I’ve written before about AVRAL, which stands for Alabama Voters for Responsible Animal Legislation, regarding the group’s mixed messages on banning the gas chamber. Currently AVRAL is encouraging its members to push for veterinarian Karen Hill-Sheppard to be appointed to the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (ASBVME). In a communication to its members, AVRAL states that the current board vacancies would ideally be filled by “veterinarians who understood the pressing needs of companion animals in Alabama”.
Dr. Karen Hill-Sheppard is the director at Huntsville Animal Services in AL. In 2010, her pound had a budget of more than $1.6 million. With that money, Dr. Hill-Sheppard killed 68% of the pets in her care. Of the 5629 pets killed at her pound, she classified 84% as healthy/treatable.
This is the person AVRAL wants to see in a position of power on the state level because of her understanding of “the pressing needs of companion animals in Alabama”? Hullo! There is no need more pressing for companion animals in AL than the need to survive. Which they are unlikely to do if they end up in Dr. Hill-Sheppard’s pound.
Talk about your mixed messages.
I heard about this from a contact of mine over the weekend. I just don’t get this. At all. I applaud this PAC and any PAC which seeks to promote the election/retention of animal-friendly public officials. I also applaud any efforts to enact legislation which serves to help companion animals and to help those who fight for companion animals. What message is being sent not only to PAC members but also to the public when the director of a high kill facility is put forth as an champion for the very animals destroyed in her facility?
I’ve dealt with a lot of folks over the years in different states who wage a battle similar to mine against the status quo of sheltering. Our battle is often made more difficult when the person who protects the status quo is a veterinarian. I have no doubt that anyone with “DVM” after their name had the best of intentons when they left private practice to run an animal shelter. I also have no doubt that some of those very people become complacent and simply develop ways to rationalize what happens from day to day. They become entrenched in the defeatest culture they no doubt swore to fight and just tell themselves they’re doing the best they can. Any actions taken by any person or group which further empowers veterinarians who run high kill municipal shelters make it that much harder for advocates to fight for reform.
If someone can explain to me how this endorsement is consistent with the no kill movement and no kill concepts, I will gladly read that explanation. Perhaps I’m just missing something here.
AVRAL’s goal is not no-kill. It is improving Alabama’s legislation relating to companion animals.
Companion animals’ goal is no kill. I checked.
It should be a crime to euthanize healthy dogs and cats…it’s murder!
Provide an alternative, within society’s existing constraints, where the health and well-being of the animals are not compromised.
Exactly Melissa. Jamie, what do you suggest? You people have it totally wrong in blaming Dr. Shepard and others at “kill” shelters—-which all public shelters are by necessity. The blame lies squarely at the feet of those who do not spay/neuter their animals and those who continue to breed when there are so very many homeless pets. Shelters and people like Dr. Shepard have the unfortunate responsibility of dealing with the irresponsiblity of those people.
I just woke up from a nap. I swear it was 2011 when I went to sleep. What the heck happened?
Zombie Irresponsible Public Apocalypse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s called “The No Kill Equation.” Read up on it.
THE GAS CHAMBER, REALLY? THIS IS A HOLOCAUST AGAINST INNOCENT, HELPLESS ANIMALS. ALONE THEY SUFFER, ALONE THEY DIE.
except it seems to me they put animals into the gas chamber in groups, so really, they’re not alone. They can fight and hurt and kill each other in their terror before death. (Isn’t the *kill a bunch at once* what makes the gas chamber so cost effective?)
As of January 1, 2012, the use of gas chambers in Alabama will be illegal. Beckham’s Law was passed a few months ago.
This is against all we believe and how can anyone take these numbers as a great accomplishment! This Director is not demonstrating animal friendliness. The numbers are unacceptable and a new Director appointed. This is a croc and full of politics! Come on and get real, People! This is not a popularity contest and results are critical!
Maybe we should work to make it so that animal shelter directors were only paid according to the number of animals that leave their shelter alive not dead. Then they would have to work at life saving instead of landfill dumping.
That’s the best idea I’ve heard. More leaving live, more pay.
This is one of the best ideas I’ve heard all year!!!!
I AGREE! GET THEM IN THE POCKET, WHERE IT HURTS AND WE’LL SEE A BIG CHANGE! GREAT IDEA!
