American news media inaccurately report on animal shelter intake rates

Nathan Winograd, a major animal advocate in the United States of America, tells me in his newsletter that "We are seeing something we've never seen before".

Image: Nathan Winograd's newsletter.

He has accused the online news media of America of "spreading alarm" about the very high animal intakes into rescue centres and shelters in America. He blames them for inaccurate reporting. He should know best and he says that the facts on the ground do not mirror the news media stories about high intake rates.

He claims that "while intakes are higher than at the height of the pandemic when many of these facilities were closed, they remain below pre-pandemic levels."

He claims that there has been an "epic failure of journalism to accurately report on this topic".

And this is the problem as he sees it: these stories have allowed shelters to avoid their responsibilities. It's allowed them to continue with, in his words, "shoddy practices by pointing the finger of blame outward".

In other words, the shelters can blame a mythical super-high intake of animals to cover up their inadequacies.

But the truth, he says, about shelter overcrowding and killing shelter animals unnecessarily lies in the fact that the shelters are "making pandemic-related closures permanent". And there are no "offsite adoptions [and] appointment-only adoptions."

In addition, he blames the shelters for a "lack of public access hours (evenings and weekends, and [a] failure to implement robust volunteer, foster, and rescue partnerships."

As I say, Nathan Winograd, is America's best expert on animal shelters in America and he is the number one exponent of the no-kill shelter policy.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Animal shelter is heartbroken at the prospect of splitting up mum and daughter cats but should they be?

The news media reports that staff at an animal charity in Warrington, Warrington Animal Welfare, say that they are going to be heartbroken if a mother and daughter duo, Isobelle and Phoebe, who have lived at the shelter for a considerable time, are split up. 

The pair are aged four and two respectively. They say that they are the longest staying shelter cats at their rescue and if they can't be rehomed together there may have to be split up and rehomed separately.

Isobelle and Phoebe at Warrington Animal Welfare. Photos by the rescue.

But if they are rehomed separately the staff at the shelter would be upset. But I question whether they should be upset because in the natural course of events, daughters and sons of parent cats become independent at a certain point in time. 

In the wild, they would leave the natal range and find their own home range and thereby find their own home. They would become independent at a certain age after their mother had shown them how to kill prey and bring it back to the den.

So, my argument is that splitting up mother and daughter is not such a big deal as the shelter staff think it would be. I don't think the daughter would be particularly upset and neither would the mother unless there is a particularly close bond between the two for whatever reason but that, I believe, is unlikely.

You get a similar story with siblings. Some people think that siblings should stay together at the shelter and be rehomed together. But the truth is that if they are adopted by somebody before they become fully independent, when they become independent, they might start fighting each other. You can't automatically presume that siblings will get along well. They might but they might not.

Grand jury's scathing report of Orange County Animal Care, California rejected by BOS

A board of supervisors (BOS) is a group of elected officials responsible for overseeing county government. In Orange County a grand jury investigation of Orange County Animal Care (OCAC) in California has uncovered inhumane conditions but the BOS have rejected the findings.

They also revealed the killing of shelter animals despite there being empty cages and turning volunteers and adopters away by refusing to end pandemic-era closures. 

The OC Animal Care Shelter located in Tustin, California on June 17, 2023. Image: Hannah Okamoto / VOICE OF OC

That information comes from Nathan Winograd. In addition, I can report from the Voice of Orange County website which states that Orange County officials dispute the grand jury report on increased kill rate at the shelter.

The grand jury came to a majority finding that the county-run animal shelter needed to update policies such as increasing visits for residents.

And they found that the shelter has been euthanising animals at a higher rate than in previous years.

This latest report is part of an uncomfortable line of scathing reports; five over the past 24 years.

The latest report came out early on this summer and it echoes calls in the community to reopen OC Animal Care to the public, to reinstate trap neuter and release (TNR) programs and to reduce kill rates.

Nathan Winograd is critical of the BOS, whose role I mentioned in the opening sentence. I'm told by Nathan Winograd that the BOS passed a resolution disagreeing with almost all of the findings and recommendations. 

Among the many "breathtaking claims in its rebuttal, the BOS stated there is no link between refusing TNR and killing cats-even as OCAC does that very thing".

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, OC Animal Care suspended most of their walk-in services and introduced an appointment system in its place. And they also suspended the "catch-and-release" programme for community cats. I suspect that that is a reference to TNR programs for stray and feral cats in the county. Note that they suspended the program and didn't terminate or cancel it.

If it suspended then surely it can be reinstated?

I'm told that the kennel areas at the shelter are still mainly off-limits to the public except for a 2.5-hour period on Wednesdays and Saturdays when certain kennel areas are in fact open to the public.

The grand jury claimed that the adoption appointment system is restricted and it prevents potential adopters from viewing the animals easily. The county disagrees with those claims.

Animal advocate Sharon Logan commented in saying that the "themes" of the grand jury reports are always the same namely "lack of leadership and high euthanasia rates".

Logan is a local animal rescuer who, remarkably, successfully sued the county shelter over the shelter's euthanasia practices in the past.

The shelter is open to the public for five hours a week since the Covid pandemic. An Orange County resident, Margot Boyer, has started a petition to urge the shelter to entirely reopen the kennels to the public. The petition has surpassed 23,000 signatures.

She is pessimistic about the grand jury report because she believes that nothing will happen but at least the report was made which is more than what the BOS are doing.

17 cats mysteriously died on the way to a veterinarian from a San Bernardino County animal pound

Rescue cats. Image supplied.

NEWS AND VIEWS: This is a report from Nathan Winograd to me in an email. It is very disturbing. Nathan Winograd is America's greatest advocate for the No-Kill movement in animal shelters. He tells me that staff at the Devore pound (animal 'shelter') in San Bernardino County, California, USA, say that 17 cats on the way to a veterinary clinic mysteriously died. But there has been no explanation. 

