No-Kill Voices Needed at Oro Valley Council Meeting
IMPORTANT NOTICE: MEETING TIME CHANGED TO 5:00PM
Your voice is needed at a Sept. 23 meeting in favor of no-kill alternatives for the Town of Oro Valley.
The town council has included $10,000 in its 2009-2010 budget for a feasibility study to explore handling their own dog licensing program and the humane return of lost dogs and cats to loving homes. The town currently contracts for licensing dogs and impounding lost animals with Pima County Animal Control, which kills more than 60% of the animals that enter its facility.
However, even though the council voted 5-2 in favor of the study (with council members Paula Abbott and Al Kunisch opposing), they have yet to move forward with it. Instead, the minority opponents are pushing for the status quo, going so far as to specifically invite PACC and others from the traditional approach to speak at Wednesday's meeting, but not asking for any input from the no-kill community.
When the study finally happens, and if Oro Valley does decide to pursue its own program, it would be the first municipality to break with PACC for animal control services. Other contracts are held by Tucson, South Tucson, Marana, and Sahuarita.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Attend the Oro Valley Town Council meeting this Wednesday, September 23, at 5:00 p.m. at the Oro Valley Town Hall, 11000 N. La Cañada Drive in Oro Valley. Show your support of no-kill alternatives, and if you wish, fill out a blue speakers card to address the council directly on the issue.
No-Kill Feasibility Study Stays in Oro Valley Budget
The Oro Valley Town Council voted 5-2 to keep the no-kill municipal animal control services feasibility study in its 2009-2010 budget. Council members Paula Abbott and Al Kunisch opposed the study.
The $10,000 feasibility study will explore the possibility of other options for licensing and humanely returning lost dogs and cats to loving homes, instead of contracting for licensing and impounding lost animals with Pima County Animal Control, which kills more than 60% of the animals that enter its facility.
Read the article in the Northwest Explorer here:
http://www.explorernews.com/articles/2009/06/10/news/doc4a2eecfe4977f650...
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Write a Letter to the Editor: This is a great opportunity to write a letter to the editor of the Arizona Daily Star (http://www.azstarnet.com/opinion/64475) or the Northwest Explorer (http://www.explorernews.com/shared-content/perform/?domain_name=explorer...) to express your support for no-kill options.
Pima County Considers Mandatory Spay/Neuter Law
Pima County is looking at enacting a mandatory spay/neuter law in our community. Mandatory spay/neuter sounds like a panacea, but a closer look reveals that this type of punitive measure ends up hurting animals rather than helping them.
Read more about how mandatory spay/neuter can backfire
UPCOMING PUBLIC HEARING
Thursday, September 3, 5:30pm
PACC Admin Trailer Conference Room
4000 N. Silverbell Road Agenda
The bottom line is that mandatory spay/neuter laws are not necessary to achieve no-kill, and this type of effort just takes away valuable resources from where they are really needed: for implementing the life-saving programs and services of the No-Kill Equation. We need spay/neuter outreach and assistance, not punishment.
Communities that have tried mandatory spay/neuter have abandoned it after it hasn’t worked. In San Mateo County, California, this type of ordinance resulted in a 126% increase in dog deaths and an 86% increase in cat deaths. In addition, licensing compliance dropped by 35%. After the mandatory spay/neuter failure, they switched to free and low-cost spay/neuter programs.
The communities that have successfully implemented the No-Kill Equation have not used mandatory spay/neuter to achieve their goals of saving the vast majority of animals from death in shelters.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Attend the public meeting and contact your elected officials on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the body that governs the county-run animal control agency, and let them know that mandatory spay/neuter laws that punish animals are not the way to go. Insist that they direct PACC management to implement the positive, life-saving programs and services of the No-Kill Equation or replace the leadership at the shelter with someone who will. Find a list of Pima County elected officials at www.nokilltucson.org/PimaBOS.
PACC Kills Collie Puppy with Adoptive Family Waiting
"Pep" was a beautiful, happy, playful Australian Shepherd/Smooth-Coated Collie puppy less than a year old who had a loving family waiting to adopt him. He was killed by PACC on Easter Sunday.
Last evening in its lead story (Tuesday, April 14), KVOA Ch. 4 covered the recent killing of a healthy puppy by Pima Animal Care Center. "Pep" had a loving family willing to adopt him, but PACC killed him anyway.
