I once rescued a little dog I named Harry, an older yorkie, from a county animal shelter here in South Florida. Harry was blind in one eye, and had a cataract in his other eye. He had kennel cough, and pneumonia. I could not bare to see him squeezed into a small cage. My heart just lept out for him. So I brought him home -- home with Chickie, my chihuahua/pug mix who I rescued from that same shelter several years earlier; and two rescued cats, Crystal and Mitzvah.
I immediately took Harry to the vet where he received a shot and some meds better than the non-meds he was receiving at animal control. When I brought him home, Harry revealed a very great intelligence and in spite of how sick he was, he immediately began to snoop around the house, curious about everything. But more, he sensed he was in a home, and he showed his perkiness and happiness to be "home".
A few days later, I gave Harry a warm bath, and upon towel drying him, wrapped him in a large bath towel and placed him upon my soft mattress. He was in heaven, oohing and ahhing at the great comfort he was enwrapped in and lying upon. I could sense a great deal of negative energy and tremendous stress leaving Harry, and he fell asleep for the next 12 hours.
Thereupon, for the next four months, Harry was restored to complete health. He loved being walked outside, and he displayed a kind of dance, which was the dance of celebration of being alive, and being loved. I frequently held Harry in my arms, and rocked him like a baby. He loved it. When I brought him in from a walk outside, he was so happy to be home, and he would approach Chickie and the two cats and caress their faces with his. Harry was a sweetheart.
Then one day he began coughing, non-stop coughing, where he could barely breath. I rushed him to the vet and she reported he had a collapsed trachea. She did not think he would make it, but gave me tranquillizers for him to quiet him in the hopes that the tension upon the trachea would quiet. It didn't work and a few days later, Harry had a severe tracheal attack where I had to rush him again to the vet, where he was desperately choking and gulping for air. I knew Harry needed to be relieved from this suffering, and gave the vet consent to put him to sleep. Before she did, I spoke to him and told him how much I loved him, and thanked him for coming into my life and giving me such joy, and the opportunity to heal him. Seeing him die was very painful for me, for Harry was the epitome of life; and I prayed over Harry's warm body. I prayed very hard that he would now move into the Light and be comforted by angels and heavenly caretakers.
Harry was abandoned and betrayed by someone -- someone who didn't care enough. He might have fared better had he not fallen into the hands of the shelter -- a shelter that at that time had no heart for its inhabitants -- a shelter that was in effect a disposal unit -- and not an adoption facility as it should be.
The Harry's of the world, and those younger and healthier than Harry was, are the beloved and comfort of millions. They connect us to what is natural and spontaneous and unconditionally loving in our lives. They take us out of our busyness and complexity, out of our everyday stresses, out of our heads, and bring us into the wonder and joy of each moment.
Dogs are members of more than 43 million households in America, and cats of more than 37.5 million. These feeling, intelligent, loyal creatures give comfort to people of all kinds -- to the young, middle-aged and elderly, to families with children, to couples without children, and to those living alone. When they are brought into hospitals caring for children with grave illnesses, or into nursing homes tending to the aged, they become healers who bring smiles to faces. They defend homes as faithful watchers. They save lives, whether on the battlefield, or as brave aides to firefighters.
The fact is, each year we kill 3 million healthy and treatable dogs and cats at our shelters. If we are agreed that these animals are precious individuals who have a right to live, then we can also agree that a fundamental paradigm shift must take place at all animal shelters. The new underlying principle must be no-kill.
For those who don't believe it is possible to transition from kill to no-kill, look at other shelters who've done it -- in Charlottesville, Va., in Tompkins County, New York and in Reno, Nev. They've done it. They show it is possible.
Here are strategies needed for a transition to succeed:
• Hire a director who embodies humaneness towards animals in his or her philosophy -- someone committed to no-kill. This is the linchpin element in a successful conversion, and in the implementation of the other essential elements that must follow. The director must support a "culture of life."
• Hire staff people who are likewise committed to humaneness, and the no-kill principle. This means a review of the people on staff to determine who would support the new principle, the weeding out of those who don't, and the recruitment of those who do.
• Make comprehensive adoption programs central to the shelter strategy. Some examples:
• Ongoing and intensive public relations/marketing programs. The new director should hire a director of PR/Marketing equally committed to the no-kill principle. If budget precludes a hire, enlist the support of a retired PR professional. This individual should enlist a team of other volunteer PR pros. Consultation with chapter leader of the local Public Relations Society of America can help pull a team together, as well as outreach to the heads of local PR agencies.
• Outdoor or indoor adoption events. Work with local Petsmarts, Petcos, pet supply stores, community wellness centers, festivals and carnivals to set up booths presenting dogs and cats from shelters, and literature about the shelters.
• Arrange ongoing creative vehicles, and redesign a shelter's website to reflect new culture of life, with a new name, e.g., "Friends of Best Friends."
• Conduct an active search engine optimization campaign for the website.
• Air public service spots on television and radio, and complement those with animal photos on major websites like Craigslist.