No one believes the claim. Nathan Winograd hints in his email that the cats were killed deliberately because this particular pound has a record of killing animals unnecessarily.

He says that Devore staff routinely and systematically kill animals. And according to rescuers Devore killed 35 cats including young kittens in three days.

RELATED: Nathan Winograd’s No Kill Advocacy Center Reviews US Statistics on American Shelters.

Rescuers have accused the pound of the following:

• Routinely mislabeling friendly cats as “feral” to kill them because it does not have a community cat program;
• Allowing healthy cats to get sick because of poor protocols and filth and then killing them, even if the condition is treatable;
• Killing pregnant cats so as not to foster or provide veterinary care;
• Killing entire families of cats — mothers and young kittens together; and,
• Not providing prompt and necessary medical care “leading to suffering and even death.

And when rescuers complain about these unnecessary killings, the administrators of the pound retaliate by killing animals that the rescuers have offered to save. It seems extraordinary. This report indicates that there is a complete breakdown in the way this pound is managed.

And the pound is managed by Brian Cronin. And Winograd also reports that Cronin has been the subject of complaints dating back decades. For example, in 2006, it is said that he returned an abuse dog doused in gasoline and set on fire to the abuser who was awaiting trial at the time. This caused worldwide condemnation.

Winograd also accuses the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, who oversee the pound, of allowing the long-term neglect, abuse and killing of animals and the pound.

Whimpering dog dragged to euthanasia room at city pound in heartbreaking viral video

This is a classic story of an animal pound killing a dog who did not have behavioral issues but it was claimed that he did. There is a petition on change.org which explains it all (relevant extracts below) and The New York Times covered this. 

Nathan Winograd writes about these events all the time. There are still 'shelters' in the US where they have poor policies and management on dealing with dogs and which ones to save and rehome and which ones to euthanise (kill). 

The Pitbull breeds are branded bad almost automatically based on their appearance when the decent thing to do would be to assess each dog based on their behavior and even if it is not optimal whether it can be remedied by basic socialisation and training.

Screenshots from the video below plus NY Times' headline. Thanks New York Times.

This dog was Maverick. It was reported that he bit his owner but we don't the veracity of that or the backstory. We do know that police Officer Teng stated he had no trouble with MAVERICK, and seemed surprised and taken aback to hear that he had been killed by NYC ACC (New York City Animal Care Centers). Workers at the shelter said Maverick showed “serious aggression,” — leading to its decision to euthanize him.

This is taken from the Change.org website petition to:

Pass New York CAPA and Stop the Killing of Healthy and Treatable Shelter Animals!

“ACCORDING TO THE [NYPD] OFFICER WHO DEALT WITH MAVERICK…

Officer Teng stated he had no trouble with MAVERICK, and seemed surprised and taken aback to hear that he had been killed by NYC ACC. Officer Teng said the son in MAVERICK’s family brought the dog who was wagging his tail out to the police car and MAVERICK hopped right into the back, and rode calmly with Officer Teng without incident to the Precinct, where he remained calm and friendly until ACC later picked-up MAVERICK. Officer Teng stated that only the father of the family had ever had a problem with MAVERICK, who had bitten the father once before. Officer Teng clearly described a dog who was not unmanageable or vicious in any way, and was not, and did not need to be restrained at any time the Officer was with what he also described as a friendly and calm dog.”

WARNING - SOME MIGHT FIND THE VIDEO DISTRESSING.

The video is not great quality because it was poor in the first place and I videoed it from my computer screen. Sorry if that has infringed someone's copyright but needs must in the interests of justice and decency. It is good enough to get the message. It is distressing.

Cindi Lyn who started the petition writes on Change.org:

A horrifying video was recorded on Thursday, May 9th, 2019, at the New York City pound in Manhattan. The video shows a 'euth tech' attempting to block the view of a rescue volunteer who bravely kept recording as uncaring ACC employees dragged a frightened dog named Maverick to the kill room. Maverick seemed to sense his fate and resisted his killers by lying down, showing no sign of aggression.

Dog fan falls for a tiny rescue cat 'down a leg, two ears and a tail' but full of love and personality

This interesting looking small cat was bred in China and adopted by a couple in America which is very unusual in itself. It looks like the Chinese breeder is creating Chinchilla Persian-like dwarf cats. She is called Mochi. It is the first time I have heard of a Chinese cat breeder exporting internationally from the country where they eat domestic cats in the south.

Mochi. Image: Instagram (Greg McDouglas).

Mochi has become bit of a star because of her unusual appearance. And that has come about because of a very severe illness she suffered after she arrived in America. She developed ischemic dermatopathy. 

My understanding is that this was an autoimmune response which attacked her body leading to widespread inflammation which further led to necrosis in parts of her body. That's why her ear flaps were amputated and her tail. She also lost the paw of one leg

But, of course, it hasn't slowed her down one bit. She's made a full recovery and is flourishing in a home where she is deeply loved. The power of love is immense.

Mochi ended up in a shelter where she spent two months recovering.

A Boston couple, Greg and Natalia, were thinking about adopting a rescue cat and they hit the jackpot in adopting Mochi. That "jackpot" description refers to the possibility of them becoming celebrities vicariously on social media because sometimes interesting looking cats can become quite famous on social media.

Mochi in her nice home. Image: Instagram.

Greg McDouglas and Natalia have taken super care of her. When she arrived, she weighed 2.5 pounds as a tiny kitten but has grown to a healthy 4 pounds in weight. It is a very nice home. You can feel the love.

