Mental Health Break: Quote

“It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you are not.”

- Attributed to multiple authors on the internet, most commonly “Unknown”

Alleged Arizona Shooter was Shelter Volunteer

In the inevitable attempt to understand what sort of person commits mass murder, the media is digging into alleged Tuscon shooter Jared Loughner’s past.  He apparently liked dogs and some neighbors remembered he used to walk his own dog around the neighborhood.  One year ago, Mr. Loughner volunteered to walk dogs at the Pima Animal Care Center in AZ.  Shelter staff became concerned when he was allowing dogs to play in an area designated off-limits due to a recent parvo virus infection:

“He didn’t think the disease was that threatening and when we tried to explain how dangerous some of the diseases are. He didn’t get it,” [manager Kim] Janes said.

He wouldn’t agree to keep dogs from the restricted area, and was asked to come back when he would. He never returned.

I don’t know if that tidbit provides us any insight into Mr. Loughner’s mindset.  Or if anything ultimately would.  But I find it interesting that he apparently failed to comprehend that he was putting dogs’ lives at risk by his actions at the shelter.  And that rather than change what he was doing, he opted to abandon any commitment to the dogs at the shelter.

Someone Saved My Life Tonight

If you are part of a movement to change the status quo, you will hit the skids from time to time.  It’s natural.  It’s part of creating change.  You might feel alone, overwhelmed, and/or ineffective.  I wanted to create this post as a reminder that you are not alone.  We’re in this together.  And change is gonna come.

If you’d like to share a story (or two), please post in the comments.  Tell about a pet you rescued or fostered or sponsored.  Talk about your volunteer work at your local shelter.  Post a link to a website or blog or some other media you’ve had a hand in creating to help save pets.  And give us your location so we can be reminded that helping pets is not a geographically isolated concept.

I’d like this post to be a place people can visit anytime they need a little extra Keep Going in their coffee.  So share whatever it is you are doing – especially small things – as you keep going.

The drops of rain make a hole in the stone not by violence but by oft falling. ~Lucretius

Is This America?

I talk a lot on this blog about holding public shelters accountable.  Like most of our taxpayer funded services, shelter workers would be my heroes if they just did their jobs.  Anything above and beyond the call of duty – I’d worship them as gods!  Firefighters are another taxpayer funded group who get to be heroes simply by doing their jobs.  I truly do appreciate all of the public services we often take for granted in this country – clean drinking water, education, roads, etc.

Unfortunately for the people of Obion Co, TN, they do not have a taxpayer funded fire department.  Perhaps some people there – the types who are always complaining about paying taxes – think that’s a good thing since it’s one less tax.  The fire department for the city of South Fulton offers service to rural residents in Obion Co for an annual fee of $75.

Gene Cranick’s family lives in Obion Co.  When his grandson was burning trash last week, the fire got out of control.  Mr. Cranick called 911 but was informed he had forgotten to pay his annual $75 fee and as such, wasn’t on “the list”.  Mr. Cranick offered to pay any amount of money required to get the firefighters to come to his home.  Nope.

Eventually the fire spread to his neighbor’s property.  His neighbor had sent in the $75 fee so the South Fulton fire department came and doused the flames that had leapt into the neighbor’s yard.  When they were finished, they stood around, watching the Cranick family home burn to the ground and presumably hearing the 4 pets inside being burned alive.

“They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn’t do it,” Cranick told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.

The city of South Fulton stands by the actions of the firefighters:

South Fulton’s mayor said that the fire department can’t let homeowners pay the fee on the spot, because the only people who would pay would be those whose homes are on fire.

Fair point.  Except we’re not talking about something less than a family’s home, all their worldly possessions, and 4 beloved – living, breathing – pets. How could this have happened?

