Had my teen daughter out one year many years ago and she wanted to save all the cats. Went to house and most the ranches already had four or five favorites so she went to store, closer suburbs to the cities and could only give away a couple of twenty-seven. Then we had to sit with her and ask, will she spay them and let them live? She pays and next summer how many? Who pays for the food, the care, the vaccinations, the worming? Suffice to say she was overwhelmed. Before she moved she was out with myself and the ranch manager sending them to heaven. Has to be done.
Now let's just stay with cats. You have fifty now and no little kid wants the animals to die so say 20 of those fifty get pregnant and have a small five kittie litter...now you have a 100. There is not enough Chinese food restaurants, not enough anatomy labs...you could I suppose breed turkey vulture, crows and other animals to rid the cat problem and yet something needs to be done because though cats are nice pets for people they're a virtually worthless animal unless they're mousers. Don't want to sound callous but too many cats becomes a problem.
I've a fear this past has become a zot/viking kittie ping
Most of the cats get fixed and then put out into the barn. Their lives are fairly short usually but we have a few that are tough scrappers.
Dogs though... when you have your quota what do you do with them? If you leave them to run loose then you end up with a pack which you then have to hunt down and kill. Hopefully before they kill someone.
Unless there is something special about the dog they are put down. It is a crying shame because some are very nice dogs.