Animal Bloggers

Hello Everyone,

Throughout this blog we have been providing you with information about HOPE, a no-kill animal shelter, and PACC, a government funded animal shelter. It is our goal to have these two animal shelters work together to help the community of Tucson. Your question may be: What is the importance of having these two shelters work together and how does it relate to me? If you are wondering this than I hope this posting will help you understand the importance of having a no-kill and government funded animal shelter work together.

ITALY: an example of a no-kill area

In 1991, Italy proposed a law stating the following:

The State enforces and regulates the treatment of domestic animals, condemns any violence against them, condemns the bad treatment or the abandoning of them, with the aim to promote the cohabitation of humans and animals, and to promote public health and the environment. (“Law August 14th”)

This means Italy enforced a no-kill policy to any of its domestic animals. However, this law dramatically increased the number of feral cats and stray dogs in the streets of Rome (Natoli et al. 1). This created many problems: (1) the rate of dog attacks went up and (2) the spreading of rabies went up. In order to fix this problem Italy enacted trap-neuter release programs. In this program feral cats are neutered and then release back onto the streets. In a study conducted by Natoli and others, they found that colonies of cats were getting smaller due to the trap-neuter programs (4). The no-kill policy which Italy approved in 1991 caused a large number of animal problems and it has been a 10+ year effort to reduce these problems. It also reduced the chance of younger, adoptable pets being saved since many old, unhealthy pets were kept in shelters (Natoli et. al 5).

SAN FRANCISCO: lacking funds

On February 3, 2009 The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) located in San Francisco decided to shift “away from [their] ‘no kill’ policy to help close an $8 million dollar construction shortfall on its new $30 million hospital” (“Animal Welfare Groups”). Due to budget funds many of the programs aimed at saving cats and dogs in the San Francisco area have been reduced or eliminated. San Francisco’s SPCA closed its 30 year Hearing Dog program, “which matched specially trained dogs with hearing impaired patients” (“Animal Welfare Groups”). Also, their Cat Behavior program, which trained shy or aggressive cats to develop adoptable traits, was reduced. This caused fewer cats to become accepted into SPCA’s program and fewer cats are now saved (“Animal Welfare Groups”).


Italy and San Francisco show us that it is difficult to have an area that is strictly no-kill. For Italy, the number of stray animals rapidly increased which led to a number of different issues, and for San Francisco, they did not have the money or capacity to house all their animals.

This is what we believe needs to happen in order for humans and animals to have a healthy relationship: no-kill shelters and government shelters need to work together. If shelters like HOPE and PACC work together more animals can be saved and it will be economically possible. It is not possible for shelters like HOPE to dominate an area; this is because they do not have the funds or the capacity to save all the homeless animals. Also, government funded shelters are needed in order to keep more animals off the streets; this will reduce the number of dog attacks and the spread of rabies.

TUCSON: tying it all together

Here are some statistics taken from the Tucson Citizen in an article titled “Population boom hits local animal shelters”:

Pima Animal Care euthanized 8,369 dogs during its last fiscal year, which ended June 30, or 59 percent of the 14,177 dogs brought in. It euthanized 5,279 cats, or 79 percent of the 6,711 brought in. More dogs and cats are getting adopted through the care center this year because of its efforts to work with animal rescue groups. From July 1, 2006, to April 30, 3,108 dogs and 1,141 cats were adopted, compared with 3,106 dogs and 1,033 cats adopted during all of the preceding 12 months. (“Population boom”)

We believe more dogs and cats will be adopted if no-kill shelters and government funded shelters work together. This is because shelters like HOPE can take in the animals that PACC cannot keep.

IN CONCLUSION:

If HOPE and PACC, and other animals shelters, work together they can create a larger awareness about the treatment of domestic animals. This is because more can be accomplished when two organizations work together. Usually when more people work together more ideas are discussed and larger audiences are reached.

QUESTIONS:

1) Throughout this blog what are some misconceptions you learned about government funded animal shelters?
2) What are the advantages, or disadvantages, of having a no-kill and government funded animal shelter work together?
3) Do you agree or disagree with our argument?

Please provide us with any feedback you may have.

Thanks,
Team Animal
Rachel Maxwell

SOURCES:

“Law August 14th, 1991 #281.” Italian Law. Friends of Roman Cats. 29 Apr. 2009. <http://www.friendsofromancats.org/italianlaw.html>.

Natoli, E. et al. “Management of feral domestic cats in the urban environment of Rome (Italy).” Preventive Veterinary Medicine 77.3 (2006): 180-185

Johnson, Hope. “Animal Welfare Groups Protest SPCA’s shift Away From ‘No Kill’ Policy.” FogCityJournal.com. 29 Apr. 2009.
<http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/02/03/animal-welfare-groups-protest-spca%E2%80%99s-shift-away-from-%E2%80%9Cno-kill%E2%80%9D-policy/>.

Scheurich, Samuel. “Population boom hits local animal shelters.” Tucson Citizen. June 13, 2007.

The basics about Pima Animal Care Center

PACC volunteer – Jillian MacKillop

PACC is a government run nonprofit organization. This organization has an obligation to the public health and safety of Pima County, Tucson, Arizona and it is because of this that PACC is required to euthanize some of their animals. There are many misconceptions that Tucsonans have about PACC and other animal shelters that use euthanasia. It is my goal to discuss some of these fallacies and to clear them up. I am the only person in the group that is volunteering at PACC instead of HOPE and I have some strong opinions and reasons for doing so, but I am going to try to represent both PACC and HOPE fairly in the blogs that I write.

