06/10/2022
UPDATE: Andrea here! I just called to speak with my Council person, Councilor Fowler. The called rolled over to the generic City Council number and I left a message for Councilor Fowler with the staffer, who she said was unavailable today. I told her I was also wanting to speak with the Council Chair and Vice-Chair and asked if she was taking messages for them, as well. She replied yes and suggested I send an email, to which I replied my emails have gone unanswered in the past. Please still call and leave a message about at least adding another vet to TAW staff!!
Dear fellow rescues and animal advocates,
If your experiences are anything like ours, you may be feeling overwhelmed with the number of animals that need help in the Tulsa area. You may be on intake hold, or stressing out trying to find fosters and taking endless phone calls asking for help. Or you may be seeing the constant influx of posts on social media with tragic story after tragic story. Does it feel like there are more animals needing help than ever before? Do you find yourself crying more often, the compassion fatigue setting in hard? Are you at the end of your rope?
We have done all we can to try and stem the never-ending tide of homeless and hurting animals. Rescues, fosters, and animal supporters across Green Country have stepped it up. But there is only so much we can do if our government leaders won’t help us. We have done our part, now it's time for them to do theirs.
We are asking all rescues and supporters to join us in asking our local leaders to do something to help. Although many have emailed, called, and spoken to their representatives, they must still be unaware of just how bad things have gotten. It is our job to speak for the animals and make sure their voices are heard. We need to inform Tulsa’s leaders about how bad things are right now, because according to their budget plans, THEY DON’T SEEM TO KNOW.
At last night's City Council meeting, City councilor Lori Decter Wright proposed using funding from the public safety sales tax for the police real-time information center. This would open up $2.5 million dollars in one-time funding and potentially ongoing funding for staff positions from the general fund. Councilor Decter Wright said she would support discussing other ways to use this money during city council meetings next Wednesday June 15th. Yesterday, many citizens asked councilors at the council meeting to use the money for homelessness and housing initiatives. These are certainly important endeavors. But even a small piece of the pie going to animal welfare could make a big difference and this is a major public safety issue as we all know! The argument that human needs are more important than animal needs is part of the reason why the animal shelter has been chronically underfunded for years.
This funding could be used to close part of the $2 million dollar gap in funding STILL needed for the expanded animal shelter. Or this money could fund an additional veterinarian for the shelter, which the current vet said would be the one thing he would ask for. He is currently performing 40 surgeries a day working between two surgical tables! A second vet at TAW was also one of the many recommendations given to the Animal Welfare Commission by Best Friends. The Commission brought these findings to the City Council, yet any funding for additional staffing was DENIED! The idea was that whenever Shelter management is hired, the council will take further direction from them. When is that going to happen? There seems to be no urgency by our city leaders to even find someone suitable for this role.
Please CALL your city councilor if you live in Tulsa. If they don't answer, demand a return phone call from YOUR councilor. This is important!! Make them hear you! Even if you live outside of Tulsa city limits and you rescue animals in Tulsa, you can email all the city councilors or the city council chair, Lori Decter Wright, and vice chair, Crista Patrick. If they care more about humans than animals, tell them your personal story about how bad things are right now in the rescue world. Tell them about the worst dogs and cats you have seen. Especially tell them how trying to help homeless animals in Tulsa has affected your life and health personally. Ask them to use some of the money that’s been opened up from funding the new police camera system with public safety sales tax money, for animal welfare...to finish the expanded shelter, or to add another veterinarian to the staff now. Don’t forget to thank the city council for finding money to buy a needed x-ray machine for the shelter, in addition to supplies and maintenance on the current shelter building. We appreciate those efforts, but this isn’t enough to change the situation that rescue volunteers are going through right now. Please ask them to help!
Find your councilor here:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d0d03cae97d348b9a67ed1eff92d6ca0
Mayor
GT Bynum
918-596-7411
175 East 2nd Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74103
[email protected]
[email protected]
CITY OF TULSA COUNCILORS
[email protected]
District 1
Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper
918-596-1921
[email protected]
District 2
Councilor Jeannie Cue
918-596-1922
[email protected]
District 3
Councilor Crista Patrick
Council Vice-Chair
918-596-1923
[email protected]
District 4
Councilor Kara Joy McKee
918-596-1924
[email protected]
District 5
Councilor Mykey Arthrell-Knezek
918-596-1925
[email protected]
District 6
Councilor Connie Dodson
918-596-1926
[email protected]
District 7
Councilor Lori Decter Wright, Council Chair
918-596-1927
[email protected]
District 8
Councilor Phil Lakin Jr.
918-596-1928
[email protected]
District 9
Councilor Jayme Fowler
918-596-1929
[email protected]