Support Spay/Neuter Program For Maryland (UPDATE)

March 5, 2013 by

UPDATE  3/7/2013:

There are indications that the pet food Industry is rearing it’s ugly head in the State of Maryland. It seems the Pet Food Institute, which is the voice of the pet food industry, has hired a lobbying and communication company for a large scale defamation campaign in order to stop the spay & neuter program in the State of Maryland. The lobbying company, Hubbell Communications, has done the same before in the State of Oregon and also tried in the State of West Virginia. They have created a Facebook page called SPOT Maryland.

Remember, while looking at the Facebook page of SPOT Maryland, they do not speak for the animals. They do, however, speak for the money, regardless where it comes from.

 

dog-mdEvery year about 96000 pets enter a animal shelter in the State of Maryland. In the average only 50% of this pets will leave Maryland’s  animal shelter alive. The animal shelter in Allegany County is the exception in the State of Maryland with a life release rate of  96% for dogs and 94.5% for cats in the year 2012. Many other animal shelter in the State of Maryland have a life release rate even below 50%.

The No Kill Advocacy Center has developed a 11 step program that animal shelters can implement to safe the lives of animals entering the shelter. One of the steps in the No Kill Equation is a affordable spay & neuter program. Some counties and cities already have a affordable spay & neuter program but many counties, like Allegany County, don’t offer such a program.

The group Maryland Votes for Animals, together with Legislators in Maryland and other groups, has developed and introduced a Bill (SB 820 / HB 767) to the General Assembly in Maryland that would offer a affordable spay & neuter program state wide to everybody. Today, March 5th 2013, is the Bill’s second hearing in the General Assembly in Maryland.

Here a short overview about what the Bill means and does:

The needless and tragic reality of euthanasia in Maryland animal shelters costs Maryland taxpayers $8 to $9 million dollars every year. A state spay/neuter program is the most humane and effective solution to save animals – and money.

The Maryland spay/neuter bill is modeled on the best and most successful programs in the nation, including the New Jersey and New Hampshire programs. New Jersey and New Hampshire have reduced their euthanasia rate by 61% and over 75% respectively.

The bill will generate funding from a manufacturer surcharge on already existing pet food registration fees. The pet food industry is a $20 billion dollar industry with excellent sales projections for future years. Of all the funding mechanisms considered by the Legislative Spay/Neuter Task Force, this source was found to be the most reliable, sustainable and fair. If the manufacturers trickle this down, the maximum impact on individuals would be $0.36/pet/year.

The spay/neuter bill would put a surcharge on the fee that manufacturers must pay to sell pet food in Maryland. If the manufacturers pass this down to the consumer, it would be less than $0.03/month/pet (dogs and cats only).

Only $0.36/pet/year to save thousands of homeless animals who are euthanized in Maryland’s shelters.

Remember, the pet food industry is a $20 billion dollar industry!

In other words, it is a great program that could safe the lives of thousands of pets in the State of Maryland. Please help to support this program by:

Signing the spay & neuter petition

Send a pre-configured message to your Legislator

For further reading:

Save Maryland Pets

Maryland Votes For Animals

Filed under Advocacy, Legal, Media, News, Shelter

Updated: Preston Co Suspends Shelter Manager After She Tells the Truth Publicly

February 5, 2013 by

Reblogged from YesBiscuit!:

Unbelievable:  Preston Co, WV required its shelter employees to work in a facility without heat or water this winter.  In a place that takes in sick, injured and otherwise compromised pets, heat and water are essential for maintaining health and cleanliness.  Never mind that the conditions are sub-standard for the employees and volunteers as well.

Unbelievable-er:  The county recently ordered the shelter to take in 100 dogs, goats, chickens and rabbits from a local seizure. 

Read more… 305 more words

Courtney-AustinPreston County, WV is about 60 miles from Allegany County, MD. Unbelievable what is happening to Courtney Austin, a compassionate shelter manager.

