Boks-Style Math: 37 + 6 = 204

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Boks gets confused by his own numbers--again.

Ed Boks has a penchant for telling reporters what he wants them to hear vs. the facts, such as telling Dana Bartholomew that new vets make $92,000, when in fact they make $83,500 and the LAAS website says they make $81,000.

Yesterday he told Times reporter Carla Hall that LAAS placed 204 neonatal kittens in foster homes in March. He says the same thing on one of his previous blog posts.

If you look at the official statistics on the LAAS, only 37 unweaned kittens were placed in foster homes during March. Well, I guess a disparity of 167 kittens is conceivable using Boks-style mathematics.

I tried to see how he arrived at the number 204. Was it from a dream? Did he include San Francisco’s fostered kittens as his own? Did he accidentally add the fosters of the last three years and then multiply by 2? Did he include kittens fostered during February who were still in foster homes?

During February, 6 kittens were placed in foster homes and zero in January according the LAAS website. Altogether during the entire first quarter, 43 kittens were placed in foster homes by LAAS. The mystery deepened.

Maybe he included kittens rescued by New Hope partners, I wondered. There were 96 New Hope rescues in March. 96 + 37 = 133. Humm, that's not it.

There were also 39 New Hope placements in February and 18 in January.

Adding up all the neonatal fostered and rescued for the entire first quarter, we get 196, still short of the 204 Boks said LAAS fostered.

Maybe Ed, I speculated, was referring to "All Cats" fostered in January through March of this year.

So, I looked at the department statistics, which said of "All Cats," 37 were fostered in March and 6 in February, the same number of neonatals fostered. I thought maybe he double counted cats and neonatals, not recognizing that neonatals were also cats. But that only adds up to 74.

Also, I thought, Ed cannot be including New Hope rescues as his accomplishment, because New Hope placements have little to do with the department efforts to save neonatals except to supply the kittens.

So, I looked back at his blog entry, where he says:

267 dogs and 273 cats were euthanized in March 2007. 25% of the cats were orphaned neonate kittens (68). Thanks to LA Animal Services' Baby Bottle Foster Parents and many New Hope Partners 204 neonates were safely placed in loving homes in March 2007 and were spared euthanasia. (Orphaned neonates are kittens too young to survive on their own and require round the clock foster care until they are weaned at eight weeks of age.)

To me, it is absolutley clear he is talking about neonate kittens (He defined neonates as kittens too young to srvive on their own), and he talked about euthnaizing 68 neonate kittens. Then he said 204 neonates were placed in fosters and New Hope rescues.

So, I felt mystified.

Then I thought to myself, “Oh, I got it, Boks lied again.” With that explanation, I felt satisfied, complete, everything fell into place. Ed lied--again.
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