Dr. Kate Hurley, Please Reconsider Your Current Stance..

The following is an excerpt from a recent NY Times article which quoted Dr. Kate Hurley, formerly a highly respected member of the veterinary community.

"When Dr. Kate Hurley, the director of shelter medicine at the University of California, Davis, first heard about the no-kill movement 20 years ago, she agreed with PETA. She believed that no-kill was an unachievable policy, and that shelters claiming such a distinction were taking only the animals most likely to be adopted and forcing other shelters to euthanize the castoffs. “I felt in many places it wasn’t no-kill, it was kill elsewhere,” .

In a series of research projects on feline upper respiratory infection, she and her colleagues documented the huge impact the illness can have on shelter resources. Treatment required expensive medical care and a lengthy recovery period, reducing the animal’s chances for adoption and taking up space that could be used for other homeless cats. But by doubling the size of the cages, contagion was reduced, the rate of respiratory problems and costs went down, and adoptions increased.

Dr. Hurley has also been impressed by shelters that have started to take stray cats that would have been euthanized and instead spayed or neutered them, vaccinated them for rabies and released them back where they were found. “If they came from an alley, they know how to live in an alley, and if they’re spayed, they’re not making new cats,” she said. “The pieces for no-kill are in place. We just need to spread the word and make sure shelters have the resources and know-how.”

From Reno / Tahoe pets Craigslist, below..

Looking for Volunteers (removed )

I recently moved from the area of Neil Road in South Reno. While I lived there I was caring for and feeding ferral stray cats. I had the cat colony of about ten cats spayed and neutered with shots through the Humane Society's Community Cats program so they would not continue to multiply.

I asked a neighbor there when I had to move if I buy the cat food if she would fill there bowl daily and give them water so they would not starve. I cared for this colony almost two years and because I got laid off work I was forced to have to move. The cats are very sweet.

I received a call from another neighbor recently telling me the cats are starving. The original neighbor I asked to feed them stopped feeding them. I am unable to make it over to that area due to being on a tight budget and gas costs since I am now on the other side of town.

I am willing to buy and provide the food but I am seeking volunteers who reside in that area who would be willing to feed these cats one or two days a week. It breaks my heart and I am so worried about them. One stray cat has 2 kittens to feed.

I called the shelter and was informed there is nothing they can do to help them. I was told to leave them to the universe. The shelter does not come out and capture ferral cats the problem is so big in reno with so many stray cats.

If you have a big heart and five minutes to put food in a bowl for them please contact me via e-mail and I will work with you to help these cats. I appreciate your interest.

Dr. Hurley offered her expertise on cats and little else, it was heartbreaking to see her drop the ball on all the bigger issues, and offer false hope to so many.  She sounded much like Mr. Winograd , all ideas and no practical solutions, sure just double the cage size......Hey, got funding?  It is irresponsible to say the pieces are in place for No Kill ( with or without the caps )  Did you see anything about dogs in her rah, rah piece ?  I was stunned at the absence of any rational offerings..." Just make sure the shelters have the funding".. yeah right :)  That is the thinking of academia, somewhere over the rainbow.  We have shelters we are trying to get funding to get rid of gas chambers, perhaps decent food while the animal is in custody.  These Ivory Tower thinkers do a great deal of harm because it's the least educated who believe them..

To say that" if a cat came from and alley, it can live in an alley", indicates less than stellar thought process, maybe people don't want the cats in their alley.   Often horrid things happen to those cats who are allowed to become a nuisance.  TNR never shows the pictures of the shot or poisoned cats, how about the cat that is run over and dies alone, starving and in pain.  You can tell a cat lover from a person who has a fixation with cats. Real cat lovers despise TNR.  These are abandoned animals left at the mercy of some of Mother Natures worst diseases, they are a synthetic population, allowed to expand beyond their resources, becoming vectors through no fault of their own.  One rabies shot does not last a lifetime, &  there is more to medical care than neutering.  What part of that is eluding the good veterinarian ?  Has she joined the ranks of Yes Biscuit, where quality of life no longer matters ?  Maybe she ought join Baltimore Rose, and really see the street cats,she can travel from theory to reality in one quick crash course......

What about the dogs in her " The pieces are in place for No Kill world"   Like Mr. Winograd has she found some parallel population, who has been ignoring overpopulation, but is now going to " jump in and adopt us out of the No Kill nightmare" ?

No, Dr. Hurley has no answers or she would put them forth, with funding and protocol, something like the Assilomar Accords, only with an underwriter. .  Shame on Dr. Hurley for minimizing a very serious overpopulation problem, while exacerbating the divisive dialogue.  Animals will populate to capacity and beyond, unless we implement aggressive spay neuter, provide triage to pull animals from the system who will never find a permanent home. We must raise the bar  to a reasonable level for adoptions, the hoarding cases are multiplying at an alarming rate, and that is proportional the No Kill..

By continuing to place animals in homes that cannot sustain them we are creating even higher return rates and the hidden dogs of Craigslist.. Huge free adoption events and hoarding bust seem to go together, and how can an intelligent Dr. not see that.  The whole focus on cats are being the answer to achieving "No Kill" is because dogs are a little harder to hide.  The dog numbers have not changed in the communities with limited admission No Kill shelters, they remain unchanged.  For all the hoopla about Washoe County, our stats do not reflect the No Kill propaganda.. Sorry, long winded, that's what happens when you let Burley take the keyboard :)

Compassion Or Unbridled Emotion ?

I have been told by some of our more fervent rescue types that I lack compassion. Now, for a man of the cloth, that could be a bad thing.  I see many people today who are in emotional turmoil and they label it compassion, I lean toward the logic that will get the job done. Hysteria is not a solution although if you follow Mr. Winograd long enough you could be swayed.
True compassion is not talking, it's doing.  Does an animal have shelter, food and medical care ? Because without those things, quality of life is poor, love is never enough.  Animals require care, that costs money. Love is the supplement.   Somehow this generation has missed that point and belatedly joined the hippee movement. I expect at any moment to see Mr' Winograd open his NKC with " love is all we need " playing in the background with a light show. Fluff and balderdash, lets see how Mr. Schneider handles our 400 or so cats.  A few pitbulls" free " doesn't seem to be drawing a crowd, it would appear from here that skill would go a long way to bail " compassion " out of the soup.
Warm and fuzzy doesn't cut it, and frankly Mr. Winograd is failing at that lately. We need aggressive spay and neuter incentives, although with the latest batch of pit puppies on Craigslist I doubt there is a demand for fixing one's pet.  The other issue we have lately is rescues bringing in out of area dogs.  These are often not altered and do end up in the county side, along with the out of area parasites and heartworm.
I've been following Oreo's venture into finding lost dogs, it's been a lesson in tenacity.  There is a mission and it's to be followed.  Our mission in animal welfare should be to reduce population, not keep juggling animals like circus clowns.
I have seen so many compassionate people get burn out, the hand wringers don't get that, because all they do is talk about what should be done.  The doers get worn down by the reality of it all.  Please spay neuter, and if you need a little extra cash, rob a bank; but please don't have a litter of puppies.
For the love of Christ
Chap