This was just passed along to me:
-linda
Posted on Wed, Sep. 24, 2008
Stu Bykofsky: Has Philadelphia signed a death sentence for innocent
lost animals?
By Stu Bykofsky
Philadelphia Daily News
Daily News Columnist
THOUSANDS MORE of Philadelphia's homeless animals are facing death
next year, along with the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control
Agency (PACCA).
In a move that has some Philadelphia animal-lovers confused, angry
and fearful, the Health Department has put out a Request For
Proposal (RFP) to handle city animal control. An RFP is an
invitation to bid on a city contract.
On Sept. 5, the city gave PACCA, which had greatly improved in
recent years, a one-year renewal of the animal-care-and-control
contract. On Sept. 17, the city pulled the rug out from PACCA by
posting the RFP, seeking a contractor to handle animal control
starting in January. The RFP seems to say RIP to PACCA.
Health Commissioner Dr. Donald Schwarz told me yesterday that the
city contract allows termination without stating cause.
Some in the animal-welfare community fear that the RFP is offering a
"catch and kill" contract. Schwarz calls that "an unfortunate use of
the phrase."
More unfortunate is the possible fate of thousands more of
Philadelphia's homeless animals.
Here's why: The RFP talks about animal "control," not "care," and
has language about "disposal" of animals, rather than about
lifesaving and adoption.
The absence of "care" makes it seem like a death sentence for
innocent animals.
The RFP specifies a work force of 40. PACCA has 60-plus and is
understaffed, in my opinion. How can a proper job be done with one-
third fewer workers?
PACCA chief executive officer Tara Derby says that asking for a work
force that small represents "a streamlined machine, focused only on
holding animals and disposing of them."
The introduction of the RFP asks for "a qualified contractor" with
"a capacity to handle nearly 30,000 animals annually." In the
section on "contractor duties," the RFP talks of the need to capture
and "hold, euthanize or dispose" of animals.
"Euthanize" and "dispose" are the words used.
In contrast, the current PACCA contract calls for stray animals to
be "dispose[d] of, preferably by adoption . . . ."
That's why the people who care about animals and who have read the
RFP call it "catch and kill." The term may be unfortunate, as the
health commissioner says, but it is inescapable.
I can't see how any animal-protection organization would bid on it,
as is.
PACCA won't. The board felt that it would be "futile," says Board
President John Martini.
Martini's goal now "is to create an environment in which the
Pennsylvania SPCA, as the most likely winner of the bid, will be
able to achieve its mission in providing these services, with
lifesaving as primary component," he says. The independent PAWS
adoption operation will remain in business.
Pennsylvania SPCA's chief executive officer, Howard Nelson, says
that his executive board will vote tomorrow morning on whether to
bid, but if it does, "we would include a lifesaving component."
Since PACCA was reorganized after my 2004 exposé of the agency as a
House of Horrors for animals, the combined dog/cat "save rate" has
tripled, from less than 20 percent to more than 60 percent today,
according to figures provided by Derby.
Among those distraught by the city's apparent turn against the
animals is Garrett Elwood, who volunteers at PACCA and has the
energy and means to fight back.
He heads Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia, which just launched a
Web site, www.PhillyNoKill.com, where concerned citizens can rally
and get the latest information.
If the city wants to allay fears of "animal people," such as myself,
it could rewrite the RFP, including not just lifesaving and adoption
as part of the mission, but flat-out state that Philadelphia's aim
is to become a "no-kill city," a goal stated by Derby when she took
over the troubled agency.
Nationally known animal-welfare crusader Nathan Winograd proposes
benchmarks, such as a 65 percent "save rate" in the first year of
the contract, 70 percent in the second, and so on, plus
"transparency" by providing a monthly "save" report on a Web site.
Meanwhile, at the West Hunting Park Avenue animal shelter, while
their bodies are up for bid, homeless dogs and cats with desperate
eyes and hungry hearts are locked in cages. They await either
adoption by a caring family - or a needle to put them to "sleep," a
forever sleep that ends their abandonment and misery, brought to
them by human heartlessness.
Philadelphia can, and should, do better.
E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] or call 215-854-5977. For recent
columns:
http://go.philly.com/byko.
