Weekly Roundup - Week Ending 8/15/10 (Part 1)

 So, yes, I'm way behind on Weekly Roundups. Two weeks ago I was at the No Kill Conference and didn't get it done, and last weekend had some personal business to take care of and didn't get it done. So, I have a backlog of 3 weeks worth of stories to go through.

Because of this, I'm going to skip the dog bite stories -- I've been thinking about leaving them out anyway, but we'll see -- for sure none this week. Part 1 of the roundup will focus on important blog postings for the past 3 weeks -- part 2 will cover city laws and other miscellaneous items.  Some of the blog posts are pretty directly related to the No Kill Conference as well.

I continue to be impressed and thrilled with the amount of great writing that is out there on these topics.

Our Pack talks about how Santa Clara County is considering a breed-specific mandatory spay/neuter after a tragic attack involving a 'pit bull' made the news. However, the 2 year old child was left alone with 3 dogs that were known to be aggressive because they were poorly socialized and had shown aggression toward the cild before. Negligent dog ownership/parenting doesn't equal a specific breed's fault. Meanwhile, they also point out that there have been several other significant attacks in the area by other types of dogs that have been completely ignored by the local media.

Dallas Shelter Manager Indicted - YesBiscuit! has the news of the head of the Dallas Animal Shelter has been indicted on felony cruelty charges after allowing cats to die a slow death inside a wall at the shelter.

Why Australian No Kill Advocates need to watch their language - Saving Pets has a great follow-up on how Australians speak about no kill - -and that it's not 'pet overpopulation' when pets are dying because you're doing it wrong.

On-leash Aggression: No Greetings! - Dog Spelled Forward talks about leash-reactive aggression and how dog intros on leashes are dysfunctional (at best) -- and strongly recommends against on-leash greetings.

Deception, spin & lies  - Houston Animal Shelters Examiner discusses some funny numbers being released by the Houston shelter to try to make their numbers look better than they really are.

The 5 most Dangerous Dogs in the World - K9 magazine tackles the topic and the answers are exactly correct, but not what you are expecting.

Blaming no kill for killing: the desparate last stand of Austin's status quo - Fix Austin retorts to accusations by the Austin Humane Society that No Kill is responsible for their killing. Winograd weighs in on this one as well with The Empire Strikes Back.

You - Soldier of one - Pets Alive Blog discusses Oreo's law in a reflection following the No Kill Conference.

Animal Sheltering 101 - Winograd provides all of the reading material you need to learn how to achieve success in not killing healthy animals in your shelters. If you are involved in animal welfare at all, you owe it to yourself to click the links to become educated on how to do it better. Even if you disagree with Winograd -- read the articles anyway so you can form your arguments about why they are wrong (my hope is that just by reading them you'll realize just how much sense this makes).

HSUS Doing All it Reasonably Can do to Railroad Small Shelters in Need - YesBiscuit! calls out HSUS for raising millions upon millions of dollars to "help puppies and kittens in need" but then provides only a small token of cash for a shelter that is actually HELPING puppies and kittens when they become overwhelmed and bankrupt.

Desparation aboard the RMS Mancuso and Web of Self-Delusion - Winograd takes on defenders of the status quo in California who are defending policies that are increasing killing and claiming corruption just because they don't like him.

The Unwashed Masses Strike Back (Part 2) - YesBiscuit! responds to the idea of the "irresponsible public" by showing examples of the public stepping up to help shelters animals who badly needed the help.  For Your Entertainment also weighs in on this topic -- not buying that all of humanity is evil (or even most of it) in The Better Angels of our Nature.

Good Riddance, Dinosaurs, don't let the door hit you on the butt on your way out - Wisconsin Watchdog notes the growth of followers of the No Kill Nation, Best Friends, Maddies Fund and others that support No Kill....and as the pressure to go to No Kill grows, old dinosaurs who are stuck in ancient ways of thinking about sheltering will likely become extinct -- and none too soon.

Here comes the sun - the Houston Animal Shelters Examiner reflects on the No Kill Conference with a great overview of her experience at the conference.

Change is in the wind for the Nation's Companion Animals - The Atlanta Animal Welfare Examiner weighs in with her thoughts on the No Kill Conference and the passing of the Companion Animal Protection Act in Delaware.

Opportunities to increase adoptions -- missed again - Houston Animal Shelters Examiner looks at missed opportunities to save animal lives in Houston.

Rottweiler shot - ABC News Confuses Dog for Pit bull - more breed mis-identification from the media pointed out by For the Pit Bulls.

Shelter Access - For Your Entertainment weighs in on the need for Shelter Access Laws.

Listing out warning signs - a media first? - Bad Rap points out how the news coverage in San Francisco about a recent dog attack fatalitiy began to include a whole laundry list of warning signs that led up to the attack and actual circumstances that led to the attack -- which is great for the media to offer more complete coverage.

Robeson County, Toledo and the difference a shelter manager cam make - Change.org addresses how shelter leadership plays a critical role in determining whether animals live or die at the shelter.

Who are the Pet Experts? Really? - PetDocsOnCall wonders why Veterinarians and other experts aren't more regularly listened to when it comes to expert opinions on dog laws and dog behavior.

Why BSL Fails our Dogs - from Grouchy Puppy

More on some of the other big news stories when I get a chance.

Comments

[EmilyS]

hey thanks for the link to crazy Matt's "reflection" in which he dishonestly pretends to quote me, just making s*** up.

[mary frances]

Thank you so much for all the work you do - I will eventually read them all -

never read For Your Entertainment - John Sibly - great read...the better angels of our nature...like you Brent I am thrilled with the really good writers on these topics.

[mary frances]

So sorry - For Your Entertainment - I misspelled John Sibley (Sibley with an e) - also his previous post is very good 8/3/10 entitled -

Euthanizing the Myths - the Irresponsible Public

He's good.

[kmk]

"Dallas Shelter Manager Indicted" is one of my all-time favorite stories. A cat got trapped inside a wall at the shelter and the manager wouldn't allow employees to cut a hole in the wall and get the cat out - UNTIL it died and started stinking up the place. Then it was okay to get it out.

You can't make this stuff up, as they say.