When you know better you do better...

I want to first give warning that this is a tough love blog post brought on by some recent events but it is an effort to hopefully open some eyes and make people think.  I also want to make it clear that this blog is directed to SOME, NOT ALL groups and not to the good people of our community trying hard every day to help the animals.  This is the first in a series of blogs I am going to do around this topic on “start trusting people”, in hopes of making people think. 

When you know better you do better….

This is one of my favorite quotes because it embodies my career in this field.  I have learned so much over the 12 years in animal welfare.  I learn something new all the time because this field is ever changing or there is a new fresh idea to use, you name it things change.  

So it struck me recently, at which point did animal welfare organizations decide it was better to kill pets rather than trust people?  I know it seems like a very severe statement but in my mind it is as simple as that. 
 

Somewhere in our history there was a decision made to begin killing pets because there were too many and to stop making people accountable for their decisions and actions.  For decades we have taught owners that we will take their pets in, ask no questions and take the full burden on.  So if that wasn’t bad enough, I have found a lot of humane societies/shelters across the county began putting up barriers to those good citizens wanting to help us.  

If someone wants to foster for them they must jump through hoops and some will even require a home check first.   I need to interject here that the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA placed somewhere around 1,600 pets into foster homes last year.  They don’t do home visits, they trust people.  You can walk in, fill out an application and after proper screening take home a foster kitty that same day.  It doesn’t take days to process anything and animals are saved immediately. And they have not had any problems with any foster home.  Some shelters have either never allowed or stopped allowing volunteers or even a foster program because of liability fears.  

Even worse, we put up barriers for those wanting to adopt: you can’t adopt a puppy or kitten if you have kids 3 years or under, we have to check with your landlord, vet and in some cases do a home check to make sure you are good enough to adopt.  Oh and then you must have a fenced in yard.  In a number of shelters they do credit and background checks.  These same potential owners can easily go out and buy a dog/cat and not go through this much trouble.

When I worked at the Richmond SPCA, a limited admissions no kill facility we had to remind the staff all the time that even though animals are not dying at our shelter they are dying at the pounds and we can’t help them if we don’t move animals out into homes.   We made sure they understood the consequences of denying someone or not allowing someone to foster.  We often had them go to the pound in their training so they understood that not allowing a good person to adopt or foster means a dog or cat can’t be pulled or helped from the pound.  Now that being said, it didn’t mean that we were ok with bad adoptions but our staff had hit a place where they were all looking for the perfect home and we had to open their eyes that good homes were just as good and saved more lives.  We stopped doing vet checks and landlord checks in Richmond as well and the staff was very upset but they soon realized that only 7 animals out of close to 1,000 animals adopted were returned as a direct relation to their landlord not allowing them.  But doing landlord checks just slowed down the adoption and created a barrier and set a negative tone for the adoption.  I will interject that we did do landlord checks if we felt unsure and needed more information and in those cases it was very few and far in between.  We focused on creating good adoptions not looking for reasons to deny them. 

…how many cats and dogs are dying because humane societies/pounds put up barriers for people just wanting to help your organization?  

So at what point does this industry open their eyes and realize it is time to change and do things differently?   At which point is the decision made that organizations are going to stop killing pets and begin holding people responsible for their choices and stop being the dumping ground and begin allowing good Samaritans to help without obstacles? 

Please stop allowing people to drop off their pets if it means you have to kill others to make space.   Stop enabling them!  Stop allowing them to be a part of the problem but rather engage them and ask for their help to be part of the solution.  Most people will do what is right if they understand the problem.   We need to communicate and educate and that takes work because it is a new way of operating to the public, but in the end they want what is best for their pet and most will help by waiting.  Now, there will always be people who will never care what happens to their pet and but we need to stop setting policy around those people when all you are doing is putting off the good people in your community. 

Even if you take them all in and make it easy for the public there will always be those that dump their animals.  One local group is a great example.  They take in everything and euthanize at an alarming rate.  People still dump and abandon animals.  Perhaps, it is because they are afraid to take them to the shelter because they know the fate.  Maybe they just don’t care and it is easier to dump them.   

We don’t know what motivates people but what we do know is that there will always be people who don’t care,  but our policies needs to see them as exceptions rather than the rule. 

In my opinion we should set up more appointment systems for owners and make them responsible.  More shelters should stop taking in owned animals when they have no room.  They should make it easier to adopt and have specials that increase their adoptions and their live release rates.  Look at some of the wonderful transport groups that take pets up north to other communities looking for dogs/cats. They should be working with rescue organizations to help them with pure breeds and other dogs and cats at risk.  However, some rescues, should look at their own policies like I said above and see how they might speed up the process to increase your save rate in the community. 

We are not a perfect organization by any means. We make mistakes, we learn things every day and we attempt to improve and try things differently in an effort to find solutions.  When you know better you do better and we try and practice this every day.   

Change is hard and it is hard to look yourself in the eye and say what we have been doing is killing pets.  There have been many policies I have changed over the years to help more pets and there have always been a few animals in my head that I wish I could go back and save but I have to take myself off the hook and say again, I didn’t know better so how could I have done better.   

I love this field but it pains me to see the emails of poor dogs and cats on “death row” in other parts of this state with expiration dates so to speak.  No dog or cat should have an expiration date.  It pains me to hear other organizations making it so difficult for people to help the animals.  I hope that as an industry that we are seeing a major shift.  More and more no kill communities are creeping up I believe this is the future but I guess I am hoping we move a little quicker in that direction.  

If we just move out of the way, the public will help us. If we just communicate clearly what our needs are the public will help us and if we have a solution to the problem and are working towards a goal of no kill, the public will help us.  In the end, the animals are helped and our humanity is saved.