It’s a shame actually for any animal to have to be euthanized. However, all of you that have commented here, should come and work at Huntsville Animal Services (or “the pound” as you all call it!) for a day and see what we see. You should know, for instance, how some of us cry at the condition of some of the animals that are brought into us. Our technicians train to save animal lives, don’t you think that it hurts us too, to see these animals euthanized? Well, it does! The simple fact is that there are too many animals and not enough homes. Every year that Dr. Karen has been here the number of animals being euthanized has gone down. We have many rescue groups that work with us in finding homes for these poor animals. She has initiated visits to us on a recurring basis by the North Shore Animal League in New York, one of the largest no-kill shelters on the East Coast. Friends of Retrievers, A New Leash On Life, The Greater Huntsville Humane Society are just a few of them. She has implemented a fostering program to help save the lives of infant cats/dogs that so often used to die at the shelter, special needs animals such as older ones or ones that are so shy we can barely get them to come out of their pens for playtime. Yes, Dr Karen has done so much, not just for the animals in the shelter, but for the pet owners of Huntsville as well. Whomever YesBiscuit may be, I challenge you to come to our shelter and volunteer for a couple of days. Then lets see what you have to say. Shame on You for denigrating something and someone that you obviously know nothing about.
Deborah Madaris
Huntsville Animal Services
You cry at the condition some of the animals are brought into you? Well I cry at the condition 68% of your animals leave from you. Thanks for the offer to volunteer at your pet killing facility but I am for no kill and could never volunteer at your pound.
Your lack of support for animals in need and the people helping them is overwhelming. While you cherry pick which facilities (that ARE helping animals, regardless of whether you agree) you’ll help, they’ll keep lacking volunteers, lacking fosters, to take in dogs so more don’t die.
Let’s play hypothetical situation – you’re appointed director of the Huntsville Animal Services today. What would you do differently? How would you stop killing, and still keep your adoptable animals well taken care of and healthy?
The answer to your questions is simple: adopt the programs of the No Kill Equation. Those programs have created no kill communities throughout the country and I have no doubt they could create a no kill community in Huntsville. A key component is a compassionate director – one committed to saving pets’ lives.
What are you doing to help Huntsville adopt these programs?
Speaking from experience and having talked with her, Dr. Sheppard has Nathan’s first book on her bookshelf and has read it. She is very familiar with it.
So tell me then, specifically, which program is she not working hard enough at for you? Have you talked to her about it? Have you tried to help?
You can spout rhetoric all day, but what are you actually DOING besides name-calling a respectable vet who has made wonderful improvements in the past few years? I mean hell, even Nathan Winograd would tell you it doesn’t happen overnight. Is saving 20 more lives not ‘worth it’ to you if others still die? Tell that to one of the 20, and the people who worked their asses off to find those foster or homes. The ones you are putting down.
Melissa,
I’m not sure if you are familiar with the internet in general or blogs specifically but let me spell it out for you in case you are genuinely confused. I am not in Huntsville. Other people reading and commenting here may not be from Huntsville. A blog is for people to post opinions and share stories about issues of personal interest. It can also serve as a form of advocacy, which is what I’m doing here.
The old “If you aren’t personally fixing it, you can not criticize” is an excuse killing apologists like to toss out. I’m not personally fixing your pound’s situation but I am spreading awareness of it. You don’t like that. I get it.
“The ones you are putting down”, I see what you did there. Now I’m the one killing pets. Clever. Also: old and tired.
Contrary to your claims, many of the readers and commenters of this blog are already quite familiar with what it is like to volunteer at a kill “shelter” and we don’t need to take you up on your very generous offer in order to find out. Here’s a bit about what my experience was like:
http://www.examiner.com/x-35783-Atlanta-Animal-Welfare-Examiner~y2010m5d27-I-was-there–one-volunteers-view-of-a-shelters-transition-to-No-Kill
Alabama does NOT need to give this person more power over the fates of homeless animals, and Huntsville needs to hire a shelter director that can turn the place around for real, someone who will save all healthy and treatable pets from the get-go.
If you don’t like the way things are – change them. Don’t whine about them.
Let’s say you are appointed shelter director – what would you do differently? Here’s your options:
1 – Stop killing animals when there is no longer space to house them (this leads to hoarding)
2 – find more foster homes (how? And why aren’t you fostering?)
3 – find more adopters (where? are you working on this?)
Don’t sit and whine about how Dr. Sheppard needs to be replaced – if you think there are better ideas, get off your computer and act. Write the city, write the county, and write Dr. Sheppard – ask her (politely, like an adult) to consider your options. Contrary to what this author implies, she’s a very level-headed, very kind and knowledgeable woman.