* Recruit animal/pet loving celebrities and politicians who consent to appear on these PSAs
• Follow-up with speaking appearances by shelter officials at PTAs, churches, synagogues, Kiwanis and Rotary clubs, as well as in-studio appearances on radio/TV. Use those venues to announce off-site adoption events, and incorporate effective signage allowing traffic to shelters.
• Help to increase pet retention. The shelter must be perceived by the community as a place to turn to for advice and support on how pet owners can keep their animals at home. Advice can include everything from discipline and house-breaking training programs to neutering programs to food budget savings.
• Volunteers. An impassioned, dedicated and large group of volunteers needs to be the lifeblood of the shelter, often complementing too few-in-number paid staff. Recruit volunteers at booths showcasing animals at festivals, carnivals and local pet supermarkets. Heading the Volunteer Corps should be a humane, paid (or retired) director of volunteers. Reports from other shelters indicate that more enthusiastic volunteers will be recruited after it's known that a transition to no-kill has occurred.
* Rescue groups currently account for only a relatively small percentage of animals saved. They need to be encouraged to pull as many animals as possible from a shelter -- and not get discouraged from doing so. And that includes not only purebreds but the many greater-in-number and wonderful mixed breeds as well. Rescuers free up cage and kennel space, and reduce costs for feeding, cleaning -- and killing. They need our support, not our discouragement.
• Feral cat TNR programs. Trap, neuter and release programs have been effected by a number of communities across the country to reduce death rates.
• Proactive redemptions. Often overlooked are lost animal reclaims. Sadly, besides having pet owners fill out a lost pet report, very little effort is made in this area. Becoming more proactive has proven to have a significant impact on life-saving and allow shelters to return a large percentage of lost animals to their families.
• It is essential that those who oversee these shelters are not of an anti-life culture, where the fate of these sensitive, unconditionally loving and vulnerable animals are an absolute non-priority. Shift to staff, from top to bottom, of those who wish to find loving homes for these wonderful animals, and who embody a culture of life.• Read animal advocate Nathan Wingrad's book, Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation.
Ultimately, the best way to ensure change is a massive campaign by voters who are pet lovers, in a well organized and orchestrated way. It will take leadership. And it will take funding from private citizens. Nathan Winograd can point the way.
There are millions of Harrys who are murdered each year at our county shelters. "Euthanize" is too bland a word for what occurs. Dragging innocent, vulnerable dogs to the killing rooms, screaming along the way -- knowing their fate -- where they are laid on cold metal tables and injected with poison, all the while trembling with fright. This is an atrocity -- and it must end.
When you visit an animal shelter, walk up close to a dog or cat, and really look at it, appreciating it for its life and being. You can see and feel that you have simply connected with life, not only its life but your life. Then you can love it as you love yourself.
Mike Schwager is a writer, editor-in-chief of www.Enrichment.com, host of The Enrichment Hour on Sedona Talk Radio, publicist, TV interview trainer and last, but not least, animal advocate. E-mail him at: mikemaven@comcast.net.
Follow Mike Schwager on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeschwager
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I am proud to say that our animal shelter (Chippewa County, Michigan) was the ONLY publicly run animal shelter in the state that made the annual list having the best adoption rates, ranking third out of 100. I am also proud to say that I was one of the core group that worked with our county commissioners to bring our dream to fruition. IT CAN BE DONE - never, ever give up - NEVER.
While I hope that some day we can live in a society where all shelters are "no-kill," at this point it just isn't possible. There are very few shelters that are both open door and no-kill (and even "no-kill" shelters euthanize for potentially treatable behavioral problems and manageable health issues). Unfortunately there are just too many people who don't spay or neuter (despite numerous no/low cost programs available to them) and so many people who get rid of their dogs for whatever reason.
It would be nice if rescues could pull more shelter animals, but how do you propose they do that? In addition to the dog I adopted from a high kill shelter I have two foster dogs (I've also fostered two other dogs who have been adopted). Both of my fosters were going to be put down because they were too timid, and I took them in and helped bring them out of their shells. I take them to adoption events and try to find them homes. But there are far more homeless animals than there are people willing to adopt them. Most rescues desperately seek new fosters to no avail.
- I used to be a foster parent with the Ottawa Humane Society (which has a no-kill policy in place)for 2-3 yrs. bringing home convalescing cats & dogs until they were healthy and ready to be adopted into good homes. Each furry friend brought us unique, rewarding experiences & we eventually adopted one of our fosters, a cat (Alice). We continued to foster dogs with URI & other issues as long as they were not communicable to our pet, until one of fosters, Verona, did not make it. Verona was a friendly untamed boxer. She was about 3 years old, comical in her cone (will attach her pic to my profile if I cannot post to the comment), bright and alert, had obviously never been in a home, i.e no house training & had never been socialised and was sent to us after surgery on her tail for some good R&R. As she was very excitable with a constantly wagging tail, even 3-4 weeks with meds and instructions followed to a T, she did not heal & was scheduled for a tail amputation...& I understood that it was downhill from here. I never quite recovered from that incident and have not fostered since. It was humbling in that actual "healing" does not lie in the hands of us humans no matter how hard we try - Clearly, Life IS God's gift to be cherished & protected!
