Pet Supplies Plus and CCHS are planning a party on Saturday, September 18, from 2:00 pm till 6:00 pm to celebrate Bill Craig's achievement of completing his 750 mile ride from Texas to Georgia to bring attention to the problem of pet overpopulation in our country.
A raffle and refreshments are in the plans, as well as tables and booths for a number of local businesses offering pet-related items and services.
Animals from the shelter will be at the event to welcome Bill home too - and maybe even find a new home during the afternoon!
Dr. Linda Baxter of Lakeview Animal Hospital will hold a rabies clinic. Vaccinations that afternoon will be $12 - $2 of which she will donate to CCHS.
Don't forget to check out Bill's website now, where you can follow his training regimen and track his progress once his ride begins on September 8 in Carrollton, Texas.
You can also print off a Pledge Form from the C2CR2C website if you'd like to show Bill Craig that you are in support of his ride. Mail the completed form to: Carroll County Humane Society, P.O. Box 1304, Carrollton GA 30112.
Bill Craig is a cyclist and animal advocate. He is organizing a bike ride from Carrollton TX to Carrollton GA (approximately 750 miles) starting on September 8, 2010, in Carrollton TX and ending on September 18 in Carrollton GA at Pet Supplies Plus. This ride will benefit the Carroll County Humane Society and the West Georgia Spay/Neuter Clinic and animal welfare groups in Carrollton TX. In 2008 Bill organized a similar ride from Dallas TX to Dallas GA
His mission is "to bring the message of "Spay, Neuter and Adopt" to as many communities as I can, making more people aware that it is incumbent on US to make a change. If you have a pet, spay or neuter them. It is really very reasonable in terms of cost, especially when compared against the cost of lost lives and illnesses that result from pets not being spayed or neutered. If you have room in your home for an abandoned dog or cat, consider adopting one and save its life, making a new friend in the process."
If you'd like to become a Friend of the Ride and help out with advice or publicity, please contact Bill Craig at: c2cr2c@yahoo.com. Be sure to check out his website too - www.c2cr2c.com.
On the evening of April 16, about 270 animal advocates from across Georgia and five other states gathered together in Douglasville to learn about the growing No Kill movement and how to implement its principles from one of its most forceful and respected proponents, Nathan Winograd. Representative Knox made a few opening remarks about the status of Grace's Law, the bill to ban the use of the gas chamber in Georgia's shelters. The Carroll County Humane Society collected several hundred pounds of donated cat and dog food for their Empty Pet Bowls program which provides pet food to those in need, helping them to keep their pets. The formation of a new grassroots organization in support of the No Kill movement was announced--more on that in upcoming articles.
No Kill advocates often find themselves in conflict with old-guard organizations, but animal shelters are supposed to shelter and protect animals, animal welfare organizations are supposed to protect the welfare of all animals, shelter directors and employees are supposed to be compassionate people dedicated to saving lives. Why then is shelter killing the leading cause of death for healthy dogs and cats in this country? Why have large national organizations like HSUS traditionally advocated that feral cats be rounded up and killed rather than trapped, neutered and released? Why does the ASPCA oppose Oreo's Law? Why do we even need Oreo's Law? Why are some shelter directors openly hostile to those who advocate the proven and lifesaving No Kill Equation? And what's up with PETA?
A wise man once said, "If you don't know your history, then you don't know where you're coming from." The first part of Winograd's inspiring multimedia presentation was an eye-opening history lesson. The story was familiar to those who have read Winograd's first book, Redemption: the Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America, but seeing it presented with historic photos was perhaps even more compelling and really gave a flavor of the changing times. He began with Henry Bergh, who founded the ASPCA in New York City in 1866. At that time cruelty was both rampant and generally in full public view. Bergh initially championed the plight of working animals--draft horses and cart dogs who were often beaten and worked to death, but he soon came up against the Poundmaster. In New York, and elsewhere, at the time, dogs were rounded up, often stolen, and brutally killed in public, usually by some combination of beating and drowning. The notion of an adoption shelter did not exist. Bergh sought to protect the dogs from people with some success. Similar organizations sprang up around the country. The city wanted the ASPCA to take over as Poundmaster, but he refused to compromise his principles. Bergh knew that his mission to protect animals from people was completely different from that of the Poundmaster, which was (supposedly) to protect people from animals. Saving lives and ending them are fundamentally incompatible. He feared what would become of the ASPCA when he was gone, and shortly after his death in 1888, his fears came true--his successors took the Poundmaster's contract and the ASPCA became the leading killer of dogs and cats in New York City. The dirty deed was done. So soon after it got started, the humane movement threw away its central core, and became hollow by choice. Thus began over a century of attempts to conceal the proverbial elephant in the living room.
