Diane,
I know you are a feral cat advocate and I usually agree with everything you post, but in this case I do not.
My only consolation for this terrible situation is that it might in some way shed light on the practices of our
municipal shelters. Glenda wrote to us about how everyone is sorry for what happened, that it was a "mistake"
that Marmalade was killed, but the truth is there was no mistake made here.
Shelters are not safe havens with
the best interest of individual animals in mind. If this facility's policies, (and the people that operate it)
were concerned with saving life, then this would not have been possible.
I am writing to the list about this because it is my strong conviction that so called "shelters" and their policy of
killing healthy animals can and must be changed. If every shelter were as dedicated to saving lives first, the way
the people on this list are, then things would change. Here was a cat that was trapped and taken to the shelter, a
cat that may or may not have "belonged" to someone, a cat that had Glenda fighting for his right to live, and still
they killed him. It's disgraceful and I can't sit by and not comment when I hear opinions chalking it up to
"misunderstanding". This cat was killed because there weren't enough people, or a strong enough advocate, to make
sure he wasn't. Marmalade suffered this fate because the people at the shelter were not interested in saving lives.
He is one of many, many animals that die each day because it is easier to kill them then to figure out a way to save
them. If every shelter in our country decided that their number one objective was to save lives rather than end them,
things would change.
Please, everyone join Nathan Winograd in his No Kill movement toward a more enlightened approach to the way this
country deals with overpopulation. Here is his website: http://www.nathanwinograd.com/nathanwinograd_004.htm
Here is a paste from a recent nmhp forum discussion with Nathan Winograd. He has changed my mind-set about the
possibilities of a no-kill nation. I hope he changes yours.
The real deception going on in this country is the great lie that
animals are being killed in the United States because there are "too
many animals, not enough homes." The vast majority are being killed
because shelters refuse to put into place all the programs and services
of the No Kill Equation, which are necessary to save lives. Just to give
you one example, every time a shelter kills a neonatal kitten because
they lack a foster program, that is a completely preventable death. To
say that kitten was killed because of "pet overpopulation" is not only
misleading, it is a bald faced lie. Yet most groups repeat that lie over
and over and over. So if the concern is deception, it starts with the
kill-oriented traditionalists. How many websites talk about shelters
which are saving 91% or more of animals? How many websites state that No
Kill has been achieved and others should follow suit? How many say that
the reason kittens are being killed is because the shelter director
obstinately refuses to implement a foster program? In fact, the most
misleading and deceptive term of them all is "shelter." Most shelters
are nothing of the sort. They are, pure and simply, death camps.
Ask yourself if your shelter has:
1. A fully functioning volunteer program where at least 300 people
for every 100,000 human residents actually help at least one time per
week at the shelter?
2. Offsite adoptions at multiple locations seven days per week?
3. Socialization programs so that cats get out of their cages at
least two times per day and dogs at least three times for walks and play
time?
4. Medical & behavior rehabilitation programs?
5. A fully functioning TNR (Humane Trap-Neuter-
Return for feral cats) program that replaces killing with neutering?
6. A foster care program that can foster as many as 25-30% of all
impounded animals (and higher during peak periods)?
7. Low and no cost spay/neuter opportunities for at risk animals,
somewhere in the neighborhood of a minimum of 1,000 surgeries for every
100,000 human residents?
8. Adoption programs seven days a week with evening and weekend
hours? (And without rules and regulations that have no basis in reality
but prevent good adoptions such as no puppies or kittens for families
with young children, which is the rule at my local shelter!)
9. Carte blanche for legitimate rescue groups to save any animal on
death row, any time?
10. Programs beyond haphazard advice from hurried workers on the
telephone to help owners overcome the behavioral, medical and
environmental conditions which cause them to surrender their pets?
11. Good public relations that keeps the shelter in the public eye?
12. A compassionate, hard working director who holds his or her
staff accountable making sure customer service is good, people are
friendly, the shelter is clean and responsive, and all the cages and
kennels are kept full if necessary?
Before anyone says, "that's a pipe dream," "it's impossible." It is
neither and has been achieved in No Kill communities. On top of that, it
is also cost effective. In many cases, it is cheaper than warehousing
and killing, which is what most municipal shelters do. If you say it's
impossible, it is only because the "industry standard" is set so low and
the national groups like HSUS reaffirm that. It is because all the
claims that mislead us into believing all shelters want the same thing,
no one wants to kill, and every shelter employee will stop at nothing,
leave no stone unturned if it held the promise of something
different-all of which are not only deceptive claims but in the vast
majority of U.S. shelters, outright lies. If a shelter has not
implemented each and every program and service of the No Kill Equation,
rigorously and comprehensively, it is because they find it easier to
kill than do what is necessary to stop it.
If you continue to perpetuate those lies, if you allow it, if you
believe it, if it is on your literature, on your website, if that is
what you continue to repeat to others, you become a champion of
mediocrity and an apologist for shelter killing. I am begging all of you
not to do it anymore.
Set your sights where they rightly belong: at a future that promises
animals in shelters a new beginning, instead of what they now so often
and needlessly face, the end of the line. It is not an impossible dream.
It is a reality today in a few communities and there is nothing so
unique about those, that the success can't be replicated in every town
in America.
Glenda, I'm so sorry it ended this way for Marmalade, and for you. It
sounds like just a very unfortunate set of circumstances. You say you
know this shelter and trust the people there, so it doesn't sound like
you were irresponsible in bringing him there. It doesn't sound like
they are kill-crazy the way many shelters are, and it sounds like the
people there really do care. Gentle Bridge vibes to Marmalade, and hugs
to you.
Diane R.