As you say in your article, volunteers play a large role - Just like high schools mandate x # of hrs of community service hours, it would be great if (larger) private corporations committed to x # of employee (working) hours annually to community service...
Best
Daksha
Austin/Travis County and the neighboring Williamson County, Texas have both hit "no kill" status. See Austin Pets Alive, Austin Humane Society, Town Lake Animal Center, and Williamson County Regional Animal Services (all are on Facebook) for examples of programs that work. See as well Emancipet, Animal Trustees of Austin, and SNAP ... all groups that are focusing on low cost or free spay/neuter and medical care, invaluable contributions.
Even if you don't like animals, if you care about cost-efficient, effective government, you have to support reforms in animal welfare services. Too many agencies are failing miserably and doing it at high cost financially - not to mention high cost in animal lives. We can do much, much better! Demand it!
Enough to insure every stray either goes to a good home or a foster home, Enough to insure each canine is spayed or neutered before it leaves the shelter. Enough to compensate vets for their time to evaluate and/or treat every dog coming into the shelter--which might include euthanasia if the dog's condition is untreatable.
And dog lovers must accept the unfortunate reality that most communities do not have the money to do all--or sometimes even any--of the above. The county shelter next over from ours is closing completely due to lack of funds.
The answer is prevention on the front end--spay or neuter--not a shelter on the back end. The best thing we can do for our four footed best friends is to push for manditory spay or neuter regulations/laws at the county level with an exception only for AKC sanctioned breeders and those actively participating in AKC conformation or sporting events. (Spayed and neutered dogs can already participate in obedience and agility.)
This would effectively put back-yard breeders and puppy mills out of business, which is the ultimate answer.
Thank you for the invitation, but I, and about a hundred volunteers just like me locally, have successfully raised the money whilch has allowed our county Humane Society to move into a new multi-million dollar no-kill shelter with almost no public funding.
We are now fully engaged in fundraising to keep it open and functioning. I can see this as my main volunteer effort until they plant me in my garden with my former beloved companions.
It is always easier to get people to fundraise for a local--and non-political--effort than a statewide or national one.
Our county has a unique advantage in that we have a retired vetrenarian on our County Council. Anyone who loves animals could do worse than convince a selfless vetrenarian to run for office and then work very hard to elect him/her.
I was called by an old cowboy about a dog. I rescued greyhounds and he knew one that was to be killed the next day. I went and got him. He threw up and had diarrhea in the back seat of my car. He had a broken hip and my veterinarian's partner offered a free new surgery .
I brought "Smutty" home and into the house & he headed straight for a sofa. He had never been in a house.
Fast forward to New Mexico after a divorce. I was working on a book about rodeo and a bull stepped on my left foot and smashed it and my shin bone. To the bull's credit, we had eye contact and he tried his best to not hit me.
I was in bed, a wheel chair, a walker and a walking cast. It wore Smutty down. He had never seen me "down". He grieved. We couldn't save him. He was 12.
I laid him in the bedroom on his goose down comforter and made a circle of candles around him. Judy Collins sang "Amazing Grace" and my three other dogs circled him and he looked up and did his "roo, roo, roo". We had a sweet howl. Linda, our vet, came in and we sang his song and his spirit flew up, circled us once and disappeared into the ceiling.
I hope I can either go out like that. The ending is as important as any part of our lives.
"and I prayed over Harry's warm body. I prayed very hard that he would now move into the Light and be comforted by angels and heavenly caretakers."
Your statement is the embodiment of the the true circle of love that our pets deserve. We are the "beginning" and we are committed to be at "the end". It takes true love to do what you did. Bravo!! I can never understand when someone tells me "oh, I didn't stay, it would be too hard for me".
I am moving to a ranch that is only 28 miles from a no-kill shelter in a town of less than 2500. You know where I am going to be spending lots of time. :-)
We can take baby steps and save one shelter at a time and before you know it, there will be a parade that swamps our main streets!!
See post #2.
You can't believe the fantastic way this has affected the "meanest pod" in the prison. Less fights, more petting of dogs than quarreling...it is one of the best win-win situations that I know of. Every dog has been adopted out and several have gone to law enforcement agencies. The training those offenders give the dogs is top notch.
I love the ideas you listed here. Sign me up!!
Shhhhhh. I don't want anyone in my family to hear this. When I get settled in at the ranch I will have one acre that is fully fenced. Here come the "elders"........ male pit bulls and female greyhounds. Fostering them. Older dogs are very, very hard to adopt. If I can give them even 2 years of happy trails, I am going to do it! I will enlist my grandchildren and we'll go around to the small town for "adoption" days.
Thank YOU for all you do. Please write more and I would like to keep you posted on the ranch activities........P