Once above scrutiny and allowed to hide behind a plethora of excuses for poor performance, today’s pounds and shelters are being held accountable to provide the community’s pets a healthy animal management system.
This new level of answerability is never more evident than when animal lovers join together to develop solutions for their local companion animal issues, only to find that their council pound has been killing nearly every. single. one. of the unclaimed animals they were encharged to care for. Deeply entrenched in a culture which blames the public & absolving themselves of even the most basic responsibility in saving lives, these underperforming shelters buck the trend of compassion and instead choose to kill behind close doors. That is, until the community finally understands the premise of the No Kill model & stands up to apathetic management & heartless local council policies.
It’s hard to hide in the internet age; it’s nearly impossible to keep secrets from an empowered community. More and more it’s backlash from the public driving the change that for decades has failed to materialise.
Rockhampton (QLD)’s pound has a problem with flooding, and a problem with pets being stolen, and a problem with parvo and a problem with facilities being a run down pile of crap:
“As far as the location of the Rockhampton city pound, it is in a flood prone area beside the sewage treatment works and it’s not a very nice location,” says (Councillor Tony Williams). (ref)
But mostly they have a problem with animals ending up dead;
(Compliance officer Chris Phillips) admitted just 11% of cats survive a spell at the pound and during April only seven of the hundreds of animals taken to the pound were rehoused by the council.
Council killed 300 of the 436 pets impounded in the month of March alone, but it’s not their fault – obviously – the killing is the public’s fault;
… several councillors used a debate this week to blame society. Cr Cherie Rutherford said it was disturbing to see what little regard people had for animals and Cr Graeme Brady said everywhere you went in Rockhampton wandering dogs were a problem. (ref)
Cr Tony Williams said the problem was that some people treated pets as a disposable item. “Pets are for life, not just three months, but sadly not everyone sees it that way,” he said. (ref)
And the killing most certainly has nothing to do with the pound being open for adoptions one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon and lost pets only being held for 72hrs before being destroyed.
After receiving a bollocking by the community’s pet lovers and the local media “…meetings were held between RSPCA, Capricorn Animal Aid, and Council to look at improving rehoming rates.”
Ironically, only because of backlash by the same ‘irresponsible public’ so quickly condemned by Council, is the pound being held accountable. For the first time in decades, pets may given the chance to survive an interaction with the pound.
Just four hours out of Sydney, Parkes Shire Council Pound has a problem; they get in one pet a day and gosh darn it, they have to kill it;
Parkes Shire Council has expressed concern regarding the number of dogs and cats being impounded and euthanized on a weekly basis within the district.
…
Last month a total of 28 dogs and six cats were impounded of which 26 were destroyed.
Despite a requirement in the NSW code of practice for pounds & shelters to make an effort to rehome healthy pets, Parkes’ remarkable effort to kill just about every pet that comes through their doors is explained away simply in their annual report;
“Council does not have any practical alternative available to rehome dogs and cats. During 2009/10 no dogs or cats were rehomed.”
108 cats and 337 dogs were killed in the 2009/10 financial year. Given its very hard to adopt a dead animal, these guys were never given a chance.
After the plight of pets being highlighted in the media, there was outrage from the Parkes’ community. Parkes Council was unrepentant – it’s the ‘irreponsible owners’ dontchya know?
Parkes Shire Council wants the state government to conduct a public awareness campaign highlighting the obligations of owners.
Early last year the repulsive Blacktown Pound (NSW) ‘bidding’ process and pound procedures came under the scrutiny of the local community. Not only were small desirable breeds being sold undesexed to the highest bidder (often breeders who could recoup costs from selling pups), but potential adopters were being sent away empty handed when their bids were unsuccessful. Despite dozens of bidders on some animals, in 2008, 1419 dogs and 3146 cats were put down at the council facility.
Thanks to persistent public pressure, the council is now looking to make significant changes to their operating procedures;
Blacktown councillors voted to adopt recommendations made in two reports about pound operations and policy.
Former veterinarian and RSPCA boss Mark Lawrie compiled the reports, which say the desexing of animals given new homes may reduce the number of unwanted offspring returned to the pound.
Dr Lawrie says the tender system, which requires prospective pet-owners to outbid each other, should be changed to a fixed-price system.
He also said pound buildings and animal housings are run-down.
Dr Lawrie’s reports said it would cost a lot, but that newer facilities should be built.
Advocates will be watching with interest to see if Council implement the changes as recommended, or continue to allow thousands of pets to be killed unnecessarily while potential families flock to more cooperative sources of pets; pet stores and trading post breeders.
In the US, where animal welfare reform is well and truly underway, animal control agencies are slamming door on public scrutiny. We’d do well to learn from their experiences;
FixAustin.org’s Ryan Clinton, who has seen his community go from killing the majority of its homeless dogs and cats to saving more than 90 percent of them for six months in a row this year, sees such activism as democracy at its best.
“It should be uncontroversial that an agency doing the work of the people, and paid for with the people’s hard-earned money, should reflect the will of the people,” he said.
“But too often, animal-control agencies facing calls for reform behave more like authoritarian regimes than arms of a democracy, circling their wagons, deflecting blame, and becoming less rather than more transparent.”
He said the only reason any organization would take such actions is that it assumes the animal-loving public will give up.
“While that does happen in some places,” he said, “in others the public only fights harder. I think the lesson from Austin is that if a community of animal lovers fights inhumane sheltering practices long enough, smart enough and tough enough, that community can prevail.”
And we will prevail here in Australia too.
Coming soon; good news for pets – pounds who save lives
See also: How to save 110 pets in three days
