Volunteers and no-kill
Perusing the headlines as I do, I see lots of articles on how people are working towards making the "no-kill" philosophy work. One of the principles I have always questioned is why there is so much animosity of rescues and humane societies against animal control agencies. The politics involved in animal rescue work can run rampant, sometimes to the point of disgust, where someone who might bring valuable experience to a group, simply stops volunteering. When that happens, the animals are the ones who lose.
Today I came across a story out of the Illinois/St. Louis area where a rescue group had been running animal services but had stopped several weeks ago and it had been turned back over to the sheriff, who only had two people working in the department. He was asking for volunteers to help so the shelter could remain open more to allow more adoptions.
In the article he made the statement, "If it is really about the animals and not about territory they can take out as many animals as they want," Williams said. He basically was giving any rescue group permission to come and take out animals for adoption events. He noted the euthanasia rate was at 67% with no volunteers, 4% with volunteers.
What a difference volunteers could make. Hopefully, the politics will move to the sidelines and the rate will fall back down to 4%, which is a hell of a lot better than 67%.
Check out the story here.
Today I came across a story out of the Illinois/St. Louis area where a rescue group had been running animal services but had stopped several weeks ago and it had been turned back over to the sheriff, who only had two people working in the department. He was asking for volunteers to help so the shelter could remain open more to allow more adoptions.
In the article he made the statement, "If it is really about the animals and not about territory they can take out as many animals as they want," Williams said. He basically was giving any rescue group permission to come and take out animals for adoption events. He noted the euthanasia rate was at 67% with no volunteers, 4% with volunteers.
What a difference volunteers could make. Hopefully, the politics will move to the sidelines and the rate will fall back down to 4%, which is a hell of a lot better than 67%.
Check out the story here.
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