I really don't like bashing Animal Services or Boks all the time.
If you have any positive info, send it to me and I may post it.
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I was at West Valley again this weekend. It was not half so crowded as the week before, at least at the time I was there. One of the supervisors said that there were a lot more turn-ins than last week.
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I did overhear a vet tech, Greg, talking to a couple that had adopted two dogs. The couple had brought them back due to a skin condition. Greg told them the vet had diagnosed the dogs with (????) and told them how to treat them--which involved frequent bathing for a period or a simple solution of something or other.
Greg was friendly and informative.
The supervisor walked Simba's adopter through the process of getting a refund for the $28/each deposit for the Porter Pet Hospital unnecessary spays.
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Volunteers cleaning the front area.
The ogre avoided me. I'm going to have to stop calling her that. I'd call her by name but she never wears her name tag in front where you can see it; she wears it behind her back. Maybe she got too many complaints.
Mason went to file his complaint with the City this week and spoke to the Hilda Campos, the Hearing Officer for Don Cocek's Office.
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Upon hearing about West Valley not checking Foxy and Simba's spay status before sending them to Porter to be "checked," and Porter spaying them again even though they had visible scars, and then Porter wanting to charge the adopter for emergency treatment by Porter for Simba's secondary infection, as well at West Valley's continued refusal to return Mason's two kennels and one trap, she said, "This is the height of incompetence!"
Folks, why don't you return Mason's kennels and trap? Even if you lost them or some employee took them home, why don't you give him comparable or better cages/trap?
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Next time I go I am going to ask to see the sick cats and isolation room and ask the criteria they use to euth and what is West Valley's adoption/euth rate.
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The place looks so good, and ceratinly does not have that many animals showing, so why are 45% euthed or dying in shelter?
The other question is how do we get more people to come to the shelters? Call Oprah. Maybe the woman does have some function.
4 comments:
Have you told Nathan all this? I know all do not like him, but he is good for getting publicity when bad things happen.
They stole Mr. Mason's traps too?????
I think the Oprah show last week is why there were more people at the shelter. I think the returns are from adoptions from last week. People didn't realize what they're getting into. Animals are dumped or set free because they are unwanted. Generally, there are behavioral or physical problems. People don't realize this until they get the animal home.
I think the shelter should have told the person adopting the dogs with mites that they'd need treatment. They should tell people about kennel cough and URI so they won't return them. They should make the adopters feel great for adopting a shelter dog with little issues.
Good, #2. A rescued animal is a stray or rehab.
Can't call it a rescue if you're going to put it back or dump it back at the shelter or on the street and not provide the animal w/ everything it needs in order to fully regain it's health and sense of well-being.
So many go and adopt from the shelter and call those animals rescues. Then they're dumped again when people discover the problems the animals have either developed during their overcrowded stay at the shelter, or at home where they weren't wanted in the first place cause they ain't no longer cute litto pups and kittens and people are through w/ 'em cause mama boxer has had it w/ the litters and she's throw away material now, or people simple don't want to take the trouble to alter them, get e'm a proper dog house w/ a nice yard and someone's come after them to tell them they're a bunch of dumb ass idiots for adopting when they can't afford to properly care for their pet and give them the attention it needs. Ha! Long sentence. I hate dumb ass idiots.
I'm sorry but number two and number three are WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!
Are there SOME dogs or cats with behavioral or health issues in a shelter? Sure. But dogs raised in a puppy mill are going to be just as sick or troubled, or worse. And even a dog purchased from a non-puppy mill breeder still needs training. Never having been trained is not a defect of the dog.
I adopted my first dog from LAAS in 1998 and she was an angel then and she is an angel now. I have since adopted two more and they are FINE. So are the cats I've adopted there.
This whole notion that a shelter animal is necessarily defective in some way is BULL. Some of them are turned in for behavioral issues, but some are turned in because the family's moving and they're too uncaring to include ALL the family members. Some people just don't FEEL like walking a dog every day, or cleaning a litter box. Some are turned in because the person had no idea what having a pet involved, and the one who gets punished for their thoughtlessness is the dog or cat.
One of my dogs was bred and bred, then the family picked her up one day, took her to the South L.A. shelter and said, "We're moving. Can you put her to sleep?" Where's the behavioral problem there? Not with the dog.
ANY living, thinking being is going to occasionally behave in ways that are counter to what the "owner" wants. But that's not a defect. That's life, and part of what the privilege of having that being in your life is about.
Could shelter staff be more upfront about how to deal with training issues and health concerns? Certainly, but that would require that they themselves actually be properly trained, which as we all know is hit-and-miss at LAAS. And in one of the richest cities on Earth, a dog in the city shelter system should be having his/her health issues addressed. But again, this is LAAS we're talking about.
One of the nicest, mellowest dogs I know (and I know a bunch) was picked up off the street as a stray. My dogs, and every dog at the rescue I volunteer at was unwanted at some point. The "defect" in not wanting these dogs lies with the humans. The dogs are fine.
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