Oh wow, the no kill=hoarding myth? Already? It’s like your second comment and you’re already scraping the bottom of the barrel. Consider this a one time warning to knock off the bs. Discussion is welcome, tired killing apologist tactics are not.
Prove me wrong, Shirley. Answer the questions. She stops killing today – where do those animals go?
I’m really interested to see what your answer is, and whether you’ve tried to work to educate and help places instead of denigrate them.
Again, refer to the programs of the No Kill Equation. It’s not a simple, stop killing, have a martini type fix. It takes hard work by compassionate people dedicated to saving pets’ lives.
Blogging is a form of advocacy. I blog in an effort to spread awareness and hopefully spur local action.
@Melissa–since your extremely rude and ignorant appears indented immediately beneath mine, I take it to be a reply to my post. I would like to strongly recommend that you actually *read* what you are replying to. Click on the link and *read* the article. If you had, you would probably know a few basic things, including that people (such as myself) who criticize shelter directors responsible for huge death tolls are *not* “whining”, that we have worked, and continue to work for change, and that open-admission No Kill shelters are possible–the article is the story of the creation of the first one over 10 years ago.
That you instead chose to remain ignorant while repeating the same old, discredited excuses, and in a particularly rude manner, is quite revealing.
Have a nice day.
Valerie, your moderator isn’t allowing all the posts so you don’t actually see the whole story. See below where she says as much.
I know that open admission no kill is possible. My question is what are YOU doing (and what is the author doing) to make it a reality, besides writing inflammatory non-helpful “blogs”?
I’m sorry that you think honesty and assertion are rude. But you have a great day too! You’ll probably not ever see this anyways :)
Melissa-
You stated that you know that open-admission No Kill shelters are “possible”. You also claim that they “can’t happen overnight”. If you read the article that I posted, you would know that open-admission No Kill shelters have been a reality for over 10 years, that it happens overnight when a capable director is hired (and will never happen under a director accustomed to reaching for the “blue solution”), and that, as the title says “I was there”.
I ask you, if you at least acknowledge that it is “possible” why are you arguing against it? Frankly, I find it creepy.
Here’s the article again. Please read it.
http://www.examiner.com/x-35783-Atlanta-Animal-Welfare-Examiner~y2010m5d27-I-was-there–one-volunteers-view-of-a-shelters-transition-to-No-Kill
Excellent Valerie. If you know how to do this overnight then why aren’t you, all over the US?
Thank you Deborah. YesBiscuit, you are completely clueless and need to either visit or heaven forbid, volunteer at the shelter before you continue your uninformed rants.
I may be clueless, but I know how to work the comment blacklisting tool.
Yesbiscuit, if you are really interested in blogging as a form of advocacy, maybe you should lay out some more facts here so everyone is able draw an educated conclusion. Right now, 60ish% is well below most shelter euth rates in this state (most stand in the mid-high 90% range). AVRAL is trying to put a fresh voice to ASBVME,i f you have even read AVRAL’s goal in this situation in particular, nearly all of the current members are males around the age of 60. One current member (and former President) is the director of the Athens Dog Pound in Athens, AL. Now, that is a shelter you should blog about if you are serious about change. The Athens Dog Pound euth’s by heart stick, has a 97% or higher euth rate, is only open M-F (no weekend hours) and never posts more than a handful of their animals on their Petfinder site. They are not rescue friendly and their adoption rates for the general public start at nearly $100. And the director of this shelter is a current member of the ASBVME and former President of this organization.
Huntsville Animal Services has come a long, long way. AVRAL is doing the right thing, taking steps that will hopefully mean a more humane Alabama in the near future. There are shelters currently in Alabama that are down-right barbaric. The animals are starved, not given any shelter. There is one gov’t run shelter in east Alabama that is on the property of an old zoo. The dogs are thrown in outdoor pens to fend for themselves until a Vet comes every couple of weeks to kill them all and throw them in a dumpster. There is a gov’t run shelter in south Alabama where there is NO budget for animal control, so police officers use the dogs for target practice as a form of euthanasia. Dr. Hill-Shepperd and others at HAS have a no-kill goal. It takes time, especially in this state, to get there and we could get there faster if we had more support and less criticism where criticism isn’t really necessary.
Other places are worse, so we shouldn’t criticize needless killing in Huntsville?
I imagine the Huntsville pound would get lots more support if it stopped killing 68% of its pets, the overwhelming majority of whom are healthy/treatable. If the goal is no kill, ur doin’ it rong.
