600 Euthanized in a month? (miranadobe)

Our vet started a low cost spay/neuter program and benevolent fund in the area and they seem to be making a difference. 

http://www.valleyvetnonprofit.com/making_a_difference.html

So heartbreaking.

One of our local rescues in Ithaca has a sister shelter in the south where they get most of their dogs. It's been very successful partnership, and the dogs are able to find great homes here in NY and reduce the burden on the other shelter.

New idea wise, I wish some kind of animal husbandry was require in elementary schools, so we could get kids off on the right foot with care and responsibilities. 

Pit_Pointer_Aussie

New idea wise, I wish some kind of animal husbandry was require in elementary schools, so we could get kids off on the right foot with care and responsibilities

AGREE!!  Until we can get the general population educated on responsible pet ownership, the problem won't go away.  Our local AC has been trying to change their focus toward adoption but with the huge number of incoming strays and owner surrenders they can't keep up.  They euth around 30,000 a year and pick up that many dead animals from the roads every year.  The goal is to be  no kill  by 2012 but it can't happen, IMO.    The local RPOA does more in school education than the city AC but they are of course dependent on donations and all volunteer.  Rex and I go when we can to the demos at the schools.

Pit_Pointer_Aussie

New idea wise, I wish some kind of animal husbandry was require in elementary schools, so we could get kids off on the right foot with care and responsibilities. 

That's a wonderful idea!

The shelter where my dogs came from is a no-kill shelter that networks with local county kill shelters to take in adoptable animals from the kill shelters, if they have room.  Right now they're running a program to reduce their adoption fees in an attempt to adopt out as many pets as they can.  One pet adopted from a no-kill shelter makes room for one more from a kill shelter.  They also run a TON of events, from happy hours (I think they call them "yappy hours";) to fundraising dog walks, etc.

I think more county-run shelters should open themselves to network with rescue groups and no-kill shelters to help get animals off "the list" and into a foster home or no-kill shelter. 

I dunno about other parts of the country, but around here, the county shelter adoption hours are few and far between (noon to 4pm on weekdays, closed on weekends???).  How are people supposed to get there if they hours they can come by are so inconvenient?  A friend of mine in rural eastern NC just adopted an adorable little doxie mix from her local kill shelter.  He was slated to be euthed the following morning.  She just barely made it there before they closed, and she said the same thing about the shelter hours there.  I really don't understand why they do that.

Our shelter here is totally run without help from any level of government, so I have seen firsthand what troubles can arise when it has to keep itself going.

The business I work for does a lot of work for the Humane Society. We have sponsored BBQ's at fundraising events, we have done can/bottle drives to raise money, etc. Getting local businesses involved can be a huge part of helping raise money for shelters.

The local flyball team always has entry fees for their shows in which all the proceeds go to the Humane Society.

Our shelter does a lot of events through the year for fundraising...things like Adoptathons (BBQ, face painting, music, games, etc), Midnight Madness (extending hours so that people who can't get in for normal hours can get a chance to get in), Dog Wash (pay a small fee to get your dog a full bath), Santa Pix, other seasonal photo ops with local photographers, etc.

As a volunteer myself, I help out with whatever I can. The volunteers are often the ones who keep a lot of things going for self-run shelters by helping out the few paid staff that are there. I help out with any events I can (recently did TV promo in the mascot suit....assisted in the Pet Expo which brought almost 2500 people in one weekend, doing the upcoming Santa Claus parade). I also get in to the shelter to help walk, socialize, and handle the animals. People don't realize how much interaction and handling by volunteers can get dogs into homes. Oftentimes physical help is as worthy and useful as if you made a cash donation yourself.

aerial1313

How are people supposed to get there if they hours they can come by are so inconvenient?

Unfortunately, payroll is a BIG expense. Shorter hours = less employees needed to staff = less spent on payroll.

600 a month seems like a big number, but it works out to average 20 per day. I didn't read the article, but where I used to work it wasn't uncommon to have to PTS 20 per day, especially during kitten season...mostly feral tomcats, litters of 7+ feral kittens kittens, unhealthy mommas, etc. Sad but true. That's a feral car colony issue though, IMO, a whole 'nother issue.

