In this post, I am going to break down two events in Austin: The killing of 17 dogs on Friday, May 11 at Austin Animal Center and the threat to kill 23 more dogs on Tuesday, May 15. The Statesman article, posted late Monday night, May 14 says: [...]Austin Animal Center euthanized 17 dogs Friday … Continue reading Austin Animal Center Runs Out of Truth
Category: No Kill
What “no kill” means to me
Ever since coming to understand the myth of pet overpopulation, I have defined killing as ending the life of a healthy/treatable shelter pet and euthanasia as ending the suffering of a medically hopeless pet or behaviorally hopeless/dangerous dog. These definitions make more sense to me since euthanasia, or "good death", can not possibly apply to … Continue reading What “no kill” means to me
Poll: How do you define “no kill”?
Added: Please keep in mind that the poll design allows for limited space for the choices. I had to make each choice as concise as possible and could not include an essay for each. The choices are intended to be generalizations and not meant to include every possible circumstance which could arise within a shelter.
Austin in Crisis
The city of Austin has maintained no kill status for more than a year via a partnership between the city shelter, Austin Animal Services (AAS), and non-profit groups Austin Pets Alive (APA) and Austin Humane Society (AHS). On Friday, there was a catastrophic failure of commitment when AAS killed 17 dogs due to overcrowding. Today, … Continue reading Austin in Crisis
Memphis Paper Editor is Late to the No Kill Naysayer Party
Chris Peck, editor at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, characterizes no kill shelters as a dream: Pet lovers talk incessantly about the value and brilliance of no-kill shelters. The concept is laudable: Establish safe, welcoming places where unwanted pets can go to live, and wait to be adopted. But on the issue of no-kill shelters, … Continue reading Memphis Paper Editor is Late to the No Kill Naysayer Party
Discussion: Can a New Campaign Make Los Angeles No Kill?
NKLA is "a coalition of animal rescue organizations, city shelters and passionate individuals" working to end the killing of healthy/treatable animals in Los Angeles. The plan, according to a piece in the L.A. Times, is to combine a major ad campaign to increase public awareness, adoption incentive grants to rescues and neuter assistance to pet … Continue reading Discussion: Can a New Campaign Make Los Angeles No Kill?
Seagoville, TX is Your Town, U.S.A.
The Seagoville Animal Shelter is a small shelter in rural Texas. It takes in about 1300 pets a year. In December 2010, Sgt. Karl Bailey of the Seagoville Police Department was tapped by the police chief to take over the shelter because he loves dogs. At that time, the shelter was killing about 70 pets … Continue reading Seagoville, TX is Your Town, U.S.A.
Don’t We All?
ABC is running this story as a teaser for tonight's Ashley Judd interview on the show Nightline: Ashley Judd Keeps a ‘Psychological Support’ Dog to Help Deal With Her Depression Depression is a complex and poorly understood condition. But the psychological support, as it is termed here, that people get from pets has long been … Continue reading Don’t We All?
These Things Take Time
When discussing shelter reform, we often hear that we must be patient and allow management time to make improvements at the shelter. In some areas, I agree that this is reasonable. For example, it takes time to amend the union contract which covers staff. It takes time to update an employee manual. It takes time … Continue reading These Things Take Time
Mario: Play=Life
Some people asked why we should save Mario from MAS when there are so many other dogs in need of help there. The answer is simple: Because every pet has a right to live. Would it have been better to allow MAS to put Mario into the dumpster? Here is a recent photo of him … Continue reading Mario: Play=Life
YesBiscuit! 