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| Dooley a 12 year old pitbull who is currently in a foster home |
Recently a local reporter contacted us about being a part of
an in depth look at euthanasia and what goes on at shelters. This
resulted in her speaking with other shelters in the region for her report. She came back to me with questions and claims
being said by other organizations and so I thought this might be a good blog
topic. Here are the questions and the
information. I have attempted to remove
the names of the other shelters from this so it is neutral. Our goal is not to turn anyone against other
shelters/organizations but to educate and communicate the truth about these claims
regarding the Lynchburg Humane Society and No Kill.
Question: Several of
the shelters said that they end up taking in animals that had first gone to
Lynchburg but were told to wait for their appointments, so they go to these
other shelters and say “if you don’t take it I’m just going to shoot it or
leave it on the side of the road” so they take them. You had said you
take them if they say they have to give up right away… but they’re claiming
that’s not true?
So far this year, Jan – Oct., we have taken in 565
“walk-ins”. Pet owners who didn’t have an appointment that needed our
help right away. We have also taken in 892 pets by appointment as well as
885 strays from the public. If someone tells us they can’t wait or
they might “shoot” or “dump” it, we take it in right away. I am not
saying the other shelters don’t take in those occasional pets from Lynchburg, there
are some situations that people say certain things to get their way.
But anecdotal stories are just that. We have found
often that a few of the other organizations focus on the occasional problem
that they then magnify to represent the whole. We don’t set policy on the
few bad situations, but rather, reward the bigger picture or good people.
We have stories too about the other shelters. We take in pets from other
counties all the time because they don’t want to take them to their shelter
because of their euthanasia rates. We took in an elderly cat from a nice
older couple who lived in a city about 2 hours away this year because to quote
them “They would euthanize it the minute they left.” We work hard
not to make assumptions about their operations based on a few people or
situations.
We make choices to take in pets from other counties to help
good owners who want a better outcome for their pets. We also choose to help local shelters that ask for help when they are full. This year we have
taken in a total of 59 from Amherst, 47 from Appomattox, 122 from Campbell
County and 108 from Bedford. These are strays, owned and transfers.
The other shelters have choices as well. There will be
a few times when people (owners) don’t communicate to us that they don’t like
our appointment system and say one thing to us and then go to another facility
and communicate something entirely different to them. Most shelters call
us when they get pets in from Lynchburg and we come get them. One county recently
chose not to call us but instead lamb basted us on social media. Upon seeing the post we took it upon
ourselves to call them in order to get the dog back and as a result they didn’t
want us to take this particular dog so they said they would keep it. This same group has in the past complained
when pets came to their shelter that were originally adopted out by LHS. Upon further investigation a few of the cases
were residents of their county so surrendering to this county shelter made
sense.
So far, this year, we have taken maybe 10 pets from other
shelters that were from Lynchburg. If the other shelters don’t call us
when they get a pet in from Lynchburg, we don’t know and that is their choice
not to contact us. If they chose to euthanize for lack of space or
because they can’t or don’t want to treat a medical condition that is their
choice.
If they are taking in animals from Lynchburg, I ask why they
aren’t calling us to come get them if we are impacting them so much?
Intake numbers are down at all the other shelters last year.
Click here for that information.
Ours is the only shelter that increased in intake and that
is partly because of our new building and our ability to hold more pets, but it
is also because there is more demand for our services. Why? Not sure. But
I would guess it could have something to do with the fact that people know the
pets are safe here and want to bring them to us. I am hoping other
shelters are not suggesting that we are the reason they are having to
euthanize.
ON TNR- most everyone
from the other shelters said it’s really cruel, that they’ve seen the
consequences- the cats suffer long slow deaths by predators, or feline
illnesses, hit by cars, “and wouldn’t you rather they have a warm place and
full belly and just go to sleep vs the alternative of a long painful
death?” Some claim their lifespan out there at most is 2 years.
That is simply not true. We have fixed over 4,403
feral cats at our clinic and over 90% of them are healthy, well fed and in
great shape. Very few are declined for surgery or euthanized for illness.
In fact last month we did 162 at our clinic in one day. Of those we
saw, all were very healthy and happy cats who just happen to live
outdoors. Feral cats usually have caretakers who feed and monitor their
health. If they are unhealthy they get treatment or if necessary, they
are euthanized. There is a feral cat colony at Kroger, you can find the
caretaker there most evenings feeding the cats. They know everyone one of
them by name and know when there are problems. I have been aware of this
colony for over 7 years so they have many older cats living a good life, better
than being dead. This concept that just “going to sleep” is better than
being alive is one that I just don’t understand. Dead is dead. But
don’t believe me, see the links below.
