I went to our local Humane Society Meeting last night. They do do a lot to help the community.
They have spay/neuter shuttle that they have set up which runs every 2 weeks and they are looking forward to making it run every week very soon. Since Febuary 205 animals have been spayed or neutered through the program for lowered costs.
They have an educational program where they send a "newspaper" with animal news in it to 37 teachers and their students.
They also have worked with companies and distrubution centers around the area and they pick up food that had ripped or been dented. Then they give it out to people who have need of it in the community to feed their animals.
They have several Fundraisers coming up as well. There are 3 upcoming ones for this quarter a dog wash, sponsering an art show of a fairly local artist who is going to donate 100% of the profit back to the humane society, and a spegetti dinner.
That was all GREAT news and i was very happy to see that they were doing that much.
The newest peice of business though was a guest. She has been volunteering at our local animal shelter through a local college. She has seen some astoundingly horrible things. She has worked there though the summer and will be there til about half way through August. She is so upset about the conditions and the smell that she can not sleep well at night and can not eat while on duty, and she works upfront where it is clean.
Since working there she has asked them if they call to remind people to spay or neuter their animals. The response she has gotten was NO. The reasoning because they have a $55 adoption fee $40 of that goes to a spay neuter certificate. If people do not get their animals fixed then that money stays in the coffers and looks good for the bottom line. Also as long as they have animals coming in they know that they will have a secure spot.
She has noticed that there is NO medical help for any of the animals that come in. She has been upfront showing people animals in the front and watched a small kitten throw up worms infront of a little boy and his family. She has went to the back with a family looking for a puppy and noticed a pup that was bleeding from the neck. She told someone about it and they went and looked and the puppy had had a collar become to small and go into his flesh. She looked at the records on the puppy and it had been there for months so the collar had done that damage while at the shelter. She said that when they came back from a weekend there would be several dead animals that had to be removed from the cages. There is no medicines administered no kennel cough, no feline distemper, no worming not even basic medical care.
She has asked about over crowding because of the massive amounts of animals in the shelter. They told her that there is no such thing as full. She researched and found that the shelter should only hold a maximum of 125 animals. Right now there are well over that number there are 3 runs of adult cats with over 30 cats in each run, kittens in one run with well over 30-50 kittens, adult dogs share runs with 6-7 other dogs, puppies are in a run with 20 or more other pups. Animals are going insane , getting sick, and even dieing of "natural causes" at an astounding rate.
She has looked up the kill rate of the shelter for last year and it was over 7,000 animals that were put down. That is over the estimated 400 that the Humane society has on their web site. She said that while she has been there she has seen more then 100 animals be put down each and every week.
When she does ask questions of people they respond with well its better then what we used to have. The shelter used to be no more then a shack. The humane society and several members of the community tried to get the local gov. run shelter turned over to a private shelter so that more animals could be helped, but the council in the area would not allow that. They finally gave in to make a new shelter if the Humane Society could raise 100,000 dollars then they would match the money. The Humane society raised that money. With the money the Government was to build a new facility and the HUmane society hoped as well a small anex that would be used as a medical facility to help the animals. The medical facility was never built. They also gave money for the alocation to spaying and neutering animals. That money was put into a general coffer and still sits there.
This lady who has worked the summer at the shelter says that the people who work at the shelter do their job and are trying to keep up, but they are just not enough. Volunteers are pushed away because of the way the facility looks so that they will not question things. There is no word to the community about animals for adoption. No adoption fairs no public announcements no fliers NOTHING. When the lady asked about them they said that there was nothing in the budget for such activities or ads.
This lady is writing a report about how they could transfer the government run shelter over to a privately owned shelter and help more animals in need, by being able to get grants and other assistance, as well as volunteers that would give their hearts over to the mission of saving as many of the animals as possible.
Right now the Humane Society in the area is Hesitant to try to go after the government again. Expecially since they are already stepping on vets toes with their shuttle. They are trying to make good, but yet they do not want to make to very many enemies. It's a very touchy situation!!!
