In Leon Co, FL, animal control is run by Andrew Seltz. On AC’s website, it states that more than 6000 animals are killed every year at the pound. And there is one of those threats that the killing will continue until magic happens:
Unfortunately, until each citizen commits to preventing their pet from adding to the burden of pet overpopulation, the trend will continue to worsen.
We don’t have to stop killing animals at the pound. The burden is not on the few of us actually doing the killing. We are not going to change. It’s up to the approximately 282,000 residents of Leon Co to change. And until all 282,000 people meet our demands, the killings will not only continue but will “worsen”. If you don’t like it, you can go… enact legislation, I guess.
This is the shabbiest, shirkiest form of blaming the public for the killings at the local pound. Not only is Andrew Seltz refusing to accept responsibility for his actions, he is blaming the public he needs to partner with in order to stop the killings and setting an unachievable demand for the community to meet before he’ll consider stopping.
The fact is, most people have already neutered their pets. Most of those who haven’t neutered them would do so if it was within their financial means. Ordering this small group to get their pets neutered on pain of more needless shelter pet deaths does not cause free spay-neuter certificates and transportation to vet clinics to magically happen. We can not neuter our way out of killing. Any shelter director knows this and given that they do, it’s especially cruel to dangle that carrot in front of the public who is needed to foster, rescue, adopt and donate. It’s cutting off your nose to spite your face. Then stomping your face in the dirt. While killing friendly dogs and cats.
When it was recently announced that Andrew Seltz was leaving Leon Co to take over the Ingham Co pound in MI, a concerned animal advocate contacted county commissioner Kara Hope. This is the response received from Commissioner Hope:
From: “Kara Hope” <kara@votekarahope.com>
To:
Sent: Tuesday, September 2, 2014 1:54:45 PM
Subject: New animal control directorIngham County is fortunate to have residents like you who care so much about animal welfare. But I hope that you’ll give Mr. Seltz a chance and reserve judgment until he’s had a chance to go to work here.
As someone concerned with animal well-being, you might know that there is a big cultural difference in how animals are viewed and treated in some areas of the southern U.S. To put it crudely, in some southern communities, animals are viewed as disposable. There is less effort and few resources put into re-homing animals. I’m sure that the statistics you refer to reflect policies that result from the difference in points of view.
And it might ease your mind to know that Mr. Seltz told us during his interview that one of the reasons he wants to return to Michigan is because he found the southern perspective on animals and their value to be troubling.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Kara Hope
http://www.votekarahope.com
@KaraHope7
Oh hell naw. Don’t go blaming the south for your decision to bring in someone who kills animals instead of doing his job. We here in the south love our animals just as much as anyone does anywhere in this country. Our compassion for lost and homeless animals is not second-class. Our perspective that animals in need should be sheltered and not killed is based upon the value we place on our pets. Now if you want to charge the south with having an overabundance of regressive, good ol’ boy appointed shelter directors who keep killing animals because that’s the way they’ve always done it and why change when you can blame the public instead – well, that’s a conversation we can have. Case in point: Andrew Seltz. (By the way, thanks for stabbing us in the back on your way to the top, sir. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.)
While employed in the south, Andrew Seltz blamed his local community for the killings he oversaw at the pound. If Ms. Hope or anyone else in Ingham Co thinks that’s going to change when he gets there, brace yourselves. I predict Mr. Seltz will find the unwashed masses just as blamable in Ingham Co as he did in Leon Co. And he’ll continue killing animals until magic.
My message to Ms. Hope goes for Mr. Seltz as well: If you can’t own it, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it. And don’t expect the south to be your punching bag. We’re all full up on smack-talking shelter pet killers around here so find somebody else to kick around. Or maybe you could stop looking for whipping boys and start doing your jobs, “to put it crudely”.