DEVORE'S YEAR OF 2012

San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control/Devore increased their dog and cat adoption rate by 10% for the year of 2012. That translates into the County of San Bernardino operated animal shelters have one of the highest pet placement/live release rate of 64% compared to other shelters in the region. It also translates into Devore having one of the lowest euthanasia rate of the other shelters in the region. Adoptions are up and euthanasia is at the all time low.

Devore/SBACC participated in the Rachael Ray $100,000 challenge and came in 8th in the nation in voting. SBACC came onto the social media with a new facebook page. Adoptions efforts and campaigns are now broadcast to the Spanish speaking community via Telemundo 52.

Devore has qualified for and will be participating in the Rachael Ray $100K Challenge again in 2013. SBCAA received rave reviews for the Mega Adoption Event that it sponsored last year where 163 pets were adopted and the plans are to do it again this year.

Devore is still holding 48 offsite adoption events in the community whereas many, if not most, shelters rarely have any. SBACC has an adoption vehicle specifically designed to carry the animals to these events with clear windows for viewing. The vehicle has also come in handy many times to evacuate animals during disasters.

And Devore is maintaining the same hours while many shelters, with the suspension of the Hayden Act, are cutting their hours. Longer hours mean more adoptions, more owner reclaims. Devore is open seven days a week and hours to accommodate the working community.

Now anyone want to challenge that Devore is making progress in spite of having the deal with the trouble deliberately created by the activists. These activists deliberately campaign to keep the phones tied up at Devore, using valuable staff time. The activists place many time consuming obstacles in the path of a shelter that is obviously trying to do the very best possible. Kudos to Devore for standing strong and continuing in spite of the hatred of these activists, the demoralizing of staff with their accusations. The Devore and County staff are so much more better people than the ones who attack the shelter and the grace, fortitude, and care of SBACC/Devore shows in the progress being made.

UPDATE: A reader reminded this blogger about the Grand Jury Report this year. A glowing report that basically calls the Devore "activists" liars. Jurors went to Devore anonymously, found a friendly staff and a clean facility. And the report was issued with NO RESPONSE REQUIRED. Oh how all the other agencies in San Bernardino would love to get that statement on their reports. It means Devore passed Grand Jury inspection with flying colors.

IT IS TIME TO REGULATE PET TRANSPORTS

Another article is out about a horror story from a pet transporter/rescue/hoarder. Since the advent of the No Kill Equation movement, experts are saying that hoarding is on the rise. BUT the biggest rise in hoarding is among those claiming to be No Kill rescues. Ten years ago, rescues made up about 5% of the hoarding cases, at last count, it is up to 25%.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/animal-rights/pet-transports-saving-lives-or-highway-hell

The dogs in this case were taken from the Porterville shelter in California, that one has been confirmed. What other shelters have turned over animals to this person?

Devore and all shelters have a right to turn away these transports in the best interest of the animals. Pets should not be packed up in UHauls for a thousand mile trip or further. If you have 30-50 dogs and only two people in the cab, do you think these dogs are being walked on potty stops?

There are moral and ethical issues as well. Why are transports being done to areas still having to euthanize for time and space? The question should be asked why aren't the people on the receiving end pulling from their local shelters.  Maybe the receiving end is like the Oregon rescue, not allowed to pull from her local shelters because of her reputation. Yet, California gave her all she wanted. What is the difference? The Hayden is the difference. You can thank the Hayden Act for the suffering experienced by these dogs, that along with No Kill.

This blog has several incidents of dogs being transported to worse conditions than a shelter offers. And those dogs were victims of the No Kill Equation movement, the one that the activists/terrorists follow. Several dogs were pulled from Devore, only to have to be rescued from their No Kill rescuers. If they will do this, God only knows what happens to those transported out of state. http://devoreshelterfriends.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-happy-ending-for-devore-dogs-thanks.html

A CHALLENGE IS ISSUED TO THE DEVORE ACTIVISTS

The City of San Bernardino has just been proclaimed the worst run city in the entire country.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/slideshow/2506894/275690/?icid=hp_business_gallery

Bankruptcy means no money for the shelter. A challenge is issued to those who terrorize Devore to take up the City of San Bernardino shelter in the spirit of helping. Offer your volunteer services to the City shelter since that is a major complaint you have with Devore.

