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Would you work for this shelter? - Page 2

post #31 of 45
11/28/09 at 1:09pm
I would have to think about it very seriously. However, my first question would be, "How many cats have you actually euthanized?"
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post #32 of 45
11/29/09 at 7:42pm
I'm the only guy that works with the cats at our shelter, but there are other volunteers (one guy in particular) who are dog walkers. I'm just not a dog person, and I would just get in trouble doing that.

As to the no-kill thing, most no-kill facilities regulate their population at the front door, whereas most shelters have to regulate their population at the back door. Being a tax-supported facility, our shelter has to accept animals from residents of the 3 towns we serve, any condition (even dead!).
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post #33 of 45
11/29/09 at 7:52pm
mrblanche, I love that you will work with the cats, we only have one older guy that will work with the cats, the others all prefer the dogs or janitorial / maintenance / gardening tasks or positions outside the shelter
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post #34 of 45
11/29/09 at 8:41pm
Keep in mind that many shelters which are called "no kill" are only able to call themselves that because they pick and choose what animals they will accept. The animals which they do not accept often end up going to other shelters/pounds which are not no-kill.

For example the big downtown "humane society" in my city made a decision several years ago because of the "no kill" movement -- they decided to stop housing strays. They will only accept "owner give-ups" and they turn over all stray animals to Chicago Animal Control (the city pound) which estimated they would be inundated with 4,000 more animals each year, meaning animal control ends up having to euthanize even more pets because they have less space.
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post #35 of 45
11/30/09 at 4:00am
We are the opposite, we accept strays and then surrenders as we have the space - even high kill shelters have to turn away animals at some point. I have visited a nearby animal control when some were still sitting in cardboard boxes or carriers waiting for the vet to come in to euthanise some so they have space to put the new ones - the vet wasnt due in until the next day, they just had to say no to the people coming in that day
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post #36 of 45
11/30/09 at 5:29am
Well, if someone has a driver's license or a utility bill in their name with an address in the three towns, we have to accept the animal. If not, they have to pay a fee, if we accept the animal at all.
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post #37 of 45
11/30/09 at 8:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrblanche View Post
I'm the only guy that works with the cats at our shelter, but there are other volunteers (one guy in particular) who are dog walkers. I'm just not a dog person, and I would just get in trouble doing that.

As to the no-kill thing, most no-kill facilities regulate their population at the front door, whereas most shelters have to regulate their population at the back door. Being a tax-supported facility, our shelter has to accept animals from residents of the 3 towns we serve, any condition (even dead!).
I have also specified that I wanted to be the cat guy. DW called my attention to the fact that I never once mentioned the word dog when speaking of the shelter. Of course they have about twice as many dogs but since this is The Cat Site I kept my comments to the cats. DW also pointed out to me that in my Living Will I plainly specify I do not want to be kept alive with tubes and such should it be determined that I had no chance of survival or had to live in pain the rest of my life. I seem to had totally forgotten my own wishes for my own life when considering the same thing as pertaining to cats. Well, in the morning I have my orientation and will find the exact criteria for euthanasia. I will also take some photos of this rather small facility and post them with my findings tomorrow at the end of this thread.
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post #38 of 45
11/30/09 at 3:24pm
Really, I wish we had more dogs, we rescue dogs from other shelters since we find maybe 10 strays a year that are not claimed by their owners
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post #39 of 45
12/1/09 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Persi & Alley View Post
This is a serious question and I am looking for answers.

About a year ago, Farmers Branch, one of the smallest suburbs of Dallas, decided to build an animal adoption center. About that same time I underwent the first of three major back surguries. I vowed that if I ever got well enough I would devote time to the facility. I did contribute $200 as a result of a contest I held here on TCS as some of you may remember.

I have had my third major back surgery and am highly hopeful that this time it has been successfull. I am actually able to start walking now without a walker to some degree and am undergoing physical therapy. I am confident enough that I went over to the adoption center yesterday and asked if they could use my help, contingent upon my recovery. I have scheduled an orientation for Tuesday morning to show me the various ways I could be helpful.

Remember, this is a small town and this is its only adoption center. Cats are NOT kept in cages at all, in fact they share two to what I would call an apartment. About 8 X10 feet, very roomy, with high ceilings and filled with cat climbing trees and toys. I don't believe any of you have ever seen a nicer facility or one that even comes close. I sure have not. Being a small town there are only about 8 cats to care for and I IMMEDIATELY said I wanted to be the cat guy along with three other women who would split up the week's duties. I was very excited because it was something I really wanted to do, being retired and having the time.

I then talked to the woman that ran the place and asked "this IS a no kill shelter, is it not?" to which she responded no. My world fell apart at that moment. I told her I did not think I would be able to work there after all. But I will take the orientation Tuesday and see how I feel about things then.

DW and I discussed this at length last night. I told her if I new a cat was going to be gassed in the morning I would almost have to adopt it myself. Everybody that worked for Hitler did not have a choice on throwing people into the gas chamber but I do have a choice. And I just cannot bring every cat home to live with me that wll be thrown into the gas chamber.

