08/04/2023
This is my response to a post regarding yet another stray in need of help. Many people throwing names and contacts out there as if its a given they will solve the problem. This is any dog on any day, not just one specifically.
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******IT IS IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO UNDERSTAND****
The dog needs a place to go. HARTT isnt a shelter they are volunteers. Their garages dont have room for cars, they have their own pets at home to keep safe. They have full time jobs, families, and are constantly faced w heartbreak and frustration because theres nowhere for all these animals to land.
County has made it increasingly difficult for our communities to help these poor creatures, because they have been forced to do their job. They stopped the Laveen community from helping the animals by suggesting we were getting these strays by questionable means, even tho we had documentation on a social media platform from the first sighting to the end results (A included). They labeled us a "Third Party" and refused to pick up anymore strays from the community. Claiming our recovered stray numbers took an exponential leap from one year to the next. The reason for this was because our community on the social media platform went from a couple thousand viewers to ten thousand. Thats a lot of eyes out there driving to and from work, school, errands, shopping. Thats a lot of animal lovers working as a Village, and I mean a successful, caring community working in "Unity". So even the Third Party Coo couldnt hold down 10K strong so their solution??? >>>> The "Managed Intake" of strays because the community can no longer ignore the needs of these poor animals. The communities have spoken and our FOR PROFIT Government entity has responded by saying "If you cant help then let it go"!!!!!! They dont care that you are putting your pets and children in jeopardy by helping. They dont care if your clueless and have no idea what your doing. THEY DONT CARE. As long as they dont have to intake it, thats their goal Intake affect save rates. Thats why they have completely eradicated taking in cats. They use to charge $96 per cat regardless of it being yours, stray, or feral. But in the end, because the community picked up their slack, they had to give up their monetary aspirations because of the dogs, because dogs are more dangerous than cats and they pack up and now all their little tricks that they pulled out of their bags are catching up to them.
I guess it never occurred to them that after the influx of the housing boom and crisis that followed, the overwhelming population growth, the added cities that contracted their services, would bring an increase for pets in need. They chose to ignore it all. They chose to do nothing. They have now limited their hours of operations, (thanks to COVID) dropped their entire 2nd shift of Field Officers, alienated their Volunteers, are beyond short staffed and have focused their efforts by having a bunch of figure heads sitting in an office whom have never even visited a shelter find ways to stop the intakes for that bottom line! I wont even get started on the whole extinction of accepting owner turn ins.
THIS IS THE TRUTH, THESE ARE THE FACTS! We are so busy trying to take up the slack, do their job for them that we dont have any time to do what needs to be done to force them into doing what they are paid to do, by the taxpaers, for the taxpayers. They need to drop Managed Intakes it wasnt designed for a for profit entity contracted to take care of stray population. They need to go back to regular hours of operation, they are thee only Department and or business still operating under COVID hours. They will have to be forced to do this because it means more payroll payouts , more wear and tear and maintenance of equipment, hiring and training of more staff.
They will have to be forced to have more money added into the Budget for this as it should have beèn forseen back in 2006.
Herein lies the problem, the bottom line, Budget equals $$$$, Intakes affect the Save Rates, Save Rates are all the Cities look at when determining if they are getting their moneys worth...Our Moneys worth!
If we want things to change, if we want them to be held accountable and do their job that they are contracted to do we have to make the time and put forth the effort to bring change, to expose their blatant breach of contracts to those Cities that employ them, through taxpayer dollars, by taxpayers. Its not an easy fix. County has dug in their heels and the longer they stand in breach of contract w out retribution, the harder its going to be to affect change. The sad part is we shouldnt have to. Government entities contracted by Municipalities is always bad business.
I will end my rant there, cause I have to now go and care for my percentage of the fallout from MCACC not doing their job!
Feel free to share anywhere and everywhere!
Your (not always so friendly) "Neighborhood Trapper"
Jaime Garcia
[email protected]
Phoenix AZ 85041