Last month, I did some grocery shopping, packed up my car with the bags and found it wouldn’t start.  I was stranded.  Although I would have liked to have renewed my old AAA membership when it expired several years ago, it just hasn’t worked out financially.  I called them that day and asked if I could renew.  They said sure and asked if I needed service that day.  If so, there would be an extra $40 fee in addition to the membership renewal fee.  That seems fair.  Couldn’t the South Fulton fire department offer something like that?  I mean, we’re talking about a family home with pets inside burning to the ground.  Hullo!  Where is the love?  Is this how Americans treat each other now?

Let’s be clear:  Firefighters were on the scene of the Cranick family home with means to put out the fire and prevent the 4 pets inside from burning to death.  They did nothing.  Over an unpaid $75 fee.

Afterwards, Mr. Cranick’s son was arrested for assaulting the fire chief at the firehouse.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

We were hanging around the lobby of our local pound last weekend trying to get a neuter voucher for Scout (we weren’t successful).  A family was there adopting a puppy.  I was sitting in front of a corkboard in the lobby where people had put up lost pet notices.  The little girl from the puppy adopting family – I would guess she was about 6 – came over and was looking at the notices.  She pointed to one with a big white dog on it and asked me, “What does he like to eat?”  I told her I didn’t know, the notice didn’t say.  She replied, “If we knew what he liked to eat, we could go to the last place he was and leave a trail of his favorite food from there to the animal shelter and he’d probably follow it and walk right in the front door!”

I told her that was an excellent idea.  I held back my fears for any dog who did walk in the front door of our local pound.

She was too young to realize that not all shelters are safe havens for lost pets.  It wasn’t my place to tell her.  And besides, I am hopeful that by the time she grows up, all shelters will be exactly what she, and many others, believe they should be:  a refuge for the lost, the homeless, the victims of neglect and cruelty; a place for the sick to receive treatment and for the weary to rest in comfort; a peaceful stop at the end of life’s journey to relieve suffering for medically hopeless pets; and a house of joy where owners are reunited with lost pets and adopters find new family members.

Los Angeles Fire Department Heroes

The news hasn’t been very good this week but it cheers me to know that there is still room in our hearts to make the saving of one dog national news. Thank you LAFD for rescuing this poor dog who had gotten himself trapped in the L.A. River. The heart stopping end of the rescue is on video here.

Where Do You Stand?

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

I know it’s customary to review the year, or in this case the decade, at the end but I’m not really a look-backer. Suffice to say that I hope every year is better than the last and ultimately I guess I see them as being that way either on their own merits or out of an abundance of optimism.

I hope we can save more pets in need in 2010 and I hope that fewer pets need saving. I hope more shelter workers embrace the idea of sheltering and trample the idea of killing underfoot. I hope owners who keep their dogs chained 24/7 make a space in the laundry room with a cozy old blanket for their dogs to come in at night and during bad weather. I hope every dog gets more walks and every cat gets more lap time. I hope more people get to experience the special bond between humans and pets. I hope we all have enough to eat and that we share our healthy table scraps with our pets. I hope the sick can be well again or at least have their spirits lifted by a shaggy head resting on the side of the bed. I hope we can love unconditionally, judge less and understand more.

I think 2010 is going to be the best year ever.

*Title quote attributed to Oscar Wilde.

Defining the Goals – My Wish List

I have been thinking about what my hopes are for the pet community I belong to and enjoy so much. I know I can’t do everything, but I can do something. Defining my personal goals and beliefs helps me organize my thoughts and move forward on my actions. Although I call this a “Wish List”, I do believe each of these goals is achievable – real world, in our lifetime, it-could-start-today-if-we-all-worked-hard achievable. So here is my list:

