There are always things flying about in the air, & change is in the wind. Oreo does her best to go right to the source and check things out. She much prefers to talk to you, rather than about you..
After Volunteer left the animal volunteer service because of shelter to shelter issues, we had wondered if it was the new " nature of the beast" to transfer from No Kill to No Kill. Tom assured us that was not the case. He gave an NK to NK number for the year which was quite low.The SPCA took a total of 30 dogs from NHS in 2008. The major portion of the dogs (25 ) were in the first part of 2008, the latter part of the year totaled 5.
Tom could see where that would appear dubious if one didn't know all the details, but said there were extenuating circumstances.
There were some dogs slated for euthanasia at NHS and the SPCA gave them an extended chance. That blends with their mission statement of taking " at risk" animals. Tom also stated there have been a couple of public surrenders when he and staff felt the animal would be in danger if they did not. That' certainly the humane approach we hope to achieve in our community. If the person bringing in the animal is determined to get rid of it, you must keep an open mind. There is a high rate of abuse inflicted on animals rejected from shelters, as though it were the animals fault. SPCA primarily pulls from the pound and will take out of area surrenders. He continues to be candid on issues of return rate and criteria used in his shelter. That is a good thing.
They found homes for 27 or 29 dogs at the adoption fair and that makes this blog happy. Tom credits staff with the sucessful placements, due in large part to the skill of the interviewer. He was unaware of any Charter dictating policy, but acknowledges the possibility of a " verbal agreement" with the City of Reno. He feels they are close to their original intent however; the program has evolved into a slightly broader base.
Pictured is Oreo dictating to her data entry clerk
13 comments:
I respectfully disagree. There are dogs on the AC euth list and dogs on the NHS euth list. The dogs on the NHS list have had far more exposure time than the impound animals.
I don't feel that taking 25 animals from NHS a No Kill with a euth list, guarantees that NHS will pull 25 dogs from AC. In our agreement we take from the impound facility before the public. If the SPCA had taken animals from the stray facility it would have given those animals a chance.
That's what I thought Greta, I was volunteering at the time, and all I could think was " these dogs have had their day in the sun" I felt sorry fot the NHS dogs being kept forever and then put down when the new manager was hired, some had been there for months on end. However, the stray dogs never got a chance to be shown as adoptable. It saved the SPCA money because the dogs were neutered, but that is no excuse. It was wrong and I stand by my feelings.
The posts will be coming through at strange times, blogger is being weird. So if you are out of order sorry. I agree with both comments, I was still under the restraining order so all I had was tons of complaints on Mark's blog about the " bloodbath" at NHS . That is not my word, it was on the blog at the paper.
They are back to stupid promotions, now if you adopt a pet you get a plastic easter egg full of candy. That is a motivational thought.
A euth list at the No Kill palace. Weird ! That was the period when we got Digger and Dozer. I swear they had signs out front, the pressure was awful.
Sorry folks, I work in a no kill limited admission. I would never ask anybody to pull our dogs and leave dogs in the pound. Most animals in a no kill facility have had a few months of traffic, the pound puppies get a few days.I would be embarassed to ask any group to take from our shelter while pound puppies die. Oreo, you know that is just wrong.
I have spent a long time in shelter work. I think the Pet Network also takes from NHS. I understand these are stand alone units and can take who they please, but give us a break. From No Kill to No Kill is shuffling the numbers. If a dog is in a No Kill then according to all the propaganda, the dog is not at risk, after all it is No KIll. If that keeps NHS to full to pull from the pound, maybe the public has a right to decide on that too. The truth is, NHS can not maintain a open admission facility and be no kill, just the way it is. Stop bailing them out and let them get honest.
How does that work, the dogs and cats get transferred from pillar to post. It reads like a nice little numbers game. Not on the part of the SPCA, but NHS shedding stock to other places. In this economy there is no place for stupid head games, why are the other agencies buying into this ? Money is tight, time to get responsible.
Playing the devil's advocate, if SPCA were having a cash flow problem, taking animals that had been fixed, makes sense. Other than that, I agree with everyone so far, The animals had obviously had month's of exposure at NHS and the dogs on the county side may or may not have been pulled. I would't take the word of anybody on the NHS side about them taking animals.They are crowded for my standards anyway. Off to take Riley and Lucy2 for their Easte walk, we got her a bonnet.
As a breed rescue, I pull from a few shelters. I won't pull a GSD until it goes on the 5th week. That is about as long as my breed stays adoptable in a shelter sitution without needing a lot of rehab. My goal is to give the public first chance at the dog. After a month I take it and start looking for the reasons it's getting overlooked. Often this can be corrected in a one on one situation with skilled handling. Shelter to shelter transfer is inexcuseable when there are animals that have not been exposed for a reasonable amount of time. In addition many of the transfers are marked as live release and of course they are only released to another shelter. We need to work on fine tuning the language and get some honesty going here. Break down the live release column into something the public has a more accurate veiw of what is going on. Resues are not homes, nor do we always find a home. Get that out there. Happy easter Oreo !
I find Oreo in agreement with most of the comments. There is no excuse for pulling from No Kill to another No Kill, none. I like Tom tremendously, I think he is a professional who went where he should not have gone. I am not social with him, we don't chat it up, but I do think he is to damn savvy to fall for that stunt. I didn't realize that was when David left and the new guy was stuck with all the behavior challenged dogs and the rescues were screaming. Highest use of resources people, that is not rocket science.
I do volunteer for Becky and we take from both sides. We take what we think we can move in our area. There is no sense in bringing up 20 pitbulls that we know are not going to find homes. We are a shelter, not a dumping ground. Some older dogs and cats we can place; but if we can't place it, why take it ?
Lynn, I understand the geography of your shelter. You're not a metro area and do need to hit a certain market. Your case is more like a rural area. The SPCA is in the heart of town, big differene. Keep up the good work, and we all like Becky.
The people of Washoe County did not expect to lose services when they combined, yet they have. The interloccal agreement is specific about wildlife and owner surrenders. I took the time to get a copy of the document. We don't have a right to dictate who a shelter takes from, we may think it's purpose is fuzzy, but they can do their own policy. NHS, however, signed a contract, that is what an interloccal agreement is. And it is binding. Has the department head read the agreement ?
ACO's no longer go to the door, and they haven't for a time. But sending a letter and then expecting the citizen to do the follow up on repeat calls is as much a deterrent as the NHS help desk. People feel, why bother.
Since feral cats are wild then AC needs to go back to picking them up. At what point did the burden of AC shift to the public. Especially now with the Feral Cat Caregivers and the entitlement issues they create.There have been cases where the ACO was out 6 times on the same dogs at large and just put them back in the yard. At some point the owner needs a fine to give them an incentive to keep their dogs up in the first place. Six times the same dogs were returned to the yard in less than one month, that makes the rate look good, but doesn't help the neighbors.
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