Discussion: Does this make you angry?

Someone apparently abandoned a dog on a road in York Co, SC.  The dog had on a collar with the words “I need a home.  Please take care of me.” handwritten on it.  A Good Samaritan picked the dog up and took her to a shelter.  The Good Sam was angered by the writing on the collar.  She is quoted as saying, “Somebody had the gall to write in marker, ‘I need a home, please take care of me.”  I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this.  What was your reaction to reading about the words written on the dog’s collar?

 

Discussion: When rescues and no kill shelters are full

Reader Susan sent me this post from a contact of hers in the Kansas City area.  Posted with permission:

A cute medium-sized black dog showed up at my brother and sister-in-laws house a few weeks ago. She had been dumped. She loved people and desperately wanted attention from anyone who would give it to her and even more, she wanted to come into their house. They have an elderly wiener dog and a senior (but not yet elderly) border collie. Those dogs were not happy with the new arrival so the stray dog stayed outside. They don’t have a fenced yard (their dogs are not ever unattended outdoors so they don’t need one). This new arrival was fed and watered until a solution could be found.

Numerous rescue groups were contacted. No one had room for this sweet dog. The local no-kill shelters were contacted. No one had room there either for this sweet dog. Then one day they awoke in the a.m. and the dog was gone. She had moved on in an attempt to find someone else who could help her.

OK, now I’m to the point of this post. How does one help a homeless stray if there is nowhere to take it (other than high-kill shelters)? In a high-kill shelter this dog would be doomed, as it was black. But our no-kill shelters are nearly always at capacity. Even rescue groups wouldn’t list this dog on their “Other dogs” web pages without a mountain of paperwork and a waiting list to “process” the paper work.

I am frustrated by this story, as my brother and sister-in-law were willing to help this dog, but were not in a situation to keep her for any length of time. So where does one take a stray dog so that is not condemned to die straight away…?

Is this a situation you have encountered?  What are your thoughts on the subject?

Do Community Pets Need a Legal Status?

In the American justice system, a person accused of a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.  I’ve been wondering if unowned pets – including those surrendered to or picked up by animal control, those abandoned at or taken to a veterinary clinic, as well as those taken in by compassionate animal lovers – shouldn’t be legally afforded a certain status: Presumed Wanted.  That is to say, every pet, regardless of whether he appears to have no owner or even if it is known that his owner surrendered ownership of him, should be granted the presumption of being wanted by someone.  That someone might be the current owner (in the case of a lost pet) or a future adopter (in the case of a surrendered pet).  If we were legally obligated to to presume that there are people out there who want every unowned pet in this country, that would be the end to pet killing, right?  (Of course, as always, I separate needless killing from true euthanasia of pets who are medically hopeless and suffering.)  Just as we do not sentence criminal defendants who are presumed innocent, we could not kill a pet we presume is wanted by someone.

I know there are many facets to this complex issue and I hope you will chime in with your thoughts.  As a general outline, I am thinking in terms of the “finder” – the person or shelter who has possession of the pet – having a few basic obligations:

1.  If the finder is unable or unwilling to provide basic humane care for the pet for at least the legally mandating holding period afforded to strays in shelters, he must turn the pet over to the shelter.

2.  If the finder decides to provide basic humane care for the pet for at least the legally mandated holding period, he must report the found pet to his local shelter (or national database, if one existed).

3.  Once the legally mandated holding period has expired, the finder must either offer the unclaimed pet for adoption, adopt the pet himself, or turn the pet over to the shelter so that he can be offered for adoption.

This would only work if every shelter offered listings (available at the shelter and online) of all found pets reported (or if we had a single national database for this information).  Does your local shelter offer this?  I tried searching for places to list a found pet online and there are many – too many to be useful in any meaningful way.  This is an area that needs improvement.  As things stand, when someone loses a pet, they are advised to browse the online listings of area shelters, visit the shelters in person since online listings may be lagging (or non-existent, in some cases), browse and post ads in the local newspaper, on Craigslist, the social networking sites, visit area vet clinics to inquire if they have taken in any strays and to post flyers, leave flyers posted at local pet businesses and on phone poles, conduct physical searches of the area where the pet was last seen, etc.  All this must be done daily.  While the owner works at his job, takes care of his kids, etc.  It’s impossible.  And if we had a legally mandated reporting system in place, it would be unnecessary.

