County decides not to adopt “no kill “policyAfter hearing that current practices ensure that few healthy animals die at the Regional Animal Control Services Center, the Washoe County Commission on Tuesday agreed not to adopt an official "no kill" policy. It also agreed to hold a community forum to educate the public about the center, which includes the Nevada Humane Society.
The commission agreed that it did not need to create a task force to draft a formal policy to become a "no kill" community, one option that was presented by staff in an update on the joint facility that opened in 2006.
That policy is misleading, said Mitch Schneider, interim animal control director. Vicious animals and very sick animals, not likely to survive, are euthanized under a "no kill" policy.
He said he prefers "pet friendly" as animal services' goal.
Commissioner Kitty Jung made a plea to create an oversight committee to review operations and policies at the center. Chairman David Humke and Commissioner John Breternitz said they didn't have enough information to consider whether that's needed.
In 2008, Washoe County animal control euthanized 188 dogs and 238 cats because the center had run out of space, and no one wanted those animals, Schneider said.
"There were a lot of pit bulls. There's just not enough homes who want them," Schneider said. "The Humane Society is not going to take all pit bulls."
The Washoe County euthanasia rate is 7.4 animals per 1,000 population. That compares with the national average of 12.5 animals per 1,000 population.
The center took in 11,494 animals in 2008, including wild animals and dead animals. Schneider said the number was up by about 300 from 2007.
The complete article is online, Oreo says " this is enough"
14 comments:
Thank's for sending the website url for the videos. In studying the presentation & question period
(4 times) I compliment the county council for the seriousness they exhibited in getting to the facts. Staff did not seem prepared and appeared caught off guard that the board would look at the fiscal impact. I felt sorry for the humane society volunteers who were so sincere in their praise and clueless about the business end of things. It was vicious to put them up there reading what looked like prepared statements.
The fumbling about the cost of the crematorium was great. "We're no kill but sometimes we do need to dispose of a body" I have said this before, we turn away animals we don't think we can place, and we are aware many of them end up at shelters that don't have that luxury. We do what we can with our resources. It's not cherry picking, it's reality.
I noticed the stray agency had an increase in numbers while the humane society had fewer intakes. The help/retention department is the culprit there. Clients sit there and go okay, okay and get in their car and drive straigt to the pound or some back road.
On the gov website there were no official letterhead statistics, there was a report for Maddie's fund and it indicated much higher kill rates than what were quoted by the agency rep's.
I found the cost analysis to be very interesting since I interact with several agency fiscal impact statements.
Crematoriums are expensive to run and when we need to use one the cost can be substantial.
Using the Maddie's fund report, if there were 677 euthanasia cadavers and 215 of them were owner requested; who pays? Does the surrendering owner pay or is it absorbed by the county? Looking at those numbers, that would be approximately 1/3 of the cost of running the crematiorium. Sad, but part of the process.
Spouse says there is disappointment in some of the volunteers and rescue groups, but limited to about 7 really vocal women who keep saying the same things repeatedly. No idea how to pay for it, they just want it. Here in the office the honest feeling among those of us who have been keeping track is, Thank God. I cannot speak for anybody except myself, but I am tired of funding unrealistic, simplistic dreams while the school system and the roadways go to hell in a hand cart.
How do you like my new moniker ? Some of the public volunteer comments for NHS bought into the NHS pays it's own way myth. That is not true, they are in several hidden ways getting a subsidy from the county. Little things like Chameleon, the crematorium, having the county do their killing. They leave dog waste all over the grounds, leave a mess in the shared rooms, we even clean the shared bathrooms for them.
It's heartbreaking to see animals stored in an area meant for retail and lined up in the hallways in crates, but the fiscal impact of enabling such policy is tremendous and I am funding it by deferment of duties.
Love your moniker snoop, and I am in agreement with all your comments. Of course the SPCA would be down a bit, they should have never jumped on the bandwagon in the first place. They were doing great as a stand alone. I also wonder if County money had not been in the air if NW would have made and effort to take over NHS. If NHS had not been a county partner, I don't think NW would have looked twice.. I see that as I look at all his recent attempts to take over cities. His whole product is based on destruction of AC along with a non-profit well respected name as a front.
One of my co-workers was upset, but he believes all dogs and cats will find a "forever home" and refuses to look at what the actual time of being held is. I asked him if he would put Brewer, his boxer, in a pen for 6 months and take him out once a day. He assured me that he would not be capable of such a cruel act, I then asked him if he lost his home would he take Brewer to a no kill shelter and he said yes. You can't reason with a stupid person. This myth is perpetrated by the conceit of people who think " of course MY dog would get adopted" Hope the county continues to see the economic folly of this. It is expensive as Butters said and mean.
