When God had finished with creation, he took a long look at man and shook his head. He called to man, and said, "I realize that you will have many challenges. I will find a companion to help you."Man expressed his thanks, and walked away.God looked at the many creatures he had created, weighing the strengths of each. Finally, he called to dog. Dog came bounding over, wagging his tail.Pointing at man, God said to dog, "These creatures may not be up to their role in my plan. Can you help them? It will be very difficult at times, but I think - with your help - they may become remarkable."Dog looked at man, who was busily collecting materials to wall himself away from the rest of creation. Dog turned back to God, licked his hand, and trotted over to man.They've been trying to help us dismantle that wall ever since.
This is a good morning, a time of some clarity and backing away from the forest......sometimes to get a good look at the tree's characteristics one has to see them as separate from the group. As I sipped my coffee this morn, it came to me, 96% of our shelters are still managed by sane people. It is easy to lose site of that when the village idiots are screaming in your ear. Always for me the " village idiot" is a reference to the mindless followers of rhetoric, without question or thought to the validity or consequences.......I suppose we all build walls, I am now aware that I do .. How can we go about educating those who don't see things our way ? Perhaps we can't, maybe it would be wise and kind to let them stay simple minded and let ourselves be free to tend to business. Sure would be easier on the spirit. We know the plan for NK is full of holes and the smartest thing we can do is simply bring the truth to our shelters of why it doesn't work, don't engage the problem; work on the solution. Simple things like the math and animals dying will eventually get the attention of even the most wide eyed politician.
We will continue the good fight here at Oreo's and the records request will come to us in time, but the truth will be longer until we get the veterinary community on board. So long as local vets co- sign the bullshit, things will stay the same. One correspondent took her newly adopted dog to her vet and was told that a bloody stool was normal for a shelter animal, that ringworm was normal, that skin disease was normal. These are not normal and we need to quit pretending they are. The shelter that flies the no kill banner needs to get some long term care in place. When our partner adoption agency puts innocent animals up for adoption that we would shut a pet store down for, that's a problem....
The Sacramento gang....
18 comments:
I don't think it is possible to change the minds of most of the folks who have bought into NK lock, stock, barrel. (the operative word is "most")
As stated, NK, is a failed theory. I think the more the general pubic hears about the problems and failures, the more likely the information will impact decisions to not try NK.
NK has been around since the '80s. It really has never worked long term anyplace. Those who are trying to make a buck off of it will continue to press our local jurisdictions and private shelters to buy into it.
I say we all must do whatever we can to dissuade others by showing them the failures.
Just MHO...
Could not have said it better myself !! I don't think we can solve the problem with the thinking that created it. I just want to keep hammering on the truth for the " new hand on deck" we have a new County Commissioner, he replaced Jim Galloway. Jim had been a great voice of sanity on the rostrum and will be missed. I don't know much about the new guy, but he is of a construction background I believe, and the construction industry put Kitty in.
I am awaiting a decision from staff or commission on a negotiated fee, the other stuff will probably come pretty quickly once that is settled.
The dog story was wonderful, and it is true about humans building walls. I see it sometimes even in our animal welfare dealings. Some say don't breed and buy while shelter dogs die; but people know what will work for them in their lives and it's their own business. I have seen some volunteers get militant about that. I don't support puppy mills and I went to the puppymill site and checked it out. The writer was very thorough and dedicated to stomping out puppymills . By her own admission 80% of puppymills were unlicensed. So why aren't we taking advantage of the laws we have ?
I saw a big controversy on another blog about breeders and how they were the problem. We must get on board here, No Kill is the problem. I would like to see more emphasis on spay/neuter. I wish we had stronger regulation on pet stores, but until we wake up in utopia there will be more pets than homes. Let's find a caring humane way to deal with them. No kill is not caring, it is not humane, even the nice places are not homes and the temptation to leave a dog in the foster system is a troubling one. What does it say to the dog who has been in 5 foster homes ? Even the good places have problems, get that out there.
