Sent the following email to county officials and media (news,online,radio) Good Afternoon, My name is Mindy Moffatt and my organization is Undercats4Life, we are a No Kill Advocacy Organization focused on shelter reform, community awareness & education as well as animal protection. For the past couple of years we have focused on shelter reform due to the high kill rates for both dogs & cats. When we first started putting this information out there publicly on our Facebook page, not just the community but those outside of Florida were alarmed to see how many animals received by the shelters and how many never make it out. The kill rate for cats ranges from 80-90%, dogs around 30-40%. When communicating with county shelter management, they point fingers to the public/community stating they are not the ones bringing the animals in. Okay, agreed. However, when pointing blame at a community and not providing the truth and reality of what occurs daily at the shelter isn’t going to make a difference for the innocent dogs & cats that are killed and dumped in landfills. We recommended that the shelter themselves provide this information to the public/community, let them know how many come in and let them know exactly how many never make it out and also, the word “euthanize” is further from the truth. That does not happen inside of shelters, that word is used to make people feel this act is a compassionate one and it is just the opposite. The goal is to help the animals, so transparency and truth is the only way that can be done. Saying “euthanize” or “put to sleep” is not accurate. For anyone who has had a pet and that family pet was terminally ill or very old and the quality of life could not be improved and a veterinarian recommends euthanasia is only when the word “euthanize” can be used. Sugarcoating may make it easier on human beings, but it doesn’t change the outcome of the dogs & cats sitting like prisoners in county shelters. People who commit crimes are prisoners, murderers are sitting on death row and end up there for numerous years and are even allowed a last meal of choice. Why do we treat the animals like they did something wrong when they are just the victims of irresponsibility and it is up to us, to make a difference and change their fatal outcome. It only happens when we stop allowing and/or accepting and start implementing change and that all starts with us. Our purpose of providing this information to the county residents is not to bash the shelters. It is to create awareness so that people understand exactly what may occur if they choose to surrender their pet or a stray to the county shelter. How can county residents & shelters make any improvements without open communication? How can a county shelter improve live release rate and decrease their intake without transparency and open communication? I must add, I am not saying there is no wrong doing occurring inside shelters because there is but that is for another day and another time. The purpose of this email is to ask for your voice. Please join us in making a bigger impact by creating awareness of the reality these innocent animals face. It is unfair to allow this situation to remain as is and do nothing. With your help, it can happen. Attached you will find the intake/outcome graphs for Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County. In Dade County, the initiative of trying to find cats forever homes has diminished extremely and focus is mostly now on releasing the cats outside. They call this “TNG” (not to be confused with “TNR” (trap, neuter, return) because TNR is for feral cats only). Please also take a few minutes and watch our video: https://youtube/watch?v=2lKO-9I6qCQ&list=UUEorq9clo1qmBFzmcWaXrfw I welcome any questions you may have and I truly hope we can all work together on helping the many dogs & cats who need more voices to defend their right to live. Anything you can do to bring more awareness by either publishing the graphs on a monthly basis on your website, write a story, post the graphs on bulletin boards, etc.. Is greatly appreciated. Respectfully, Mindy Moffatt Undercats4Life, Inc.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 20:08:38 +0000
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