I fully expected Mitch Schneider to support Bonnie's efforts declaring Washoe County as "no kill." I was stunned to hear him say the opposite. It makes me wonder just how cozy his relationship with Bonnie is. As much as I hate to admit it, he did stand on the right side of the issue...no kill vs pet friendly. I can't help but wonder why.
How is this going to go over with Winograd? Will Mitch be invited to speak at future events? Since Winograd added new material to "Redemption" using WCRAS/NHS a model, it would appear that he thought the "no kill" tag was a shoe-in.
I'm sure that Mitch has not had a conversion to decency. There were strong ( very strong ) fiscal impacts. Now it would be Mitch having to cover the budget not Cindy and when you are the weight bearing unit.........
I am trying to recall with out watching the tape again, didn't Mitch's pitch come on before Dan's ? It was like Dan got up and totally ignored what Mitch said, and went straight to no kill 101. The report Dan read was so poorly written it sounded like Mitch's writing. I received an anon " no reply" post that staff at WCRAS had absolutley no knowledge of Dan's intention. That would explain the stunned look on Mitch's face when Dan was running off at the mouth. That doesn't show on the tape, but a person who was there said Mitch looked surprised. Mitch took the week off sick, wonder if there is a connection? One of my inside sources at NHS believes the report was generated by BB and given to Dan to read, I must say it is bad enough.
I pray the shelter gets it's act together and returns to humane care and length of holding. What NHS does is our business, it's our only public shelter.
To petcop, nothing Mitch does surprises me. He began stabbing Sabatoni in the back long before he took up speech making. Anybody at the Peppermill knows more about Longley than the comission did. Drink, scratch & gossip, that's what he's known for. He'll take a hit on 19 and draw to a straight every time. My neighbor deals poker there.
People close tried to warn Cindy about him, but she knew it all. Sabatoni wasn't stupid, but overly trusting. She should have fired his ass over the DC caper. Our department took a hit on staffing and two friends are losing their house. we can't spare resources for stupid decisions.
I finally got the link to work and caught the item 27 on video. It's clear the head guy was pushing for his " partner" to get a free ride. We have a dedicated commission; I watched them when a water project was going to destroy our wells out here. They do their homework. I hope this is the beginning of change back into a fully functioning shelter. I noticed Weber said about 4 times, " they do their thing and we do ours" I couldn't agree more. Does this news mean we will be seeing more of Oreo and the Newfies at the the river park ? This must have been so time consuming to do the research and keep the facts on the issues.
It would be nice to laze at the river. Burley Dog has a hot spot and I have concerns about river water right now. Maybe Priss. we at Oreo's Inn, are happy, but far from complacent. So many wonderful folks helped and many because they wanted to stay employed couldn't come forward and speak. We felt that right makes might and filling up chambers would have only riled the emotional fanatics to get crazier. I think there were 5 humane society volunteers that spoke, if they have 1,700 where were they ? The humane society thought it was a slam dunk and got surprised. I sincerely hope this is the end of it, we can't afford to give the care we need, and every agency has to carry it's own weight. I want to know why the numbers are so low on WCRAS, why such a high number of reported vs turned in. Don't forget the PSA folks.
Wow been almost a week and no lawsuits, we didn't get a lawsuit up here. He blows a lot of hot air and his lawyer friends have the nasty blog, but we have learned to tune them our. I did finally get to the public speaking at the start of the meeting. Number 7, so that's it for the display, 7, 27 & 28 ? About the same crap we got up here, Your Director of Public Works was clearly in their pocket for whatever reason. The woman at the podium was very hard to hear, I replayed it with the volume all the way up and finally heard her. She hit the nail on the head, there is no dynasty of No Kill Equation policy shelters. That plan has more holes than a collander. Where was Oreo, she should have been down front ?
Hang in thre
Sharon
My take on the whole mess is, let them stay in their own yard and do what they said they would at the time we partnered with them. It's a ponzi scheme with live animals and we need to stay on top of any agreements of care with them. They are taking from the public and I still shudder to think Pixie could have ended up there with all her problems. Also I dispise the effect this nuttines is having on vet's like my Mother's who make the decision. I am the first to admit it was good we found a home for Pixie with Greta, but I also know she would not have been adopted in this particular shelter. The dogs are not cleaned or groomed and with her wetting problem she would have rotted there. I was reading about sleep deprivation in animals after coming onto Oreo. Now I get really pissed at the constant circus over there. Heard from Greta ? How is Lady ?
It looks to me like the rescue community is pulling from NHS so NHS can take from County. That is the local rumble. It may have been an attempt to show no kill works with the right AC director, or an attempt to keep the balls in the air. I am certain the SPCA is taking from NHS & backed off taking from AC. Also heard, not confirmed that PetNetwork is not taking from AC since Becky became friends with Denise.
Let me guess, I almost didn't click on the link in your invitation. Way to many fake links floating around. Thank you for the invitation and I suppose the next post will enlighten us.
Post a Comment