As I have said here many times, I rescue German Shepherds. There will always be a demand for purebred dogs for certain people. I have been accused of being an elitist for pulling my breed and leaving another. Who are these
" rescues" to be judging which animal is more valued. It is a reverse snobbery.
There is nothing wrong with pulling a healthy animal that has a chance to find a home. Only people who are enamored of themselves think they can save every living Creature.
I think of Pixie ending up in a good home, my Mom is so happy about that. But I wouldn't put a 12 year old dog in a shelter. Petcop was right when they said 12 is not bad for a small dog. But Mom and I both agree a 12 year old dog doesn't belong in a shelter. It is to stressful and they are not very adoptable. I still go to NHS sometimes to see what is going on, hoping that things will be better. I would like to volunteer and give back to the animals in our city. They give so much to us, but not there. There must be laws somewhere that govern how animals are kept. Keep the information going and let people know the truth about the conditions. That is the only way.
In MHO the powers that be don't want to know. All they have to do is ask anybody in AC what the other side is like, isn't AC the one responsible for upholding code ? How can any board member or vet walk through there seeing all the cats crammed to the ceiling and not take action ? And what kind of diet are the dogs on. I understand that some come in looking skinny. When a dog has been there month's with itchy skin and brittle hair that is usually food related. A good diet and a bath would be fair.
If I think someone is sitting on the fence I try to educate them. If they're a zealot I save my breath. Experience has shown me the most helpful approach is to stick to my guns, tell the truth and then shut up. A gentleman brought an older mix dog in and wanted a guarantee that it wouldn't be destroyed. I told him we had him sign the euthanasia release for a reason. We are a limited admission no kill shelter. That said, we are taking your dog on the assumption that you are telling the truth. If your dog is aggressive or has an undisclosed medical condition we will humanely put it down.
Only then did he say the reason he was surrendering the dog was it had become animal and human aggressive. It had jumped his neighbors fence and killed the small terrier, when the owner of the deceased dog tried to pull him off the human was bitten several times. So the dog was being removed from the property on the demand of the neighbor. We declined to take the dog because it is not the type of animal we could place in good conscience. Would some people say we " turned the dog away ?" Probably, but why would we take it ? In our opinion it was not adoptable and would take up space from a dog that could be placed. I do have an opinion of what should have been done with the dog, and placement is not on the short list. We destroy far to many young healthy adoptable animals to take up rehab of aggressive dogs right now. First place the ones that can be saved. Later look for a miracle.
Mom, you just described one of the problems with an open door "No Kill" shelter. People need to understand that it is not right to put their problems off on another family by lying about their pet. That's why I stress the number of PUBLIC SURRENDERS ("good" people picking up animals off the side of the road) at Rancho Cucamonga, one of NK's failures. In fact I checked it again the other day and I was wrong, it's not 4200 a year but 4600 a year compared to an average of about 100 a year prior to NKE. These animals are being turned in as strays and a public open door shelter is required to take them. No history to these pets and it could be the very one you described. Seems each shelter has it's own quirks and this is Rancho's. Be interesting to see how many complaints, injuries, returns, come from the Rancho shelter now.
For starters Oreo, NHS has done away with childhood education and that is when we much reach the public. By the time the kids grow up watching Dad kick the dog and toss the cat, it is almost to late to change them. Many homes today are not compassionate with the humans, the animals have it even worse. Animals can help us connect with others, but we will react to them as we have been taught. I grew up on a farm, but the stock was treated well considering their fate was the dinner table. Today I choose to not eat meat, but I let others make their own decisions. I am always a little suspicious of someone who is militantly vegan, get a life.I hear from friends that help at Pet Network times are getting tighter for the animals. Keep an eye on your donations and make sure they go to a well run place. Don't support the kooks.
It's insane to think you can save every animal in a two year span. While at Rancho today I met a young couple who left NHS several months ago and took employment in another city. The pair had heard from their old friends still there that there was 750 cats in residence. That seems impossible, I don't think that is even possible. Does anyone on the blog know? I almost took a ride over there to see for myself, but I do think about bringing home diseases to my pets. I called a couple of times to confirm and all I got was the voicemail.