You guys can not argue with an idiot like Biscuit. Just let her run her dick sucker and know that HAS is working hard at saving lives.
Dear Killing Apologists,
If yours is one of the dozens of comments currently sitting in the moderation queue and you are wondering why it wasn’t approved, see above. I chose one to represent you as a group. The rest are being 86’d. Stay classy.
Awesome! They should have a professional calligrapher write that and hang it on the wall of the shelter.
HA! I’m thinking how nice that sign would look alongside one of those kitten-dangling-by-the-paws posters that says “Hang in there baby!”
I honestly think that pet owners should be held to a high standard as well as vets! If a pet owner like myself takes care of their pets like they should ( heart worm prevention, flea treatments and vaccinations, spay/neuter) our pets would be in good health and you wouldn’t have to worry about putting a healthy animal down! I think their should be consequences for pet owners that just let their animals run wild and or have the put down just because they can’t afford the! That would help our pet population! I am a mother of 3 kids and also have 4 dogs (my other babies) and I have never ever missed a dose of medicine for my animals and the are all spayed & neutered! It should be a Law that you have your animals spayed & neutered and vets should Not be able to charge so much for services for your pets!!!!! I’m 100% NO KILL! It’s not the animals fault that their owner is NOT Responsable!!!
I see many comments on blogs and FB pages that imply that somehow, if owners were perfectly responsible, then shelters would not be killing animals. The reality is that the choices made by shelter directors have nothing to do with the behavior of owners. Even if every owner was perfect, shelter directors would still kill, because killing is what they do. Painting owners of killed animals as irresponsible just gives cover to these shelter directors, IMO.
I also believe that calling for laws to require spay and neuter is dangerous. Mandatory spay and neuter puts pressure on poor people to give up their pets if they can’t afford to comply. Mandatory S&N laws are always passed in communities that aren’t No Kill, so the animals are then exposed to the threat of being needlessly killed in the shelter. I think it’s better for the shelter to offer, and promote, low-cost or free S&N, which is one of the programs and services of the No Kill Equation.
Also, I think we should all remember that life is unpredictable. Regardless of how much we care about our pets — and everyone here loves their animals equally, I’m sure — the truth is that bad things can happen to anyone. Even you, with your perfect record of care, could someday find yourself having to surrender a pet to a shelter. And at that point not only you, but more importantly your pet, would be completely dependent on the attitudes, management approach, goals, competence and compassion of the shelter director. Did that person not only read Redemption but also implement all the programs and services of the No Kill Equation, in full? If so, you can trust that your animal will be safe. If not . . . well, then, your pet could be in a shelter where healthy and treatable animals are killed. Whatever their odds would be in that situation, I wouldn’t want a pet of mine to face them. This is why I believe in No Kill. Because I have pets.
Your words are wise Karen. But what many here apparently dont realize is that implementing the “no kill equation” your blog author is selling is not instantaneous, nor is it simple. It requires changing the attitudes of not only your shelter director, but the employees, as well as in this case the city and county government and the citizens.
Some of those are already ‘there’. Others are not. But Dr. Sheppard and her staff are working on the steps in this equation – and being denigrated here by the blog author because they have improved but not quite enough for her.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. And if celebrating progress towards saving more lives isn’t good enough for any of the readers of this blog, then you sure must be quite the naysaying bunch. Sorry, but I’ll take small victories and build on them, as well as build up the members of the community who are responsible for those positive changes.
Melissa, I disagree. Real leaders produce significant change, and very quickly. They do not settle for incremental improvements. Real leaders change not just procedures, but hearts and minds, and the community’s frame of reference — the very issue you seem concerned about. They have political skills, of course, but there is an intangible quality about real leaders that’s more important and can’t really be defined, except to say that things are very different when they have acted on a situation. Having defenders, as Dr. Hill-Sheppard obviously does, is not the same thing as being a leader.
Karen, are you a “real leader”? What are you doing to eliminate killing in shelters in your area?
And if you’re honestly working your tail off to do just that, how do you feel when Shirley says “that’s not good enough, if you’re still killing any at all”?
I see lots of talk here. Not so much action. The people who are actually doing good and changing things are the ones who are too busy to hear the same rhetoric repeated over and over – even Nathan Winograd could tell you that pointing fingers and denigrating others doesn’t save more lives.
Peace out, girl scouts.
Not sure about the politics of this thread but I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to be forced to make the decision to choose which ones must die each day. I suspect that the person who has to deal daily with the repercussions of other peoples stupidness would only be hoping to reduce the need to make that decision less often in the future.
