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 Tam Cordingley © 2006 TheDogPlace.org -
What is the problem? State laws dictate certain sorts of facilities for
animal keepers. These laws are not written by animal husbandry majors or
graduates, they are written by veterinarians. Veterinarians see animal
housing as concrete jails, all sterile, and easily washed down. Most
animal people are well aware that long term housing on concrete
contributes to bone and joint problems, and long term confinement in
sterile and un-stimulating quarters also contributes to mental and
behavioral problems in all pets.
What is the solution? The facility laws need to be different for long
term and short term housing. Boarding kennels need to be easily
sterilized between dogs. Rescue facilities and shelters, especially no
kill shelters, keep dogs and cats for long periods of time, often for
life. These animals need social interaction and recreation, not just
jailing. The financial burden of simply building these dog and cat
warehouses is way beyond the usual shelter or rescue group. A long term
care facility for 100 or more dogs will run nearly a million dollars.
What is the dilemma? Do we really want to simply kill all the animals
that are in shelters that are not concrete? How much time should we give
these operators to upgrade or cut their numbers? Who is going to take
these dogs and cats and kill them? Certainly not the loving and caring
people who have been taking care of these animals for years and
attempting to find them homes, how cruel can the states be?
We, as a group, are incensed when China kills thousands of dogs because
of a rabies scare, why are we less incensed when the states cause the
death of thousands of dogs who are healthy and well cared for simply
because they live on a surface other than concrete? Because we will not
see the mounds of dead dog bodies? We will not have to dry the tears of
the people who have cared for these dogs as they hold them to be
euthanized?
I see part of this as the result of the rush to adopt. Homes are not
carefully screened, in many cases fences are not required. Many people
in a rush of warm fuzzy feeling adopt dogs they cannot keep or manage.
They are adopted out at adoption fairs, then dumped at a different
shelter or turned out on the road.
I also see as a vital part of the solution FENCES. Not only spay/neuter
but dogs must be fenced. I know this goes against the Norman Rockwell
ideal but a big part of the solution to all our real and perceived dog
problems is FENCING. Dogs securely fenced in their own yard do not chase
cars, bite people, kill livestock, or end up in shelters. Another vital
part of the solution is FREE TRAINING CLASSES in every community. Yet
another part of the solution is prioritizing on the part of the rescue
or shelter operators. Not every dog or cat is adoptable. Why spend time
raising a litter of puppies born to a feral mother, when the puppies and
the mother are all unadoptable? Our hearts go out to the one eyed, the
lame, and the sick, but let’s be realistic. Give our time, energy, and
prospective homes to the dogs with the best chance to actually make it.
There is, in every community, a finite amount of money, volunteers, and
homes. If we place 200 dogs in GOOD and permanent homes we have done
good work. If, conversely, we place 300 dogs in homes where they will be
running the streets, getting hit by cars, and ending up in some other
shelter, we have simply made more work for the volunteers, used up a
home, and not done anyone much good. Including the dogs we are trying to
help.
We need to put our heads together to try to make a humane and manageable
solution to the problems of the no kill community.
~thc/2006
http://www.thedogplace.org/PROJECTS/Shelters-0608_tc.asp
For
more Shelter Articles:
Shelter costs for spaying and neutering
RESCUE, SHELTERS, REGULATIONS, and PRIORITIES,
SHELTERS and ANIMAL RIGHTS,
RESCUE, ADOPTION, POPULATION,
SHELTER SCAMS
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