i volunteer at animal shelters.
[{"role": "system", "content": "An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals, mostly dogs and cats, and sometimes sick or wounded wildlife are kept and rehabilitated. While no-kill shelters exist, it is sometimes policy to euthanize sick animals, and any animal that is not claimed quickly enough by a previous or new owner. In Europe, of 30 countries included in a survey, all but four (Czech republic, Germany, Greece, and Italy) permitted the killing of healthy stray dogs. Critics believe the new term \"animal shelter\" is generally a euphemism for the older term \"pound\". The word \"pound\" had its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would be penned or impounded until claimed by their owners. Some shelters even have sick tropical animals. In the United States there is no government-run organization that provides oversight or regulation of the various shelters on a national basis. However, many individual states do regulate shelters within their jurisdiction. One of the earliest comprehensive measures was the \"Georgia Animal Protection Act\" of 1986. The law was enacted in response to the inhumane treatment of companion animals by a pet store chain in Atlanta.\n"}, {"role": "user", "content": "Hello. Have you ever worked at or volunteered at an animal shelter or rescue clinic before?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I have not, but used to visit a no-kill center when I lived in California. There were mostly dogs and cats, but occasionally some injured wildlife too."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Very cool. What kind of wildlife could you expect to see in a place like that? Was it things like deer or squirrels, or perhaps birds?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "The public was not permitted to go near the wildlife area so as not to scare the animals. However, I believe there were bobcats and even a few sick tropical animals."}, {"role": "user", "content": "How very interesting. I know that you said you haven't worked at one of these shelters before, but does that sound like something that would perhaps interest you someday?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "So long as it was a no-kill shelter. I'd like to see all shelters as no-kill places, like in a few European countries."}, {"role": "user", "content": "I can agree. One last thing, how do you feel about animal control rounding up strays and bringing them to shelters? Do you feel that the animals are better off in them?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "I would prefer they made sure it was no kill first. However the practice has gone on for a long time - stray livestock would be corralled/impounded until their owners claimed them!"}]