Tiffany Smith regularly picks up pets she finds roaming loose in her area. The dog she found wandering her neighborhood on October 30 was different – her family fell in love with the dog and named her Loretta:
“She just hopped in my car,” said Smith[.] “She was so loving.”
[…]
“She was a sweetie,” Smith said. “She got along with our kids. She got along with our dog.”
Ms. Smith turned Loretta over to police for transport to Victoria City-County Animal Control. She then called the shelter and asked an employee to note that her family wanted to adopt Loretta if no one claimed her. The employee told her to call back on November 2. When she did, she was told Loretta has already been killed. Oops:
“There was a miscommunication,” [chief officer for AC Brecka] Tieken said. “That definitely has given us an opportunity to establish … a policy/protocol.”
Ya think?
Tieken said because the protocol is still being developed, she could not release details of the changes.
It’s so innovative, even the developers don’t know what it is. I’m guessing it’s some cutting edge policy where employees WRITE SHIT DOWN and READ IT. I hope they can pull this off and blaze a trail for other shelters. Imagine the possibilities.
Making earmarks for animals that have been chosen by adopters is harder than it seems, Tieken said.
No doubt. Scrawling DO NOT KILL on a cage card involves penmanship skills, a background in 2nd grade spelling and the ability to procure a writing instrument. It’s little wonder so many shelter workers burn out.
“You gotta realize, when there are so many animals coming in to Animal Control on a daily basis, it’s next to impossible” for one of the shelter workers to call someone when a specific animal is available, Tieken said.
Two points: There are 8 dogs listed for adoption on the Victoria Co website today. Just having a guess, there are likely no more than 1 or 2 of them who have adopters waiting on them. So let’s not make this out to be Wal Mart on Black Friday.
Also: No one said the shelter worker had to call Ms. Smith when Loretta was ready to be adopted (heaven forfend). It was the other way around. The worker told Ms. Smith it was her job to call back in 3 days and ask about the dog. Which she did. Only to be told the friendly dog was in the dumpster.
If you can’t take at least a passing interest in not killing the pets people have told you they want to take home, I’m not sure the bar can be lowered further. You are standing on it.
(Thanks Clarice for the link.)
BULL SHIT, Realize “So many animals” Really get ur head out of ASS and read the card on the cage, or can anyone read anything but KILL. Use a bright marker that every one knows
this means DO NOT KILL…………..
Im so disgusted. I love your sarcasm because its like the closest thing I get to slapping those monsters in the face.
Me too, Julie. I would love to be able to express my venom so eloquently.
me too!
Tiffany needs a metal for kindness, and Julie if you get close enough, slap them one for me too !!
Gosh, if only someone had invented a sticker or marker or something that we could use to make these notations…
SSDD. FIRE THEM ALL.
WAT IS SHARPIEZ? SHARPIES KENNEL CARD “DO NOT KILL. HAZ ADOPTER.”??
Well, you know, when killing healthy, friendly dogs is SOP, why bother checking anything before doing it?
I mean forget about not knowing how to write down that he has someone willing to adopt — they gave this friendly dog THREE FREAKING nights in their “shelter”. What kind of MONSTERS???!!!! Just because the law says you are allowed to kill after 3 nights – doesnt mean you HAVE to. With all the animal lovers in this country I dont understand why we dont have better laws, a better national system in place. 3 days is not enough time for people to find their lost dogs. Im sick of it!!!
Illustrates the fact that in most cases the most harmful thing you can do for an animal you find is to take it to a public “shelter”.
Reblogged this on Sherlockian's Blog and commented:
RIP Loretta.
So many animals need good loving ,caring human beings . They need us to help save these animals and find loving care for families to adopt them .
Keep them if you can and post in lost and found on Facebook, Craigslist etc.