"RedRiver35" wrote in message
...

It is sickening the number of animals that this place (and others, I am
sure)
kills in one day because of the idiotic ideas:

1. Not enough space. I have walked in there several days when they
claimed on
their reports they did not have space -- 15 unused cages in adoption
(accounting for cages that are vacant when an animal is seeing the vet).
8
unused cages in stray-wait/lost-and-found. This is the most pathetic and
inexcusable excuse.

Most shelters are petrified of bad press. If this is the case (and please be
sure they're claiming to be euthing for space while these cages are open and
the numbers aren't coming from another time of year when it might be valid,
if sad), bring it to the attention of the local news.

2. Too many inappropriate judgements about nonrehabable temper. Someone
with
no training goes in and sticks a pen in the cats faces to see what their
reaction is -- a stranger sticks a pen in my face and I am going to spit
or
hiss or swat or what have you, and I am not even a cat. Inappropriate
procedures carried out by an unqualified employee.

Are you sure this is an untrained person? Is this the only time the employee
has dealt with this specific animal? Are the employees basing their opinion
or decisions on -other- employee's dealings with this specific animal?
We've developed a feline behavior consultant, who takes calls on various
behavioral issues and now does most of the running of the feral program (so
even those wildly aggressive ferals can find homes - or barns - outside of
the city limits, and the rehab-able "ferals" can be worked with by feral
volunteers and eventually placed in sometimes indoor only homes, sometimes
indoor-outdoor homes).

3. The killing of supposedly unadoptable cats who would actually be
adoptable.
How do they kill the animals, anyway? They won't tell me, or anyone else
I
have spoken with. Do they do a heart stick? Do they sedate the animal
first?
How well are the vet assistants trained? Is this their first job? Who
actually screened this person's background and personality to make sure
someone does not get a job there just for the joy of kiling an innocent
cat,
dog, rabbit, or whatever?

Wisconsin requires certification to actually perform the euthanasia. With
aggressive animals (or sometimes just unmanageable), they're given
intramuscular premix. It isn't the prettiest thing, but if we could handle
them safely, they'd likely be up for adoption. If they're handleable, it's a
simple IV injection. Staff does not get certified without having been
employed at the shelter for a significant length of time (I was there for
six months), and the director of animal care is very choosy about who goes
up for it (let's just say that there is at least one employee who is
entirely unsuited for euthanasia or for supervisor-ship, and she'll never be
up for it).

4. The person who runs the shelter tells me that I cannot be in line to
adopt
a 17 year old Siamese if the rescue groups are full -- they would rather
"euthanize" (they really like to use that word) her instead of "playing
games"
with me and letting me adopt her if the rescue group is full or only wants
kittens.

Again, try the media. Public outcry and anger may accomplish what you cannot
on your own.

5. The person who runs the shelter looks at me and asks me why I want to
adopt
an old animal, an animal with fe leuk, a handicapped animal, a supposedly
nonrehabable animal, instead of one of the perfectly healthy cats that
they
have "in the next building". What can I say -- if I choke her they will
never
let me back on the facility grounds (maybe I should, the animals would be
better off without her).

I have been around long enough to realize that killiing excess pets is
unavoidably necessary, and in some cases it is better than letting them
wander
the street to suffer persecution and abuse by disturbed members of the
public
at large, etc, etc. BUT --

My rage comes because the facility is not run well, they actively try to
NOT
adopt the animals, especially the cats, and when I do adopt an animal from
there they loose the paperwork, claim that they need to neuter a male who
had
been previsouly neutered (I talked to the vet who did it and had the
papers
faxed to me); don'f follow their own policy about making special
arrangements
to pickup an animal when I have to work late; they take a kitten who
spilled
her water all over herself, do not dry her off, and put her in a cage
where the
cold air conditioning will blow on her and she has no box to hide in;
they
don't tell you that when you try to adopt a cat who has been cleared for
the
adoption building that you must specifically tell them beforehand that you
will
accept a cat with fe leuk. They killed the sweet, sociable,
adoptable-temperamented cat without even asking if I wanted him if he had
fe
leuk. It did not occur to me to ask about this or reject him because he
had fe
leuk - after all he had been cleared for adoption. I could go on for days
on
this subject. Killing excess pets because there are no other alternatives
is
one thing, but this situation is made so much worse and so much more
tragic
when the facility it not run well and the animals are the ones who pay the
price for human stupidity, power games and inefficiency; and it is made
so
much more pathetic and down right mean, hateful and cowardly when they
insist
on using the word "euthanize" when an animal is NOT injured, in mental
distress, old, or too sick. They should at least live up to the
distinction
between the words, and use "kill" when destroying excess pets just because
they
are excess pets.

And that is just the local facility -- what about the one in your town?
The
one two counties over? In the next state?

Disorganization and corruption are no reasons for the murder of innocents.

Please catalog these offenses as well as you can and take it to the media in
your area. If this is a humane society, please contact American Humane. If
they have a board of directors, please contact them. Shelters that do the
things you describe give every other shelter a terrible reputation.