What if we got rid of animal "shelters"?

I put "shelters" in quotation marks because most shelters don't shelter animals from anything. They actually kill-or, as they call it, "euthanize"-perfectly healthy, adoptable animals. And your taxes pay for it. Millions of cats and dogs are put down every year. Granted, some government-run shelters have changed to a no-kill policy, which is great. But the fact of the matter is: if they can't all be no-kill shelters, maybe we don't need shelters at all.

It's not as scary as it sounds. You say, "But where will all the lost animals go so their families can find them?" Well, hopefully a good animal-loving citizen will pick them up and house them until the owner is found--will post signs, contact the local vet, etc. Or, if the animal isn't lost but is a stray, they will keep it until it can be rehomed. Decent human beings do this already, because they know that no-kill shelters are already filled to the brim and taking the animal to a regular (kill) shelter only increases its chance of dying-not of finding a home.

These good citizens also post to their locally-run "lost and found" Facebook pages. There's a whole online network dedicated to helping lost pets. If people use such methods, a physical shelter is unnecessary.

Now, I'm not saying that animal control shouldn't be a thing. It totally should. If a dog is in danger or a danger to someone else, they should be called. But good luck with that, because in my home town, as far as I know, it's not animal control that comes out. At best, it's the police. However, there should be no physical shelter that the animal control officers take the animal to. The animal can be removed and placed somewhere else where it is safe. Or, if it is rabid, it can be euthanized on the spot.

At this point in the conversation, my father cried, "But this would only lead to people shooting dogs!" As if that doesn't already happen in many places (and just for fun). And yes, it might even increase dog shootings, but at least our tax dollars wouldn't be paying for it. I, personally, would not be financially contributing to the death of millions of animals a year.