Filed under Advocacy, Media, News, Shelter

The Touch of No Kill

November 13, 2012 by 1 Comment

As the year is winding down, Allegany County will be celebrating its second year of No Kill.  As we celebrate life itself we also want to remember from where we came. The Allegany County Animal Shelter once was a typical rural  ”County Pound” with a kill rate of 86%. In the average every 2 hours a companion animal was killed until a hand full of people stood up to stop the insanity and demanded a change:

Today the average monthly life release rate is 94%. In the last 12 month we had plenty of challenges to overcome. Another kitty season came and went and with its terrible anti Pit Bull ruling the Maryland Court of Appeals challenged our shelter enormously. But in the end life prevailed:

The  Allegany County Animal Shelter Management Foundation started a capital campaign to secure the finances for the new Adoption and Care Center:

The plans have been drawn and we most likely will see the start of  construction in 2013:

Off site adoption events are a big part at any No Kill shelter. The companion animals at the Allegany County Animal Shelter of course travel in style to the events:

The Allegany County Animal Shelter also has many awesome volunteers and sometimes they tend to get excited about what they are doing:

Sometimes it is so easy to save a life. Food, water, blankets and lots of love do the trick:

On other occasions, it seems more complicated but no task is too big in Allegany County:

Terry Durst of American Rent All, and Karl Brubaker, Allegany County Animal Shelter director, pause after rescuing a small kitten from underneath the Crosstown Bridge on Friday afternoon. An employee of Creative Catering heard the cat crying and spotted it about 40 feet above the ground using binoculars. Jen Klingler of Creative Catering decided to rent a lift after being told that animal control and the fire department lacked the equipment to reach the stranded kitten. Upon completion of the rescue, she was told there would be no charge for the lift. Scott Hager of the rental company assisted in the operation. Canal Place maintenance worker Tim Martin had attempted to reach the cat from the top of a 30-foot extension ladder but the kitten ran from him. Klingler named the kitten Coalie and he is in foster care being treated for a cold, according to Brubaker, but will then be ready for adoption.

Happy Birthday, Allegany County Animal Shelter.

Filed under Advocacy, Media, News, Shelter

The lost dogs of Allegany County

September 17, 2012 by

Almost 90% of all animals that are currently residing at the Allegany County Animal Shelter are stray animals. They are picked up by Animal Control or dropped off by residents who found the animal wandering the streets. The Allegany County Animal Shelter does post pictures and description of all incoming stray animals on it’s Lost & Found Facebook page. The legal holding time for the animals is 5 days which is the time an owner can reclaim the animal. After the 5 day holding time is up the animal will be offered for adoption.

Despite of all efforts, many times the pet can not be re-united with its owner for various reasons. Here are some tips for pet owners how to make it easier for the animal shelter to find the owner of a pet and for the owner to find a lost pet:

  • If you lost your pet in Allegany County, please contact the Allegany County Animal Shelter immediately. Even if your pet is not there, leave your name, phone number and description of your pet. Check back with the animal shelter after 2 or 3 days.
  • Please post a picture of your pet on the Allegany County Animal Shelter Lost & Found Facebook page.
  • Please make sure your pet is wearing a collar with a tag. This can be the County registration tag, rabies tag or a name tag with your address or phone number.
  • Please consider to have your pet micro chipped.

All this can help to identify the owner of a pet and help to re-unite the owner with his pet.  Nothing can be more rewarding to see a lost pet re-united with the owner.

Filed under Advocacy, Media, Shelter

Hang On to a Dream

August 28, 2012 by

The number one cause of death for companion animals in the US is a outdated animal shelter system. Every year between 3.5 and 4 million healthy companion animals are being injected with sodium pentobarbital, an anesthetic agent blue as a summer sky, or just pushed in a small gas chamber, fighting for survival for up to 5 minutes while hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide is being injected in to the gas chamber.

At one point in time the Allegany County Animal Shelter contributed to this numbers, killing 85% of all animals that were taken in.  That was until November 2010, when a small group of determined people went to the Allegany County Animal Shelter and demanded to stop the killing of  healthy, adoptable animals and a change of philosophy in animal sheltering. One of the biggest challenges for the Allegany County Animal Shelter always was the shelter itself, a building that was designed to kill animals and not to care for them or provide long term housing.  Back then nobody really dreamed the big dream, to have a modern shelter that would allow state of the art care and housing for the animals.

