This MAS webcam grab shows part of the stray dog area which is off limits to potential adopters. If you want to find out about the very cute dog visible in this shot, you must contact MAS and hope your e-mail gets read and responded to by someone there. Or you could call but generally people report getting no results via phone.
But there may be hope on the horizon for the dogs in the stray area. MAS has long had the capability of seamlessly interfacing their Chameleon software with PetHarbor to list their incoming pets online. This is one of the improvements advocates have been requesting in order to help owners find lost pets and help more pets get adopted.
This week, it looks as if MAS may be moving in that direction because their listings on PetHarbor have increased dramatically. They don’t yet have a link to get you directly there from the MAS site but if you go to PetHarbor and navigate through to the MAS list, you will find 273 dogs listed under the “I lost my pet” category. The first couple pages are clearly outdated listings from 2009 and 2010 but after that, you see more current listings. There aren’t any photos at this time but I’m hoping those will be coming soon. The “lost cats” category has 4 pages worth of listings with the first page being outdated (2010). Hopefully photos will be added there as well.
If you have difficulty locating the lost pets category and search instead for adoptable dogs, you will only see 1 listing (adoptable cats=zero). You want to click on the graphic that says “I lost my pet” and then search for either dogs or cats to see the new listings.
This is a good step in the right direction and, assuming there is follow through to add photos, add adoptable pets, and include a direct link to the listings on the MAS website, I believe this could help save more pets. What I don’t know – and if anyone does know, please chime in – is if someone sees a stray dog listed online and is interested in adopting the dog, would they be allowed access to the stray area in order to meet the pet in person?
I am very excited at the prospect of MAS getting all its pets listed online and will be watching to see how things develop. Thank you for listening to the concerns of pet advocates and taking this step MAS!
This is awesome news and progress….Doing the right thing makes everything move in a positive direction ……..Good Work MAS……Thank You Lord..In Jesus name I pray and give thanks…Amen
I suspect that someone or a couple of someones are making a sincere effort to get the system running like it should. If Mr. Pepper would get behind the project whole-heartedly and train people and require that every animal be photographed and the system kept current, it would move along faster.
But huge kudos for whomever is making the effort there. Good for you! And thank you!
THANK YOU MAS!!!! I’m really considering bringing them cupcakes just to show how much I appreciate this!!
Maybe just let them lick the beaters for now, with the promise of the full cupcakes when they follow through with getting the listings updated with photos and such. ; )
Now now Kim….let’s not get carried away, do as Shirley says…:-)
Kudos to MAS for making this happen…I just pray to God it is a sincere effort and not one meant to put us into a “happyplace” mentality. The webcams are STILL NECESSARY and they must work harder than ever to make things better, because we or at least I, am NOT going away. Signed: “Cassandra.”
BTW, no answer to my letter to the AC from yesterday.
Don’t worry – I have no “happyplace” mentality so that can not possibly happen with me.
Ya, me neither. :-)
It’s too bad that the outdated pages from years past are the first pages. I would automatically assume that the entire section hasn’t been updated since typically the first pages tend to be the most recent. I hope that others have the perseverance to move past the outdated pages to find their perfect pet.
I’m constantly stunned and angry when I see the total lack of effort those in the animal business make to save lives. That should be the main – no, only – purpose for their presence in the shelter in the first place. If it’s not they should move on and find work elsewhere.
I don’t think i agree that everyone who works in an Animal Shelter’s ‘only’ purpose should be to save animal lives. There are supportive roles that are needed and worth investing money into to make the organization run more smoothly and more successfully that may have very little (or no) direct relationship with animals:
An HR Department
An Accounting/Finance Department
A Marketing/PR Department
A Develpment/Fundraising Department
Education and Training
etc
I get the overall meaning of your comment (and really all of the above roles should be SUPPORTING lifesaving). But i think it’s important to remind now and again that there are other important roles in Animal Welfare for people who may not even have animal experience
One of the things I love about my local humane society is that they make participating in the socialization of all animals a requirement of employment, whether you work in HR, accounting, marketing, development, ed/training. Granted, this shelter is run by a private non-profit and does not have to bow to union rules. But even though they didn’t hire me for the position I applied for, I think it’s fantastic that all the staff are required to be hands-on with the animals they are sheltering. Would think that it reinforces the larger purpose behind the day-to-day tasks of your job.
This is very good news, and with MAS you dont get much of it, so Im more thrilled at hearing this than I would be with anything else. I do agree though that they should update the pages so that the more recent ones are on the first page though, like someone above said. If I just checked it out with Shirley telling me first, I would assume that it wasnt updated and wouldnt bother going forward. Also, I get the impression that there are no pics of the animals ? They need to do that too. If Im looking for my dog, I would want to know it by looking at a photo rather than it just saying “golden retriever” or “pitbull” because there are tons of those.