I am not bragging but I have been a professional speaker most of my life. DW thinks I need to schedule time at the next city council meeting and give the speech of my life. There are only five council members and I do not know what the original vote was. If it was 3-2, surely I can persuade the city council to reverse their decision on this matter. So that is what I am going to try to do.

Things like that take time of course. Meanwhile what would YOU do? Would you work for a facility no matter how nice it was if they gassed cats? I layed awake all night last night and my Thanksgiving today is not going to be a very pleasant one.

I really value your input and want to know what you would do in my situation.
I originally entitled this post as Would you work for Hitler and posted it in the lounge. In my almost 6000 posts, not one of them have ever been in IMO. However, I now think Anne made a good decision in where this ended up and its name.

Let me first say that due to what you kind people have responded to me with that as of about an hour ago I just became THE FARMERS BRANCH CAT GUY!. Yes, God permitting my health to do so, I will be the sole caretaker for the cats. I went through a complete orientation and interview today and they decided I was the one. BTW, no man had ever voluntered for this before.

Please look at the photos below. I am doing this all from my phone and I have yet to learn a few tricks so you will have to open the links to see the pictures.

First of all you will see it is not called a shelter. Next you will see a photo of the luxury suites the cats now have. You will then see a "meeting" room in which the cats are brought in to meet with their prespective owners. The last two photos pretty much sum things up as far as what this shelter is all about.

The shelter is exactly one mile from my front door and right next door to the college that DW teaches at. I have been thinking positively and look what has happened!

Sorry, I have not figured out how to imbed photos from my phone so I must use the Manage Attachment feature of TCS. Please look at them, I think you will be impressed and know why I have had a serious turnaround from the time I first posted this thread. Let me know your thoughts. I said I would never work for a no-kill shelter but after checking out these photos, tell me your opinions. Actually I have already signed on the dotted line so make me feel good about my descision. After all, it is you cat people that turned me around.
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post #40 of 45
12/1/09 at 3:47pm
Congratulations!

I am curious now what their dog areas look like. Can you take some photos?
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post #41 of 45
12/1/09 at 5:17pm
Their adoption rate for 2009 looks promising, depending on what they consider to be an adoption rate
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post #42 of 45
12/2/09 at 9:42am
That certainly is a nice looking facility! I'm sure you'll enjoy working with the kitties there!

Using the numbers on the sign you took a picture of and assuming that "rescued" means animals that were transferred to another organization their '08 euthanasia rate was 52%. If they are expecting to have reduced that to 6% in '09 I'd be interested in how they accomplished such a drastic reduction in so short a time.

Also, it seems to me that they must limit how many animals they take in each year. The intake number for '08 (1001) makes me suspect that once they have taken in 1000 animals they stop taking any more although it looks like 1 additional sneaked in. If this is the case, IMO, their claiming a high adoption rate for '09 is a bit bogus. If I were running a shelter and only accepted 3 animals a year but always managed to find homes for those 3 animals I could technically claim an adoption rate of 100% but I think it would be misleading.

Again assuming they do limit how many animals they take in, for them to claim a high adoption rate does a disservice to organizations that don't limit their intake. Those organizations would look bad in comparison for having a much lower adoption rate because of accepting any animal brought to them including ones turned away from "high adoption rate" shelters.

I don't mean to criticize the shelter you're going to be working at, but it seems to me they are dodging some of the difficult aspects of running an animal shelter in favor of providing "luxury" accommodations for a few lucky animals. If their facility was a bit less luxurious they could help more animals regardless of their intake policy.

I don't fault them for taking the easier path, I wouldn't mind running or working at such a shelter myself, but frankly I have a lot more respect for the shelters that accept the burden of the more difficult path.

If I'm wrong about them limiting their intake, please disregard all of the above!
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post #43 of 45
12/2/09 at 7:11pm
A local shelter here changed their euthanasia numbers by about 40% in one year when new management took over and I am sure will decrease it again now their new system is established. They worked with a network of shelters, rescue groups etc - each of the rescues call the other ones when they reach crisis level, they signed up fosters, worked with pet food companies to get free food

Stopping taking animals in because you get to 1000 for the year seems a little strange since you would have some months where less come in so why would you say no to animals during November (which is usually slower) just because you have already taken in 1000 - I would guess at a coincidence unless the numbers were like that for several years.
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post #44 of 45
12/4/09 at 8:49am
I think i would do as much research as possible and see what the rate of animals re-homed vs animals put down was. If they find homes for more animals than not then i would probably work there. It would be heart breaking to have to say goodbye when the animal was unable to find a home, but with a shelter with a decent success rate it might not happen as often.

Also see how long animals have before they are put on the list to be put to sleep. Maybe you can suggest ways for them to get out there and make an even higher precentage of rehomed pets!
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post #45 of 45
12/20/09 at 10:29am
So, Lee, anything to report on this subject? I know you were going to orientation. I just wondered how things were working out.
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