From Ed Boks' blog:
Los Angeles – LA Animal Services is calling upon all Angelenos to help the City of Angels reach a No-Kill status. During this time of year LA’s Animal Care Centers are inundated with lost and homeless cats. These cats have little chance of survival unless loving Angelenos find room in their heart and homes to adopt a cat or two.
Cats are social animals and two are always better than one!Many cats coming into our Animal Care Centers are orphaned neonate kittens; kittens too young to survive without their mother unless they are cared for by a foster care giver.
LA Animal Services is asking for people unable to adopt a cat to consider caring for these young ones until they are old enough to be placed through adoption.
Fostering orphaned kittens is a great family project. It teaches our kids the value of life and the importance of caring. It also demonstrates how we can all make a difference.For more information on LA Animal Services Foster Care Program click on this link.
Los Angeles – LA Animal Services is calling upon all Angelenos to help the City of Angels reach a No-Kill status. During this time of year LA’s Animal Care Centers are inundated with lost and homeless cats. These cats have little chance of survival unless loving Angelenos find room in their heart and homes to adopt a cat or two.
Cats are social animals and two are always better than one!Many cats coming into our Animal Care Centers are orphaned neonate kittens; kittens too young to survive without their mother unless they are cared for by a foster care giver.
LA Animal Services is asking for people unable to adopt a cat to consider caring for these young ones until they are old enough to be placed through adoption.
Fostering orphaned kittens is a great family project. It teaches our kids the value of life and the importance of caring. It also demonstrates how we can all make a difference.For more information on LA Animal Services Foster Care Program click on this link.
I think having a foster care program is wonderful. More people should get involved.
ReplyDeleteThat said, there are a few little issues. Remember the foster program last year? They got a few fosters.He added the foster category. Then fosters slowed. Then he added a released to foster category when the fosters agreed to adopt the animals because they didn't want them to go back to the shelter and die. There was a one month spike last april of 87 then no more. Then he got rid of released to foster but kept foster. He just got rid of foster and put released to foster back. A foster is just an animal that's still in the system and not saved yet.
They need to do a better job than last year. All they really did was get some people to adopt neonate kittens, which is actually fine but we need fosters who'll adopt out their kittens then take more otherwise you need a constant supply of new fosters, aka neonate adopters. There is a three cat limit in the city. One litter and you're over your limit.
Here's the one big issue. You find people willing to foster neonate kittens, great. What do you do when they are eight weeks old and can be adopted? Do you have homes for them? No. There are already 8 week old kittens in the shelter that didn't need nursing that aren't being adopted. Adding to that population won't increase adoptions of kittens unless you increase demand for kittens.
A last little issue is how do you get the fostered animal adopted? Do they just return it to the shelter at 8 weeks and hope for the best? Do they keep it at their house but the public can't see them to adopt? Do they go to adoption events with the kittens? There were some glitches last year. I hope things get worked out this year. I'd offer to foster but I'm at my three limit. I kind of have a feeling I'd have to get the kittens adopted out myself. That's not easy with all the kittens out there.
He needs to recruit people who've never fostered before, no more preaching to the choir.
ReplyDeleteMaybe turn it into a classroom project for teenagers. They foster bunnies already. Feed a baby at school, every day a different responsible teacher takes it home to feed.
Maybe have prisoners who want to help foster them. They'd love it. I'd love it if I were in prison.
Maybe community service centers. Maybe a police station can foster some babies for publicity or a fire department.
Maybe they can get Oprah to tell members of the public to foster, anyone, anyhow. We need new blood.
All current animal people are overloaded. And Boks can't overload them or give them sick babies. It'll just make them quit.
They should target retirees and the self-employed.
ReplyDeleteI think kittens need someone who's going to be home, if not continuously, at least regularly throughout the day and night.
Also, I too would like to see the 3-cat, 3-dog limits expanded. There was talk at one time about this- does anyone know if that's still on the table? People who are likely to foster/adopt are likely to already be looking after animals. It would be nice to remove or at least lessen the possibility of getting busted for people who are trying to do the right thing by animals in L.A.
poster three,
ReplyDeleteI think real rescuers should have able to have more animals as long as the animals are treated well and they don't negatively affect the neighbors.
they need to find people who've never helped the dept before. we need new blood, no more preaching to the choir. The choir is full