In January 2008, I started Saving Pets to give myself a place to bounce ideas off a very small group of like-minded rescue industry friends.
Back then it felt like there were only two voices in animal welfare; the major animal welfare groups saying shelter killing was unavoidable and the grassroots rescuer who didn’t really have a voice at all. However rescue’s ACTIONS revealed what the major groups were saying to be a lie as these guys could, and did, save practically all pets.
What seemed to be missing was the will to create a sheltering structure designed to protected animals. Rather the system seemed to be primarily devised to made mega-charity-pound providers rich. Saving Pets was my way to try and make this fact more apparent, so that grassroots rescue could be better equipped to agitate for change. We didn’t only know the public, but we were the public – and we knew the public wanted pets to be safe in the pound.
What you’re never told when you start an advocacy blog is that if it goes well, it’s not just ‘blogging’. It’s late nights pouring over FOI’s and the hodgepodge of data you get back. It’s thousands of words being battered into something resembling a useful idea. It’s pressure from your real-life to stop doing something that obviously makes you crazy. It’s the blessing and the curse of the mainstream media. It’s defending your ideas as they’re misconstrued across the every fucking channel on the internet. It’s trying to decide if you really to want to be the one who puts their head above the pulpit to meet everyone standing by with their missiles. And it’s a massive amount of stress as you pick the fight that might end your real-life career.
And no one tells you this because when you’ve got a bug up your ass it wouldn’t matter anyway – you’re an advocate first and a human being second. It’s either blog or spontaneously combust.
… seven years later (holy shit, right). And a brave new world I could have never imagined is our current reality. When someone as prominent, beloved and arrogant as Dr Graeme Smith of the Lost Dogs Home is jettisoned because of community pressure over high kill rates, ALL sheltering officials are on notice. Get with the program – quite literally.
No Kill is here, and anything less is no longer going to fly.
No Kill advocates are are more dangerous to the establishment than we’ve ever been, because kill-shelters have been stripped of all of their excuses. Killing will no longer be funded by the community with donations and people bequesting their houses. Killing is no longer an acceptable outcome to use tax payer dollars to achieve. ‘Pound performance’ is going to be on every council agenda in 2015. Defending killing while failing to implement the programs that can be used in its place, is going to be challenged until it stops.
Saving Pets has grown to have a massive following; more than 250,000 local visitors last year. This is a tens of thousands strong community movement – we love our pets and we will support those organisations who reflect our values and will protect them. And because No Kill is so mainstream, the blog is no longer needed. Saving Pets is no more.
Although the site going out on a high, getting rid of Saving Pets may seem like a win to those who wanted it gone. Kill-apologists have long used this blog as a weapon against me and any other projects I’ve been working on. They were defeated of course, because what they failed to appreciate is that any and ALL success I might be having personally, is a direct result of the life-saving thinking that has been discussed at length here. While – pleasingly – No Kill ideas are so mainstream now I no longer need to separate them from my day-to-day.
I still have the exact same goals. I will continue to, agitate for every pound pet to be safe, for the pound system to be the best in the world, and to call out anyone who stands in the way of this as an enemy to animal welfare… because they are.
This blog has survived many untold dramas, two human babies, and good times and bad. Thank you for reading. Thank you for helping me with all of your support and ideas. Thank you for being kind when I got it wrong, and for amplifying the message if I got it right. But mostly, thank you for believing a safe sheltering system should not only be a reasonable expectation, but a requirement.
This is not goodbye, but au revoir!
:)shel
www.savingpets.com.au
(PHOTO: ROBERT BEJIL)
You have been a magnificent advocate for the cause Shel. You can leave Saving Pets knowing that it was YOU who made a difference, YOU who alerted the public to the atrocities in our welfare system for animals and YOU who championed hundreds of issues and made a difference for the hapless pets who found themselves in our atrocious pounds.
I enjoyed reading your blog and whilst I am disappointed that Saving Pets will be no more, I look forward to continuing our friendship.
Well done courageous advocate!!
In 2011 when I moved from animal rescue to advocacy I found the Saving Pets blog. Your blog has been an invaluable resource, as a result the community are wiser and better informed, powerful stuff!
“No Kill is here, and anything less is no longer going to fly.” <<<<<<< Thank you for bringing No Kill here Shel – or should I say Merci x
Devo to hear that you’re not going to be blogging regularly anymore. The SavingPets blog is responsible for changing my mind, many times, and encouraging me to look for alternatives. There is a deficiency of similar Australian blogs, and this one will be missed. I hope you continue to keep the domain and past posts at least.
You have always been an an inspiration and at the front of all the action, if I missed anything I could count on you to bring me up to speed and keep me in the loop.
We may never meet but I recognise you as a friend.
Keep up the good fight
All the best
It’d be a disservice to your amazing work to call this a loss, as you’ve given so much through this blog.
I’m glad you’re bringing it to a close on your terms and, even better, because you feel you’ve achieved your goal. I’d absolutely agree with you that there are so many people out there now who can carry this work on (loudly).
But goddamn it, can you still do all them stats?
thank you for your hard work and tirelessly advocating for the animals. I have so loved your blog and been enlightened by many things. We need more people like you Shel. xxx
We will miss you and your insight, but it’s as good a time as any to step down. Thank you for your words and your wisdom.
Wow being involved in Rescue and advocating for particularly the Amstaff..staffy x..and bullie breeds i can totally understand you cop it from all angles, the good the bad and the ugly..and then theres the lil wins and miracles in between that keep you going against all the odds…ur an amazing inspirational person..uve been a game changer and as far as im concerned, you’ll be forever etched in the history of rescue as one person that made such a huge difference to so many lives and the way things are done moving into the future…i would like to see some form of formal recognition for this lovely lady ..i know whose name ill be putting on a nomination form for giving up their time and volunteering for a charitable cause for Australia Day honours..
Geez uve ‘paid it forward’ that far, i hope you find every happiness this life can bring you..love peace n harmony to you xx
Hi Shel, I’ve enjoyed your blog, informative, factual & to the point. I will miss your blog entries, but know you will find other ways to get your point out. Thank you gain.