KC DOG BLOG

Assistance for Pets and a story about Oreo

Last week, the New York Times ran a great article on various animal groups around the country that are helping people in low-income areas to provide food for their pets.

Pets make wonderful companions for people of all income levels, but sometimes it can be very difficult for people to financially afford the best for their pets. While some can judge the folks as not properly caring for their pets, to them, it's the best they can do.

Ollie Davidson, of the Tree House Humane Society in Chicago realizes he's helping both parties when they help pets: "We're helping people," he said.  "In times of stress, it's always good to keep people with their pets."

And the help also allows dogs and cats that might otherwise end up in a crowded shelter from ending up there --- and any opportunity to keep a pet in a home is a great opportunity.

The Times article features several groups around the country, including Spay/Neuter Kansas City and Northland Pet Food Pantry in my city, that are helping people with low incomes to have adequate food, dog houses, dog bedding, etc.  It really is a great program and I'm thrilled to have them in our city. Other groups featured were Tree House Humane Society and PAWS in Chicago,  the Petco Foundation and their "We are Familie Too" program, Young at Heart Pet Rescue's Nina's Pet Food Pantry of Palentine, IL, and Northeast Community Lutheran Church in Minneapolis -- which is also providing pet food for needy families.

There's also a great photo album associated with the story here (go for no other reason than to check out the picture of the beautiful red bully). Most of the pics are from Kansas City.

The article ran in a special "giving" section of the newspaper last week.

If you have organizations like these in your home town, I strongly recommend a simple food donation, or time donation to help deliver the food, to help these organziations out. And if your city doesn't have one, how many human and animal lives can be improved if you started one?  Don't hesitate.  Start one in your home town.

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Meanwhile, there is a second story that I think is a must read.  The story involves a dog named Oreo (get it, he's black and white).  Oreo's owner was apparently a piece of crap of an individual and decided to throw Oreo off the side of a 6 story building. Oreo sustained major injuries including two broken legs, and a broken rib.

The ASPCA in New York raised money for Oreo and helped him to recover from his physical injuries -- unfortunately, Oreo wasn't able to overcome his emotional ones -- at least not in the time that the ASPCA alloted. The ASPCA determined that Oreo was too aggressive to go into a home*.  Another organization, Pets Alive, that apparently specializes in dealing with rehabilitating dogs like Oreo, offered to take Oreo from the ASPCA and work on his rehabilitation -- and even if he was never able to be completely rehabbed, would be allowed to live out his life in their Sanctuary where dogs get walks and attention every day from volunteers.

* I should note that Oreo seems very calm in this photo taken by the ASPCA and far from "overly" aggressive"

The ASPCA opted to kill Oreo instead.

First off, I must say, that I support rescue groups' decisions to euthanize dogs that really are too aggressive to adopt into homes. There are too many great dogs in the world to not take that risk.

But I also believe that the vast majority of dogs with behavioral issues can be rehabilitated with tons of love and training by a dedicated person or group of people.  And I believe that euthanasia is the "solution" only when there are absolutely no other options. It is the very last option, the end of the line. It's the end of the line for the dog, and thus, should be our very last resort.

It sounds as if the ASPCA euthanized Oreo, even though other options were available for Oreo. And I do have a problem with that.

I'm not going to go into a lot of details on this -- instead, I'll provide some links -- but I just want to emphasize that euthanasia is the VERY LAST RESORT, the end of the line, for pets. It should only be used when every single other safe option has been exhausted. And we need to hold our national organizations like the ASPCA to that standard.

Meanwhile, it sounds like Oreo's owner, Fabian Henderson,is scheduled for sentencing on December 1st after pleading guilty to aggravated animal cruelty.

Pets Alive Blog -- Failing Oreo.

ASPCA to Euthanize Oreo - from the New York Animal Welfare Examiner.

Deluge of pleas to spare Oreo thrown off roof -- the NY Times Blog

Oreo the abused pit bull is euthanized -- The New York Times

Oreo is dead, the blame game is not -- The Gothamist

ASPCA Statemen on the Euthanasia of Oreo - the ASPCA

ASPCA Euthanizes Oreo -- YesBiscuit!

The meaning of Oreo - Winograd

Minimizing killing for animal control departments

Obviously one of the major points of conversation last weekend was ending the killing of animals by our shelter system.  There were a lot of great speakers there, with a lot of great points of view.

One of the big points came out of a presentation assembled by Peter Marsh (sadly, due to a family emergency, Peter was unable to attend the conference but someone else presented his material).  Peter's presentation did an excellent job of showing the strong correlation between impounds and euthanasia in city shelters. He had many examples -- -but certainly these numbers are reflective of what has happened in Los Angeles, where impound rates have gone up 18% on the year, and euthanasia has followed by going up 22%.

When an animal comes into the shelter, there are only three options for the animal.