Fortunately, the future has arrived in Allegany County. The Allegany County Animal Shelter Management Foundation, a non-profit organisation founded in 2000, which prior to November 2010 was primarily an advocacy organization that conducted adoption events and organized feline spay/neuter clinics, started developing plans for a new, state of the art animal shelter. Stoiber & Associates were hired to develop plans for the construction which can be seen below.

  

The 11,000 sq ft facility will be built in two phases due to cost constraints. Phase One will be 7,700 sq ft and house dog and cat adoption services in the new center for about $1.5 million in construction costs. Phase Two will be an acute veterinary care center of 3,300 sq ft that will cost approximately $900,000 to add to the footprint. When complete, the complex would be capable of housing approximately 103 dogs and 120 cats indoors in modern multi-purpose facilities designed to aid the adoption process and improve working conditions for volunteers and staff.

 

The Allegany County Animal Shelter Management Foundation also started a capital campaign to raise money for the new animal shelter. As part of the campaign the Foundation will introduce “Barktoberfest 2012″, which will become a annual event:

   

 

 

Several people from Allegany County attended the No Kill Conference, which was held in Washington D.C. on August 11/12  2012, including the Shelter Manager, Mr. Karl Brubaker, and the President of the Animal Shelter Management Foundation, Ms. Tina Rafferty. Peter Masloch of No Kill Allegany also attended and was part of the Panel “Reforming Animal Control as an Outsider”:

  

 

“Keep defying conventional wisdom. Keep pursuing your dreams. Keep refusing to take ‘No’ for an answer. Keep taking risks. Keep opening new doors. Keep entering new rooms. Keep exploring the Adjacent Possible. And together we will build a palace.” – Nathan Winograd

 

 

 

 

Filed under Advocacy, Media, News, Shelter

Update to the Pit Bull ruling in Maryland

August 7, 2012 by

The General Assembly in Maryland will come together for a last session August 9/10 2012. The Joint Task Force Group, a 10 member group that was created after the MD Court of Appeals ruling (Tracey v Solesky), will try to introduce a legislation that will prevent any Breed Specific Legislation that was created by the MD Court of Appeals. The legislation of the Joint Task Force Group, which was drafted after the hearing of the Joint Task Force Group on June 19 2012, will include strict liability for dog owners. Currently Maryland is a minority State for not having this strict liability in place, 33 States across the United States do have the strict liability for dog owners in place. What it simply means is that the dog owner (and only the dog owner) will be held liable for the actions of his dog, regardless of the breed. The strict liability will exclude the liability for Landlords, veterinarians, dog groomers, dog trainers and any other 3rd parties. Removed also will be the “inherently dangerous” section for Pit Bulls.

I urge everybody to contact your elected official and ask to support the legislation of the Joint Task Force Group. You can find your local elected official here 

Filed under Advocacy, Legal, Media, News

Why No Kill can not fail

July 20, 2012 by

Albert Schweitzer once said:

“A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.”

 

Not so long ago I was asked the question “when does No Kill fail or when does somebody declare No Kill as failed?”. At that moment I did not know the answer and I said “I don’t know”. I went home that evening and the question got stuck in my head. I thought about all the things I had learned about No Kill in the last 18 month, thought about all the things I have read. The tragedy from Austin, TX,  that unfolded in May 2012, came to my mind. I thought about all the challenges a No Kill shelter has to overcome, hour after hour, day after day, month after month. The challenge when 22 dogs are being  left at the front door over night or the challenge that a Court of Appeals forced up on a animal shelter when it rules that every Pit Bull and cross-bred Pit Bull is declared inherently dangerous.

The answer actually is very simple and it has nothing to do with numbers or statistics. No Kill will fail at the moment we stop trying, it will fail the moment we give up and surrender our morals, ethics and the respect and value for life itself. This is the advantage we have over a kill shelter, we try. Always.

The dog in the above picture  is Charlie. He was the first true survivor at the Allegany County Animal Shelter. Charlie would have been killed in the same week people stepped up and stopped the senseless killing. People have tried and Charlie survived.  Later on, many hundred animals followed Charlie in to a new life just because somebody tried and didn’t take a “no” for a answer.

The No Kill movement is full of people with  moral and ethics, people that value life, people that at least try.

I’m looking forward to see you all at the No Kill Conference August 11/12 2012 in Washington D.C.

 

Filed under Advocacy, Shelter

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