I don't know when fees for moms with babies was raised to $40 for each baby, but it is having a negative impact. You don't raise fees on rescue groups in a recession. I have no idea what the fees were for kittens 2-3 months ago, or last year at this time, but kitten rescuers are telling me they are being killed by the new fees, so the cats are not being rescued and are being killed.
I tried calling several people in management at LAAS today and no one would talk to me. Everyone said they were not authorized to speak to me. Twice I was rung through to "administration." Once I was left hanging for 10 minutes until I hung up, and the other time I was told only Kathy Davis or Linda Barth could answer my simple question, "When did fees for mom cats with kittens go up?" It turns out they were in a meeting that never ended.
The Daily News and the Mayor's Office don't have a clue about the economics of running shelters.
I remember years back when he had to buy the mom and all kittens. It'd run $600 which was crazy. No one could afford it so all moms with kittens died. You had to buy all at full price.
ReplyDeleteUnder Greenwalt we could adopt a family for $75. This was the shelter partner program which turned into the New Hope program. This program made sense. Give a discount to help people adopt out the animals most likely to be euthanized.
Currently if a member of the public and a rescue both puts dibs on a dog, it goes to auction when they are available. This seems fair to me. City is getting the most money. They don't just give it to the rescue at a discounted price.