KC DOG BLOG

Communities support successful organizations, but we need city support

Over the past 8 months, Kansas City, KS has ceased being a death trap for animals. In 2008, the KCK shelter killed roughly 4300 animals, but new leadership within animal control in KCK has at least led them to the decision to begin working with the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City to begin adopting out animals from the shelter -- instead of allowing the shelter to remain a death trap.  And adopt out animals they have done.

Since the first part of the year, the HSGKC has taken an abysmal kill rate of 56% to where only less than 4% of the adoptable dogs and cats in the shelter are being killed.  The success has been amazing -- and a true testimate that it IS possible to adopt your way to no kill.

However, two weeks ago, the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City sent out  a plea for money.  The costs of running the off-site adoptions, and for the staffing, and for the care of all the animals they were adopting out were starting to mount.

And the citizens in Kansas City responded in a big way -- as of Friday, the HSGKC had received nearly $100,000 in donations.

If you do things the right way, and work your butt off to save the lives of animals, the communities you serve will recognize it and step up to help you do it.  In Kansas City, they just did.

This is all great for the animals in KCK and for HSGKC.  But my fear is that unless the city government gets involved, their success will not be sustainable. The city animal control is still confiscating too many animals from home good homes because of laws that are on the books. They are still pulling every dog out of homes that even remotely looks like a 'pit bull' -- dogs like Brutus, Roscoe and Nikko  -- because of the city's breed ban. They are still confiscating animals from homes because they are unalterd due to the city's ordinance mandating spay/neuter -- instead of just encouraging them to use HSGKC's low-cost spay/neuter options and leaving the animals in the home.  They're still confiscating too many animals because of the city's overly restrictive pet limit law.

The city could really ease the burden on HSGKC by repealing some of the laws that are a) taking well-cared for, well behaved animals out of people's homes unnecessarily and b) removing some of the restrictions that make adopting animals into homes more difficult.

If the city government could get on board, the work they and HSGKC are doing will not only continue success -- but will be completely sustainable.

The citizens and taxpayers are clearly supportive. 

And the citizens throughout the

A little good news coming from Kansas City, KS's shelter

There is aninteresting article from the Kansas City Star this week with some great news for animals in Kansas City, KS.

For years, KCK has been a black hole for animals. The facility routinely killed the majority of the animals that entered the shelter and were mostly unwilling to work with local rescue groups to save them.  Last year, the shelter killed about 4,300 animals.

But a new animal control director, Rodney Smith, has helped change that. A new coalition that calls themselves "Ray of Hope" is now moving the majority of the animals out of the KCK shelter and safely into rescues.  There are several rescue groups -- particularly the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, the Pet Connection, and others that are working with KCK in order to safely find homes for animals.

This year, thus far, the shelter has killed on about 4% of the "adoptable" animals in the shelter -- and the group has saved about 800 dogs since January.

Several factors have been declared keys to their success.

1) Availability of low-cost spay/neuter clinics.

2) A network of area farmers that are willing to take in feral cats to roam their barns.

3) Off site adoptions at major shopping centers on the weekends.

4) Help of volunteers.

5) And I'd add: Animal Control management that was willing to work with the rescue groups in the first place.

KCK still has some issues. They are still taking too many animals from good homes because of the way they look based on the city's breed ban. I would also still like to see how many animals are considered "unadoptable" and killed.  The city repealing its 20 year old breed ban would really be helpful for these rescue groups.

However, I'm thrilled that the shelter is no longer an abyss for animals with no hope of escape.

Kansas City Kansas' struggles with BSL continue

 A couple of weeks ago, Kansas City, KS confiscated yet another dog -- this one named Brutus, from his home.

Brutus was confiscated because animal control insisted that he was a pit bull. Fortunately for Brutus' owners, they actually KNOW what type of dog Brutus is.  The owners of Brutus' parents, a Boxer and a Rottweiler, came to his trial to free him from his captivity.

