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Originally Posted by Woogie Man  Thanks for posting the link, Cindy. Comparing performance is a good way to rate shelters against each other. Though no two situations are the same, there has to be some way to objectively rate shelters.
I can see that Tucson's budget is relatively the same as HSSM's per animal taken in. What I notice (and I did just a quick look) is that Tucson's kill rate is around 20% while HSSM's is closer to 50%. Also, it seems like there are more education and community outreach programs in Tucson than here. While they both take in a lot of money and both do euthanize, comparing the two kind of validates for me that some shelters just do a better job with what they have.
Also, if you look at the numbers, the majority of Tucson's animals were either strays or owner surrender. I had a gut feeling that would be the case. That's why I think the community outreach is so important.
You asked my age...I'm 53 and when I was growing up, almost everyone had a dog but they were almost all mutts. Usually, someone's girl would have a litter and they would give them away to folks they knew. It was all pretty manageable. We had a small city pound at the time to handle strays. Being just a kid then, I don't know for sure but i don't think 'owner surrender' was much of an issue then. People simply took care of what they had. They may not have taken great care by today's standards, but they didn't discard them when they became inconvenient, either.
You're right...I didn't really question our shelter until the arrest of the no-kill operator on animal cruelty charges. I knew that whole business just stunk and started to wonder about what's really going on around here. Well, little by little, a picture is starting to come together and it ain't pretty. |
I haven't had time to look at the two as I had to wash some dogs...
Here is a wonderful overview of Best Friends and this is how a shelter should be IMHO...This was the organization that took Michael Vicks dogs in and now they are all in new homes..
I prefer their approach more than any of the other organization...
Best Friends Animal Society is guided by a simple philosophy: kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us. In the late 1980s, when Best Friends was in its early days, roughly 17 million dogs and cats were being killed in shelters every year. Despite the commitment of shelter workers to the animal in their care, the conventional belief was that little could be done to lower that terrible number.
Best Friends' No More Homeless Pets campaign
created a new vision: A grassroots effort to place
dogs and cats who were considered "unadoptable"
into good homes, and to reduce the number of
unwanted pets through effective spay and neuter
programs. Since then, the number of dogs and
cats being destroyed in shelters has fallen to
approximately 5 million a year. There has been
much progress,but there is still much more to do.
The next phase of this work – bringing the number
down to essentially zero – will take more work and
some bold new initiatives. Shelters are crowded with
pit bulls, dogs abandoned after being bought from pet stores, stray cats rounded up on the streets and not looking their very best when they’re brought in, and other pets abandoned or neglected.
As the flagship of a grassroots network of people and organizations that care about animals, Best Friends continues to lead the way towards this future. And that's why our purpose remains: A better world through kindness to animals.
http://video.bestfriends.org/media/p/196.aspx