PACC Advocate Justin Gallick was aware that this family wanted to adopt the puppy, and "Interested Party" was written in two places on Pep's kennel card. See the kennel card here
A kennel supervisor named Yvonne authorized the killing of Pep anyway, on the Easter Sunday holiday.
We will continue to add updates to this story as it progresses.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Please add your comment to the story online and thank KVOA for covering this incident. And contact your elected officials on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the body that governs the county-run animal control agency, and demand that they implement life-saving policy changes and strict accountability standards to stop the killing at the taxpayer-funded facility.
Pep is pictured above with John, the boy wanting to adopt Pep - the puppy he had named.
Your Letters to the Editor Help the No-Kill Cause
A guest opinion piece titled “Pet shelter story just scratched the surface” appears in today’s Tucson Citizen. Read it online at http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/opinion/113531.php and add your comment supporting no-kill alternatives.
You also may want to comment on the article “Petland stores feel the heat over a puppy-mill protest” that appeared in this week’s Tucson Weekly, online at http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/a-dogs-life/Content?oid=1168866.
These are both great opportunities for you to write a Letter to the Editor. The opinion section is one of the most widely read sections of the newspaper, and having no-kill voices in print and on the web is important to raising awareness.
For tips on writing letters, visit our website at http://www.nokilltucson.org/letters. In general, letters should be short and concise, no more than 250 words, and must include your name, address and daytime phone number so they can verify that you are the author. Put the letter in the body of your email; do not send attachments.
Email Tucson Citizen letters to letters@tucsoncitizen.com.
Email Tucson Weekly letters to mailbag@tucsonweekly.com.
Please send a copy of your letter to your elected officials, too. Find a list of Pima County elected officials at www.nokilltucson.org/PimaBOS.
Tucson Citizen Article Misses the Real Story
An article titled “Fewer pets euthanized at local shelters” appeared in the Thursday (March 26) Tucson Citizen and on the newspaper’s website. Although the article did focus on an admirable theme – that "problem" dogs deserve rehabilitation and a chance for adoption – it fell far short of showing the public the reality of the situation for dogs and cats that end up in our community’s traditional kill shelters.
Click here to read more and then consider writing a Letter to the Editor
Above, a dog on death row at the Pima Animal Care Center
PACC Documents Reveal Inadequate Standards
Recent Pima Animal Care Center staff meeting minutes contain several disturbing items that illustrate the taxpayer-funded agency’s inadequate operational standards. A February 3 document includes the statement: “Remember to look at each animal and consider how we can save its life,” but this is completely incongruous with numerous other items in that same document and others that demonstrate the shelter is not doing all it can to save lives. These troubling items include a procedure for not scanning cats for microchips until after they are already dead, treating “not-so-special mutts” as less important than purebred and “very cute” animals, and limiting which animals are available for rescue instead of being killed at the shelter.
New Coalition to Focus on No-Kill Programs
[Update: Due to the huge response at the first meeting, a second follow-up meeting has been scheduled for Sunday, March 29, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Woods Memorial Library Large Meeting Room (3455 N. First Ave., just south of Prince).
A new coalition is forming in Tucson to bring together organizations and individuals who want to collaborate on no-kill programs and services in the community. The No Kill Animal Alliance will have an informational meeting Sunday, March 15, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Woods Memorial Library Small Meeting Room (3455 N. First Ave., just south of Prince).
This new effort is different from Citizens for a No-Kill Tucson, which is not a nonprofit organization and does not have members, but instead is a grassroots effort by individuals to influence public policy and elected officials. The No Kill Animal Alliance will be a nonprofit organization with members, and as such, it is limited in what it can do that might be construed as lobbying. These two approaches complement each other, and anyone who is interested in working directly on no-kill programs and services is encouraged to check out the coalition.
The initial meeting to join together and share ideas is being organized by HOPE Animal Shelter (www.hopeanimalshelter.net), Tucson CARES (www.tucsonrescue.org), Casa de los Gatos (www.casadelosgatos.org), the Center for Animal Rescue and Adoption (www.savemoreanimals.org) and other animal groups who promote making Tucson a no-kill community. The new coalition plans to work on programs such as low-cost and no-cost spay and neuter, TNR (trap-neuter-return) of feral cats, and recruitment of volunteers and foster homes to increase adoptions.