• No shelter animal will be killed solely on the basis of its breed, its status as an abused pet or for population control.
• Every shelter pet will receive a fair evaluation by at least one qualified individual.
• Any dog deemed “dangerous” will receive an individual evaluation by a behaviorist, the results of which will be duly considered in determining the most humane outcome.
• Euthanasia will be used to end suffering of pets deemed medically hopeless by a Veterinarian.
• Euthanasia will be performed only by a Veterinarian, using the gentlest method modern medicine has to offer – currently, sedation followed by intravenous injection.
• Shelters will keep accurate, detailed records which will be accessible to the public.
• No laws will be enacted which require the forfeiture of a pet due to breed, reproductive status, or unreasonable burdens which the owner could not bear.
• All pet breeders will be ethical and responsible in word and deed.
• All pet owners will provide appropriate care for the life of their pets unless unforeseen circumstances prevent that, in which case they will responsibly rehome the pet.
• In cruelty cases involving the mentally ill, provisions will be made to allow for mental health treatment of the abuser. Each case will be evaluated on an individual basis to determine if circumstances exist which might allow for the person to own a pet in future, under close supervision by family, friends and authorities.
• Pet food companies will manufacture their products with quality ingredients using NRC guidelines and feeding trials, test their food with transparency to consumers, label with COOL and advertise honestly.
• Any organization claiming a mission to help animals will raise funds and/or lobby for legislation with complete and easily accessible transparency to the public.
• Any organization claiming a mission to help animals will first, do no harm.

Yeah, there are challenges. I know. To name a few:

• How do we fund the advancement of these goals?
• How do we define the terms so that we are all on the same page (or at least reading from the same book)?
• How do we legally enforce the mandates while maintaining a balance with our individual rights as American citizens?
• How do we educate and assist pet owners in remote areas with high poverty levels?

I don’t have all the answers. I have ideas though – and a blog! So I got that goin’ for me.

I would love to read your personal wish list for the pet community. I’m sure there are important things I left off mine. I consider it a work in progress.

We All Need Somebody to Lean On

I saw this couple’s story on Headline News this weekend and was very touched:

Weeki Wachee, Florida – During this recession, many people across Tampa Bay have been forced to give up their pets.

But despite losing his job, Ted Koran of Weeki Wachee vows he’ll keep his cast of critters, which includes two horses, three ducks, five dogs, two pot-bellied pigs, two parakeets and more.

Koran has always been an animal lover, but his love for pets has taken on a whole new meaning.

Koran believes some of his pets can predict and stop his wife’s seizures. Karen Koran is a severe epileptic and has been diagnosed with four types of epilepsy.

[...]

Because she’s epileptic, Karen can’t work. And since she’s never been able to work, she does not qualify for disability.

Even though Koran recently lost his job as a heavy equipment operator, the couple refuses to let their animals go.

It costs about $100 a week to feed all of their pets. Koran is now down to eating just one meal a day, so that he can afford the animal feed and pet food.

“We’re worried that things are going to get tight [and that] we’ll lose our home,” Koran choked out through tears. “It’ll break our hearts if we lose our animals.”

I contacted Mr. Koran to inquire if there is any way we in the pet community could give them a “hand up” to hold them over until they get back on their feet. He sent me a kind response and I have included part of it here:

Nothing will be wasted and WILL be accounted for. Our address is 10396 Snowbird Ave., Weeki Wachee, Fl. 34614. Our phone is 352-584-8724. Our local feed store is Ranch Hand Feed Depot in Brooksville, Fl. and their phone is (352) 796-4186 for feed, hay and pet food. These donations can go directly to our animals. Let me know and I can pick the feed up. Because of scams I have asked the reporter, Janie Porter, who did the story to keep track of everything we do with the donations. We don’t want people to think we are gold diggers.

I don’t think that Mr. Koran and I know you’d rather be working. Many of us are struggling in this economy and indeed pets do bring us a quality of life that you can’t put a price tag on. Thank you for sharing your story and allowing people to help. Those of us who can, will.

Donations can be mailed to:
Ted and Karen Koran
10396 Snowbird Ave.
Weeki Wachee, Fl. 34614

Feed, hay, and pet food can be purchased at:
Ranch Hand Feed Depot in Brooksville, Fl.
Phone: (352) 796-4186

If you aren’t in a position to make a donation at this time, please keep a good thought for the Korans and for all the pet owners struggling and sacrificing to keep their pets in these challenging times. We’ll all get through this, together.