Shelters adopted a three point plan for dealing with homeless animals: 1. Humane Education 2. Adoption 3. Humane Death* This plan was championed by the American Humane Association, founded in 1879, and the first truly national organization dealing with companion animals. This plan is still with us today and it has yet to solve the problem of shelter killing, probably because shelter killing is built right into it.
Since WWII, the public's attitude towards animals has been changing dramatically, and many have come to regard dogs and cats as family members The problem persisted and the nation's shelters were killing many millions of animals annually. In 1974, a group of 'stakeholders' met in Chicago. They included the HSUS, the AVMA, the AKC, and the American Humane Association. They formed a consensus about who to blame for the problem of shelter killing, and came up with another three point plan. They blamed the two stakeholders notably absent from the table: the public** and the animals themselves. The public, an easy and amorphous scapegoat, was to blame for being irresponsible. The animals were to blame for being 'unadoptable'--too old, too young, or imperfect in some way--completely defenseless scapegoats. The new three-point plan, abbreviated 'LES' focused on the public as the cause of the problem and it too has not solved anything:
The legislation was generally punitive in nature, and included prohibitions against feeding strays, limit laws and mandatory spay-neuter laws, all of which end up punishing the animals more so than the 'irresponsible public' they are supposedly aimed at. The education uses shelter resources and personnel to give talks to schoolchildren in the hope that so doing will make kids turn out better than their parents, but the efficacy of these programs has never been documented, and given the killing at shelters, the endeavor is hypocritical at best. The sterilization they advocated was to be done by veterinarians at full price, despite the documented success of low cost clinics, which existed as early as 1971 in Los Angeles. Cost is perhaps the most common reason why someone doesn't spay or neuter their pet, and these clinics reach a population not reached by private-practice veterinarians. It is a plan that sets itself up in opposition to the public and includes roadblocks to its own success, rather than being based on 'what works'. They distributed 7000 copies of the conference proceedings to shelters nationwide. The mantra of "the irresponsible public is the reason why we have to kill" spread like a virus. This holding pattern of 'adopt a few and kill the rest', facilitated by 'blame the public' continued on for years without anyone in those large national groups asking, "How do we stop the killing?" But people outside those organizations did ask the question, and the No Kill movement was born. An organization called Mercy Crusade in Los Angeles opened low-cost spay-neuter clinics and shelter death rates dropped. For every $1 the city invested in spay-neuter, they saved $10 in animal control costs. Sadly LA abandoned this model, began relying on legislation and saw death rates climb once again.
The second part of Winograd's presentation was about stopping the killing.
The No Kill movement saw its next practical application when Richard Avanzino reformed the San Francisco SPCA. He implemented many creative programs with the goals of saving lives and moving animals out of the shelter and into homes quickly--foster care for animals such as orphaned kittens needing bottle feeding, off-site adoptions to bring the animals to the potential adopters, behavior advice, city-wide trap-neuter-return for feral cats, socialization and training for shelter animals, pediatric spay-neuter, free spay-neuter, and even paying people a few bucks to spay and neuter their pets (which was actually cheaper than having to take in additional puppies and kittens that would result if those animals went unaltered). Public support for these positive programs was tremendous. The shelter got out of the animal control business and negotiated the Adoption Pact which extended the shelter's lifesaving mission throughout the city, something unprecedented. By the time Avanzino left the SFSPCA to lead Maddie's Fund in 1998, the community had seen the death rates of dogs and cats in its shelters plummet. The shelter became financially solvent and built a state-of-the-art pet adoption facility. They were close to saving every healthy and treatable shelter pet in San Francisco. Many of the programs pioneered by Avanzino are becoming more widespread and have been recognized as essential components of what should be every shelter's lifesaving mission, but at the time naysayers attacked them and denied that the SFSPCA's success was real. The mindset and emotional baggage that come with killing healthy and treatable animals day in and day out got in the way of adopting successful, lifesaving programs.
