.
Ed Boks has blamed foreclosures as the cause of the huge increase in impounds this year that has led to an even larger increase in euthanasia.
I pointed out that NYC, which impounds about as many animals as LA, has only had a 4% increase in impounds and an actual 4% DECREASE in euthanasia.
People have tried to explain that away by saying there are more apartments in NYC.
That may well be, but NYC still impounds as many animals as LA (usually), which means those animals were staying in apartments, owned or not, and single family dwellings, yet impounds have not gone up and killing is actually down.
Now, a study is coming out showing there has been little or no increase in impounds in two other cities, further destroying Boks claim that increased impounds are due to foreclosures, or is he saying foreclosures are only affecting LA?
In fact, the largest increase in LA impounds is neonatal kittens. Foreclosures would tend to affect adult cats and adult dogs-especially large dogs more than kittens. Think about it.
Several of us have opined that the real cause of the increased impounds is that Boks had an unofficial policy of refusing neonatal cats, meaning more unaltered adult cats not , meaning more kittens.
Ed's policy of refusal dramatically decreased his impound and kill rate last year between May and October. Now his policy is coming around to bite him. maybe he thought he'd be somewhere else, some other city by now, and he thought the next GM would have to explain why impounds and killing were up.
I agreed with his policy then as it saved lives then, but I didn't see that coming huge increase in impounds as a result. Those saved kittens were never altered.
.
A lot of rescuers were for Boks refusing kittens. No one looked into the future to see the horrible result. People should have looked to the past, to Maricopa animal control. Boks did the same thing there, with the same result. I guess Boks hoped that the refused kittens would be killed by coyotes, dogs, dogs or mean kids. Enough survived to procreate.
ReplyDeleteI would rather euthanize a neonate kitten today than eight neonate kittens in six months. Boks did this just to make his numbers look good. Now he can blame the kittens on foreclosures. How come no other shelters have seen these similar huge increases in kittens? They've seen increases in large dog intake only.
Also note that puppy intake is down, because they didn't refuse puppies. Notice that adult cat intake is flat. Boks rationalization for the huge increase in kittens does not compute.