Take the pets from the City shelter, they are the ones most likely to not get medical attention at the shelter, Devore has a vet on contract.

Instead of protesting out front, walk to collect funds for the shelter. Instead of pushing the public away with horror tales, tell the public how wonderful it would be to adopt from this shelter and save a life.

Is this too much to ask of the Devore terrorists/activists? 

THE CHALLENGE HAS BEEN ISSUED

HOW WILL YOU ANSWER IT?

WILL YOU BE PART OF THE PROBLEM OR HELP WITH THE SOLUTION?

THE BALL IS IN YOUR PARK

THE FANTASY CONTINUES

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Pam Strange thought a visit to the local animal shelter last year would awaken her 4-H group to the plight of homeless animals. She was completely unprepared for what the kids would see.

 Dogs limping around with mange and open sores. Others gasping for air or dragging broken legs, struggling to fight off vicious packs in the large communal pen. "I might as well have taken them to a horror show," says the West Monroe, La., woman.

 The Ouachita Humane Society is a "no-kill" shelter, part of a growing movement that claims to offer a caring alternative to euthanasia. But a six-month investigation by Reader's Digest magazine reveals atrocious conditions at some of these facilities -- even as many no-kill advocates hypocritically denounce traditional shelters as killers and butchers. 

'Blinded by Compassion' 

Reporter J. Todd Foster investigated numerous facilities while researching "Are These Animal Shelters Truly Humane?" for the magazine's July 2000 issue. An estimated 15 percent of the nation's 4,000 to 6,000 animal shelters now portray themselves as no-kill. Many, such as Long Island's pioneering North Shore Animal League, are well-funded and well-run. But at others, the luckless inmates are condemned to pace filthy pens for months and even years, suffering from lack of socialization and "kennel craze" -- a condition in which animals caged for long periods of time begin to twirl incessantly or lunge at passers-by. 

"No-kill people do this to animals because they feel it's better than painlessly ending that animal's life," says Dean Humfleet of the Orlando Humane Society. "These people are blinded by their compassion." 

"There are fates worse than death," agrees Dallas-based investigator Jef Hale, of the Humane Society of the United States. Hale visited Ouachita after Pam Strange returned with a video camera to document conditions there. "It was just terrifying," he recalls, after seeing a pack of dogs kill a weaker animal there. Strange personally arranged to have another dog, that had been left to lie untreated as it was convulsing to death from distemper, rushed to a vet. The shelter responded to its critics by hiring a veterinarian to visit regularly, increasing community involvement and paring down its population. Veterinarian Jennifer Warford, who now works for the Ouachita Humane Society, wrote to a local newspaper that she was "truly amazed at the progress" made. 

Time to Work Together 

Spokespersons for the no-kill movement say they do put down severely ill or vicious animals. Even Lynda Foro, founding president of Doing Things for Animals and a leader of the no-kill movement, concedes euthanasia is sometimes "the most humane alternative available." 

But many no-kill advocates condemn traditional shelter operators in the most vicious terms. "I've been called a butcher, Hitler, a concentration-camp runner," says director Bill Garrett of the Atlanta Humane Society. This brand of rhetoric is not only divisive, it's hypocritical -- overcrowded no-kill shelters routinely turn away other animals, knowing they face euthanasia at nearby centers. 

"We need to get past the rhetoric," says San Francisco animal control official Carl Friedman, a former SPCA administrator respected by both sides of this highly emotional issue. He calls for everyone in the animal welfare business to pull together and "work on the 'throwaway mentality' some people have regarding pets. These are living, breathing, feeling creatures." 

Ultimately, the blame begins with pet owners. Until they act more responsibly -- including spaying or neutering their dogs and cats to keep the population in check -- our shelters will continue to be overwhelmed. And as Reader's Digest reports in its July 2000 issue, the no-kill cause will continue to be a seductive fantasy.
PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1t7xm)