No kill has failed to meet expectations every place it has been tried. The same things in a different zip code. Overcrowding leading to disease, fights, no money for treatment or care. God knows how many dogs they have jammed into cages out of sight, out of mind. It is disgusting and I hope they get off their fat butts and clean the place up. I don't want to hear it is clean from anybody. You cannot keep sanitary conditions in that type of overcrowded place. This is the underbelly of shelters.Who is listed as the board of directors?
Has the county health department looked into conditions, and is anyone speaking for the animals ?
I don't want to be mean spirited, but things can make you that way. I went to the shelter with a friend today, she wants to volunteer for NHS because it is close to her home. I recomended SPCA since it is not so crowded. We both lasted about 10 minutes. There are not enough volunteers in the county to help that place, they have so many more animals than when we got Dozer & Digger. It is embarassing to have that as the public county adoption place. I am sorry for the animals but that is not healthy.
It took many years to resolve the Animal Foundation situation. It appears NHS is going down that same path. So what can be done about NHS?
It's odd how things seem to come around full circle. I remember the previous regimes at NHS, before going NK, investigating AF with HSUS, AHA, state vet, etc.
Oreo, bless her heart, tries to find a way to bring attention but is blocked at every turn.
Does anyone have a tangible idea how to get the public, media, officials or others interested?
For those who may not remember the Animal Foundation was Lieds in Las Vegas and they lost hundreds of animals and I have some copy paste of old RGJ bloggers about how " appalled' BB was, well guess what sweeetie, you're cooking the same stew.
This idea won't really resolve anything; however, it will definitely cause the management staff some serious concern.
I think maybe every so often a different friendly-acting, smiling person should go into the shelter walk around with a clipboard, legal pad, or steno pad and act as though they are taking notes.
That would give management something to think about if it happens repeatedly. In this case, paranoia might be a good thing.
Excellent idea pet cop. When Gret the vet came up from the Bay Area she made several trips out there. She worked in San Francisco under the original NKE. She said it was a mess. That is why they undid all of Wingrads stuff so quick. I think a little paranoia might be a good thing. But again you must keep in mind people now know how crazy and paranoid they are. God bless us all this Thanksgiving and think of the animals jammed in out there.
I do go out there and they are all pretty strange as it is. I have mentioned here, I started checking it out when Mom had to give up Pixie, I asked some questions then and they were not happy to spend time answering them. They got very defensive when I asked why some cages were unattended. I looked at the cards and some dogs had not been out for two weeks, they denied that and said the walkers forgot to mark the card. After that they started to pay more attention to me. I mean that in a negative way. The tall mannish one came right out and asked what I was looking for, and did I want to volunteer since I was out there so much. They need male helpers with some of the large dogs. It is almost all kids and women. I don't think they like the scrutiny I put them through when looking to rehome Pixie. Like Oreo says, tell a friend, get the truth out there !
We are coming a full circle, I first met Oreo when I was looking for a dog from NHS last year. they couldn't get it together and we ended up with the Mastiff boys. My wife and I made several visits before selecting a nice long haired shepherd. She had gone through several adoptions already, and had cat and other dog problems but she was a great dog for a family like ours. Her name was Sam, and she was a wonderful dog. We called them, told them we were building a double fence and would pick her up Monday.When we went out to get her and they said she was gone. After that we saw her returned 3 more times. The dog needed to have a double fence, I know that was what the problem was. She didn't like other dogs. By then we had bought the gus and really didn't want to deal with NHS, but felt they needed supervision.
I missed this post, it is true you can't change the made up mind, but we can inform the undecided one. I have spent about the last hour going back over the issues we have covered. This has been a far reaching blog and I am glad you are open to the public again.
Not everyone needs or wants a pet, but for those of us who do, we need good laws on the books. We need a safe place to adopt from and if a disastor strikes to keep our animals from harm. The dog walkers in our neighborhood are the ones that take care of other business as well. Animals are good for our heart and mind.
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