“Cats cared for through Trap-Neuter-Return have healthy life
spans. In 2003, a long-term study of a Trap-Neuter-Return program noted that
83% of the cats present at the end of the observation period had been there for
more than six years.”
Follow the links for more information.
Questions: As no kill- how long
do animals stay in cages? Do you have a maximum amount of time before you do
something else with them? (so they don’t go cage crazy?) (people are saying
that’s cruel)
Our average length of stay for dogs is 18 days and for cats
it is 40 days. We do everything possible to try and move pets into good
homes as quickly as possible. There are a few cats that have been at the
shelter for longer than 38 days and you can come and visit them and see how
they are for yourself. They are living in one of our group cat rooms and
seem to be just fine. The reason the length of stay is longer for
cats is because of the number of kittens we receive. We don’t just
euthanize unweaned kittens or kittens under 2 months like the some of the higher
euthanizing shelters might do. We put them into foster homes or keep them until
they are older and can be adopted out. That makes for a longer length of
stay.
As for dogs, we have two that have been in and out of the
shelter environment and one that isn’t doing well currently. We have
foster homes that we rely on to help give them a break and we have over 200
volunteers who walk the dogs, some multiple times a day to give them attention
and exercise. We have 4 play areas for fun activity too and encourage
volunteers to take dogs out for Doggie Day outs, where they spend the day
offsite in the community. But length of stay doesn’t dictate if a dog or
cat is thriving and getting their needs met. I have seen one dog in the old building live
there over 8 months and he was very happy until the day he went home. You
have to look at each individual case as just that. Those dogs that
we feel need extra attention have staff members dedicated to their behavior
training and exercise and emotional needs. Our Staff Trainer is
responsible for all of that. We meet once a week to go over our behavior
cases and that is when we discuss other options that might include euthanasia,
foster homes or rescue.
The claim was made
that if an animal has been there too long and doesn't seem it will be adopted
LHS transfers it to a kill shelter instead to let them deal with it.
This is not the first time I have heard this claim about
no kill shelters and I honestly don’t know a single no kill shelter that sends
their pets to high euthanizing facilities so they don’t have them show up on
their numbers. We have transferred out 3
dogs so far this year, one went back to Charlottesville SPCA, a no kill organization
who originally adopted the dog out, and two went to breed specific
rescues. We then have transferred out 8
cats, one back to the Roanoke SPCA, a no kill shelter, who originally adopted
it out and 7 went to a sanctuary who deals with FIV/Felv positive and feral
cats.
With most of the rescues, if we have a behavior problem that
might be caused by being in shelter or because of a breed specific trait the
rescues will take them into foster homes and work on the problems. If they
can’t take them we will euthanize if we feel we can’t place them safely. In
some cases, the rescues learn we have a dog they might like and we allow them
to take them for adoption.
In 2016 we have euthanized 29 dogs and 66 cats. We
have a few dogs right now that we are evaluating for possible euthanasia or
behavior training/modification and one we are working on finding rescue
for.
Some are claiming no
kill is just a numbers game/manipulation/ fundraising ploy. We are all about
the numbers. That is all we care about.
I honestly don’t know how to answer this question. We
believe in saving healthy and treatable pets. We are not manipulating or
playing any games.
I will say that
people give financially to solutions to problems and will give to organizations
who they feel are making a difference. Do we promote the positive things
happening at our organization and what this community has done? Yes.
Doesn’t every nonprofit promote what they feel is positive about their
organization? 96% of the pets make it to homes from our
organization. That is all the pets that come in, from the old and sick,
to the young and healthy. That is statistically factual. Not sure how to
manipulate that and am open to answering this question if I understood what
they are referring to.
The idea that we are all about the numbers. Well yes.
Those numbers represent lives. Each and every one of them. Like the dog, Grace, that was surrendered to
us with a fungal infection, that in the end will probably lose both her eyes
and need major surgery on her legs after spending a couple of months on
treatment. We chose to treat because she is such a sweet affection young
adoptable dog. I could tell you about
the 12 year old pitbull, Dooley, which we chose to surgically remove a mass and
then place into foster rather than euthanize because he still had some good
quality time left to his life. I would
tell you about the 4 day old kitten, Monkey, which a staff member took home for
months, bottle feeding her every 3-4 hours until she was old enough to
survive. Each one of these pets
represents the 96% save rate we have
right now. That is 2,846 pets in
total, all of them have names.
Yes, we are about the numbers.
Proudly so.
Note: We have always
welcomed the public or other rescue organizations to call us if they have
concerns or questions. We are a transparent
organization and if we mess up or need to change something we will openly do
that. We are always changing to do
things better. We also ask politely that
if you hear a rumor that doesn’t make sense to pick up the phone and ask. We want to make sure our policies and procedures
are correctly communicated. Our contact information is on our website.
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