She is infectiously cute and people love cuteness. Greg is appreciative of the luck he had in being able to adopt Mochi. And Mochi is appreciative of the luck she had in being adopted by him and his partner.

Apparently, they were selected by the shelter because they had no kids or pets and they were young adults. That's an indication of the kind of profile that you might have if you want to be selected by a shelter to adopt a shelter cat.

The shelter by the way is the MSPCA Angell shelter in Boston.

Tiny rescue kitten with a big personality 😺
Down a leg, two ears & a tail but full of love. Link to Instagram page.

The video doesn't work very well but you'll get the story just fine.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mochi (@mochi.boston)

A pathetic reason for giving up a cat to a shelter or they lied

This story on social media irritated me. All I have is the headline. And it is this: "This cat was handed into my shelter for eating the family hamster". I think that is a pathetic reason for giving up on your cat and putting them in jeopardy (unless they lied). 

Putting a cat into a shelter does indeed put them in jeopardy because it depends upon another person coming along to adopt him or her. If they don't, they are in dangerous territory; they can be euthanised.

So why is the reason for relinquishment pathetic? The people who adopted the cat in the first place either had a hamster at that time or they bought a hamster while they had their cat. Either way, they knew that there would be a danger of their cat attacking the hamster. 

A pathetic reason for giving up a cat to a shelter or they lied. Image: skeletonclock on reddit.com

They created the conditions under which their cat eventually did attack and kill the family hamster.

If fault is to be apportioned it goes a hundred percent to the human care givers. The cat was simply behaving instinctively and naturally. I don't need to go on about this because it's obviously wrong for the owners to give up their cat for this reason. It is also obviously wrong for them to place a cat and hamster together.

I'm not saying it was deliberate. It can't have been but it was due to carelessness in some shape or form. Perhaps the hamster escaped their cage. Perhaps the owner was playing with the hamster and it jumped off onto the ground and their cat was not too far away and attacked it.

No matter how you interpret it the problem always goes back to humans. It is probably fair to say that every time a domestic cat is relinquished to a shelter the underlying problem is human behaviour. The only time that it can't be is if the cat is mentally ill, otherwise it is instinctive feline behaviour reacting to human-made circumstances.

There are very, very few mentally ill domestic cats requiring drug treatment of some sort. Rather sadly, the person who posted on social media completed their title with the word "Reckon she did it?" It's irrelevant except to say that the owners might have made up the story in order to give up their cat.

That wouldn't surprise me one bit. Perhaps it's a very good question. People like to make up stories when they walk into a shelter with their cat to give them up. They want to divert attention away from their mistakes and inability to care for a cat. If they did lie, they fabricated a silly excuse.

Everybody knows that when you adopt a cat you do so for the life of the cat unless some extraordinary and exceptional circumstance intervenes. That's the target. And there will be ups and downs. There will be difficult moments. There will be times when you want to give up your cat (maybe).

But just like a marriage between man and wife or man and man or woman and woman, you make sure that you go through those moments and sort them out. Often when you come out the other side the relationship has improved.

Senior citizens should consider being cat nappers at local animal shelters

 

 

Terry volunteers daily at his local shelter to take naps with cats as you can see in the video.  I can't guarantee the video will stay on this page indefinitely. Sorry.

And as you can see in the video, he thoroughly enjoys it and is very good at it. He's made friends with the cats, and they've made friends with him. He says that the experience helps with his health and blood pressure et cetera. I just see a lot of positivity in the video. There's no downside to it.

If you are a senior citizen with time on your hands and if there is an animal shelter not too far from, this, I would have thought, would be an option.

Old hand of a loving cat caregiver and the appreciative cat. Image in public domain.

Not only do you meet the cats and provide them with a little bit of human warmth and comfort, you can meet the people who work there as well.

Every senior citizen needs to get out and meet people. It's a basic necessity for humankind. Humans are social creatures.

And connecting with domestic cats at shelter allows Terry to connect with nature. The domestic cat is wild at heart. The wild cat nature is just below the surface.

When you interact with a domestic cat you indirectly interact with nature.

So there you go, it is a project which is bundled up with positivity and goodness. Of course, you got to like cats and you can't be one of the 10-20% of the population who are allergic to cats.

But, then again, if you can't be a professional, unpaid cat napper you might do the same thing with dogs.

What if you live in an apartment and the landlord doesn't allow cats and what if you think that your lifestyle is not really suitable to look after a cat. But you love cats. You might find a compromise and become a professional cat napper.

Terry snoozes with a shelter cat. Screenshot.

Terry Lauerman of De Pere 

This is a convenient moment to write a bit more about Terry. He's been around quite a bit and has become quite famous. He's in his mid-70s and has been dubbed "The Cat Grandpa".

He said: "I've always liked cats and I always had cats when I was kid, and I loved them. In many ways, I see my old cats in these cats here." 

He visits the Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary Inc. When I first saw him sleeping with a cat I thought it was just a one-off incident, but it isn't. He does it all the time.

The shelter said:

"We are so lucky to have a human like Terry. Terry just came along one day and introduced himself. He said he'd like to brush cats. Eventually it became everyday. He brushes all of the cats, and can tell you about all of their likes and dislikes. He also accidentally falls asleep most days. We don't mind - Cats need this! Terry is a wonderful volunteer. 😻❤️🐾 #nappingencouraged #grateful"

I love the way that Terry got up, got out of his home and introduced himself at the shelter. It started out by brushing cats and what a good idea that was.

At the time that Terry became well known and linked to the shelter, in four days they raised more than $40,000 and their website temporarily crashed as its server reported nearly 1,000 people visiting the website per second.

These days he is an official volunteer at the shelter. He first became acquainted with the shelter in 2016 at its previous location in De Pere.