1) Get it returned home to the owner

2) Adopt it out

3) Kill it

So if impounds go up, euthanasia will follow unless a shelter is able to increase return to owner or adoption rates.

Certainly there are various ways of reaching success in ending the shelter killing -- and many were discussed. Certainly places like Calgary have had huge success in improving their return-to-owner rates which has made their program such a success -- where last year they returned 86% of dogs and 48% of cats to their owners.

Other areas have been very successful with strong adoption programs to help minimize their euthasia rates. Charlottesville is a major success story in this regard.

Many others have been successful in minimizing their shelter killing by simply minimizing the number of animals impounded.  This can be done through aggressive, low cost/no cost spay/neuter programs and feral cat programs.

But one additional thing can help minimize the number of animals impounded: the number of overly restrictive laws that cause animals to be taken out of homes for no reason at all. Laws such as mandatory spay/neuter laws, breed restrictive laws, and pet limit  laws often cause owners who break these laws to have pets confiscated and impounded because they violated the laws. These are otherwise very healthy and well-cared-for animals, but because of an arbitrary law, has caused the animals to end up in the shelter system.  And as we know, the increase in impounds most often leads to an increase in euthanasia.

The best programs are using a combination of all three pieces in order to lower shelter killings:  decreasing impounds (with aggressive voluntary spay/neuter programs and getting rid of restrictive laws), increasing return-to-owners, and increasing adoptions. 

Consistently, across the board, these programs are working.  We'll look at a few of those in the coming days.

Some thoughts on Best Friends

So last weekend I was at the No More Homeless Pets Conference that was put on by Best Friends Animal Society. And I have to confess, that I was a little nervous going into the conference.

I know there are several people who read here that don't like Best Friends...and group them in the same group with HSUS and PETA as animal rights groups.  I have always had good experiences with folks from Best Friends, but have always stayed at arms length from the group.

I'll also confess, that as a relative newby on the Animal Welfare scene, I don't have the benefit, or the baggage, that comes with being here a long time. I don't know what Best Friends was, or used to be.  I can only look at what they are now.

I've known for awhile that Best Friends is a friend to us when it comes to Bully breeds. The work they've done with theVick-tory dogs as well as the work they did in helping Forest get freed from Denver are evidence of that. 

However, I went to the conference completely expecting to be one of the few there that did not favor mandatory spay/neuter programs.  But I was pleasantly impressed here too.

In multiple forums, from spay/neuter forums to "model program" forums, the topic of mandatory spay/neuter laws came up several times. I never heard one single speaker at the conference say they favored mandatory sterilization laws.  (I promise to write a lot more about this in the coming weeks).  Best Friends, as a group, has even softened their stance on MSN -- as their official stance now is that they will support MSN, but only if free and low-cost programs are in place for those who cannot afford the cost of sterilization.

But even with that said, one of Best Friends' most successful programs -- getting dogs spayed and neutered with a mobile unit throughout Utah -- is based solely on low (or no) cost voluntary spay neuter programs.  Not mandating the activity.

I left the conference with a much better impression of Best Friends than I went in. While I went in liking many of the things they did, I was skeptical. However, as I left the conference, I felt like they were a solid Animal Welfare organization that was a group of caring people, doing their best to benefit the lives of companion animals. That's a cause I can really get behind. 

If we are to really move forward in the animal welfare movement, we're really going to need the various animal welfare groups, breed groups, rescues, the AVMA, AKC and other breeder groups and others to really get on the same page.  All of us are stronger than any one of us...and with different Animal Welfare groups bickering over the "right" solution (and there may be more than one "right" solution), cities are left confused on what to do.  We must get on the same page, clear up the confusion, and move them toward good programs that improve public safety, improve the lives of animals, and don't put unnecessary restrictions on pet owners.

I think Best Friends is a friend in this fight.

More soon.

No More Homeless Pets Conference

We just wrapped up the final session of the No More Homeless Pets Conference out in Las Vegas.  And I have to say that the conference, for a wide variety of reasons, way exceeded my expectations.  I was impressed by the quality of speakers -- of course.  I knew a good many of them beforehand and knew they would be excellent.  What impressed me maybe the most was the quality of the participants. 650 people (including the speakers) were here.  About 60% of them had never attended a conference anywhere before.

They were smart. Compassionate.  And most of all, open -- open to new ideas and ways of thinking.  That's what this is going to take to make a difference in this fight to end the killing of animals in our communities and shelters.  And I think they learned a lot -- from the best of the  best practices out there.

I'll post more details later this week - and in the coming months.  I have a lot of notes - -and a lot of follow up reading material.  But I'm glad I had the opportunity to be here...and I hope to pass along some of the wisdom of other people out there through this blog to those who were unable to attend.

I will also get to a weekly roundup at some point -- not sure when. I'll keep you posted.

Have a good week.  More soon once I get back to a calmer and tamer Kansas City.