanger shelters have to be able to 'reasonably estimate a euthanasia date within 60 days' for the dog. The euthanasia date is simply a way for the shelters to let the public know that the clock is ticking on a dog and if the dog is not adopted or rescued, it will die. Euthanasia dates can be revised, if needed, based on the conditions/population at the shelter on any given day. Because euthanasia dates are used as another shelter excuse for not participating, so many of Denver's wonderful dogs never stand a chance of finding their forever homes.

Many shelters do not like the transparency of DogsInDanger because of concerns of "negative image" or "bad publicity" and because of these concerns the truth is kept from the public and the dogs continue to sacrifice their lives in the face of this proven alternative. Shelters also claim that they do not have the time &/or personnel to manage the dogs' listings (it takes about 1 minute to upload a dog to the website) even though they are aware that volunteers can manage the dogs' listings with their consent.

Want to confirm my claims? Contact MaxFund (Denver's only TRUE no-kill shelter for dogs) or any Denver area rescue group.

The team at DogsInDanger believes in the power of compassion and that people would do more to help and adopt shelter dogs if only they knew how many dogs are systematically killed simply because they do not have homes.

I decided to submit this story in the "Your Hub" section because of a lack of response by the TV stations and newspapers that I have pleaded with to run a story about DogsInDanger and the lack of participating shelters in the metro Denver area.

It is my greatest hope that this story will awaken Denver residents to the truth of shelter euthanasia, unite people to approach Denver's shelters, encourage them to embrace the transparency of DogsInDanger and add it to their arsenals for saving more dogs. Next week is "Be Kind to Animals Week" so here's a great opportunity for you to speak out, investigate and demand answers. Change begins at the local level.

I welcome your comments, your concerns and your suggestions. Feel free to email me at jackie.denton@yahoo.com. I would be happy to further explain the website, how it works, why Denver's shelters are resisting and what you can do to help.

For the dogs,

Jackie Denton
Shelter Liaison
www.dogsindanger.com