Skip to main content

With Success Comes Detractors



Where there is success, there will be detractors.  There will be those who will communicate false information or want to discredit the work of others.   We know there will always be differing opinions in this field and other groups from time to time disagree with us.  We certainly have opinions as well about a few of the other Humane Societies’ policies and restrictions. We feel a few of them sometimes choose to follow classic old fears, myths and thinking. Recently, some of the actions by a few people in these other groups have made it difficult to ignore our differences.   


We strive to be progressive, learn from studies and best practices and by doing the right thing to help the pets.  We strive to continue to learn from mistakes and grow and change to meet the needs of this community. 


So while we know that others will not always agree with our progressive, life-saving style or policies, we feel it is unfortunate that they choose to try to bring us down through social media, comments on our page or other groups’ pages, in letters and negative campaigns, etc. The way I look at it is this: the community has clearly expressed their opinions, they recognize and support our programs, services and philosophies.
 

What we find very unfortunate is that the groups that have these negative opinions about us choose to spend any of their time and energy focusing on what they think we do wrong instead of trying these new ideas, gaining more public support or just asking us why we do what we do.  This is an industry of very passionate people, so it is not uncommon for organizations that have the community’s support and life saving numbers to be targeted in false comments and negativity.   We know this is normal in the field.  I saw it in Richmond and in Charlottesville and have heard time and time again about it from almost every successful organization across the country.  People react out of fear, but data and best practices show we are doing things right.  


Should we feel bad about the number of adoptions we have had?  Or our save rate? Or our new Center, the national recognition and all the great things happening here?  NO.  We shouldn’t and we don’t.  We feel excited about what this community is doing to help pets. We are moving forward and saving as many lives as possible in our area.  


What I do feel bad about are the countless animals that aren’t being saved because of this old mind set seen time and time again with a few of the humane societies in our area and across the nation.  


Yes, we will be adopting out black cats around Halloween, yes we will be adopting out pets as gifts, yes we do encourage people to use craigslist and the internet to rehome pets, yes we will do same day adoptions and low cost adoptions – because not to- would be a detriment to the pets and it would mean going back to old outdated fears based on a few “stories,” not on the bigger picture or on statistical information.  And to set the story straight, no we don’t have Keurigs in every office, only one, and it is an old one that an employee donated.  


Yes, we will continue to learn and change policies and practices based on what other top organizations are doing to help save more lives.  Yes, we will continue to challenge the myths that are so ingrained in the old way of thinking that need to be changed to save more lives.  We will always have less restrictive adoption policies, because we have seen they work.


Most importantly, we will continue to believe in people of Lynchburg. We will continue to set policies based on fact, not stereotypes or stories, and on faith not fear.  We will work hard, time and time again to “shake it off” and not let other groups detract from the great work our community does every day.  We will continue to focus on working with the many “Friends of “ groups and small rescue organizations in the region who may not agree with us but rather spend their time helping not hurting. 


If you are concerned about something you are seeing or hearing about, call us.  We are happy to listen and perhaps we can have an open dialogue about how we might work together and we will appreciate the chance to explain why we do what we do.  Let’s work together to save lives, that is the reason we are all here.

Comments

  1. Well said! I think tou guys do a great job and I am thankful for your forward thinking and the lives you save!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You perform in invaluable service to animals, regardless of what ill-informed individuals or organisations may claim. Your worth is not determined by others' opinions of you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lynchburg City residents are not the only ones affected by LHS. Because of LHS, the lives of many animals from the shelters in Appomattox, Bedford, Buckingham, and Campbell Counties have been saved. I know those of us who volunteer and work tirelessly to save dogs and cats in these shelters are extremely grateful for not just the opportunity to be invited to share in events you host, but also for LHS' intake of animals when we are filled to the brim and have nowhere else to turn. FOAC Campbell County also appreciates the continued opportunity to work with the LHS South Central Spay/Neuter Clinic; we were extremely pleased to have LHS' support for our recent Luv-a-Bull Pit Bull Spay/Neuter promotion recently, too. We have been inspired by your ideas to host our own adoption promotions and events. I hope we can continue to work together to save lives in Central Virginia.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IS LHS UNDER ATTACK?

In 2013 the Lynchburg Humane Society (LHS) ended the year with a 92% save rate for the animals in our care, the highest year end figure since we began down the path to No Kill.   We were able to reduce the number of cats we took in by 294, compared to 2012, due primarily, we believe, to our spay/neuter efforts.   YOU made this possible.    We believe the Lynchburg Humane Society is about to be embroiled in a controversial attack by another humane organization because of all the great work we are doing.   We want our community and our supporters to know why and to be informed about this controversy because without you we could not do what we are doing.   You all are partners in our efforts.     This is long so please hang in there and read it in its entirety because there is important information throughout that you probably don’t know.    In April PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) sent us a letter asking us to change some of our life saving programs i

They know what they know so don’t give them the facts.

I had the pleasure of having an interesting conversation with a member of another humane organization this past weekend. They are an SPCA that takes in animals for a number of localities and operates as the pound for their area. She asked how we were doing in Lynchburg and I, of course, was excited to tell her about our recent success about our save rate being 84% and having no healthy animal lose their life in our shelter in 2010 and how much the community has embraced the changes as we move toward becoming No Kill. She immediately went to defense mode and asked me loaded questions to prove I was wrong and of course explain to me how our programs wouldn’t work for them. The appointment system, wouldn’t work – pet owners aren’t responsible enough to do the right thing. People must be just “dumping” their animals in other localities.” Fact : The counties that reported their stats for 2010 in the Lynchburg area saw a reduction in the number of animals they took in and more

When the tables turn

It is not unknown for people to be scared of dogs. Animal shelters throughout history were built on that fear. Dog catchers were employed to capture packs of nuisance dogs that were roaming and pestering communities. Pounds were built on the edge of towns near the dump to remove stray dogs from towns and in most cases, destroy them to prevent public endangerment.   Fast forward to now and shelters are referred to as centers, instead of strays we say adoptable, we don’t say animals we say pets, and dogs are family members. Getting a dog without a home into a family is a community effort and #adoptdontshop is a movement.  So how strange it is that the COVID-19 pandemic has made us fear being too close to people and has increased our desire for pets?  People want to foster or adopt pets, now more than ever! At the Lynchburg Humane Society’s Center for Pets there has been an increase of 85% more pets in foster care than at this time last year. The Lynchburg Humane Society alrea