Top 5 +1 for July, 2011

The Top 5 is a monthly look at the 5 most popular blog postings for the month based on pages view information from Google Analytics. The +1 allows me to highlight a post that wasn't in the top 5 in terms of page views, but I feel deserves another mention. 

1) Temperament Testing, Bias & ridiculousness in shelter practice  -  The video of a dog that was unfairly evaluated on a behavioral assesment was the top entry for the month - -and it wasn't close. Thanks to everyone who has spoken up for these dogs and brought light to the situation.

2) Denmark breed ban is failing and why more banning is not the solution --  A study out of Denmark shows that the first year of their breed ban has been a terrible failure.

3) Whose side is the public on?  -- Some shelters blame the public for their problems, while others are praising them for helping them achieve success.  So whose side is the public on? 

4) Taking responsibility vs assessing blame in Memphis - - The leadership in Memphis continues to pass the blame for their 77% kill rate on everyone except themselves. The first day that shelters accept responsibility for the situation instead of pretending they are the victims is the first day they begin making progress toward solutions.

5) St. Louis looks at passing mandatory spay/neuter - Why oh why can cities not look at the failure of this law in other places and realize it is not a viable solution?

+1

Success is available to you -- it's common to think that successful cases were created by a special set of circumstances - -but the reality is that success is achieved by those who choose to achieve it.

Comments

[Spay/Neuter Advocate]

In Kansas City, Kan., the city passed a mandatory spay and neuter law. That reduced the county’s shelter population by 44 percent, said Charles Vreeland, president and CEO of the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City.

[Brent]

Advocate,

I'm not a fan of taking singular statements like this as a proof point. Heck, I've seen more than one city leader or animal welfare advocate make a quote like this that was actually wrong. And even if this is a true statement, I'd want to know what the timeline is for the 44% decrease. KCK has had their MSN for quite a long time, and if that number is over the past 10-15 years then that'd be fairly consistent with the direction all shelter intake is going, regardless of their laws. KCK is also one of those cities that is decreasing in population, which could also be a factor.

I've done detailed reports on several cities with MSN and virtually all of them have had a negative impact, at least at first. I'm not opposed to spay/neuter, in fact, I'm a huge proponent of it. But it has proven to be far more effective as a part of a voluntary, low cost program than as a mandatory law.