Terry said that the shelter does not cage the animals. I guess this massively facilitates his interactions with them. The shelter relocated to Green Bay's Broadway District in 2017.

In his previous life, Lauerman was a Spanish instructor. Green Bay is a city in the US state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a US state in the east of the country and Green Bay is adjacent to Lake Michigan.

Pandemic lockdowns exposed the less-than-optimal human-to-cat relationship

NEWS AND OPINION: I'm on my high horse again but I think that this is a very relevant topic. But first things first. The Kingston Humane Society has a nice photograph of a cat in one of their cages and what I like about it is the customised tent in one corner of the cage where the cat can hide. 

It's sad and nice at the same time. It's sad because cats in shelters need to hide because they are frightened but it is nice because the shelter has provided cats with a means to hide. A sort of home-from-home environment.

Kingston Humane Society cat in a cage with a tent to hide in. Image: the society.

The fact that cats need to hide indicates that their true character is probably not going to be shown at a shelter because of anxiety induced by the shelter environment. This affects adoptions.

That's the first point out of the way. The second point is this: like other cat and animal shelters, this one has too many animals in their care. Their capacity is 144 and they currently care for 315 which is more than twice their capacity.

The director of the Kingston Humane Society, Gord Hunter, puts this down to the after-effects of the Covid pandemic and those long lockdowns during which some people impulsively adopted a companion animal.

And there is the problem: people adopted these abandoned companion animals on a known temporary basis. They must have known that the lockdowns were going to end within a defined time. They must've realised that at the end of those lockdowns they would have to go back to their normal work routine, and they should have asked themselves whether they would retain their cat or dog companion when that happened.

If they didn't do that and many didn't, they were not committed to being the caregiver of a companion animal for the life of the animal. And that is the only way to adopt a cat or dog. If a person can't make that commitment, they should not adopt.

There might be some culpability with animal shelters in this regard by adopting out cats and dogs to people during the pandemic perhaps realising that this was a temporary state of affairs.

For me, it's a question of raising standards of cat caregiving. I know it's boring to discuss this, but the flood of unwanted animals adopted inwards to shelters such as the one in Kingston indicates a less than optimal human-to-cat relationship and standard of care.

This state of affairs is one reason why there are feral cats which are a perceived problem to many people. There needs to be some way of raising standards in the interest of human society and animal welfare. Education is the best answer and regulations are a secondary solution.

Source: Global News.

Some American communities place over 95% of rescue animals in new homes

In an email to me, Nathan Winograd, "The voice of America's displaced pets and the conscience of the animal sheltering industry" tells me that in a number of American communities they place over 95%, and as high as 99%, of rescue animals in their care at shelters. He says that they are following his no-kill policies and he has consistently said that it is possible to genuinely place far more animals than is currently the case in many shelters through good management and a progressive and imaginative approach to saving lives through increasing adoptions. This is my interpretation.

Shelter cats needing a quality home. Image in public domain.

He quotes three successful communities:

• Gunnison County, CO, reported a 99% placement rate for dogs, 98% for cats, and 100% for other small animals.

• Flat Rock, MI, reported a 97% placement rate for dogs and 99% for cats.

• Shiawassee County, MI, reported a 97% placement rate for dogs, 99% for cats, and 100% for other animals

He says that these communities prove that animals are not dying in pounds because there are too many rescue animals or too few homes in which to place them, or that people don't want the animals. He said that they are dying in many pounds because people are killing them. What he is saying is that when the focus is on euthanasia of shelter animals (a euphemism for killing) rather than on how to rehome them and a commitment to that second objective, you end up with a higher death rate.

He calls it his "No Kill Equation". He has an enemy in PETA. PETA claim that his thoughts are misplaced. PETA prefer to euthanise animal shelters as a means of dealing with them if there are too many as it is the humane way under tough circumstances. 

And they say that there are too many cats and too many killings at shelters because of bad cat management i.e. through informal breeding and carelessness et cetera. The problem is with people and their ownership of cats not with the volunteers and workers at shelters who are doing sterling work.

And they also say that if a shelter tries to implement Nathan Winograd's 'No Kill Equation' they can end up with big issues and problems. One problem that they seem to point out is that sometime shelters, in an effort to stop euthanising animals, stop taking them in and push the problem back on the general public which can lead to animal cruelty outside of the shelter. They provide examples of that. For example:

"A Virginia woman who was convicted of cruelty to animals in the shooting deaths of six puppies testified that “she was angry and frustrated that even though she tried to do the right thing, she wasn’t able to find a place for the animals.” She reportedly contacted two shelters, but one was full and the other wouldn’t take the puppies because they belonged to her son. The woman said that she then shot them to death and disposed of their bodies."

If that is true then the shelters it seems to me are not implementing Nathan Winograd's policies. I don't think his policies suggest that shelters should reject incoming cats and dogs. I think what he wants people to do is to use more progressive methods to rehome them and focus on that.

Arguably, it is PETA who have misplaced thoughts in this regard. It is possible - and I'm not sure - that PETA don't fully understand Nathan Winograd's no-kill policies. And that may be because he doesn't explain them clearly enough. And perhaps his policies demand a rigour and commitment in shelter workers which is perhaps beyond their capabilities.

Although I am an admirer of Nathan Winograd, I think one problem that he has is communicating through the written word. He is a lawyer and therefore a great legal communicator but his language is tangled up in complexity. I don't think he writes in a clear and concise way which would help to get his message across to the general public at large i.e. to everybody. This I feel is a failing and something which holds him back.

Animal shelter volunteer says that they have never been so busy on intakes

NEWS AND COMMENT: An animal shelter in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has never been busier. They are experiencing their highest ever demand to rehome cats and dogs in receiving 55 calls to taking unwanted companion animals in just one day.