I am pleased that Dr. Hill-Sheppard has done so much to help the animals in her area. And I am grieved that others in the area cannot seem step out of the 1950’s when it comes to animal care and control.
But the fact remains that Dr. Hill-Sheppard is killing animals that are adoptable and healthy. And the fact remains that it is unnecessary killing. Those of you who support her, keep doing it. It sounds like she could use the backup! But instead of just defending her, how about you support her differently?
Ask yourselves, “What can we do that we aren’t already doing? How can we promote and MARKET the animals at the shelter so more of them get out alive? How do we help the public to better care for and keep their animals so fewer come to the shelter in the first place? What are we doing to educate kids on good pet care? What kinds of programs are we offering for TNR, low cost spay/neuter, dog behavior counseling, etc.? What kind of pre-adoption training are we doing with the dogs to help them stay in their new homes? What crazy things can we try and see if they work?”
Because this is a tough world for the shelter pet right now. The shelter pet needs an advocate who is going to think outside the box, who will get creative and take risks. The shelter pet needs an advocate who isn’t willing to say, “Sorry, you have taken up too much space for too long. You have to die today.” Instead, the shelter pet needs an advocate who will say, “You’ve been here a while…let’s see what we can do to find you a home today.”
You’re absolutely right mikken. And that supportive help is needed in EVERY “kill shelter” everywhere. This blog is the opposite of supportive, however, and that was the major point I was trying to make.
Every single suggestion you make in your third paragraph – ask those same things to the author of this blog. Ask her to get involved instead of smearing someone else’s name.
As for those items and how they’re being implemented here locally – all I can say is that they are (at HAS). And it’s not instantaneous, but improvement is improvement (some is better than none, it doesn’t happen overnight, use whatever translation you/they might need to understand that change isn’t instantaneous).
Other than “What can we do that we aren’t already doing”, I believe Karen has heard and addressed all of those – and is open to listening any day of hte week. I can provide specific examples of how HAS is helping within the community and within its own facility, but I’d suggest if people really are questioning her in specific, contact her. Set up a meeting, email, go by. She has talked to me more than once and is a wonderful woman to work with.
And my point is that when you get into a place in your head that the killing is “necessary”, it can be hard to get out of it, again. You need people like Shirley to point it out and say, “Hey, you’ve been at this a long time and you’re still killing for space and convenience – why is that?”
And you need your volunteers around you to keep pushing, keep trying, and keep fighting because otherwise, they’ll have an idea and come to you and say, “Hey, can we try xyz?” And because you’re in that place in your head, you say, “We tried it, it didn’t work, so there’s no need to try it ever again.” Or “No, that probably wouldn’t work, let’s not even try it.” And your volunteer goes away feeling defeated and ends up in the same place in his head – thinking that the killing must be necessary. After all, the doctor said that we’re already doing everything possible, right?
If your shelter has a culture of “Let’s try this! It’s so crazy, it might just work!”, then you’re in a place of hope.
If your shelter has a culture of “We’re doing everything we can and it’s just not going to be enough to save more lives.” then you’re in the defeatist stage that keeps sending pets to the dumpster.
Shelter directors who are trying their best and not getting any further in their progress need support AND a the occasional poke with a stick to remind them that yes, it can be better.
This is the most rational response yet. Yes, healthy adoptable animals are being killed simply because there is nowhere to put them. How do you solve that problem? You get people such as the author of this blog to get out from behind the computer and actually help rather than sitting around pointing fingers. Start by offering assistance to your local shelter. Donate extra time or spare some extra dollars. Help find rescues for needy animals. Transport an animal to rescue. Open your home to foster a homeless animal. Until people like “yesbiscuit” decide to do their part, they will continue to contribute to the problem.
My rescue cat is “helping” me type this. I have spent more money, supported more animals than you might even imagine. We are, many of us, doing our share plus. Just because we don’t volunteer at your local shelter does not mean we aren’t doing our part to help the animals in our own area.
If you truly think that all we do is sit behind a computer and write words, well, you are mistaken!
No one expects overnight success. But let’s be clear – Dr. Hill-Sheppard has been the director at HAS for what – a decade? I hardly think it’s fair to accuse anyone of demanding overnight success.
As far as what I or any of the readers here do to personally help shelter pets – make assumptions at your own risk. We are all hands-on involved. But even if we weren’t, we still have a right to point out that killing shelter pets is unacceptable.