Sadly, when Avanzino left, the shelter's new leadership began dismantling its lifesaving programs and failed to follow through on Avanzino's accomplishments, pushing back the progress so many had worked for and believed in. Once again, animals were dying when they could have been saved. One of the people who had worked for and believed in the shelter's lifesaving mission was the speaker, Nathan Winograd. He left to take the lifesaving mission and the system that would become known as the No Kill Equation clear across the country to a troubled shelter in rural Tompkins County, NY in mid-2001.*** There, the death rate plummeted overnight, and the shelter went from killing most of the animals it took in to saving over 90% and has continued to do so ever since, saving all healthy and treatable dogs and cats, including those traditionally classified as 'unadoptable'--the old cats, the blind dogs, and so forth. Tompkins County became the first No Kill community in the entire nation, but once again the animal sheltering establishment did not celebrate--they ignored, denied and attacked. Others did notice, however, and began implementing the No Kill Equation in shelters around the country, adding Charlottesville, VA, Reno, NV, Shelby County, KY and others to the nation's growing list of No Kill communities.
According to Winograd, it all comes down to leadership. A committed leader is the most important part of the NKE, and merely throwing money at a shelter will not save lives in the absence of a committed leader. He emphasized that individuals can make a difference, and that the compassion of the many is more than enough to overcome the irresponsibility of the few. Challenges can be made into opportunities. The public wants to help the hard-luck cases, and the more usual animals as well. Successful shelters use creative marketing, capitalizing on everything from the Super Bowl to Arbor Day to promote adoptions.
He presented his own three-point plan for shelters:
It turns out that allying with the public, rather than using them as a scapegoat, works. There's strength in numbers. Who's going to save more animals, a shelter railing against the "irresponsible public" or one working with the compassionate public? According to recent data, of the 4 million animals killed**** in American shelters this year, 3.6 million could be saved. Why is this still happening when 21 million people are looking to acquire a pet, and 17 million of those have not yet decided from where? Shelters often have poor customer service, fail to market the animals effectively, are relegated to poor locations, are dirty, have under-performing staff, and charge high fees. People adopt only about 20% of the time, but if that market share were increased by just a few percentage points, it would zero out killing.
Winograd called for animal advocates to change their language to reflect the truth and to view shelter killing as a solvable problem. It's not 'euthanasia' if the animal is healthy or treatable, and it's not 'pet overpopulation' when shelters kill because they fail to TNR feral cats, fail to provide behavioral rehabilitation, use bogus temperament tests, allow animals to get sick because they don't clean or vaccinate, fail to market animals effectively, or kill animals despite having empty cages. The will of 3500 or so shelter directors cannot hold back the will of millions of animal lovers.He called for regime change, pointing out that no shelter has gone from a culture of killing to a culture of lifesaving without a turnover in staff and saying "It's better to fire a bad staff member than to kill a good animal." He pointed out that efforts must be comprehensive and vigorous. Token efforts will not do. No Kill must be institutionalized through legislation, so that reformed shelters stay reformed. The Companion Animal Protection Act is a piece of model legislation that mandates lifesaving and accountability in shelters. Oreo's Law, currently in the New York State legislature is modeled after the Hayden Law, which has been in effect in California for ten years. It would make it illegal for a shelter to kill an animal that a rescue group was willing to save. We live in interesting times. For over 100 years, shelter killing was a dirty little secret and went largely unquestioned. Indeed, it was backed by large, wealthy organizations which acted as enablers rather than problem-solvers. It is now being dragged into the light of day by the public, armed with facts and compassion, and fed up with scapegoating and lame excuses.