One volunteer, Janice Porter, said that the Grove Hill Animal Trust has never seen it so bad in terms of intakes and she's been volunteering there for 20 years. By 11 AM on Monday she had received 20 calls to take in cats.

Janice Porter a volunteer at Grove Hill Animal Trust, a N. Ireland animal shelter. Photo: Belfast Live

What's behind this? She thinks there are two reasons (1) people who acquired cats during the Covid lockdown failed to spay and neuter them due to inexperience and (2) the cost-of-living crisis is making it harder for owners to fund the keeping of a companion animal. It appears that people are cutting their living expenses and one of the things to go is their pet. There is a third reason: people returning to the office after working at home under artificial circumstances.

This, it has to be said, points to the same problem of not spaying and neutering and in adopting during the Covid pandemic in order to keep yourself company. These are adopters who were not really committed to caring for their companion animal for the life of the animal. That's the root of the issue.

The Covid pandemic distorted our lifestyles. It has created some long-term problems in many areas. There was actually a prediction that there would be a flood of cat and dog abandonments after Covid for these very reasons.

RELATED: More cats than dogs abandoned during coronavirus pandemic.

There was certainly a huge surge in dog adoptions in particular because millions of people had time on their hands to do nothing while they received furlough money (UK). They thought they would adopt a dog and take him or her for a walk in the park to occupy themselves. That sounds great but it is not the best way to prepare for a lifetime of care of a companion animal. It might work out but as we can see too often it doesn't.

Many of the cats being abandoned to this shelter are aged around 2 to 3 years old. This once again points to adoptions made during lockdown.

And perhaps there are other issues at play here. Let's say a person adopts a cat during lockdown and then let's them wander around and in effect abandons that cat so that he or she becomes a stray. Another person feeds the stray and because they are not spayed, they are going to mate with a stray tomcat and produced kittens in quite large numbers over a couple of years. This sort of thing is happening as well. The kind person who fed the street cat is then going to take them and their kittens to a shelter for rehoming.

It is sad to see this surge in abandonments but it was predictable.

3 kinds of animal shelter in the USA (according to Nathan Winograd)

I receive a newsletter from Nathan Winograd for which I am very grateful because he is an incredibly knowledgeable man about the animal rescue network in the US and he is, I believe, instrumental in instigating and driving forward the concept of no-kill animal shelters. His basic attitude is that with effort and imagination and with the right attitude managers of animal shelters in America can rehome all their animals except those that are genuinely unsuited for rehoming. And therefore, he has saved millions of lives.

RELATED: Only remaining cat at a shelter is finally adopted through a novel veterinary program.

Animal shelter. Image by Daga_Roszkowska from Pixabay 

So, what he says goes and he divides up animal shelters into these three categories and I will use his words verbatim for the sake of clarity and certainty:

1. 'Those that embrace the No Kill Equation achieving placement rates of 99%'. Comment: these shelters rehome almost 100% of the animals that are in their care. They are the ones he considers to be doing good work;
2. 'Those that routinely kill animals because they find killing easier than doing what is necessary to stop it'. Comment: this, I believe, is a strong hint at the fact that some managers of some shelters don't commit to rehoming the animals that pass through their organisation in using their imagination, commitment and good business practices. It is, he thinks, a form of laziness in this sector of the animal shelter operation;
3. 'Those that close the door to animals in need and tell people who find animals that if they don't want to ignore the animals, they have to take care of themselves'. Comment: I believe that this is a reference to some shelters who argue that in respect of feral cats it is best to leave them where they are even if they are semi-domesticated and can be rehomed or perhaps this attitude also relates to stray cats. They might argue that the stray, homeless domestic cats have learned to live outside of the human home and therefore because they have a limited amount of space at the shelter, they have decided that these cats should stay where they are but if their customers object to that process, they, themselves, can look after these homeless cats. That is my interpretation and if I am incorrect, please tell me in a comment.

There is nothing more than I can add because although I subscribe to his emails, I do not subscribe to his blog nor to his podcast where I will probably learn a bit more. I don't subscribe to his other outlets because I have enough on my plate already and I have enough subscriptions and associations with other websites which already make my life a little overcomplicated.

RELATED: The higher an animal shelter's live release rate the higher the rates of burnout in shelter staff?

Volunteers sitting with the animals during 4th July firework celebrations

All that I have of this story is this photograph and it is a great photograph of volunteers sitting with the rescue animals at an unknown shelter in the US on July 4 to comfort them when the fireworks start to go off. It is a heartwarming photograph. A photograph to soften the hardened heart. A heart hardened by the usual hassles of living on this planet which for most of us isn't that easy at least some of the time. There are good people out there and they volunteer their time.

Volunteers sitting with the animals during 4th July firework celebrations. Photo: Facebook page of 'Artistic Freedom'.

I guess, too, that the people benefit because they are able to mix with like-minded people so it is a great way to socialise. And of course, they know that they are doing something good in helping animals who are already stressed by being confined to small cages in a noisy shelter with strange people wandering by from time to time.

I am sure that stress is the biggest psychological problem for rescue cats and dogs in shelters. It affects their behaviour which in turn affects their adaptability. For them it is a double whammy of stress-inducing influences because they are already stressed and they going to be stress some more because of the strange and loud noises. Well done to these people. The photograph caught my eye and I felt that I needed to circulate it on the Internet a little bit.

The Internet does not help me in trying to find out how commonplace this type of volunteer work is in the USA. My gut feeling is that it is not that uncommon but it is the first time that I've seen this kind of photograph and I have seen tens of thousands of photographs of animal shelters.

Look at the gorgeous cat cubicles at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Screenshot from their video.

