Everyone is Responsible

In this field we have always placed an extra level of importance on finding responsible owners for Pit Bulls and other dominant breeds. Some even go as so far to do home visits and have them sign a special contract. At LHS we take a few extra steps and educate as much as possible. It is understandable, because a lot of people don't understand that many landlords don't permit these breeds in their rentals because of liability and those that do take them, may not be places you want to live or more expensive. There are communities in the country that have bans on Pit Bulls and you can never live there and then there is the public perception you will have to deal with.

On top of all of this Pit Bulls are euthanized at a much higher rate at shelters in the country and can make up close to 60% of all dog euthanasia in a shelter. So if you care about your dog, you are committing to keep this dog for the rest of his life or for placing him in a No Kill shelter which will take time or finding a new home yourself.

Now with all of that being said, perhaps we need to hold cat owners to a higher level of responsibility as well. Cats are dying at a much higher rate than dogs in most shelters in the country and if you just look at local shelters I believe you would be alarmed. Most of the "animal shelters" in the area are euthanizing between 80-90% of the cats that come to their shelter. If you are interested in seeing how your community is doing with their euthanasia figures go to: VCACS Online Animal Reporting and click on single organization and the year you want to learn about. Then it will give you a list by name of all the organizations in the state. It is important to note that in the 2009 stats, Amherst Animal Care and Control is not the same as the Humane Society of Amherst. The Amherst Animal Control agency is where most of the county animals come in and they do not have their stats published yet for 2009. They have reported them but due to a glitch they are not showing up so the stats that you see are for the Humane Society of Amherst County only. In 2008 I believe the humane society also held the animal sheltering contract for the county but I am not sure, you can certainly contact them directly for more information.

I think it is important for the public to be aware of what is happening in our community with our pets. In the Lynchburg community, the Lynchburg Humane Society is currently saving 91% of the dogs that come to us and 73% of the cats. We are able to do this because people are adopting, donating, fostering and volunteering but more importantly, owners are willing to wait to bring us their pets when we have space. Which will be the subject of a blog in the near future. But for now with us having close to 200 cats and kittens at our shelter, it is important for pet owners to know the state of affairs for homeless animals in the community, because we are all responsible. Shelter's didn't create this problem, we may not have helped by not holding people responsible in the past but we can't solve this problem alone. We have to ask for help and continue to educate the public on what is happening.

So before you take your cat to another shelter because it is easier, please contact us and let us try and work with you. You may have to wait but at least by working together we can save more lives in our community.