 North Carolina has one of the highest (so I have been told) euth numbers nationally.  I didn't realize how bad it was until we got involved with the place we got Bugsy from (SPCA) and then I got horribly overwhelmed.  In fact in NC there are still gas chambers.  This particular area has the SPCA which is awesome but still euth's many that for whatever reason don't make it to the adoption center (those stay as long as they have to), a county shelter that is high kill (3-5 days for any animal and off it goes), various private rescues, many breed rescue/foster groups, and the greater area has county shelters for each (I would include 4 counties as 'local';) all of which are high kill.

I haven't any idea what the animals on the road number would be but I believe that Wake County (shelter and SPCA) alone kills about 25,000 each year.   I think NC kills about 250,000 a year. And what is crazy is that this is a huge rescue area, I mean the one walk for the SPCA raised $167,000, the amount of people that have mutts/rescues visually outnumbers pure breeds wherever you go.  The sheer amount of homeless animals is incredulous.  I'm getting all depressed about it again, as I write.  The SPCA has opened a low cost spay/neuter and that is useful to many and might reduce the population.  I sure hope so...............

sl2crmeg

Unfortunately, payroll is a BIG expense. Shorter hours = less employees needed to staff = less spent on payroll.

That's understandable, but why don't they just change the hours for those employees, then?  Instead of adoption hours being from noon to 4pm, why not have those staff on duty from 4pm til 8pm?  Same number of hours, but more convenient for most people.  I dunno...just a thought.

I know of at least one rescue group here in metro Atlanta which only takes animals from kill shelters (as in, they don't accept strays or owner surrenders).  So many rescues do accept animals from any circumstance, so it's kinda nice to have a group dedicated to helping get animals off of death row.

But I certainly think that low cost S/N, education, etc is the key to reducing the unwanted pet population.  It never ceases to amaze me how people are still so ignorant about allowing their pets to roam around unfixed and then have no problem dumping an "oops" litter of pups at the county pound.

aerial1313

 

But I certainly think that low cost S/N, education, etc is the key to reducing the unwanted pet population.  It never ceases to amaze me how people are still so ignorant about allowing their pets to roam around unfixed and then have no problem dumping an "oops" litter of pups at the county pound.

Ugh, I agree...definitely more education that these are living creatures, not a tool to teach your children about birth, and not something you can dump when it gets boring....when we were shopping for a puppy, I found a lab in the pound who was there because his wagging tail kept knocking things off of the coffee table...um HELLO!!  He's a LAB!  

We have all kinds of low cost, practically no cost S/N programs.  All over this city and the hours are convenient but the fact is, if people don't care about unwanted litters, they can't be bothered to take a pet to be speutered.  It truly is a mindset of many people that dogs are expendable.  In my neighborhood, right now, are at least 6 to 8 intact dogs who belong to people.  They are allowed to roam at will and have litter after litter.  I've picked up many a pup from the streets  I've found them hit by cars.  It's mind boggling and completely disheartening to talk to the people who own these dogs.  To them, it's just a dog.  Plenty more where that came from is the general attitude of this type of person.  We have to teach them, at a young age, the value of having a dog or cat who is part of the family.  It's much easier to teach a child to care, than an adult who never learned it as a child. 

aerial1313

But I certainly think that low cost S/N, education, etc is the key to reducing the unwanted pet population.  It never ceases to amaze me how people are still so ignorant about allowing their pets to roam around unfixed and then have no problem dumping an "oops" litter of pups at the county pound.

 Education is the key I'd say. Unfortunately it is a vicious circle though. Young people who learn at home that taking the oops litter off to the county pound is okay, well it is hard to get them to see any differently. I've been involved with animal welfare in one way or another since I was a teenager in the late 60's. I'm sure I never could have imagined that in the year 2009, things would not be much better. Some times I even think they may be worse. One thing that we have now, that we didn't have back then of course, is the internet. Hopefully many, many more people are being made aware of how bad the problem is and with that awareness hopefully helping with the solution.

