The decision to end an animal's life is an extremely serious one, and is always treated as such. On April 15, 2003, the Chautauqua County Humane Society Board of Directors voted in the policy that no healthy and friendly animal would be euthanized due to overcrowding. What CCHS is creating is an animal welfare organization that has "no need to kill." The cornerstone of this policy is to work aggressively towards solving the problem of unwanted companion animal overpopulation by conducting extensive spay/neuter programs rather than destroy animals which are abandoned or surrendered simply because there are not enough homes.