Thanks to PetCo, San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) finally has an adoption center – sort of. (A true adoption center has animals who will be kept alive until adopted.)
PetCo (bless them!) has donated a 26 foot van with 20 adoption kennels. This van will go out in the community, taking adoptable animals to the public and getting San Antonio closer to its No Kill goal.
At present all animals who enter ACS have only 72 hours to be adopted, rescued or killed. Once that clock starts running, only good luck can stop it.
This is a senseless way to run a shelter. There is no way to sugarcoat that. If you give every single animal the same deadline, all of the networking must be done before 72 hours is up. There is no group of animals that can go on television as adoptable without the danger that the animal will be killed before the spot airs.
Commonsense would tell you that setting aside a small group of desirable animals that are safe from killing would actually ensure more adoptions. Those animals could be publicized and shown off and as one is rescued or adopted, another can be added.
Most times, 72 hours is just not long enough. . . .
It is also easier to get volunteers to help with a group of animals that are not in danger of being killed.
Here is a challenge for ACS and PetCo! The challenge is to make boarding that van a return to life. All animals on the adoption van will be allowed live, no matter how long it takes, until they have a forever home. That is only 20 animals at a time, out of the hundreds killed each month. Can you make that promise?
Along with the great news about PetCo's van donation, it was unsettling to read in the press release:
"This is especially important as the department’s live release continues to climb towards the City’s No Kill goal of 70%."
What? Who does the math for ACS and San Antonio?
No Kill is saving 90% - NOT 70%.
To say 70% is No Kill is like claiming a winning season when your team does not win more than half its games. You might wish it were otherwise, but the sad fact is you have to be above .500 to have a winning season – and calling your team a winner does not make it so.
This is not the first time that ACS has said 70% is No Kill. Is it being repeated, like the current predictions of higher gas prices, so we will accept it when it comes?
Don't sully the good work that is being done by ACS staff and local rescuers by claiming the job is finished when you are only part way there. Claiming No Kill success at 70% will hold the city up to ridicule at a time when they will deserve praise for reaching the significant milestone of 70% on the way to the No Kill rate of 90%!
(Just a note for those who use Twitter, San Antonio Animal Care Services now has a hashtag! #satacs This will help spread information on adoption events and the No Kill effort in San Antonio.)
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