As far as ideas of what to do. Well, I will offer one. Our organization takes a dog or two from the local shelter, as we have room. The animals are groomed, taken to the vets and have a very nice photo taken, for putting them up on petfinder. It is amazing that a dog that may have been in the shelter for 6 months gets adopted, within a few days of us having them. We are not sure why it works this way but it does. We've adopted out over 50 dogs this year and many of them were from the City Shelter. So there is a way for people to help, do something to help make those county shelter animals look more adoptable. Clean them up, take some nice photos, get their stories up on petfinder. Form a small Friends of the Shelter organization to help get these animals into homes. When we first started, before petfinder, a couple of local groomers sponsored a weekly ad and we put pictures of the adoptables in the paper every week. So go to groomers or boarding kennel owners and others in the pet field and see if they might do something like that. We also would put them on bulletin boards in the local stores. People always have dogs for sale on those boards, so lets get them instead filled up with those that are in shelters and whose days are possibly numbered.

The cat situation is just heartbreaking.......way more so than dogs. Every volunteer group is overburdened with cats and just can't take on anymore. We do all the spays and neuters we can but we just can't keep up with it. Perhaps everyone just needs to keep telling their friends and families to make sure that they spay and neuter their cats before they even have one litter. There are many organizations that will help out, it is just doing a bit of research to find out who they are. The problem with cats is the female can come in heat any time and many times. They don't have a regular cycle that dogs have. So those that are running loose and not spayed can be having litter after litter. Anyone who can afford to, maybe can help someone, who doesn't have the financial resources, to get their pet spayed. Also offer to foster, for an organization, so that they are able to take more cats into their program. The more people who help, the more animals we can help. Do as much as you feel comfortable with. Everyone does not have to get totally involved. A lot of people doing a little adds up.

See, that's what I just really don't understand.  WHY do so many people not think about S/N when they own pets?  I mean, other than the obvious (responsible breeders, owners of show dogs who must remain intact).

I guess it's because of the household I grew up in.  We always had cats, ever since before I was born, we had cats.  Every single cat my parents ever had was fixed.  To them, it was a given.  So, it is absolutely something I learned from childhood.  If you adopt a pet, get it fixed.  That, and if you adopt a pet, you are responsible for it for its entire life; pets are not expendable.  I just can't wrap my head around why people feel differently about that.  I mean, seriously, what the H is the point of having a dog or cat if you don't really give a flying flip about it?

So, I guess my point is, you ladies are absolutely correct.  Teach the children what responsible pet ownership entails.  It's a place to start, anyway.

I don't have any answers.  I live in a small town-the county handles AC.  Raising fees on intact animals wont even touch our problems.  But the  nearest city Mankato, MN has a rescue , the Blue Earth Nicollet County HS (BENCHS) that may be on to something.  They went large scale on their rescue operation.  They use some volunteers who have been professional  fund raisers and are currently building a new facility.  They hit up every corporation, every philanthropic group, and apply for every grant they can think of.  Their current facility is totally inadequate, but the new one is going to be beautiful.  They have a goal of $1.2 million.  About half is to go for an endowment fund to help with operating expenses. So far, they have raised about $900,000.

Their web site is: www.benchs.org

aerial1313

I guess it's because of the household I grew up in.  We always had cats, ever since before I was born, we had cats.  Every single cat my parents ever had was fixed.  To them, it was a given.  So, it is absolutely something I learned from childhood.  If you adopt a pet, get it fixed.  That, and if you adopt a pet, you are responsible for it for its entire life; pets are not expendable.  I just can't wrap my head around why people feel differently about that.  I mean, seriously, what the H is the point of having a dog or cat if you don't really give a flying flip about it?

That's how I was brought up, too! You get 'em, you fix 'em, you take care of 'em FOREVER. Plain and simple.

DH, from rural upstate NY, was *NOT* brought up that way....which really surprises me because everyone has dogs, cats, farm animals... He was brought up that dogs are pets until....well, you get sick of them, they get old, you just don't want them anymore, etc (BS excuses). I had to educate that boy! I drilled it into his head we're not breeders or showers so we're spaying/neutering and probably always rescuing, too. Now he's a total pet person, lol. And I even has witnessed him getting on his friends case who wanted to breed their BYB Lab to a Golden down the street (that visibly looked like it has loose/bad hips) to breed the hyperness out of his Lab. WTF!?!?! DH gave his friend a lot of education (in a guy's way, lmao), and the friend ended up spaying his dog! Yay!