Also at this event: the Carroll County Humane Society collected several hundred pounds of donated cat and dog food for their Empty Pet Bowls program, which provides pet food to those in need, helping them to keep their pets. The formation of a new grassroots organization in support of the No Kill movement was announced--more on that in upcoming articles. If you are interested in participating in this new grassroots organization, you may email the author to request a volunteer interest form.
The grand opening of the new Carroll County Animal Shelter on Saturday, January 23, was very successful - especially for the 15 dogs and 4 cats that were adopted that day!
It's not too late to visit the shelter and take a tour of the new facility...and maybe even bring home a new best friend!
Carroll County Animal Shelter 770-834-8150 Hours: 10-7 Tuesday through Saturday; Noon till 4 on Sunday; Closed Monday.
Solar pool covers are used to attract and retain heat from the sun to keep water in swimming pools warm. They can easily be used to upgrade outside dog/cat houses to solar energy! With the solar cover, the temperature in the dog house could reach 70 degree F.even when the temperature outside is as low as 10 degrees F.
A premium grade 3 mil 12-foot round blanket/cover costs about $32. You might be able to get a used or torn one for free, if it's being discarded by a pool owner. They can be cut with standard scissors. Drape it loosely over your pet's house, silver side down, with full exposure to the south. Make sure it's secured with a heavy object, like a brick or rock or a 2 x 4. Note: be sure to check the temp because on mild days, the solar blanket could make the temperature of the house too hot for the animal.
Another good idea for feral kitties is to take a cooler and cut a hole down towards one end of the front just big/high enough for them to get in. Fill with hay, and you have an instant insulated house for them. It is easy to get hay into it and to clean too. Add the solar cover over it to shield the entrance and you have a very cozy house.
With the cold temperatures we have been experiencing this winter, you may know of a pet owner that could benefit from this information.
The Pet Photos with Santa Claws was great fun again this year - wonderful dogs and cats and their equally wonderful families. Our volunteers were at the Douglasville PetSmart on December 19 or 20, the weekend before Christmas, and they deserve so much thanks for taking time out of their schedules the busiest time of the year to help CCHS raise funds for its various projects. We won't learn till the beginning of 2010 how many photos were taken and how much we earned for CCHS, but we'd like to take this opportunity to thank all our teams of volunteers, pictured below.
The 2009 Carroll County Humane Society FUN DOG SHOW was a great success with everyone, dogs and humans alike, dressed in their winter costumes because it was an unusually cold and windy day. Please check our "Many Thanks" page to find out who contributed this year to make it one of the most enjoyable, despite the weather.
The "Fun Dog Show" quilt, which was on display at Rome Street Gallery and Art Supplies at 121 Bradley Street in Carrollton, and at Mayfest and the Villa Rica Gold Rush, has found a home. At the raffle drawing at the 2009 Fun Dog Show, the winning ticket was held by Joyce Brown of 768 Paynes Lake Rd. in Carrollton. Congratulations Joyce!
Van transport for cats and dogs with surgery appointments at our West Georgia Spay/Neuter Clinic in Villa Rica will now be available on Mondays, beginning Monday, July 27. Pet Supplies Plus, located in the Kroger Mall on South Park, will be the pick up and drop off location. The van will leave at approximately 7:00 a.m. on Mondays and return pets to their owners at the same location on Tuesday morning. For more details or to make an appointment for your pet, phone the clinic at: 678-840-8072.
For more information about the Humane Society's West Georgia Spay/Neuter Clinic, visit our website at www.westgeorgiaspayneuter.com.
Thank you to everyone who came by Dr. Jason Harden's rabies clinic/fundraiser at Builders Station on Saturday. It was very successful for the both the Humane Society and the dogs and cats who are now safely vaccinated for another year. Two little animal shelter kittens who were available for adoption at the clinic found a new home too!
