i volunteer at my local animal shelter.
[{"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": "Have you ever adopted an animal from an animal shelter?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "No I have not, but if I were ever going to get a dog, I would get one from a shelter. In Europe, all but 4 out of 30 countries surveyed, permit the killing of healthy stray dogs."}, {"role": "user", "content": "Oh no! That's terrible! I've adopted four cats over the years from shelters. Does Europe have many non-kill animal shelters?"}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "There are a few, but even at a no-kill shelter, it is only 90% that are really expected to be saved."}, {"role": "user", "content": "That's crazy! I think the numbers are a little different in the United States.  I know that some of our shelters do euthanize, but we have several that don't. "}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "No-kill shelters use many different strategies to promote shelter animals. They use volunteers, housing and medical protocols, and actively work to lower the number of homeless animals entering the shelter system."}, {"role": "user", "content": "They do great work. I would like to volunteer at my local shelter. We have several nearby, one is called Big Dog Ranch. They rely heavily on volunteers and donations to keep their operation running, but they don't euthanize the dogs, so it's a great organization."}, {"role": "assistant", "content": "Some shelters even house tropical animals."}]