Meeting organizers emphasize that the new coalition will be member-driven, where members’ voices will be heard and their votes will count as the group explores a “new paradigm for saving companion animals.” They say that the group will be a proactive alliance of individuals and organizations “dedicated to implementing an enlightened, progressive model to stop the unjustified killing of companion animals.”
RSVPs and inquiries about the No Kill Animal Alliance should be directed to susiegrover99@gmail.com.
Three Out of Four Cats Killed at PACC
A trapped cat marked to be killed at PACC waits in the room where "euthanasia" is performed. Blood stains can be seen on the floor.
Cats are at the highest risk of being killed at the county-run animal control shelter. In Fiscal Year 2007-2008, Pima Animal Care Center (PACC) impounded 7,176 cats. According to PACC’s own statistics, 73.62% of those never made it out of the shelter alive. The agency’s “Monthly Animal Count Reports” obtained through public records requests show that just 1,045 cats were adopted, another 725 were rescued by other local groups, and only 123 were reclaimed by owners.
In an internal document labeled “Euthanasia Code Designation,” (www.nokilltucson.org/docs/PACCcodes.pdf) PACC lists “hostile” behavior – such as hissing, flattened ears or scratching – as reasons for placing a cat on death row. This assessment is often made upon intake, without any sort of calming-down period, when cats may be stressed from being constrained and transported to the noisy, unfamiliar shelter.
Cats at PACC can be misidentified as feral when they are not. As many cat owners know, their own tame cats may display these same sorts of behaviors when stressed and cornered, even when these cats are not feral at all. Since PACC routinely kills “feral” cats without any sort of waiting period, an unknown number of misidentified owned, tame cats who are unfortunate enough to end up at the shelter are never even given an opportunity to be reclaimed.
For feral cats, as well as thousands of other animals entering our county animal control shelter, there are better options than the trap-and-kill approach. By expanding the practice of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) – one of the key aspects of the No-Kill Equation – the tragic and unnecessary killing of thousands of cats in our community can be stopped.
What You Can Do. Contact your elected officials on the Pima County Board of Supervisors, the body that governs the county-run animal control agency, and insist that they direct PACC management to immediately halt this practice. Demand that PACC implement a better assessment protocol for cat intake and that the agency promote feral cat TNR as a matter of policy. All cats, including truly feral cats, deserve better. Find a list of Pima County elected officials at www.nokilltucson.org/PimaBOS.
How You Can Help Community Cats
Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) is the only humane and effective solution to stabilize feral (or wild) cat populations, because it breaks the cycle of breeding and stops the killing of feral cats by shelters and pounds. TNR is a process in which feral cats are humanely trapped and sterilized by veterinarians. After recovery, they are released back to the specific location where they were trapped.
This approach allows the cats to remain in their home territory to live out their natural lives, while reducing behaviors associated with mating, such as fighting and yowling, as well as odors from territorial marking – behaviors that may be considered a nuisance by neighborhoods. TNR is more effective and less costly to taxpayers and governments than the trap-and-kill approach because it dramatically reduces the number of cats and kittens that are taken in, held and ultimately killed in shelters and animal control facilities.
Six years after widely implementing TNR, San Francisco reported a 71% decline in the rate of cats killed (both feral and domestic). In San Diego, statistics show that while the percentage of cats adopted or claimed by owners has remained fairly constant, there has been a decrease of almost 50% in the number of cats killed since TNR was adopted. Prior to implementing TNR, this number was increasing by 15% each year.
A local nonprofit organization, Tucson CARES, recently piloted a neighborhood TNR program in Dunbar Springs through a matching-grant program. In this model, each neighborhood contributes up to $1,000 to buy traps and spay/neuter the neighborhood's feral cats. Their contributions are matched by Tucson CARES. Neighbors are trained to set humane traps, to transport the cats, and to care for them after surgery and before they are released back into the neighborhood. After each project, the traps remain with the neighborhood so kittens and new cats can be trapped and altered. The long-term plan is to have neighborhoods train and mentor other neighborhoods.
What You Can Do. Tucson CARES has been overwhelmed with demand for TNR services and needs many more volunteer teams. To help promote TNR and stop the killing of our community cats, please call 990-8912 or contact susiegrover99@gmail.com.