Ever wonder why your local animal shelter euthanizes animals but the private shelter down the road doesn't? Have you heard someone say that all any shelter has to do is commit to a "No-Kill philosophy" and the killing will stop? Or that No-Kill can be achieved virtually overnight if the shelter's management only cared about saving lives?
Let's see how realistic that really is.
Municipal shelters, those run by local city and county governments, are sometimes referred to as open-admission shelters. Open-admission shelters never turn away an animal - no matter how old or young, how big or small, how healthy or how ill. They are tax-payer funded city or county agencies and their names reflect that (Dallas Animal Services, Plano Animal Services, Richardson Animal Control, etc.). They are funded just like the police or the fire department, and just as those departments cannot pick and choose which residents they help,neither can the Animal Shelter staff. They accept every animal, every day, from any resident of the city or county they serve. With dozens - sometimes hundreds - of animals coming in through their doors each day, and only a finite number of cages and kennels, they can only hold an animal a short time before they are full and are forced to make room for more.
For example, Dallas Animal Services is an "open-admission" shelter that is tax-payer funded and mandated to take in any animal brought there, and they are charged with going out and picking up all the strays. They accept more than 35,000 animals each year and turn no one away. That's nearly 3,000 animals each month. Almost 700 a week. Nearly one hundred or more each and every day. Sadly, less than 2,000 owners reclaim their animals each year. Fewer than 2,000 people a year adopt a pet from the shelter, or find a new family member at an offsite adoption event. Rescue groups and private shelters "pull" out another 2,000. That leaves 29,000 animals a year with nowhere to go. And the shelter, the largest of its kind in the area, can hold less than 800 animals. So there is the reality. Dallas can't turn away 29,000 stray and unwanted animals any more than they can leave them on the street to suffer and starve.
The only way to stop the killing is to reduce the number of unwanted animals out there and stop them from entering the shelter. How? A lot of it boils down to responsible pet ownership. Spay/neuter is the most important thing. The City of Dallas offers a free spay/neuter program for low-income Dallas residents. That'll make the biggest difference but it takes time. Legislation - to protect the animals and the public from irreputable commercial breeding facilities or "puppy mills". That takes time, too. Education - to teach the importance of spay/neuter and promote responsible pet ownership. Dallas Animal Services Education Officers visit classrooms and homeowner's association meetings several times each week. And retention - keeping pets who already have homes in them by providing pet owners information and resources to help them deal with moves, job losses, marriage, divorce, or the birth of a child without getting rid of their pet.
But providing spay/neuter, legislation, education, or retention services for 29,000 animals isn't going to happen overnight. And it's not just a matter of accepting a "no-kill" mentality. Its going to take work.
So what can you do? There are local organizations working right now to educate, legislate, and spay/neuter pets and they need your help. So get involved - volunteer, donate, sponsor an event, whatever you can do.
Want to know more? Subscribe above and over the next few weeks we'll look at No-Kill shelters and what makes them different, and discuss the role of all-breed and breed-specific rescue groups. We'll also explore some of the local non-profits working to reduce the killing by reducing the number of animals entering area shelters. No one agency alone can solve this problem, but together we can make a difference.
For more in-depth information on Open Admission shelters: openDoorShelters.org; HSUS "Why Aren't All Shelters No-Kill Shelters"
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Comments
Well said! I am very interested in what you find out with your research.
Fabulous article. Well written excellent content. Thanks!
I strongly encourage you to read both 'Redemption' and 'Irreconcilable Differences', by Nathan Winograd. There you will find a very clear explanation of what the No Kill philosophy really is. Shelters can be both No Kill and open admission. The Tompkins County SPCA in New York has been proving that every day for over 8 years. Other No Kill open admission shelters are located in Reno, Nevada and Charlottesville, VA. By implementing the full No Kill Equation, these shelters became No Kill almost overnight. There is a lot more to it than just spay-neuter or public education. It calls for a complete change in philosophy and in how a shelter is run. It is not simply a matter of "take them in or leave them to starve". It is a matter of shelter reform. No excuses.
Valerie, I appreciate the sentiment but there is a huge difference between those parts of the Country and Dallas. Tompkins County has a population of about 100,000 and the DFW Metroplex has about 1,000,000. Plus there's a huge difference in attitudes towards animals here in Texas and those in New York. It's not that I don't understand Nathan's philosophy, it's that I don't believe it can work - certainly not overnight as he suggests - and its irresponsible to mislead people into thinking it can. It boils down to this - where will those 30,000 extra animals go while we're all patting ourselves on the back for being "No-Kill"?
What I find irresponsible is misleading your readers into falsely believing there isn't a better way.
It's time to stop the excuses. Let's change the lies of "it can't" to it can. It's being done and as far away as New Zealand and Australia. Can you imagine the impact of reforming animal shelters globally?
Rebecca, by the way overnight is irrelevant. Please stop nitpicking.
I once thought like you then I got educated to the real reasons healthy treatable animals are being killed in animal shelters rather than being put back quickly into the care of the community. To get the full gist of true NO KILL OPEN ADMISSION shelters one must read what Valerie Hayes from Atlanta Animal Welfare Examiner recommends. This way they can give themselves the chance to make up their own minds.
As for myself, Rebecca, I'm in support of No Kill Open Admission shelters. I went in a doubter and came out a believer. Give yourself the chance to see what it's all about. Do it for the animals.
Tompkins County is not unique in its attitude towards animals. I was there. I witnessed the overnight transformation. I believe that it works because I've seen it work. Tompkins County SPCA was an awful place for animals, volunteers (of which I was one), and the general public prior to Winograd's arrival. It is now a model No Kill open admission shelter. As for population size--the Dallas area does indeed have a larger population of both humans and animals, meaning there are more homes available for the greater number of animals. Take a look at the accomplishments of Reno, NV, even in the face of all sorts of social and economic problems. The biggest obstacle to No Kill is bureaucratic inertia, and there is simply no excuse for that.
Why would anyone ask the HSUS for advice on how to run a shelter for domestic animals? The HSUS doesn't run a single animal shelter. Instead, they manage four sanctuaries - places that don't take in cats or dogs or manage adoption programs.
Wouldn't it make more sense to study a working example of what you want your city's shelter to become, instead of throwing thousands at the HSUS? Perhaps the people in Tompkins County could offer Dallas Animal Services some advice.
It is morally and ethically wrong to kill healthy and treatable homeless animals. There are methods that work, even in cities as large as Dallas. check out Maddie's Fund and the No Kill Advocacy Center websites. Put your incorrect excuses for killing animals in the past.
What Vaerie left out was that Tompkins SPCA counts on funding from outside donors to balance the costs involved in running the county animal control. It also serves as a contacot for towns throughout the county and many have balked at the rising contract fees that the SPCA is charging. How does Reno have economic issues with all the revenue generated from tourism and gambling? I agree with the article, communities need to focus on eduating citizens on being a responsible pet owner and by regulating puppy mills.
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