The Presumed Wanted status for unowned pets would also remove the discretion of shelter staff and vets who receive strays to kill them, unless the pet was medically hopeless and suffering.  It would instead obligate those who choose to accept a stray pet to provide care during the required holding period, report the pet to a central agency and then to offer the unclaimed pet for adoption.

As I said, I know this is a multifaceted issue.  What are your thoughts?

Open Letter to MAS

This morning, I sent the following e-mail to Matt Pepper, Janet Hooks, Mayor Wharton and the MAS Board:

I would like to try and help any friendly dog at MAS from the “stray” area.  An owner surrender, an unclaimed stray or any other dog who is not visible to the adopting public would be fine.  Please allow me to advocate for one friendly dog of your choosing who currently has no advocate.  I’d be happy to try and help a heartworm positive dog, an elderly dog, a Pitbull or ANY dog in the stray area.  I would just like the opportunity to help a dog in need at MAS.  Please send as much of the following info as possible so I can share with readers:

photo of the pet

MAS ID#

breed

gender

age

neuter/vax/heartworm status

how long we have to help the dog

any other information that you would like

 

I will post the information on the blog so the pet can be networked via crossposters and rescuers.

 

Thank you,

Shirley

 

Cumberland Co Animal Control Officers Add New Weapon to Arsenal

Cumberland Co Animal Services in NC is offering a new service:  shooting stray dogs with crossbows.  Veterinarian John Lauby is director of Animal Services and says, although his ACOs haven’t used the crossbow on any dogs yet, they might use it in “extreme circumstances”.

Lauby said pack dogs are wily and can’t be caught, trapped or tranquilized. They are able to slip away before tranquilizer darts take effect and can’t be found once they do, he said.

Most encounters with pack dogs occur in neighborhoods at night, when the dogs are active, Lauby said.

Shotguns and rifles can’t be used safely in residential areas because of the danger of ricochets.

But shooting a crossbow in a neighborhood in the dark is what – safe?

Since Dr. Lauby appears to have already ruled out catching, trapping, tranquilizing and shooting the packs of dogs, I wondered how the crossbow could be described as a “weapon of last resort”.  What are the county’s preferred methods for removing the stray dogs?  In order to have a “last resort”, you have to have a list of preferred options that must be exhausted first.  So what’s on this list?  I asked both the county manager and the shelter this very question yesterday but haven’t received any replies.  If I do, I will update this post.

The story has been picked up by the AP so perhaps public pressure will force the county to come to their senses on this issue.

Thanks to everyone who sent me links about this story.

She’s less yappy in the bed.

The paw under the cheek slays me.

Black Friday

Well I certainly hope we are not going to become THAT HOUSE where people take unwanted pets (we don’t get any funding from the county, yo) but someone on our street drove up with a little black puppy for us today because she was stray and they didn’t want her to get hurt and weren’t sure what to do with her.  She is petrified and piddling but extremely cute with a little foxy face.  She appears to be healthy and I would guess she’s about 6 weeks old.

As we already have Linus who needs to be separated from some of the pack (due to aggression) and Randi who is being isolated (due to recent surgery), I had to improvise for an area for foxypup.  I x-penned off a large area with papers, blankie and food but so far she hasn’t moved from the place we sat her down.  Petrified.  And piddling.

I wish I had some spare vaccines and puppy wormer on hand but I don’t.  These things never happen at times of convenience doncha know.  I’ve got an e-mail in to APL to see if/when they might have an opening.  In the meantime, we’ll try to convey to foxypup that human beings and other dogs are not as horrible as she might think.  And I’ll be praying the neighbors don’t come back tomorrow with 5 more like her.

Scupdate

So I’m asleep in bed this morning and Billy comes in saying “I was petting that dog.  She came right up to me.  Oh I got some video of her too.”

Hullo!

Billy is the one in this family that has “a way with dogs”.  I am not so lucky but I am sometimes lucky enough to be able to ride on his coattails.  I threw on some clothes, grabbed a bag of chicken wings (I need all the help I can get) and went outside.  Sure enough, I too got in on the cuddling action.  [Note:  Scout likes to give full body hugs and lots of kisses.]

Seeing her up close for the first time, she was much smaller than we had thought.  I had always figured her to be maybe a retriever bitch size but in fact, she’s more like a genuine LBD (Little Brown Dog).  Even taking into consideration that she’s out of coat and underweight, she’s still much smaller than I thought.