This short promotional video from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home shows us how pleasant it is for the cats. See the vertical space that they have provided at the back of the cubicle. This is essential to enrich their confined space. And it looks reasonably spacious compared to some I have seen in other shelters.

I have visited the place. It is very large. It has the oldest boarding cattery in the world at the center of the shelter. This shelter has an amazing pedigree (excuse the pun). The facilities are exceptional and their reputation extends to the entire world. It is probably the best-known dog and cat shelter on the planet. It is right in the middle of London. It is south of the river Thames.

 

Note: This is an embedded video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source or the video is turned into a link which would stop it working here. I have no control over this.

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I have some pages on Battersea as it is called for short: 

RELATED: Handsome cat overlooked at rescue center for 125 days because he has FIV. The average stay for a rescue cat or dog at Battersea is 23 days. 

RELATED: Pets rescued from the Grenfell Tower blaze to be temporarily housed by Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Putin's troops are shooting up and shelling animal shelters in Ukraine

NEWS AND COMMENT: The madman (actually he's not mad but behaves as if he is) Putin is allowing his troops to shoot up and shell animal shelters in Ukraine on a rampage of destruction with no rhyme or reason behind it. Except perhaps just to terrorise the civilians and to kill and maim wantonly. Putin is rapidly catching up with Hitler as the world's worst mass murderer. The problem is that the West is fighting with one arm behind their back because they are walking on egg shells as Putin has nukes and the big fear is that he may actually use them.

Medical student in Ukraine flees with his two cats in his arms. Image: Reuters.

In a better world, NATO would go in and defend Ukraine but if they do that, they may start a nuclear war. NATO is also walking on egg shells. Everything that is being done in support of Ukraine is one step removed from the real support that they need to beat Putin which is to fight and I fully understand but it is frustrating. And in the meantime, the three major animal shelters in Ukraine are being attacked by Russian soldiers.

One of them was shelled and another was shot up by invading Russians. Many cats and dogs have been killed. There are many animal lovers who are assisting as best they can by running pop-up animal shelters of their own. They are rescuing cats and dogs as best they can. These are great people under severe stress is are the animals that they rescue. They are fighting against the odds, insurmountable odds and seeing animals injured and destroyed.

These great people are going to suffer trauma in the months and perhaps years to come because of what they've seen and experienced. The International Fund for Animal Welfare has stepped in and are doing their best to help these charities and the rescued cats and dogs.

RELATED: Russians shell and shoot up Ukraine animal shelters. This linked post has some more details on the shelters concerned.

Note: These are posts from FB which are 'embedded' here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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Separately, cats and dogs are on occasions at least being abandoned which is wrong but can you blame the owners? They are terrified. In contrast, there are many Ukrainians who are struggling to flee with their cats and dogs in carriers or they simply carry them in their arms. The sight of that gives me the heebie-jeebies because what chance have they of carrying their cats to the west of Ukraine and then over the border to Poland? 

Is there not a huge possibility that they will lose their cats in the process. The noise and the strangeness and the fear that will be instilled in those animals is going to almost force them to leap out of their arms and run to their deaths.

Some Ukrainians are staying, hiding in shelters for long hours while bombs and shells destroy their homes above. Imagine what it is like in those shelters. Look at the practicalities. What about going to the toilet for both humans and cats and dogs? How does it work? It seems all but impossible to manage that kind of situation while maintaining sanity and health.

And if and when they try and flee along a safe corridor the Russians continue to shell. Recently the Russians offered safe passage along a protected corridor which ended up either in Belarus or Russia! The cynicism is beyond belief.

And as Putin realises that he is losing this war, which is remarkable considering the overwhelming force against the Ukrainians, he may do something desperate like push that red button or instruct his generals to push it on his behalf. This is the real problem behind this: the West is walking on egg shells because he has nukes and he has threatened to use them on two occasions. The brutal truth is that he needs to be stopped although we are not allowed to say that. For the life of me I don't know why because the solution is in the removal of Mr Putin.

To hear about animals being killed and injured and terrified in this way is heartrending. You can't even say the war is just or good if ever a war can be just and good. It is just the desire of one person who believes that Ukraine should be part of Russia. It's his dream and he will achieve it in any way possible with a complete disregard for the lives of both animals and people.

He will lose in the end because he cannot control a country of about 40 million people of this geographic size even if and when he does win this war. Ukrainians will resist permanently. And the country will have to be rebuilt. Who is going to pay for that when and if Russia governs the country? Russia can't afford to pay for it. They will be running a broken country with no economy and broken infrastructure and a populace who hate Russia and this madman Putin.

It is a total humankind f**k-up and it is the innocents who suffer.

Shelter says: "The only cat left on our adoption floor is Bell" -video

This is a TikTok video of an eight-year-old shelter cat named Bell. She is female which is unusual for a ginger tabby and she is the only cat at the shelter as you can see when the video camera roams down the aisle of shelter cages with not a cat in sight. By implication, Bell is the only cat left because she is middle-aged in cat years. She looks very cautious when the person making the video enters her cage. This is understandable.

Bell emerges from hiding in her shelter enclosure. Screenshot.

On the outside of her enclosure there is a sign saying "free roaming". I am not sure what that means in this instance. I don't think Bell was free-roaming but she might have been. Perhaps it means that she is able to roam freely in a larger than usual enclosure or area at the cat shelter.

@gcace_rescue The only cat left on our adoption floor is Bell💔 #adoptaseniorcat #foster #rescue #animalshelter #fyp #catsoftiktok ♬ original sound - m.a.r.y s.h.a.n.t.i

Once again, it looks like a very nicely set up cat shelter with great facilities. It is a sad video and it provides an insight into how shelter cats feel.

I wonder if they could have provided a better hiding place for Bell? She hides under what appears to be a plastic stool. A customised hiding place might be better. She needs to hide because she is timid or understandably anxious. That is very clear judging by the video. She is out of her normal environment and in a very strange and rather sterile place.

