26/06/2020
I need your help. If you or someone you know found an animal who needed assistance but was turned away by a local shelter because they were closed during the pandemic or not providing assistance for some animals, I want to hear from you for an article. (You can contact me here: nokilladvocacycenter.org/contact.html.)
As posted on the No Kill Advocacy Center page today, the North Little Rock Animal Shelter in Arkansas adopted out every single animal. “This comes after the shelter battled with overcrowding,” notes the shelter’s director and he says, “the shelter opening up to the public on June 1 played a big role in all the animals being adopted”: https://bit.ly/31klhM7.
When closed, “the shelter battled with overcrowding.” When it opened, “all the animals [were…] adopted.” A shelter which is open for adoptions will adopt our more animals than one which is not. That should go without saying. In fact, it seems akin to saying the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West. But unfortunately, in an age when organizations, like the National Animal Control Association (NACA), are telling shelters to leave kittens in the street, to tell people who find lost dogs to turn them loose: https://bit.ly/34Evsuy, and when some local directors, like Don Bland of the Austin Animal Center, want to make those policies permanent: https://bit.ly/3dCm7Gy, it is not.
A commitment to protect people is not mutually exclusive with protecting animals in shelters. When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo closed much of the state, for example, he exempted animal care and rescue as “essential services”: https://bit.ly/34cknAB. Our fellow (non-human) Americans are completely reliant on us to ensure their welfare and by eliminating services, especially adoptions, we are not living up to our responsibilities. We owe them the protection that is their right as dependents in our social contract and as residents of our mixed human-animal community.
Many shelters lived up to that duty. They embraced ingenuity, a “can do” attitude, and technology to save the animals, while also protecting the public and shelter workers. And thanks to an overwhelming response by the public, “they have placed record numbers of dogs, cats and other animals” and many, like the shelter in North Little Rock, found themselves empty for the first time in their history.
But many more, like San Francisco Animal Care & Control, responded to the current pandemic not with fortitude, not with compassion, not with a renewed commitment to lifesaving, not with honor or duty, but by closing their doors and abandoning animals to their fates: https://bit.ly/34Evsuy. In some cases, such as in California, they did so illegally as municipal shelters are required by law to take in stray dogs, regardless of the pronouncements of groups like NACA to the contrary.
I am currently investigating a case of a blind dog who was turned away when the shelter told the finder to turn him loose. In another case, the finder of an injured dog was told by the local shelter to leave him in the street and post him on Next Door. In still other cases, finders are greeted by answering machines that tell them they are on their own. Did you experience something similar with your local shelter? I want to hear from you if you meet the following three criteria.
First, it must be a first person account. If it happened to someone you know, I want to hear from them.
Second, It cannot be anonymous. You must be willing to put your name on the record.
Third, I need some form of corroboration, such as a photograph, veterinary record, report, or something of the like.
Again, you can contact me here: nokilladvocacycenter.org/contact.html.
Thank you.
-----------------------------------------
Who is Nathan Winograd? Learn more about me: http://bit.ly/2T1aaDT. Learn more about my approach to ending the systematic killing of animals in "shelters": https://youtu.be/JCTt5JppNA8.