My original question was essentially this: why would a PAC – which seeks to improve animal welfare in a state – promote the director of a high kill facility and put that person forth as an champion for companion animals? Perhaps I’ve missed something in the midst of all the accusations, but I don’t think anyone explained that yet. The web site for the PAC has content related to shelter killing and no kill concepts. Perhaps removing that content would make the philosophies of the PAC more clear.
The numbers for this shelter speak for themselves. This is a high kill facility and would be deemed such in any state, not just Alabama. There is no doubt that this facility has been improved. But to hold it up as an example of a compassionate operation when compared to “worse” places doesn’t make it a shelter in the true sense of the word. Animals die there. A lot of them. The vast majority are healthy and treatable.
It is incredibly disappointing to know that the very people who have the ability to educate themselves about life-saving methods being used outside of their own area – toward implementing reform in their own backyard – expend so much energy in the role of the killing apologist. If you think a shelter can’t go from high kill to no kill virtually overnight, connect with Dayna Kennedy in Marquette, Michigan.
“We can say there isn’t any time, that there are too many animals and not enough homes, that “Sadie” or “Fluffy” will take up too much of your shelter’s time or resources. Or you could get to work because there is never a good excuse to kill an adoptable animal. For me, the job is that simple – no excuses. I still can’t believe that the old excuses are still being used by some shelter directors. There are so many shelters that have, like us, stopped killing adoptable animals. I cannot understand why there are still shelters out there that refuse to stop the killing. UPAWS and many other open-admission shelters have proven that we can save lives and there truly are enough homes – we just have to find them.” Dayna Kennedy, Shelter Manager, Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter
And for anyone who thinks that the upper peninsula of Michigan is full of high income, animal loving folks – think again. If it can be done there, it can be done anywhere! Then look at the Michigan Humane Society with branches in some very affluent suburbs of Detroit with a very high kill rate.
What it takes is the commitment to not killing, to finding another way of doing things . . . and then taking action rather than lamenting and hand-wringing.
I’m glad there is some improvement in this place, but there are still too many animals leaving in body bags.
“The bottom line is that as long as people believe that killing homeless pets is one of those necessary evils that can never be stopped, then it will never be stopped.”
— Michael Mountain
Here I would modify it to say, “As long as people believe that killing homeless pets is one of those necessary evils that will take a long time to stop, then it will never be stopped.” Because New York City (just as one example) keeps saying the same thing that Melissa keeps saying . . . it will take time . . . and they have extended their self-imposed deadline twice, and No Kill will never happen in NYC, or anywhere else you care to mention, until the people in charge stop the killing.
For all you supporters of Karen Shepphard, here’s a challenge for you—attend the next NK Conference, meet the shelter directors who have achieved or are achieving no kill status, then tell me that Sheppard has done everything that she can do. There is no comparison between the men and women who work to save every possible life and Sheppard, who kills at that rate after 10 years on the job. If she’s working towards NK, she’s sure taking her time. Obviously she ain’t doing something right!
My scorn for the directors of high kill shelters, veterinarians or otherwise, is equal opportunity. I don’t care who you are, where you are, what your background is, why you took the job in the first place, how many awards you’ve received, how much the media loves you or how misunderstood you believe you are.
If you fail to educate yourself on no kill methods being used outside of your region, you should do so immediately. You owe it to the animals in your care and you owe it to the community you serve. If you have learned about no kill methods being used outside of your region and have failed to take immediate and affirmative steps to implement them, you should seek new employment immediately. Do not make excuses. Do not claim to know how but just not be able to change the way you operate due to some circumstance which makes your situation unique. With each passing day you delay, the body count rises. And that responsibility is yours and yours alone.
What I find not only disappointing, but both infuriating and emotionally exasperating, is the fact that it just doesn’t have to be this way. There are open admission no kill shelters across our country in which 90 percent of the animals are saved. Some go by the name “humane society.” Some are municipal operations. They have very little in common other than a belief that animals have value in our society and that we owe them the chance to live. The Dayna Kennedys of our society have shown that not only is the transition from high kill to no kill possible, it isn’t about money; it’s about values and a culture which says our companion animals are not disposable.
Talk to Mike Fry, Ryan Clinton, Bonney Brown, Susanne Kogut, Abigail Smith, Valerie Hayes, Jim Boudreau and the many others who have made no kill a reality and then tell me it cannot be done in Huntsville or any other progressive city in any state with the help of an engaged and energized public and with a firm commitment to making the killing stop.