If any one has any information or has been part of a transition to a privetly fun animal shelter please let me know and i will give all the information over to this lady. I am trying to help her as much as possible, because i feel the same that something has to be done further.
My goodness, that sounds horrible! I din't have any advice for you but I can tell you that things are done so much differently here.
We don't have the Humane Society, we have an SPCA, which is also a private org. as far as I know. They recently raised funds to build a brand new shelter which is amazing, but they have kept the old shelter open for overflow instead of abandoning it. The new shelter has been touted as no-kill, but I do know that they put down animals that are deemed unadoptable for medical or behavior reasons only.
Anyway, all animals that go through the shelter are spayed or neutered BEFORE they are adopted. You cannot leave without doing it, PERIOD! The adoption fee is $125, and that includes basic healthcare, spaying/neutering, and an evaluation by a trainer that comes in three times a week. The trainers are all volunteers, my trainer is one of the ones who does it.
IMO, their first step needs to be to raise the adoption fee and spay or neuter those animals before they leave the facility. They also may need to get better organized and think big with the funding. I know our SPCA had several huge fundraisers (think people in tuxes writing checks for thousands!) over the course of two years.
Do you have any colleges/universities near you? When I was in college, nearly all of the greek organizations did charity fundraisers every year. Ours was a the Walk-a-pet-athon, and we raised thousands for the Humane Society every year. Another option would be to organize something like that within the groups of volunteers.
Anyway, just some random thoughts. I am cringing at your report. It makes me so sad.
__________________
Blessings,
Amy
Mama to Brendan (08-18-98), Ian (01-15-01), and baby Connor (6-1-05)! Also mom to my beloved goldens, Haley and Chase
The Humane Society does not run our shelter the local government does .. it's probubly part of the problem since they look at the bottom line and what would help out vet business above the animals.
I hear things like this and I shake my head....and we still hear people NOT spaying and neutering their pets, because they will find homes for them?! Yea, great, and then less shelter pets will be adopted. I think it needs to be a law, like in places of Calif., unless you have a checked out and paid for breeding license, it is ILLEGAL to breed your pet, knowingly or not! Spay and neuter people!!!!!!!!! **We** cause these issues, it's up to US to fix them!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ugh, ugh, ugh.....................
__________________ "Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity."
George Bernard Shaw
Yeah there is definaltely room for improvement. The vets around here charge OUTSTANDING fees just to spay and neuter. The cheapest was like $120, so the $40 that goes for spay and neuter from the adoption cost does not do much good. The shuttle that the Humane Society runs they offer $45 for male cats $50 for female cats and $55 for dogs ( i think thats right ), but the shelter will not give money back to those people who are spaying and neutering though that program. If they did it was cost $5-$15 to get an animal fixed. That is a low enough price to where people would get all their animals fixed instead of having to deal with all those puppies and kittens that their animal could produce.
Awwww, yes. North Carolina. I didn't read your whole post so you may have mentioned it, but they probably use gas chambers instead of drugs to put them "to sleep". (Not trying to start a which is more humane discussion).
When I hear people moan and groan in my community about our shelter, I just want to send them some info and pics on what seems to be the average shelter in NC. ALso, long time residents can tell you how it once was; not that bad but way worse than it is now.
You can always send me info and pics on animals needing adoption at your shelter. I really feel for them and will pass that info on.
I wish that our Local Humane Society had a real physical shelter. I think it would be much better run. Right now the Humane Society has a " shelter" which is just a web of foster parents. They list them on petfinder to try and find them homes. There is a real big problem with finding good forever homes for big dogs.
Sorry i haven't been back in a while, I have been trying to get caught up as school has started back for me. Best of all i am in web development class and i wanted to make a Web site for the Humane Society and i found out that i can use it as my final project !!! So i can kill 2 birds with 1 stone .. so to say *lol*
I think it needs to be a law, like in places of Calif., unless you have a checked out and paid for breeding license, it is ILLEGAL to breed your pet, knowingly or not! Spay and neuter people!!!!!!!!! **We** cause these issues, it's up to US to fix them!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
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