This shelter cat she needs a nice home where she is loved. It is, of course, sad that she has been rejected by potential adopters. Elderly cats are not infrequently left on the shelf so to speak. This is not only unfair but inadvisable.

RELATED: Video: POV-what a senior cat at a shelter sees and hears as adopters walk by.

Elderly cats make really good companion animals. They know the ropes. They settle into a new home more easily and more quickly. They are more accepting because they have more life experience. They don't chase around the place like kittens do causing a certain amount of mayhem. All-in-all they are an excellent cat to adopt. 

RELATED: Florida veterinarian said senior cat was ‘suffering’ and euthanizes her on the day of intake at SPCA.

The only downside is that they are likely to die before the adopter. In which case you have to be prepared emotionally for that very difficult time in a caregiver's duty when you have to decide if and when you need to euthanise your cat. 

It is the toughest time for a concerned cat caregiver. The moment might be protracted because of chronic illness. Not easy to deal with. But the benefits, in my view, of adopting a senior cat far outweigh the negatives.

Note: This is a video from another website which is embedded here. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

Owner-surrendered cats find animal shelters harder to deal with than stray cats

This might be common knowledge among animal shelter workers but I think it's still worth repeating. A study published in 2007: Behavioral differences between owner surrender and stray domestic cats after entering an animal shelter, found that when a cat owner surrendered their domestic cat companion to a shelter the cat found the whole shelter experience more stressful than stray cats brought to the shelter.

Shelter tabby cat keen to be adopted. Photo: Pixabay.

I can't read the detailed conclusion or the reasons behind this finding because I have to pay for access to the entire study but I think I can reasonably guess the reason why. 

Domestic cats are used to a friendly environment. Stray cats are used to a hostile environment. When a stray cat goes into a shelter there is perhaps not a lot of difference in the sense of hostility that the environment brings to them. But for a domestic cat it's a shock. They go from what should be a calm, pleasant environment to one which is noisy and where there are a lot of people coming and going and cats and dogs in cages making noises.

It is a foregone conclusion that an owner-surrendered cat is likely to feel stressed. The amount of stress they feel will depend upon their personality and their previous lifestyle.

In this study they examined 86 domestic cats (some of whom were stray cats). They measured their behaviour for the first three days after entering an animal shelter. They labelled the owner-surrendered cats as "OS" and the stray cats as "S".

The conclusion was:

"Results indicate that OS cats showed the greatest behavioral measures of stress and arousal compared to S cats."

They also found that the "mean behavioural stress rating" of cats that had been euthanised due to illness or disease was significantly higher in the OS group compared to the S group.

Further, when they examined archival data from 260 shelter cats that had developed an upper respiratory infection, the OS cats became ill much sooner than the S cats. They concluded that this was because they suffered from more stress than the S cats.

OS cats suffer from more stress than S cats when entering a shelter environment which impacts their behaviour, their health and general well-being. It can also lead to euthanasia as opposed to being adopted.

It's is a known fact that shelters can be very stressful places for cats. It makes them prone to behavioural problems and health issues. These include weight loss, self-trauma, over-grooming, aggression, withdrawal, bladder problems and upper respiratory infections.

A strong suggestion is that the best way to reduce stress in residents who are at a shelter in the long term is to remove them to a foster home which gets them out of the shelter environment. They should stay there until they are adopted. This should not just be a de-stressing tool. And foster carers should be trained and allowed to adopt out cats in their care.

The shelter can make arrangements to advertise the cats online and at their facility in the usual way and then refer potential adopters to the foster carer's home to meet the cat and discuss adoption.

An alternative is to divide shelter cats into two groups: one group is better able to deal with the shelter environment and are fast tracked for adoption while the second group may become more stressed and are therefore subject to more attention to alleviate stress and make their stay more acceptable to them. This should happen as soon as they enter the shelter.

Non-profit finance officer running animal shelter accused of embezzling $300,000 to buy a home

NEWS AND COMMENT-TRI-CITIES, WASHINGTON, USA: In January 2021, it was announced that there would be new management at Tri-Cities Animal Shelter. The person who was appointed, Rebecca Howard, had worked at the shelter for a long time (14 years) and worked her way up to management. She created a non-profit as a management vehicle, as I understand it, called Neo's Nation Animal Foundation, named after a dog that she lived with who changed her life.

Rebecca Howard, the director of the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter & Control Services, with Peter in front of the shelter’s main office in Pasco. Howard’s non-profit Neo’s Nation Animal Foundation was ousted from operating the shelter after less than one year. Her finance officer allegedly embezzled funds. Photo: JENNIFER KING JKING@TRICITYHERALD.COM

At the same time there were plans to update the shelter using a $6 million fund. There were big plans both in terms of management and in terms of the facility. The plans to upgrade the shelter go back to 2011.

Months later, on November 13, 2021 it is reported in the Tri-City Herald that Rebecca Howard's non-profit has been kicked out of managing the shelter. There appears to be two problems. Firstly, when she set up a non-profit she appointed experts in the field as a board to help run it. 

One of these people was or still is Julie Chambers, a Kennewick chiropractor. I don't know what that profession has to do with running an animal shelter but she was appointed the group's secretary/treasurer and chief financial officer.

After they formed the non-profit they won the $825,000 annual contract to run the shelter and to provide animal control for Richland, Pasco and Kennewick. Four months later Howard's non-profit foundation management vehicle received a $545,000 donation from the estate of a retired railroad engineer.

A few weeks after that Chambers was accused of embezzling $300,000 to buy a home in Richland. She was charged with two felonies earlier.

