We have seen columns about important companion animal issues in two huge newspapers in the last two days. New York's Newsday, Sunday, April 6, included an op-ed by Nathan Winograd, director of the No Kill Advocacy Center, "Give them safe shelter; How Nassau can succeed in its effort to keep homeless pets alive and well and in loving homes." (Pg A 48) And columnist Stu Bykofsky follows up on Oprah and puppy mills in today's Philadelphia Inquirer.
Winograd, in Newsday, writes that our shelters "are killing more than 5 million animals annually."
He is happy to note that Nassau County " is moving to reduce the number of animals euthanized" and is hoping to be "chosen by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as a target community for achieving, with the Society's help, a save rate of at least 75 percent of all animals entering shelters."
He writes,
"If they are going to succeed, shelters in Nassau will need to learn from the history of the animal shelter movement, reject past failures and embrace a proven model ....
"The best model for achieving these goals comes from California. In 1994, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to end the killing of healthy, homeless dogs and cats. Aided by the local SPCA, public officials succeeded in creating programs and services that increased adoptions, reduced birthrates of unwanted kittens and puppies, and helped keep animals with their responsible caretakers. Within a year, San Francisco had rates of shelter killing that were a fraction of the national average.
How did this effort succeed?
Rather than continue the century-old practice of blaming public neglect for the high rates of shelter killing, San Francisco's SPCA embraced the community, making it easier for people to do the right thing. Shelters were kept open weekends and evenings so that more working people and families with children could visit and choose a pet to adopt. Information on available animals was posted on the Internet. And because the shelter was in a remote location, the city transported animals offsite for adoption to parts of the city where people live, work and play.
He also writes about efforts with volunteers, foster homes, and assistance to people so they could keep their pets. He sums up:
"Above all, this approach involved believing in the community and trusting in the power of compassion.
"San Francisco proved that there is enough love and compassion for homeless animals in a community to overcome the irresponsibility of the few. And by changing the way the shelters operated - to be more proactive and offer more opportunities for people to save animals' lives - it showed that shelter killing was more a function of shelter practices, than pet overpopulation."
He writes of other communities with similar successes and ends with,
" When local citizens see animal shelters striving to do everything in their power to increase adoptions and reduce rates of shelter killing, they overwhelmingly respond with their hearts, homes and wallets."
You'll find the whole article on line at
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opfocus5638777apr06,0,3979349.story or at this tiny URL:
http://tinyurl.com/6sbfkg
Last weekend, Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Stu Bykofsky won a Genesis Award (www.GenesisAwards.com) for a number of animal friendly editions of his regular column. Today he is back on track, with a column headed "Local guy coaxed Oprah into show attacking puppy mills"
He writes:
"If Oprah can do for Fido what she's done for some authors and Barack Obama, dog lovers will wag their tails. They were drooling in anticipation of Oprah's show last Friday.
He notes that Oprah received "a very public 'invitation' by Bill Smith" to cover the issue:
"The founder and head of 10-year-old Main Line Animal Rescue, in Chester Springs, Smith in February spent $10,000 of a donor's money to put up an anti-puppy-mill billboard near Oprah's studio. It pictured a cute dog pleading: 'Oprah - please do a show on puppy mills; the dogs need you.'"
He writes of the puppy mills:
"In the worst cases, easily seen on the Web, breeder dogs are kept day and night in tiny cages - from which they are released only by death - with wire bottoms that hurt their paws. Cages are sometimes overcrowded, sometimes stacked on top of each other, so when the dog above defecates, the waste pours over the dogs below.
"The dogs often are not sheltered, watered or fed properly, nor do they have human contact or medical care. It is brutality.
"And yet, in a state governed by an avowed dog lover, puppy mills are not shut down and thousands of dogs endure lives of endless misery and pain, many covered with crud or sores. We wouldn't have such abysmal cruelty if Pennsylvania's dog wardens were effective."
Bykofsky and Smith suggest that "dog lovers must take the lead in shutting down the puppy mills by choking off demand."
Bykofsky writes:
"Smith says pet stores get 99 percent of their puppies from puppy mills. The Humane Society of the United States agrees. Pet stores create the demand that keeps mother dogs locked forever in wire cages.
"To close puppy mills, Smith told Oprah, adopt only from breed rescue groups or shelters.
"Calling herself 'a changed woman,' Oprah vowed never to buy another dog from a store, urged her viewers to adopt, and aired a segment on neutering pets. She hit all the right notes, as only she can."
You'll find the column on line at
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/17346519.html
You can thank the author at stubyko@phillynews.com.
Plus, both that column, and Winograd's Newsday column, present perfect opportunities for letters to the editor that keep the adoption discussion alive on the editorial pages.
You could also use the articles as jump-off points for discussions of the treatment of animals on factory farms.
(If you know little about that issue, please visit www.FactoryFarming.com )
The Philadelphia Inquirer takes letters at Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com
New York Newsday takes letters at letters@newsday.com
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.
Those who missed Oprah's puppy mill and adoption show on Friday can watch much of it in segments on line at http://tinyurl.com/2cvs6g
And if you haven't already, please thank Oprah for Friday's show. She reaches many millions of people every day so we need to do everything we can to encourage more animal friendly shows from her.
Send your thanks at
http://www2.oprah.com/email/reach/email_reach_fromu.jhtml
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)
Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read advance reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals" and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.