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Friday, January 23, 2009
Oakland Animal Shelter's numbers for 2008 are in. They tell us that we're intaking more dogs (a 30% increase since 2005), adopting more out (dog adoptions are up 63% from 2007) and euthanizing, well... a LOT of adoptable and treatable dogs are still dying.
In short, there were more dogs-in-crisis in 2008, so keeping euthanasia numbers from skyrocketing right along with the intake increase meant running faster/harder on the daily treadmill.
We'd all like to take a little credit for the good stuff: the bulk of BAD RAP's celebrated shelter dogs came from OAS in '07-8, and the staff worked ball-busters to advertise pets, recruit volunteers and generally kick ass in the adoption department.
But certain realities keep dogging us. Despite best efforts, adoptable larger breeds including pit bulls and scared, undersocialized small dogs are the most likely to be walked down to the e-room in our fair city. No sooner are two dogs placed when 10 more come in the door. Ditto for most other urban areas. It's hard to know who to 'blame' for this trend, although it's not too far off to point to the ever-busy fad train for feeding impulse purchases to uncommitted homes. This, at a time when the housing crisis is giving even the most committed homes the tightest squeeze seen in many years.
Some say blaming breeding trends is misdirected. The popular Pet Connection blog ran an interesting entry this week entitled - ironically - "Finding a nice puppy should not be this hard."
In discussing VP Biden's decision to buy a puppy, Christie Keith sympathizes with breeders who've apparently been shamed into secrecy due to popular catch-phrases such as "don't buy while shelter animals die." She argues that, according to 'No-Kill' philosophy, "dogs die in shelters not because of “irresponsible pet owners” or “greedy breeders” but because of the shelters’ own policies and actions." She tells us that pet overpopulation talk is "big huge heap of propaganda" meant to push "home-based" breeders underground. Huh.
Above: Tight belly. They're a rare sight in shelter populations. The majority of mature females that came into OAS in '08 had previously whelped at least one litter for their home-based breeders.
So, do we suck? Are we to blame for dying dogs? ... Er. Is assigning blame even helpful?
Or. Maybe pit bulls don't get to be counted in this discussion (and if not, WHY not?)
Overpopulation is a condition where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. - Wikipedia
Clearly, we live in a different reality from dog shoppers like VP Biden. Woe are the fad breeds who spill outside of a community's capacity to embrace them for their full natural lives. Urban breeders - especially those who cooly reject shelter realities and/or who surrender their unlicensed pets to be destroyed rather than reclaim them altered - are a mysterious bunch. Are they exploiting their brood stock for purely selfish purposes, or simply trying to pay the rent & feed the kids? Are they faithfully following cultural norms? Working to improve the breed? (A surprising number of OAS dogs are surrendered with their pedigree. Owners presume the papers will improve their adoption potential.) Maybe they're people who simply can't afford to fix their pet? Or fanciers who want to ensure that their breed survives into infinity, offering up individual dogs as war time collateral to the purpose of spreading their favorite dogs' genetics far and wide. Most likely, they're all the above, and then some. Above: We tried, but the breeder of these pups wanted to keep them intact to increase their street value.Whatever your theory on the whys of the incoming, it's comforting to see a new trend in the shelter world that embraces pit bulls and works to find them homes. The dogs may be overpopulated, but they also have good soldiers on their side who are working hard despite the sadness and pressures and - more recently - divisive blame tactics that condemn them for not doing enough.
I won't give OAS's exact "kill" numbers here because, like many shelters today, they're understandably sensitive about being blamed for having to PTS for space. Besides, numbers tend to mire us down and lock us inside our busy little heads. The dogs deserve more action; less talk.
We shouldn't judge shelters based on numbers, but rather, their attitudes towards the dogs that depend on them. For example, readers know that we're less-than-impressed with No-Kill Model SF's approach that stereotypes pit bulls, but overjoyed by 'high-kill' shelters' work to debunk the tired myths that condemn the breed and discourage adoptions. When Hillsborough County Tampa agreed to offer two kennels for pit bull ambassadors, we cheered. Ambassadors! These few dogs didn't raise their live release stats in any significant way, but they signaled a wonderful shift in consciousness in that shelter, and ultimately, that community. Suddenly, pit bulls can be embraced rather than labeled and blamed. And now, the public can enjoy a shelter's pride rather than a society's shame.
Even private shelters are getting caught up in the spirit of positive promotion: Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society deserves kudos for cooperating with Chicago Animal Care and Control to select and promote great dogs."This adoption program is designed to find some very special dogs new homes." - Bully Buddies page, Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society
"Special dogs" - not "high risk" dogs. And instead of "additional requirements," they receive "additional benefits." Rock on, Chicago.
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