During a review of the County Animal Shelter operations, the 2007-2008 Orange County Grand Jury learned that animals have proper board and care, but they have a brief window of survival. A caveat concerning animals brought to the County Shelter is that they have less than a 50/50 chance of survival because, if not adopted within a short timeframe, they may be euthanized. In 2006-2007, the County Shelter euthanized over 13,000 animals at a cost of $322,478. The reasons can be attributed to several factors.
Some city and private shelters may suggest that owners drop off the pet at OC Animal
Care and the County Shelter will try to find a home for it. When this happens the
limited-access shelters (also called “no-kill” shelters) that suggest owners take their pet to the OC Animal Care are no longer responsible for what happens to the animal. They can continue to claim that they are a no-kill shelter all the while knowing that the animals they have rejected will most likely be euthanized.
First, the County Shelter is not in the business of selling animals. It is acting as a public health service to prevent rabies and other animal-borne diseases from affecting people. Some shelters can refer to themselves as a no-kill shelter because they know that they can refuse unadoptable animals which will most likely end up at the County.
The Grand Jury found that this results in something of a “blame
game.” The no-kill shelters can deny the pet owner’s request to take the pet knowing
full well that the County, an open-access shelter, must accept all animals.
THIS GRAND JURY SURE HAS "NO KILL"S NUMBER STRAIGHT!!!
This document confirms what we have known all along. The "No-Kill" community rejects the animals that they feel are unadoptable and then sends those animals to the County shelters to be euthanized or killed. The County shelter is then condemned for killing the very same animals the self-proclaimed “No-Killers” send to the shelter. This is hypocrisy run amok and one of the primary reasons so many municipal shelters will never be able to reduce their euthanasia rates. If the “No-Killers” send the unwanted animals to the County animal shelters to be killed, how can the County animal shelters ever become “No-Kill???”
ReplyDeleteExactly. They send the pets to the shelter by rejecting them by their standards as unadoptable, then turn around and condemn the shelter for having to euthanize their rejects. There is a double standard between rescues and shelters. If those rescues would use their standards for evaluating a shelter, then shelters would come up on the good side.
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