After 2 weeks in the KCK dog prison, Brutus was released back to his owners. All of the family's fines were dropped and Brutus is a free dog.  You may note that this is becoming quite the recurring theme for KCK.  You may note, that earlier this Spring, KCK confiscated Nikko, who spent 9 months in jail while his parents worked to set him free. DNA testing showed him to not be predominently 'pit bull' and he was set free.  You may also note the story about Roscoe, where the dog was confiscated for 2 months while the parents worked to get him free. You may also note the story about Fleas, who was spared death after veterinarians testified that the dog was indeed, not a pit bull -- even though 19 puppies on the property were killed for being "pit bulls" (they weren't 'pit bulls' either. 

Anyone else notice a trend? And a lot of resources being used up trying to determine whether or not a whole bunch of non-aggressive dogs should be banned?

However, Brutus' story isn't finished. In just 2 weeks at the KCK dog prison, Brutus came home 10 pounds lighter. He had a staph infection, kennel cough, swollen joints, and the pads on his feet were badly swollen.  He had fluid in both of his elbows and 1 chipped tooth.

The pitcture on the top is Brutus' before picture, the pic to the left are all of Brutus' ribs 13 days later.

Seriously.

This is a dog that just LOOKED like it might be a 'pit bull'. It wasn't running loose. It wasn't aggressive. It was just a dog. And because of KCK's pit bull ban, not only was the dog taken in, it was completely neglected for two weeks while the people went through the court hearings (including providing pictures of the dog's parents).  In just two weeks, Brutus was in terrible shape.

For fun, I am posting Brutus' parents' pictures for your enjoyment.

Folks, we MUST put an end to the neglect and abuse of power that is going on in KCK. No one is safe from getting their dog confiscated. And no dog appears to be safe in their shelter. If you are interested in helping, please contact us at info@kcdogadvocates.org  We cannot allow this to continue nor should any taxpayer in that city deem this as a good use of tax dollars.  Their law continues to be a complete failure and a complete waste of taxpayer dollars.

Kansas City, KS Public Works and Safety Committee Meeting

Last night, several members of KC Dog Advocates and several residents of KCK met with the Public Works and Safety Committee.

The focus of the meeting was on how KCK's ban on 'pit bulls' is actually making the public LESS safe.  Not more safe.

Basically, because of the ban, the Animal Control Officers (someone at the meeting said there are only two in KCK, a city of 150,000+) are focusing so much time and energy on 'pit bulls', that they're doing nothing to deal with the stray dog problem and aggressive dogs of other types. It doesn't take much of a look back to see where some of their problems are coming.

Earlier this year I wrote a lot about Nikko -- a dog that was confiscated from the owners for being a 'pit bull'.  After spending 8 months at the KCK kennel, and several court hearings and a DNA test, Nikko was deemed not a pit bull and returned to the owners.

Then there's the story of Roscoe, a dog that was adopted from the KCK shelter as a "Shepherd Mix", but then later confiscated from the owners.  After a couple of months in the shelter, and a couple of court hearings, Roscoe was returned home.

A year ago, a woman won a court case against the city when she had 3 dogs and 19 puppies confiscated from her yard and all but one of the dogs was killed in the shelter for allegedly being 'pit bulls'. However, later, in court, it was determined that the dogs were indeed not 'pit bulls'.

There is also a woman in the video in the Fox News Story, that is getting harrassed by the city because her service dog, Friscoe, is banned by the city.

And these stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

But what it shows is that the Animal Control Officers, who are already strapped for time and resources, are investing way too much time, money, and court dealings with dogs that AREN'T AGRESSIVE.  Because of this, the city is less safe because real problems aren't being addressed by the animal control officers.  As evidence of this, the only dog attack fatality to happen in the metro in over a decade happened in KCK -- by two dogs that the victim called about on numberous occassions as being aggressive but were never dealt with by animal control.

Hopefully this will progress and people will begin listening. 

Here's the report from KCTV5.

And from Fox4.