An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last. -Winston Churchill
Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you. -Benjamin Franklin
I watch the girls grab a quick bite, French doors open, sun streaming in, a lot to learn from these two. They eat together, sleep in the same room, boss the same old bulky male around, and yet they don't quarrel. For them it hasn't been the alpha thing, I have watched for that, and am willing to let nature direct the decisions. They respect each other, it comes down to respect, and the willingness to share.
There is no sense of appeasement here, they want to get along, so they do, quite simple really, yet homo sapiens have missed every chance to try this technique out. "Play nice with your little friends" is how Oreo puts it. Fear driven relationships often result in appeasement, never sucess. Relationships based on mutual respect for each others goals and interests are sustainable. The aggressive tactic of the fanatics are not helping animals, they' re hurting them.
Animal Care and Control agencies have different rules they must live by than the non profits, each meets a community need and they work best in a symbiotic relationship. Oreo doesn't believe in Cookies ( ha ha ha ! ) so this site does not use any tracking devices; we have no interest in who views our musings. But the emails I receive to the address on my profile come from all over the country, so I understand the vastness of this problem.
Peace to you and yours from Oreo and friends...
12 comments:
Mutual respect ?
That is not on anything I have read about Nathan Winograd, revolution is his style. Taking Coups, destroying community's that do take care of the animals, while he sits on his rump and complains. Have you read his manifesto ? You can see his handiwork in King County, Maybe he will go up there and leave Washoe alone before we don't have any decent employee left. I hear another one of us is being accused of not being on the " right team" Bonney brags on the website that you disagree you are gone, she may have to clean a kennel or two by the time she gets through purging staff.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080301/LOCAL/803010464
"The Humane Society of Indianapolis says it will stop accepting stray animals and begin requiring frustrated pet owners to go through "surrender counseling" before it takes their pets."
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/whatsnew.html
"How do you build a No Kill community? What are the programs which make it possible? And how do you reform animal control? Join us for an intensive weekend of learning the nuts and bolts of saving lives. We'll be in Indianapolis, IN in May. For more information, click here."
Worrisome…
I hear the bitter, nasty blame-game from both sides; I do what I can to step up and remind all that we are working towards the same end goal. If we can agree on that, the 90% we all believe, then the other 10% can be worked out latter on.
Welcome Corva,
I have tried to be the voice of reason, but this is a passionate issue. Over time by respecting other's views , not always their solutions we have seen a one on one coming together here. By taking the rhetoric out and asking questions and waiting for the answers. I have No Kill friends and we can influence each other tremendously if we keep the volume down. Most of us who take the time to blog and jog the dog really do care about the animals, we as you said so well, have a common thread.
I have seen No Kill work at an address. A specific building, or private sector sanctuary, I have not seen it succeed at an open admissions facility. As you are seeing in Indy..( I assume you are there ) when people start getting lectured about how to care for, or not care for the family pet, it causes a backlash.
We had noticed Indy was on the tour and being a Hoosier most of my life I assumed you guys would see through the seminar. There is a clarity of thought from growing up in Indiana, an ability to cut to the real issues, this California Consultant is a spin artist. Or as my Gramma would say " snake oil" All any consultant can offer is a guideline for improving operations, the rest is up to the public. Educate yourself on the realities of sheltering and listen when someone disagrees with you. If they have a point take it, if they make no sense move on to the next one. The harsh truth is, not everybody flying under the animal banner really loves animals. Owning a puppy mill doesn't make you and animal lover, same for pet stores they are a business. No Kill is a business loosely gathered under different logos, the message is the same. "You have a problem and I can fix it for a fee" It's all about government contracts and the plan you mentioned is not sustainable in an open admissions shelter. It will take some looking on your part, but you seem up to the task,. Florida went with the NACA for guidelines and a couple of folks who email from there are happy with the inprovements they are seeing. It is about spay nueter for the long haul, and fosters in the meantime There is no silver bullet to stop euthanasia. Oreo has worked her tail off on this blog to stop the cause for the killing, once we deal with overpopulation we are on the road to compassionate cargiving. Please don't let anyone tell you that overpopulation is a myth...
Corva, you can't deal with old thinking. The best thing is to remove all existing staff and start over. Demand change, don't talk to the old thinkers, rally your base and get rid of current employees, they are stuck in the past and won't change. Just stop killing and find anyone to take the animals for a while.
