Shelter debate

Since, in most shelters, two thirds of the animals that come in are dogs, and (generally) cats have a higher rate of adoption, I don't see that you have a realistic view of the situation. You are throwing out arbitrary numbers here, or are you suggesting allowing for the roaming dog packs running through the neighborhoods? While I realize you have a passion for the TNR programs, you just don't know the details here, as none of us do. You also don't know what is or is not being done to improve the situation (nor do I). What I do see is a shelter that, according to national statistics for similar shelters, has a low euthanasia rate. This suggests to me that some concerted efforts have been made along the way to improve the situation.

George

I've loaded our crematorium and can tell you it is a distressing sight. I have the ashes of two animals I desparately wanted to save, but no homes were ever found and I reached the point where I could not justify keeping them any longer at the expense of another animal. I handled their euthanasia's myself so I could say good-bye. This is Kaybe:



She is the one and only very special exception I've made in several years. After three months (winter - not kitten season) we were starting to get an influx of cats (kitten season starting) and I had to make a decision. No one had looked at her in all that time, so I finally just took her home myself. She frequently sleeps at the foot of my chair as I work. (Working from home has some nice advantages.)

George

No, they don't always have a higher rate, this is just the most common. Also it is most common for most shelters to bring in roughly two dogs for every cat, but that also varies quite a bit (generally shelters in rural areas bring almost all dogs and very few cats as an example.) Also, generally, largeer shelters tend to be more alligned with statistical averages, and yes they can vary by location.

George

That's in Ashville, about three hours away. There are three programs here:

Spay Neuter Assistance Program of NC
The vet that runs this program is a friend of mine and I not only maintain her web site I also do quite a bit to help with fund raising, administration, etc. She also spayed our rescued wolf (she was involved in the rescue.)

There is a new Spay/Neuter van here that has just started operation. (I don't have her web site.) Dr Bartfield (SNAP) is helping her with some start up issues and I've been asked to help too.

Friends of Animals low cost Spay/Neuter: An older ongoing program - but I must admit it has lots of issues.

These low cost programs are extremely important when properly applied. Dr. Bartfield has been working with the state with the program to help fund spay/neuter for low income individuals. This is to try and side track the people who are just looking for a better deal and drive up in their Jaguar to get a low cost surgery.

Dr. Bartfield is the absolute best, and a remarkable person on top of her surgical skills.

George

Absolutely!!! And the condition of the cat is not at issue. The decision to euthanize an animal for humane reasons is a deeply personal one and depends largly on a person's individual beliefs. As long as the cat belonged to Ms. Johnson it was her decision, not the shelters, to euthanize the cat (again, unless a judge ruled otherwise or there are other laws in VA relating to humane euthanasia decisions in shelters with which I am not familiar.) This still is an issue to be referred to the attorney.

George

There is considerable variation from shelter to shelter, particularly the smaller ones (a few hundred to a couple of thousand animals a year.) Each community has its own standards and preferences. In the rural counties around here most see almost no cats and a bunch of dogs which are never claimed. While this is the norm, each community will have a variation in this balance, as with the one you mentioned. One of these shelters placed only it's second dog IN THREE YEARS a couple of months ago. Your address lists Reston, VA. When we lived outside DC I had some involvement with the shelters in DC and Montgomery County, MD. Check the euthanasia rates there and in PG county MD. If they're anything like they were 12 years ago when we were there they should be at or near 70-80%.

George

Thank you for the compliment. She is a special girl to me. Then again, all of our 8 cats and 2 residing rescues (pending finding homes) are special, as are our 5 dogs. All the dogs are from the shelter (and each a special case too.) All of the cats are either from the shelter or rescued strays.

Mamma Cat and her kitten Elsie (the two currently residing rescues) were more feral than stray. Mamma had kittens in our tool shed. It took months to win her over, and none of that litter survived (two disappeared, two were actually killed by one of our dogs when the kitten slipped into the yard without our knowledge.) Mamma had moved them before they were old enough to take them from her... But that's a long story. Elsie is one from the next litter which Mamma had somewhere else but later moved into the shed. The other two have homes with friends of ours. Mamma is now a lap cat, as is Elsie. I believe I may have a home for Mamma (though I'll be sad to see her go.) And Elsie just ran across the keyboard (silly brat!). Elsie is now friends with the dogs - it was just a matter of getting her in the house and properly introduced. Mamma is still terrified of the dogs, though the dogs now have decided she's just one more cat that belongs in their house.

Our cats sleep with our dogs and I believe Harley, our only male cat (yes, he's neutered), sometimes thinks he's a dog.

George

Katie - I am in asheville, NC. They have made a new law in this county that all pets must be neutered/spayed or face a $100 fine.

We will see how that goes.

Would you like me to find out any info about this clinic in Asheville? I think I know where it is, it opened not too long ago.

Just found the stats :

here

Is that a fine or a tax? While the high tax for unsteralized animals is legal, the history of this approach generally indicates it fails miserably. Reputable breeders pay the tax, but then have to charge more for their animals, while the "back yard" breeders simply don't register their animals (often not getting rabies vaccines to avoid the registration), causing all kinds of other problems. Unfortunately, Durham (where I live) has also recently instituted such a tax.

If it's a fine then there are serious Constitutional issues, and it absolutely won't stand up to the first challenge.

George

TNR programs are fantastic, but the majority of adoptable animals entering shelters aren't feral. They are abandoned pets, and abandoned litters.

Low cost for low income spay/neuter programs are probably the best way to combat this. The reason for this is 1) Funding and 2) Reaching the source of the problem. New Hampshire is the pioneer and model in creating this type of program, which was started in 1993. They now boast the lowest state-wide euthanasia rate in the country.

Funding is a problem with implementing a wide-spread low cost or even TNR program. Who pays for it? Regardless of what we think the priority is on saving animals' lives, the budgets for states, counties and municipalities simply isn't going to foot the bill for these programs. They may subsidize them, but they won't all out pay for them.

Low cost/Low income targets the people who otherwise wouldn't get their animals spayed and neutered because they simply can't afford it. Trying to do a general public low cost S/N program means that every participant has to pay a higher co-pay, again putting S/N out of reach of the truly low income people. It has also been shown that the majority of the people who participate in general public low cost S/N programs would have gotten it done anyway, they just wanted to save money on it.

New Hampshire's program utilizes the already in place state benefit program to determine eligibility. When eligible, people only pay $10 co-pay for S/N, to include vaccinations and pre-op testing up to $35. (They also have other S/N programs, including S/N for shelter adopted animals, co-pay of $25-50; a financial assistance program where costs range from $35-$70; and "Solutions to Overpopulation of Pets (STOP)" a spay program for mother cats with a $25 refund off of regular vet rates after the surgery is complete.) These programs are funded by a nominal $2 increase on all pet licenses, which is put directly into the S/N fund.

By implementing these programs, New Hampshire saw a dramatic drop in intakes, thereby reducing the need to euthanize, and increasing the chances for the animals that were in the shelters for adoption. They also saw their bugetary needs drop well below the amount expended for the low cost S/N programs.

For more info on Statewide S/N programs, please go here: http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html...ion.html#State

What we all need to push for is to take a pro-active stance on animal control. Stop the problem before they end up in the shelter, which means preventing unwanted births, and mainly from owned animals. Education has done a great deal so far and needs to continue, but the next step must be taken if we ever want to come close to a No Kill status nationwide. Because George is 100% right - we are no where near that point right now.