For this first blog I am going to focus on PACC’s policies and background information. First, PACC only takes in dogs and cats. They take in strays, owner surrenders, and animals that have been confiscated and are evidence in an ongoing investigation. Second, they do not reject any dog or cat and there are no requirements to surrender an animal to PACC. Third, there are many steps PACC goes through when they admit a new dog or cat. The first step is to enter the animal into the computers and assign them an “animal number” which is how they identify the animal throughout their stay and then they give the animal a series of vaccinations. After they finish the paperwork the animal is evaluated for behavior and health problems. Once they have been evaluated, the vet techs put dogs into one of seven sections and cats are either put in the “cat room” or in “sick bay”. The dogs are broken into quarantined, large breeds, dog’s “sick bay”, puppies and small breeds, or put back into the stray area. When a dog is put into quarantine it means they either have an owner, have bitten someone, or they are evidence. Animals are put into “sick bay” when they have any spreadable sickness, are recovering from surgery, or if they are being monitored for a sickness such as rabies. When a dog needs surgery but is otherwise adoptable, they are put into the stray section. When PACC receives an animal that is too old or sick to be put up for adoption then the animal is placed on a rescue list and can be rescued by specialized animal rescue groups or by individuals. Fourth, before any animal can leave PACC they have to be deemed safe, have gotten their shots, have a microchip, if they are four months old or older they need to have a license and a rabies shot, have all the animals medication, and most importantly be spayed or neutered. Fifth, PACC is not just a shelter; it “is organized into four major divisions, Enforcement, Animal Shelter, Licensing, and Public Relations/Education” and its main goal is “to protect the public health and safety of the people and animals within Pima County” (pimaanimalcare.org).

Thanks,
Team Animal
Jillian MacKillop

NOTE: The information from this blog was taken from http://www.pimaanimalcare.org/

The Process of Euthanizing Animals and its Effects On Humans

We all understand that the euthanizing is a sad process, especially when the animal is merely being killed because of space issues. But, what are the effects of the euthanizing process on the human care takers that carry out this sad process? Fact: Many of the people that carry out the euthanization do not know that they are going to perform this process (Rohlf 204). How would you feel if you were the person to kill the animal? What are some effects that happen to the people that do this?

Thanks,
Team Animal
Bozsho

Rohlf, Vanessa, and Pauleen Bennett. "Perpetration-indcued Tramatic Stress in Persons Who Euthanize Nonhuman Animals in Surgeries, Animal Shelters, and Laboratories." Society & Animals 13.3 (Sep. 2005): 201-219

What is the best way to handle the animal control issues we have today?

There is a general consensus that the euthanizing of animals to make space for new animals in shelters is a bad idea. If we believe this what are some other practical and viable options that are available to shelters? What are the actions we can take on a personal, local and national level? Or, if you feel that the euthanizing process is the best, why do you thing this?

Thanks,
Team Animal
Bozsho

Project Proposal

Hello,

Just in case you were wondering where exactly this project was heading and what the point of our goal is, here is some more information:

Our argument will be to compare and contrast two animal shelters located in Tucson, Arizona: HOPE and Pima Animal Care Center (PACC). HOPE is a small, nonprofit organization that houses a small amount of cats and dogs. What makes HOPE different from PACC is that it is a no-kill animal shelter. HOPE does not euthanize any of their pets due to old age, lack of space, or any other reason. However, PACC is a much larger, nonprofit organization than HOPE. It houses many more cats and dogs and has a bigger facility than HOPE. If PACC did not euthanize any of their pets its facility would have to be much larger and it would require more money. We wish to argue the fact that it is better to have an area where there is a mixture of both types of animal shelters.

In this blog we will provide information to our followers about the differences between the two types of animal shelters we are researching and they need to work together to help the community of Tucson. For example, PACC euthanized 59% of the dogs and 79% of cats that were brought into the shelter in the last fiscal year (Scheurich). However, more dogs and cats are getting adopted through its efforts to work with rescue groups (Scheurich). We believe that if we can get the two shelters to communicate more efficiently than more dogs and cats will find homes.

Thanks,
Team Animal

Scheurich, Samuel. “Population boom hits local animal shelters.” Tucson Citizen. June 13, 2007. .

The Basics about HOPE

Hello Followers,

Here is some background information about HOPE:
Hope is a very small animal shelter. There are around 50 cats and around 8 dogs up for adoption. Hope highly depends on volunteers to keep their organization running; therefore, it’s staff is are not highly trained animal care takers. HOPE also does not have much public media and is not currently well known in the Tucson Area.

The goal of HOPE’s organization is to raise unwanted animals in an “emotional and physical” manner, while promising not to kill any of its animals due to lack of space. This reason is why HOPE wishes to educate its audience about the reduction of euthanized pets. Since HOPE is a small, local, non-profit organization their audience is geared towards the citizens of Tucson. This audience, however, can be split into two different personas, or categories. The first persona audience consists of future pet adopters. The second persona audience consists of “pet lovers”: people who wish to help out HOPE by either donating money and supplies or volunteering.

So, why was HOPE built? Why is there a reason for this organization to exist? For starters, HOPE’s founders believe that animals should be “foster[ed] with respect”. They want no animal to be put down due to lack of space, bad behavior, or old age. They believe every animal has a second chance at life and should be raised in a healthy shelter until adopted by a family. Currently, in Tucson alone, over 30,000 dogs and cats are killed annually in various animal shelters. HOPE wants this number to drop. In order to educate Tucson citizens about the issue related to euthanized pets they built a no-kill shelter of their own. By doing this, HOPE’s goal is to influence the development of new no-kill shelters and persuade the other shelters around the area (and hopefully the state or nation) to do the same thing.

NOTE: All this information is taken from HOPE's website: http://hopeanimalshelter.net/