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From Winograd:
On May 1, we reported that Washoe County, NV (Reno) had significantly increased the save rate for dogs and cats only a few months after the Nevada Humane Society (NHS), in partnership with Washoe County Animal Services, launched an ambitious No Kill initiative. We received the following update from NHS...
After reviewing and reconciling the data following analysis of Year-to-Date numbers of dogs and cats entering Washoe County Animal Services and the Nevada Humane Society, it was discovered that due to an error, there was a 1% difference in the reported save rate for dogs and cats.
Bonney Brown, the Executive Director of the NHS, sent the following: "We're very sorry about the error." Sorry?
We say:
Since January 1 under Brown's leadership, with our support and guidance, compared to the same time frame for 2006:
The kill rate for dogs has dropped 53%
The kill rate for cats has dropped 47%
At the same time:
The adoption rate for dogs has increased 97%
The adoption rate for cats has increased 91%
Year to date, the save rate for dogs is 91% and the save rate for cats is 77%.
(These figures include animal control. They do not double count dogs and cats.)
Washoe County now joins only a very small handful of communities in the entire nation with a better than 90% save rate for dogs and is among the tops in the nation with cats.
But once again, NHS is not satisfied: "Our goal is to make Washoe County the safest community for homeless dogs and cats in the United States ."
The Naysayers:
(COMMENT by Muzika: This would include anyone with the initials P.D. who sends me a million comments (and emails) that no-kill is impossible despite an endless flow of evidence to the contrary, including statistics, all of which she says are lies, yet who never supplies any evidence that they are lies. Trust me, she says, everyone in no-kill is a phoney, liar, deluded or sick. I think P.D. must work for LAAS.)
Nonetheless, we have been hearing from bureaucrats in other communities who are trying to downplay, distort, and disparage these impressive achievements by claiming that the situation is unique, that their own community is different.
When San Francisco achieved success by saving all healthy dogs and cats city and county-wide in the mid-1990s, bureaucrats complacent with the status quo across the country said it could only be done in an urban community, not a rural one because of what they claimed were antiquated views of animals and poverty.
When No Kill was achieved in rural Tompkins County , NY at an open door animal control shelter (93% save rate), they said it could not be done in the South for similar reasons.
When it was achieved in the South in Charlottesville , VA at an open door animal control shelter (92% save rate), they said it could not be done in developing communities that are seeing tremendous population growth and urban sprawl because of the influx of new people and animals.
The developing success in Reno disproves that, too.
That is why the question of public vs. private shelter, urban vs. rural, or South vs. North is not relevant. The only relevant inquiry is whether the shelters are comprehensively and rigorously implementing the programs and services that save lives. If they do, they will achieve success.
We say: make the Story of Reno , NV the Story of Every Town in America .
The power to change the status quo is in your hands. No Kill will be achieved when citizens demand that their shelters fully and rigorously implement the programs and services of the No Kill Equation.
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