Who Will Stop the Kitty Holocaust?

I’ve been following a story in Virginia about an old lady arrested for animal cruelty because she had so many cats in her house that it was unsanitary. It reminds me of the many arguments I’ve had with animal rights activists over kitty euthanasia and sterilization. While I don’t believe animals have rights, I’m bothered by the cavalier attitude most people have towards the gassing of innocent run-away cats and dogs – especially animal rights activists who claim it’s wrong to kill animals. Why should a misguided teen go to jail for kicking a couple of cats to death, while the Humane Society is left free to exterminate thousands (possibly tens of thousands) stray cats a year? I’m also bothered by people’s cavalier attitude towards spading and neutering their pets, which deprives them of their ability to have sex and re-produce (a right that should be sacrosanct if animals do in fact have rights).

The usual response from animal rights activists is that sterilization and extermination is designed to control populations on the streets so it is therefore for the animals’ own good (although I’m sure the cats and dogs actually being snuffed out would beg to differ). But, why is it ok for us to abuse animals for THEIR own good, but wrong to abuse them for our own good? And who determines what is for their own good? (Answer: we do).

Ultimately, I think this contradiction in the animal rights movement reflects the bizarre pathology of contemporary liberalism, which judges the morality of actions based not on their results but the intent behind them. Thus, killings animals for sport, food or other "selfish" reasons is wrong. Killing them for the “common good” of their species is fine. The individual animal being killed probably doesn't care why, only that it's being killed.