The Neonates Need Not be Killed

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From Feb 28. 2006 to March 1, 2007, 7,314 unweaned kittens were impounded by LAAS. 5,624 were killed, or 77%. New Hope got 1,238, 242 were adopted, and 184 were fostered.

Ms. Kogut says of Charlottesville:

"The neonatals are easy, you need to find foster homes. About 1,700 animals went into foster care for us out of 5,000. There is some duplication in those numbers. For instance, if a litter of (10) pups went into foster and the foster went out of town, and the same litter went into another foster home, that would count as 20 (our computer systems track it that way)."

"Nonetheless, that is the answer to motherless kittens. People just assume that fosters are impossible to find. But that is not the case, fostering catches on, the more you get the more those fosters bring in new fosters. We have people who love fostering kittens. When one litter is old enough for adoption, they will bring them back in and pick up another litter. They are truly unbelievable. You just have to make it a good experience. As we fostered more, quite frankly our adoptions went up (which meant more adoption fees)."

So, Charlottesville with 1,700 unweaned kittens, saved all but the sick or injured, while LA, with only a little more than four times the number of neonates in Charlottesville, saved only 23% through New Hope and adoptions. Fosters accounted for only 2.5%. LAAS needs to put a lot of effort into its foster programs.

Susanne also said that rescue groups were less significant for their program than here, because in Charlottesville, rescuers take more out of higher kill local area shelters in neighboring areas than from CSPCA.

Of course, then the problem becomes adopting more kittens. But Kogut states that as fosters went up, so did adoptions and income.

Everyone considered the neonates an insoluble problem, just as they do here, but Charlottesville then solved it. The same with kittens; this would be another insoluble problem until an answer is found.

But you see, other problems will always arise and the point is to have people that can solve them. It appears the answer is compassion, energy, commitment and work, along with a strong dollop of ingenuity.
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Regarding Boks, she states that LA is a different bird than Charlottesville and everything takes more time even to get basics in place.
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