I hate the fact that we have a kill shelter in Johnston County. I just wanted to post the website of these animals that need homes. I have been reading about how the local towns are hiring individuals to pick up stray animals and are taking them to the shelter. I understand the need to pick up strays, but unfortunately they will probably be killed. Maybe they'll get adopted. Sorry, I had to vent. :-( http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NC292.html
How many actual no-kill shelters are there in NC, or any state for that matter? Very few of the "no-kill" shelters - (I'm not talking about the smaller individual rescues here, but actual shelters) - are run in a humane way. While I truly understand your frustration, a no-kill shelter is not always the best answer. The vast majority of domestic pets do not do well mentally, or physically, spending their lives in a cage or kennel. Responsible pet ownership, mandatory spay/neuter of pets, and putting a stop to puppy mills (which we have in Johnston County) are the answer to this ever growing problem. This is a fairly recent article - there are many which discuss the problems faced http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20246424/
I agree about the the responsible pet ownership. Unfortunately people in rural areas let their dogs/cats roam and figure they're just "country" pets and won't harm anyone without being spayed and neutered. That's why they have to trap so many animals in these small, rural towns. I believe the Johnston County Animal Protection League is a wonderful "no kill" organization that promotes adoption. How often do you see the Shelter at PetSmart promoting adoption? They leave them in the cage for a few days and then put multiple animals all in one cage to kill them. That's not humane by any means. PS I'm not a vegetarian- - I just don't believe in killing animals for no human purpose.
The Johnston County Animal Protection League is no kill because they only take in as many animals as they have foster homes for. (They have no shelter - all their animals are home-fostered.) If anyone is interested in being a foster home, contact JCAPL at www.jcapl.org
Good! We're on the same page here. Which is WHY individual towns and counties MUST wake up and establish and enforce MANDATORY licensing for domestic animals, which would cost more to individuals who do NOT spay/neuter their pets. If an animal is licensed, it wears a tag and when picked up, the owner must come in and bail their tails out. Eventually, they usually learn to keep their animal confined. I agree, however, I asked about no-kill SHELTERS - NOT rescue organizations. JCAPL is a 501 (c)(3)NON-PROFIT organization and does rescue/foster/adoption among other things for animals in need in Johnston County. They accept ONLY animals they have foster homes available for and do not accept un-adoptable animals . . .ie: aggressive dogs. . .I know full well what JCAPL is and what it does as I was the one who designed and implemented their foster program. By your term 'the Shelter' I imagine you mean Johnston County Animal Services/aka The Johnston County Shelter off of Brightleaf Blvd. . .The reason they aren't at PetsMart is because PetsMart only offers its kennel area to NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. FYI the SPCA is a NON PROFIT organization, which is why they often hold adopt-a-thons and have animals availaboe for adoption at PetsMart. There are more surplus animals than there are cages. Even if you built a massive shelter, with room for 300 more dogs and cats, it would be filled within a month or so and then what? Build a bigger shelter? What you would have is a "warehouse for unwanted animals." Living in a cage is not living, it is existing. I hate the thought of animals being murdered because humans don't do what's right and keep their pets on their property, and spay/neuter them so they don't roam or reproduce. If it upsets you, rather than crying over the ones that are in the shelter right this minute, why not write some letters to the County Commissioners and other local officials and INSIST licensing and spay/neuter laws. Go speak to the County Commissioners, they have monthly meetings in the courthouse, be a squeaky wheel (you need to call prior to the meeting and get on their agenda if you wish to speak - it's very easy to do.) I squeaked for 3 years and stuck a fork in myself - burned out. Give it a try, they can't turn a deaf ear forever.
People are always so quick to pass judgment on the county shelter, which exists because people don't take care of their own business. These same people are usually the ones who would squawk the loudest if their taxes were being raised to clean up the problem. Ernie is doing the best he can. Rather than get their undies in a wad, folks should go in there and offer their help as volunteers, speak with the commissioners and all elected officials in their community to make necessary changes, and be part of the solution. Stepping off my box now.
How did I become the bad guy? I'm confused. I believe my original post was advertising the adoption site for the animals, hoping someone would see it and want to adopt them. I said "unfortunately" they'll be killed. I understand the reasons for it, but I still see it as an "unfortunate" event, regardless of the reasons. YES, it is the pet owners fault for not spaying/neutering their pets; this is why I educate my own students about spaying/neutering through a club I run at my school. Everyone is so quick to jump on people on this site without ever stopping to look at the fact that we basically have the same views. Give someone a little power with running a foster care system and anyone that says something about the shelter has to listen to their soap box of spitting their animal knowledge left and right. My only gripe with the shelter is their lack of advertisement. I don't see as many ads for the animals or education about spaying/neutering as I should. When they run the news stories like the one I posted above, why not run a sister article about the benefits of spay/neuter and the financial help that is given for those that cannot afford it? You may think that I'm a whiner, but I think you are passing judgement just the same as you feel that I am. Settle down and listen to what people are actually saying.
You didn't become the bad guy - You said we didn't have no-kill shelters in Johnston County. . .I responded with the facts about no-kill shelters (things people don't think about) along with a link to a pretty concise article. I also mentioned that people have to take responsibility, and laws need to be made in order to break the cycle. Then you came back with mentioning JCAPL as an example of a no-kill org. and criticized the shelter for not holding adoption events at PetsMart - I explained why they don't. The shelter is a county facility with a very limited budget. There are no funds for advertising. Humane education isn't on any of the to-do lists of the Board of Education, nor of any politician. Only non-profits and caring individuals are out there to spread the word, however, to truly educate anyone, one must need to know all of the facts. To spread the virtues of no-kill shelters (animals are not put down for being unwanted) without the facts of the downside (they have little quality of life in 75% of these "no-kill" facilities and they will likely die without ever having a loving home, and may suffer serious personality changes from living in captivity) would not be conducive to animal welfare. Sorry, but you didn't list what paper the article was posted in, nor direct quotes from it, only that "local towns are hiring individuals to pick up stray animals and are taking them to the shelter." It sounds like the publication you read this in should receive a suggestion of a sister article. Maybe the editor of the paper would do a follow-up story and include space to list SNAP-NC, or one of the other non-profit low-cost spay/neuter assistance organizations. That might be a great project for your club - get the ball rolling on something positive for the animals in Johnston County. . .people, even bureaucrats. . .especially bureaucrats. . .have a hard time saying NO to a bunch of school kids. These boards have been through Hell and back with animal welfare arguments. It was before your time, obviously, but things got very ugly around these parts. Some of these people posted under as many as a dozen screen names and honestly, your initial post resembled their warm up to a discussion that would have no positive outcome. As of your last post, I'm thinking, you aren't one of the ghosts from furballs past. . .Those people would only complain and raise a huge stink, never doing anything concrete, just a bunch of talk. It's nothing personal, it's just that when you see some of the crap I've seen done to animals, when you work your tail off to make a difference and it's always two steps forward and three steps back, you tend to get a bit jaded. Like I said, I'm burned out. So, sorry if you felt I jumped on you. BTW - for the record - I did admit to getting on my soap-box
well some dummy had dumped out 3 kittens at my parents house. i guess that is 3 that won't be put down.
Growing up out in the country was fun for me and lil sista, everyone dumped pets in the country at our house.
WOW, HG, your hair is getting really long! Wait, it's straight, lol. Is that how long it gets when you straighten it out?? Frogger
