When Life Imitates National Lampoon

You know it is a sign of the pending end of civilization. A group of "activists" has started a new website to try to get people to adopt abandoned dogs.

New Web site: Adopt this dog or he will die

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A new Web site is seeking to tug more forcefully on the heart strings of people who might adopt abandoned dogs by publicizing how much time is left before an animal is killed if a home has not been found.

The activists behind dogsindanger.com believe theirs is the first Web site to take the approach. They hope that highlighting the fact many unadopted dogs are euthanized by shelters with scarce space will spur people to take them in.

"This is happening … in our country, in our back yard," said Alex Aliksanyan of The Buddy Fund, the group behind the site. "It's been kept underneath a blanket of niceness and sweetness. So we said, 'Lets put the truth in front of the consumer — either do something about it, or at least realize you're a partner."'

The site will also feature a memorial with names, photos and dates that euthanized dogs died.

Oh, not that they don't mean well, I suppose. But this was done in 1973 - before the days of the interwebby, of course. It was National Lampoon's "Death" issue. It featured a picture of a dog on the cover. A man's hand holding a revolver to the dog's head and the words, "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll kill this dog."