On Wednesday, David Workman, the manager at the long troubled Lincoln Co pound in NC, issued a public threat to kill up to 100 cats if they didn’t get adopted by Friday. The pound had 184 cats on Wednesday.
Workman wanted the media to know that killing is a last resort, which totally jives with giving the public less than 2 days notice to adopt 100 cats. And that hey, you know what? – there actually is a sad in this story:
[N]one of the employees enjoy doing that process [of killing animals] so that is the most unfortunate thing about it.
Most unfortunate thing. Not the mountain of dead pets who had the right to live but fell victim to pound workers who fail to do their jobs. The staff at the Lincoln Co pound won’t enjoy killing 100 cats. *sniff* Gosh, that is truly tragic.
Also:
Workman added that overpopulation can be avoided if families just remembered to get their cats spayed or neutered.
Pet overpopulation is a myth. But even if it was real, it does not give shelters the right to kill pets. And most owners neuter their pets. The reason that some don’t is not because they freaking forgot. It’s because they can’t afford it, do not have (or know about) low cost spay-neuter clinics in their area and/or lack transportation for the pet to and from the clinic. And since spay-neuter is not magic, the Lincoln Co pound would do well do start addressing its actual problems and stop blaming the public for its failings.
You know what I’ve heard is an enjoyable thing at animal shelters? Getting all the healthy/treatable pets out alive. The most unfortunate thing is that Lincoln Co seems content to operate in the dark ages.
(Thanks Arlene for the link.)
I can’t help but notice that the cat in the photo is listed as not s/n. Does that mean that they’re adopting out unneutered cats? And blaming the PUBLIC for … not neutering?
This is lazy. Lazy, lazy, lazy. We’ve got cats. Come adopt them or we kill them. LAZY.
Boo hoo, the workers feel bad. Not bad enough to you know, DO something other than killing, but bad. We’ll all sit on the pile of bodies we make and have a beer and talk about how bad we feel.
I wrote Mr. Workman a (nice) letter. I am tired of doing nothing but don’t really know what to do other than write letters, sign petitions and send money. I have four precious rescued cats and every unnecessary euthanasia feels personal. What really works? What is an effective action to take- nationally, locally, regionally?
Thanks,
Vicky
Writing polite letters educating public officials is always good. If you are local and want to engage further, you can attend public meetings of your county council and sign up to speak about the shelter.
Here is a good starting place. Free materials and a ton of info. http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/shelter-reform/toolkit/
And of course cash and labor is always king. Donating to this blog, your local nokill group or shelter and/or the No Kill Advocacy Center.
personally, i feel that if you can not “afford” to get your pet spayed or neutered.. then you can not afford to have a pet.. period.
No doubt you are also dismayed at people who have children but can’t afford all aspects of their care. And those who have elderly parents whose care they can not fully cover. I’m going to return my expensive parent right now. I never had any business getting him in the first place.
Well said.
Low cost s/n is not available everywhere. It’s also not accessible for some people.
And sometimes, it’s just a matter of education. We had a lost cat posted on a local FB site. An intact indoor/outdoor male cat. When people advised this person to get the cat neutered when they get him back, the person fired back defensively that they love animals, that they give money to HSUS, and that they just hadn’t gotten to it, yet. They clearly felt guilty about it, but seemed to have never given the matter any thought, before. That means that we need to improve education efforts across the board. This person loved and missed her cat. She would have had him neutered if she knew it was important. The idea that he was the neighborhood baby daddy never even occurred to her.
This is so sickening & irresponsible! I’m starting to be embarrassed to say I’m from NC. If other counties &/or states can take care of these situations in a humane & right way, why can’t Lincoln County?
Please don’t kill cats or even the dogs . !Let them live !