Thoughts On Memphis Animal Services, A View From Inside...

Recently we have received several not for publication comments from readers in the Memphis area.  To Southern Belle & the many others who have taken the time, to find, and write to Advice From Oreo; our prayers are with you...You are under attack from the out of state No Kill Militia.  Not since Sherman marched, has so much venom been spilled on innocent people. We have spent several weeks trying to determine if this was fight Oreo cared to join, our own shelter leaves much to be desired.. physician heal thyself, comes to mind..  One of our readers from northen Ca. has followed it from the start and encourages us to at least keep Memphis on the radar. After looking through the vast ammount of material she has sent it feels almost criminal, what has been done... To readers who may have just joined us, check out the Commercial Appeal in Memphis Tn.  There are several stories that are shocking, as they take us inside a city under siege.
On first glance the villain appears to be a middle-aged blogger from South Carolina with far to much time on her hands.  The title of the blog is "chirpy" and "feel good"  Makes one want to toss old Shirley a Biscuit.   I have gone to the blog, but I could not force a comment from my keyboard.  It was a cesspool of hate, straight from the bowels of the No Kill movement.  Two visits, dear friends, thats all I could take....Thank you to the good people sending the copy/ paste material.  Your stomachs are stronger than mine.  The Commercial Appeal articles are excellent and should be followed closely. Many of the comments there are from the No Kill Militia of South Carolina and hardly fit for print. Life, however, is for learning.
We won't linger on the troubled past of MAS, that has been rehashed ad infinitum.it's future is whats at stake.  Almost within days of announcing a new shelter to be built, Memphis came into the No Kill crosshairs.  Memphis has a new shelter with county funding, Mr. Winograd has an agenda, a match made in hell. There have been new bottoms from this round of desperation, a billboard defaming a shelter director, and a nation wide attempt to keep a good man out of sheltering.  Mr. Winograds favorite method is bringing in his people, except right now, he doesn't have any.  He could certainly drag poor Doug Rae out of the ashes of Indianapolis and finish off Memphis that way. 
Our " advice from Oreo" would be to put aside your differences, focus on your similar aspirations locally.  If you don't , you will have the carpetbaggers there.  When I saw that on the CA, I had to steal it, what a perfect call to describe what is going on.  The shelters of South Carolina are deplorable, yet they point their poison at Memphis, why do you think that is ?  Could it be they have nothing to do or offer in their own state.  Even people from New York and Alaska had an opinion on how you folks in TN should run your shelter.  No solutions, of course, but plenty of opinions.
You cannot force your values on a sovereign state, you can lead by example, but I do hope Memphis doesn't follow Marlboro SC.  The answer to the shelters problems rests in humane education, spay/neuter and responsible placement.  Off site adoptions are not good, they encourage impulse decisions. Returns go way up.  The" return to owner" mission described by our shelter director is a real mess.  If people don't care enough to call or come to the shelter for their pet, giving them a shuttle ride home  is not going to make the owner care more.  Common sense, people who want a shelter pet, go to the shelter, you'all do know Winograd has a dream of a "puppy delivery truck"  works like the ice cream truck.  Drives through neighborhoods playing a little jingle, and passes out free puppies,. That's in the pipe folks..
So to the good animal lovers of Memphis a word of advice, understand your limitations, work with your shelter, not against it.  Don't assume everyone is ignorant who doesn't carry your feelings, some people are not big on animals.  That is not a free ticket into the gates of hell.  Tolerance, willingness to work together will creat the shelter that works for your city.  God bless and keep your shelter to your standards, which will take time, but for the love of God, don't follow the yellow brick road into Oz.
Pictured is a younger vibrant Oreo in her office.