On Friday, May 8, at Sand Hill Elementary School, CCHS presented a program to all the classrooms on two topics: how dogs can help people who are in wheelchairs do their daily tasks and how everyone should safely greet a dog they have never met before. Many thanks to Donna Neilson, her husband Jesse, and her assistance dog, Sawyer, for demonstrating and talking about how dogs help humans and to Laura Clawson and Jake for explaining the ABC's of meeting a new dog for the first time. And finally a big thank you to the Sand Hill patriots for donating food, treats, and toys for Carroll County's needy dogs and cats.
Here are some photos from the CCHS booth at Mayfest 2009:
The benefit sponsored by Illusions Gallery owners Joyce and Mike Gibson was very successful because of all the generous donors and the hard work and planning by Joyce, Mike and Christie. You can see a list of all those who helped make it a special event on our "Many Thanks" page. The two posters designed by Joyce, Mama Kitty and Lucky Puppy, are still available at the Gallery and on their website and we will be offering them for sale at upcoming events, like Market Square (May 2). Illusions Gallery.
Through a new portal system that CCHS has joined, the adoptable animals at the shelter are getting increased visibility and publicity. The portal distributes photos and descriptions of the shelter animals to several new websites. For many years, the animals have been available on our own website [www.carrollcountyhumane.org] through a link to Petfinder. Now they are being seen on Pets911, 1-800-Save-A-Pet, and Parade.com, the online version of Parade Magazine which is found in many Sunday papers. The best thing that can happen to a shelter dog or cat is for them to become a part of a caring and loving new home, and anything we can do to see that they get this second chance is our gift to them.
The West Georgia Spay-Neuter Clinic, a project of CCHS, officially opened on Monday, March 19.
It is located close to I-20 at 525 East Montgomery Street, Suite B, in Villa Rica.
Prices are: Male cat neuter: $35; Female cat spay: $50; Male dog neuter: $55 ($65 if 50-100 lbs; $75 if over 100 lbs);
and female dog spay: $70; ($80 if 50-100 lbs; ($90 if over 100 lbs). Appointments are required; phone 678-840-8072.
For more information about the clinic, link to the West
Georgia Spay-Neuter Clinic website.
The Carroll County Animal Shelter has acquired a new Avid microchip reader which aids in locating owners of lost or stray animals. If an animal has been "chipped", the Avid chip reader can identify the owner of the animal. Ask your vet to protect your animals by fitting them with a microchip. The Avid reader will also read Home Again brand chips.
These animal clinics and hospitals in Carroll County provide microchipping services:
The Pet Overpopulation License Plate is now availble. Funds from the sale of this special license plate will help pay for dog and cat sterilization procedures and promote education about the importance of sterilization. Visit the Humane Association of Georgia website for more information.
A man in Grand Rapids, Michigan incredibly took out a $7000 full page ad in the paper to present the following essay to the people of the community.
HOW COULD YOU? by Jim Willis, 2001
When I was a puppy, I entertained you with my antics and made you laugh. You called me your child, and despite a number of chewed shoes and a couple of murdered throw pillows, I became your best friend. Whenever I was "bad," you'd shake your finger at me and ask "How could you?" -- but then you'd relent and roll me over for a bellyrub.
My housebreaking took a little longer than expected, because you were terribly busy, but we worked on that together. I remember those nights of nuzzling you in bed and listening to your confidences and secret dreams, and I believed that life could not be any more perfect. We went for long walks and runs in the park, car rides, stops for ice cream (I only got the cone because "ice cream is bad for dogs" you said), and I took long naps in the sun waiting for you to come home at the end of the day.
Gradually, you began spending more time at work and on your career, and more time searching for a human mate. I waited for you patiently, comforted you through heartbreaks and disappointments, never chided you about bad decisions, and romped with glee at your homecomings, and when you fell in love. She, now your wife, is not a "dog person" -- still I welcomed her into our home, tried to show her affection, and obeyed her. I was happy because you were happy.