RELATED: 4 gas chambers remain in America to kill shelter animals (Sept 2021)

Further, the contract was cancelled after dozens of animals were allegedly found malnourished and sick. There appears to have been a dramatic failure in management and the Benton-Franklin Humane Society has agreed to manage the shelter with the help of volunteers from other animal rescue groups while they decide what to do next.

The shelter was raided because of complaints to Pasco city's management about problems at the shelter. City staff made an unannounced visit to inspect the facility. They were concerned with some of what they saw. They returned with Pasco police officers and a search warrant. They found four dogs in the main building on 30 cats in an outbuilding that allegedly required immediate medical treatment. They were removed from the facility.

RELATED: “Here is 12-year-old Hermes who has lived in the shelter for six years. The lady started crying in joy when I said I wanted him.”

Conclusion: it appears that Neo's Nation Animal Foundation has failed rather dramatically on two fronts as mentioned. Howard worked her way up to senior management over a long period and therefore it is unfortunate that it has gone wrong for her. The alleged embezzlement charge against Chambers is the more serious problem. That was terminal and catastrophic. It seems that she selected the wrong person to run the finances.

Source: Tri-City Herald. Mistakes in reporting? Please leave a comment and I'll investigate and correct if necessary. Tri-Cities have been contacted for comment.

More than 80 kittens abandoned on California shelter doorstep over the past 12 months

I have wondered how many cats and kittens are abandoned at animal shelters in America. We know it happens quite a lot because we see news media articles about cardboard boxes filled with kittens, sealed with tape, and placed outside a shelter's front door in the dead of winter, overnight. The whole thing is ghastly but it happens. The kittens are lucky to survive. Such callousness and stupidy.

The employees at the Animal Friends Connection Humane Society, in Lodi, USA, estimate that more than 80 kittens have been left at their doorstep within the past year. Over a period of nine days last summer 25 cats and kittens were left at their shelter at 933 S. Cherokee Lane.

Abandoned kitten at Lodi animal shelter. Photo: the shelter.

I went to their Facebook page to see whether there are any postings about abandoned cats and kittens. There are reams of them. They go back several years but for example, on September 10, 2017 they posted that "Another urgent SOS for help with abandoned bottle baby kittens left on our front door, these babies need your urgent care. We desperately need help for five kittens. They were cold, starving, wet and possibly only 10 days old."

And then more recently on August 8, 2020, they posted:

"Again-5 big kittens crammed into a small tub filled with other 'stuff', abandoned on our side yard - left in the sun when no one was around. Thankfully, someone did see it and got to them before they perished in the heat today - they were very lucky little kitties. We are overwhelmed currently with kitties."

I could go on but I needn't bother because there is a series of posts along the same lines from this animal shelter. And kittens seem to be a recurring theme. It doesn't take much imagination to realise that a minority of cat owners are allowing their female cats to mate and procreate. These are the cats that haven't been spayed and which are allowed to go outside where they bump into a male cat who has not been sterilised and bingo, you have a family.

Either that or they informally breed cats inside their home but I would doubt that because if they were doing it they would probably give them away to friends and neighbours et cetera. These are unwanted kittens brought into the world because of a careless approach to domestic cat caregiving. These people place a heavy burden on small animal shelters such as this one in Lodi - location as per map below.

Lodi shelter has constant stream of abandoned kittens. Map: Google.

They are constantly seeking donations. They succeed but it must be a struggle. On September 3, 2018 they received six adult abandoned cats and they sought donations. 22 people donated a total of $590. I think that's very good. There are clearly lots of generous people in the area. It's a great shame that the good and generous people have to fund an operation to mop up the damage done by the selfish and careless people. Perhaps it was always like that.

Associated: 31 cats abandoned in wooded area of Monroe County, PA. They were left with open bags of food but no water.

French abandon 60,000 pets each year when they head off on holiday

NEWS AND COMMENT: The French news media has reported that every year more than 100,000 cats and dogs are abandoned by their owners. Sixty percent of these pet abandonments occur during the summer as the French head off on their annual holiday. 

Stray kitten on the side of the road in Central Brittany seeks comfort from a cycling couple. Photo: the couple: Céline and Daniel.

So, 60,000 cats and dogs are given up at the beginning of their annual holiday so that they can go on their month-long holiday which normally takes place in August. I find that extraordinary. It seems that on that basis they adopt a pet when they come back from holiday and then give "it" up when they go on holiday next year. It's like pets are a stopgap comfort creature to entertain them between holidays. I am no doubt exaggerating but that is the impression I get.

As a consequence, the French Agriculture Minister has described the French as the "world champions at abandoning pets". He has, therefore, unveiled a €20 million plan to help animal shelters in conjunction with stiffening up the sentencing to a three-year jail term for people who abandon their animals.

Julien Denormandie outlined his plans in an interview with Europe 1 radio station in July. The government is going to give €20 million to France's 800 rescue centres to renovate and expand them. In addition, some of the money will go towards sterilizing dogs and cats.

As is the case in the UK, there has been an increase in pet ownership during Covid. In France this has resulted in a 14% increase in abandoned domestic cats and dogs at shelters as at July 2021 compared to July 2019. The increase in abandonments was, it seems, partly due to impulse adoptions and partly because less pets were being sterilised because, I presume, veterinary services were restricted.

One shelter manager, Claire Brissard, of an SPA centre in the Yvelines department said that her shelter was at a catastrophic point with respect to cats i.e. too many, and the situation was getting serious for dogs as well.

She said:

"During lockdown, the animal kept the person busy, and when they rediscovered the life they had before, they forgot about the animal.”

The government has plans for awareness campaigns using posters (and other means), which will be erected on the side of motorways where, apparently, most French abandon their pets during the summer.

Source: .thelocal.fr.