Hi, I used to work at an animal shelter back in college.
Did they rescue mostly cats and dogs, or were there every any wildlife there as well?
Mostly cats and dogs. Have you heard of no-kill shelters?
We have a no-kill shelter in our town, of course they still have to euthanize some sick animals.
That is terrible. Such shelters should not exist! 
In the US there is no government run organization that provides oversight of the shelters.
We should pressure the government into providing protection for this.
Well, in some cases, the individual states do regulate shelters within their jurisdiction.
Oh, well at least thats something. Its important that there should be some regulation of shelters!
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. The Act provided for the licensing and regulation of pet shops, stables, kennels, and animal shelters, and established, for the first time, minimum standards of care. The Georgia Department of Agriculture was tasked with licensing animal shelters and enforcing the new law through the Department's newly created Animal Protection Division. An additional provision, added in
Animal shelter
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