One bag of chicken wings later, Scout now has Frontline on board (she’s got a few engorged ticks on her at the moment) and most importantly, I think she knows she’s got friends across the street.  I guess I can take away my stalking chair set up behind the bush.

Here are some stills from the two vids Billy got of Scout (she’s eating some RMBs).

P.S.:  I’m so happy!

Update on Abandoned Dog in My Neighborhood

I didn’t see the abandoned dog on Tuesday night although the food was gone Wednesday morning.  So last night I kept milling about the yard discreetly after putting her food out to make sure she got her dinner and not some other roaming dog or critter.

As it happens, I didn’t see her come to the bowl but at one point I came around a bush and there she was eating.  We surprised each other.  It was the closest I’ve seen her and I could see all her bones were visible.

She started walking away.  I could tell she was hesitant to leave the food but not trusting enough to stay, even though we were on opposite sides of the fence.  She stopped in the road at one point and I thought it might be a good opportunity.  So I made myself small and talked to her sweetly and in an encouraging manner.  She looked at me me briefly before walking away to disappear in the overgrown brush at the trailer.

But it was in that moment – that look from her – that I understood something I hadn’t before.  It isn’t simply that she is afraid of people.  This dog does not know love.  She has never known it and so, does not recognize it before her nor does she have any expectation that it exists in the world.

Dogs exist because humans made them into pets.  They live for the opportunity to give and receive love from their people.  To deprive a dog of that is cruel – but to deprive a dog of knowing that love exists – that is the worst kind of cruelty.

As I lay in bed last night, I thought of this dog, how skinny she looks and who knows what else she might be suffering from, and I became afraid.  I feared she could die without ever knowing that there is love in this world for her.  I love her.  I know most anyone who met her would love her. I wish I could help her see me as someone other than a bothersome woman who likes to interrupt her eating with sweet talk.  I hope that over time, she will learn to recognize love.  I hope she has at least that much time.

I’m giving her a name because she needs one.  I’m going to call her Scout.  I’m still trying to find some assistance for her pups and hoping my area no kill shelter has space for them.  In the meantime, I’m doubling up on Scout’s food.  I was already giving her a supersized portion but now she’ll get two mega-meals every day.  I hope something works out for the pups soon.  I clearly can’t afford to feed 7 more dogs.  And I would hate for them to end up hit by cars as so often happens around here.  I will keep you updated.

All paws crossed for good luck.

Abandoned Dog in My Neighborhood

So the people who moved into the trailer across the street from me apparently wandered away at some point.  And they left behind at least one of the dogs they had kept tied to a tree there.  I’ve seen her around the neighborhood only rarely as she is afraid of people.  But lately I’ve been seeing her regularly and from a distance, she did not look good.

I decided to leave out some food and water for her each night.  She will not approach while I’m out there but as soon as I go in the house, she comes over and eats.  I always try to talk to her from a distance so at least she can hear my voice and hopefully associate it with something non-scary – getting food and water.  I won’t go on to the apparently abandoned property where she sometimes stays because that’s an excellent way to get shot around here.  But I leave the food and water outside our fence in the same spot each day and she knows right where to go.

Yesterday I saw she was being followed around by a little puppy.  Then I spotted another one – and another.  I counted 7 pups total.  They look to be maybe 5 or 6 weeks old.  I don’t know what to do.

Based on previous experience, if I call AC, I’m guessing they will respond at some point well after I place my call and will make zero effort to locate the dogs or capture them.  Even if they did, I really don’t want them to because they take dogs to my local kill shelter and I hate their chances of getting out of that place alive.  I sent an e-mail to my area no kill shelter that I donate to regularly but haven’t received a response.

In addition to her fear of people, I’m sure the mama has some medical needs – probably heartworm positive and at the very least needs to be spayed and vaccinated.  The pups are too young to have contracted heartworm yet but if they don’t get placed in responsible hands soon, that will change obviously.  They probably only need deworming and vaccines at this point.  They are generic mixed breed dogs and aside from their puppyness, there isn’t anything particularly appealing about them aesthetically so I think their best chance at adoption would be while they’re small and cute.  Hopefully by the time the small and cute wears off, the new owners will have fallen in love with them.

At any rate, I’m open to suggestions or, if you have none, I’m accepting positive thoughts, four leaf clovers and crossed fingers.