Room For One More Under The Bus, Abigail.

Every one's talking about Austin's failure but the endless stream of " shock and awe" from bystanders to the fallout is surprising.....

I mean really people, have we seen a No kill not fail ? If this is a piece of news, we all need to get a life. Of course the whiners are going to blame location, completely overlooking the fact that with TLAC still in the original location, should have been a snap to push those puppies out through an old familiar door. After all, if we can "transport" across country, should be able to get the extra live load across town. The truth is Tomkins was in crisis when Abigail left to take over Austin, and at that time we all thought she was in for a rude awakening. Lot's more animals and no Cornell Vet school. Nathan did his best to pad the way providing explanations for failure, complaining early on about the move. If the old shelter was such a sucess, why did they need a new one?

What about the imports ? Surely they are to blame......Nope, even though I am not a fan of transport, the 20 dogs APA brought from San Antonio didn't steal homes from the 17 unadoptables on Lavender Loop, and offstie adoptions wouldn't have helped either. Austin has reached community saturation, every area does. No Kill counts on the first blush of sucess by filling every foster and rescue to the brim, the damn brim I tell you. Since twice as many dogs are pushed out the door into fosters as go into permanent homes, when the fosters are full; the party is over. Incredibly simple, really. I've often wondered where the fosters put them.

I have noticed on No Kill forums the minions are screaming to " seal the borders" just stop taking in from the public. Let's ask Washoe County how that's working for them :)

In Southern Nevada the Animal Foundation was given the funding needed to keep several well run shelters going for a long time,almost 20 million, 12 million of that from Janie Greenspun Gale who ran the place...right into the ground. Janie's sad statement was, "she tried to run a shelter like a rescue" 1,000 animals had to be destroyed and all animals are now put down in 72 hours.

Had they used that funding to operate a shelter in a balanced manner the holding period could be longer and the money would have been better used to serve a broader base.

"She never anticipated having to spend this kind of money, she said, and admitted she did not know how much she had spent over the years on the foundation.
"It was always a call, 'Quick, we need this, we need that.' 'Animals are sick and the animals need medicine.'"

The No Kill Nut Jobs would like to forget Lied's, just as Nixon always wished Watergate would go away..that's not the way American tragedies work. Lieds was about a lack of judgement coupled with a lack of knowledge, animals died in horrible ways after being hoarded in overcrowded conditions. It happened again in Philly, Indianapolis. it's being hidden in Washoe County, and hundreds of smaller No Kill shelters are in trouble, deep trouble. As long as politicans grab a photo-op, failing to do dilligent homework on projects that look " to good to be true" the animals will suffer. Austin is the latest, have you the courage to make it the last ?

Pictured is Ebony Hawk, loved his courtyard, loved his Mama.....

Crazy Laws That Hurt Animal Welfare People And The Animals They Protect

I know that's a wordy title, but I am a wordy ol' Chaplain :)  I am going to be home in my beautiful high desert soon, looking at my mountains as I take my morning coffee.  That's an apology for staying away from the keyboard so long.
It was disheartening to see California bow to the fringe element on Hayden's Law, it took my spirit for a little while.  I felt like we had lost a very long war.   I know today that we will keep fighting for the animals on all levels, but especially the ones caught up in the system..  Particularly we will fight legislation that binds the hands of shelters, taking away the rights of the many for the whims of the few. 
Much talk has gone on about all the " acts" being brought up in various states from Delaware to Florida, all are clones of Haydens Law.  Mr. Winograd has never taken the time to have an original thought, so it follows that he would go from state to state, changing from CAARA to FARA to any of the other aliases he may choose.
Do we really want to overturn the wishes of a dying dog or cat owner ?  Do rescues really know best for a 15 year old companion animal brought in for euthanasia ? 
Why are we sleeping through the legislative process when so much is at stake ?  Nevada must wake up, it's to close to Hayden for it's animal welfare community. Put Humane Euthanasia back on the list of options for an old sick dog, get rid of the " release slips" when a Euthanasia slip has been requested.   Okay, down from my soapbox.