Then the human babies came along and I shared your excitement. I was fascinated by their pinkness, how they smelled, and I wanted to mother them, too. Only she and you worried that I might hurt them, and I spent most of my time banished to another room, or to a dog crate. Oh, how I wanted to love them, but I became a "prisoner of love."
As they began to grow, I became their friend. They clung to my fur and pulled themselves up on wobbly legs, poked fingers in my eyes, investigated my ears, and gave me kisses on my nose. I loved everything about them and their touch -- because your touch was now so infrequent -- and I would have defended them with my life if need be. I would sneak into their beds and listen to their worries and secret dreams, and together we waited for the sound of your car in the driveway.
There had been a time, when others asked you if you had a dog, that you produced a photo of me from your wallet and told them stories about me. These past few years, you just answered "yes" and changed the subject. I had gone from being "your dog" to "just a dog," and you resented every expenditure on my behalf. Now, you have a new career opportunity in another city, and you and they will be moving to an apartment that does not allow pets. You've made the right decision for your "family," but there was a time when I was your only family.
I was excited about the car ride until we arrived at the animal shelter. It smelled of dogs and cats, of fear, of hopelessness. You filled out the paperwork and said "I know you will find a good home for her." They shrugged and gave you a pained look. They understand the realities facing a middle-aged dog, even one with "papers." You had to pry your son's fingers loose from my collar as he screamed "No, Daddy! Please don't let them take my dog!" And I worried for him, and what lessons you had just taught him about friendship and loyalty, about love and responsibility, and about respect for all life. You gave me a good-bye pat on the head, avoided my eyes, and politely refused to take my collar and leash with you. You had a deadline to meet and now I have one, too.
After you left, the two nice ladies said you probably knew about your upcoming move months ago and made no attempt to find me another good home. They shook their heads and asked "How could you?" They are as attentive to us here in the shelter as their busy schedules allow. They feed us, of course, but I lost my appetite days ago. At first, whenever anyone passed my pen, I rushed to the front, hoping it was you that you had changed your mind -- that this was all a bad dream ... or I hoped it would at least be someone who cared, anyone who might save me. When I realized I could not compete with the frolicking for attention of happy puppies, oblivious to their own fate, I retreated to a far corner and waited. I heard her footsteps as she came for me at the end of the day, and I padded along the aisle after her to a separate room. A blissfully quiet room.
She placed me on the table and rubbed my ears, and told me not to worry. My heart pounded in anticipation of what was to come, but there was also a sense of relief. The prisoner of love had run out of days. As is my nature, I was more concerned about her. The burden which she bears weighs heavily on her, and I know that, the same way I knew your every mood. She gently placed a tourniquet around my foreleg as a tear ran down her cheek. I licked her hand in the same way I used to comfort you so many years ago. She expertly slid the hypodermic needle into my vein. As I felt the sting and the cool liquid coursing through my body, I lay down sleepily, looked into her kind eyes and murmured "How could you?" Perhaps because she understood my dogspeak, she said "I'm so sorry." She hugged me, and hurriedly explained it was her job to make sure I went to a better place, where I wouldn't be ignored or abused or abandoned, or have to fend for myself -- a place of love and light so very different from this earthly place. And with my last bit of energy, I tried to convey to her with a thump of my tail that my "How could you?" was not directed at her. It was you, My Beloved Master, I was thinking of. I will think of you and wait for you forever. May everyone in your life continue to show you so much loyalty.
A Note from the Author: If "How Could You?" brought tears to your eyes as you read it, as it did to mine as I wrote it, it is because it is the composite story of the millions of formerly owned pets who die each year in American & Canadian animal shelters. Anyone is welcome to distribute the essay for a noncommercial purpose, as long as it is properly attributed with the copyright notice. Please use it to help educate, on your websites, in newsletters, on animal shelter and vet office bulletin boards. Tell the public that the decision to add a pet to the family is an important one for life, that animals deserve our love and sensible care, that finding another appropriate home for your animal is your responsibility and any local humane society or animal welfare league can offer you good advice, and that all life is precious. Please do your part to stop the killing, and encourage all spay & neuter campaigns in order to prevent unwanted animals.