I think Fran is right, looking at Mark's comment there is no interest in working on a solution. I think change for the sake of change is not the answer. Think then act
Teaching people about the commitment of pet ownership needs to come first, before they get a pet, not afterwards when they just can't tolerate the pet any more. All they do is nod their heads while you talk and then take the pet to the nearest field and dump it. Why can't people use common sense on this subject? Be glad they were responsible enough to bring the animal to the shelter and take the animal. Don't make a bad situation worst. Corva, I applaud you for trying to appeal to all but it won't work. The reason the humane movement is no further along than it is is because if you ask for opinions from a hundred people, you will get a hundred and ten different philosophies. And most are not willing to compromise. Don't bother to spend your time or money on Whine-ograd. His program doesn't work if you do your research. Rancho Cucamonga only handles 5000 animals a year and has put millions into the program Whine-ograd developed for them. They are announcing to the world that they are not "no kill" because they can't make it work. Imagine an agency that handles tens of thousands of animals a year. It creates suffering by warehousing and then euthanasia. Los Angeles is another example of how badly "no kill" has failed. And besides, Whine-ograd is stuck in the 50's with his thinking that all shelters are bad. Our shelters have come a long ways and he gives no credit to them or to spay/neuter programs. He is being used to stop mandatory spay/neuter laws. You know as well as I do that the only way to stop euthanasia is to stop the influx of animals into the shelters. We can't adopt our way out like Whine-ograd makes you think.
we recently moved to Reno from Sacramento, the shelter here is clean. It is a place you feel comfortable going to, I have seen some pounds that need work, but P is correct in saying this consultant is way out of date on his opinions.
At the suggestion of a couple of posters I have read the consultations for this mans targets. They have been identical. He takes pictures of a couple of sick cats, and then trash in the alley. laanimalwatch has links for them. He cannot produce what he offers, and there have been some near misses on the shelters he has worked with. Do the math, there are way more dogs and cats than homes.yeovbh
I am not located in an area that Winograd is currently coming to. There has been some talk about inviting in him but I hope for level heads to prevail so we do not go looking for a magic bullet is nothing like that in reality (watch the hype).
I do hold onto the hope that dialog can bring divergent groups together. My background is varied, from volunteering in county shelters, to working at a few humane societies, to currently being a load/spay neuter/education coordinator at an organization that also has a small limited admission cat shelter.
Rescues, animal control agencies, private non-profit all need to work together with their communities to make real strides forward.
I am working to be a voice for just that in my community.
The zealots need to calm down, the burnouts need to rediscover the reason they started in the field, and the communities need to be educated about what it really going on.
Execellent attitude new guest. Here at the Oreo cafe we are about solutions.
The time to think is before you invite the fanatics in.I hope you have clicked on the link here for kcas creatures. a wonderful informative read. Many of us on this blog have differing views on small things, but most of are similar to you in your background. We have done time in the trenches, and we know it is going to take time to climb out. I don't know your feelings on TNR and we each come to our own conclusions, but some of us are starting to see the downside of that program, that you may want to consider before turning on a spigot you can't turn off.
In each of the cases of some of the main posters here we had our shelters basically " stolen" by
(we assume) well meaning board members.
In going over your post again I am hopeful because of your open- mindedness. Coming to agreements with all the facts in place is the first step. The second you throw an animal control agency into the mix, these folks smell money and come running. The post on KCAS about " the playbook" will fill you in on that issue. We are all pretty much in urban areas, so the TNR has had more inpact, dumping a cat back on the streets to " live free" isn't very kind in the city.
You mentioned you were a limited admission shelter at this time, so you can do no kill anytime you want, but as you are aware the kitties just die somewhere else. Spay nueter & foster of adoptables. Sure makes a huge difference. I think P_ is the most experienced, but most of us are volunteers and have worked in the field. but this No Kill is very hard on a community, budget and animals really suffer. I do have an email link on my profile for things people may want to say, but can't have posted.
I do work at a limited admission shelter at this time but not by choice. It was the only job in animal welfare I could find after my department was eliminated at the humane society where I worked last.
Being a member of an open admission shelter would be my preference, but anything in the field (so I can keep doing the work) is the choice I made.
I do what I can to education our community when we come into contact about what limited admission, open admission, "no-kill", rescue mean in context. I have to take care, what a care thin line, but I trust that I am making headway.
The No-Kill Advocacy appears very strange. No-Kill certainly seems a worthy goal, but any reasonable person would have to know that No-Kill is a long-term goal that will take some time to achieve.
Trying to get from here to there in a single step is impractical, and only an unreasoning fanatic would think it could succeed.
The No-Kill advocacy seems to have an agenda that has nothing to do with the welfare of animals.
cute picture and great message. thanks OREO!!
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