Roswell Animal Services in New Mexico killed Giles, a 2-year-old dog, despite a rescue commitment

This is another disturbing story from Nathan Winograd, one of America's greatest animal advocates and the founder and campaigner for the No-Kill movement which has already saved countless thousands of lives in animal shelters.

Image supplied.

He reports that a two-year-old dog named Giles was killed by Roswell Animal Services, New Mexico despite a commitment to rescue the dog. In other words, there was somebody there to rescue this dog and to give them a good home. Despite that for some reason the dog was killed by the agency.

Nathan Winograd reports that, "The only excuse the City of Roswell could offer was that the staff had a busy day and accidentally killed Giles with a bunch of other dogs."

He provides a quote which I believe comes from the agency's administrators:

"Monday at the animal shelter, there was staff training taking place, rescue groups coming in to retrieve multiple animals, and a number of new animals coming in. As some of these things were occurring simultaneously, the busyness resulted in some confusion and a lack of the standard communication among staff and between staff and rescue groups. Unfortunately, that resulted in the dog in question mistakenly being taken to a veterinarian’s office as part of a group of several dogs to be euthanized."

As he says, the pound described the killing as a mistake but Nathan Winograd rejects this excuse. He rejects it because this kind of accident happens when the systems (MO) in place are poor. And they are poor because of bad attitudes leading to poor management, which leads to many mistakes occurring.

They happen every day across the US he says. And to highlight this he says that if you Google the search term "shelter mistakenly euthanized a pet" you will receive 177,000 search results. He makes the point cogently that far too many mistakes occur at animal shelters resulting in the unnecessary death of the animals in their care.

Nathan Winograd is a very particular and precise person. He is a former lawyer. He wants animal shelter administrators to be as precise as him and as caring as him to find ways to save lives. He believes that many shelters are simply too sloppy and don't employ enough systems and methods to save lives and rehome their animals. And he's correct. Nobody knows the American animal shelter system better than him.

He believes that this particular shelter and others should be held accountable to prevent these so-called "accidents" from happening again.

He believes that administrators of animal shelter should be high quality people and that the administrator of this shelter should be fired. And he wants legislation in place in America I presume at either the state or county or even federal level to "legislate away their power to kill" in order to achieve the goal of a No-Kill nation. And when that happens you will not get such a huge number of Google search results when searching for animals mistakenly killed at shelters.

Example of how an animal shelter assessed a kitten's personality incorrectly

Below are the words of an anonymous person. I really do not know who wrote them. Also, they made this statement about five years ago so this is now history. It was a draft article which I never completed. I thought this woman's words should not be deleted and so decided to publish them on this subdomain website. They are wise words. Words that warn of the difficulty in assessing animal personality at shelters.

This is about as sad a photo as you'll see of a cat at an animal shelter awaiting adoption or death. Photo taken by: Delanie Pruit.

They are telling words because they remind me that not uncommonly shelter staff assess kittens and adult cats incorrectly as to their adaptability based upon their character. We don't know how often this happens but it is certain that hundreds of thousands (millions?) of shelter cats and dogs, on the planet, or perhaps just in the USA, UK and Europe are killed unnecessarily because they have been incorrectly assessed as feral or with behavioural problems.

RELATED: Delightful Cat Deemed Unadoptable By Animal Shelter Stress.

We all know that an animal shelter environment is not the best place to assess the character of an animal. They are stressful places. They are strange and noisy places. The whole experience is going to make even the best of cats nervous and how can a nervous cat present their best to an adopter? 

And if the cat is already slightly nervous and anxious the whole thing may just make them completely unadoptable. But take them out of the shelter environment into a foster home and you might be lucky to see the true character. How many times have you seen shelter cats described as aggressive and then re-assessed as being the friendliest cat that they have met?

RELATED: Temperament Testing Of Cats.

The story

"I recently saw a kitten listed on the Philly Urgents page. They list cats and dogs that don’t have much time left. This kitten would have been killed that night after closing if someone didn’t take her. Since I work with ferals, I went to get her, aiming to socialize and find her a home. 

She had a big sign across her cage that said, “Barn Cat Only.” I asked the shelter staff if she came in with a litter, worried that any other would be killed. 

She did come in with 2…one was already gone. When I met the other and saw how friendly she was, I knew they had made a mistake with the other.

I brought them both home. It didn’t take long to realize that the feral cat was just a shy little girl, but one of the friendliest cats I’ve ever had the pleasure of handling! 

She just needed her sister to help her relax, because she was sick and has vision trouble in one eye. How sad that she was going to be killed."

Top three reasons why Australians adopt cats from animal shelters

A study published in 2015 titled Determinants of Choice and outcomes for adult cats and kittens adopted from an Australian animal shelter found that the top three reasons for adopting a cat from an animal shelter are (1) it was the right thing to do and (2) they wanted to help the shelter and (3) they believed that the shelter was a trusted and a credible option. The remaining 13 reasons are listed below in a chart and in words:

The shelter provided cats and kittens which are sterilised, vaccinated and micro-chipped. It was also convenient to get to the shelter because their opening hours were suitable. Another reason is that they had checked perhaps online and wanted a particular kitten at a shelter. They also wanted after adoption support and they found that shelter cats and kittens were good value. They also believed that a shelter provided lots of choice and that they were convenient to get to. Some had already adopted from a shelter and they were happy with the experience while others had been referred to a shelter. Some felt that shelter cats and kittens were cheap to adopt and had heard about low-cost promotions for cats. Others found that cats and kittens were cheaper when adopted from a shelter and finally others said that friends and family thought that they should adopt from a shelter because, I presume, they advised that it was the right thing to do.

The chart:

Chart showing reasons for adoption. Source: the study referred to above.

The study was conducted by Sarah Zito, Mandy Paterson, Dianne Vankan, John Morton, Pauleen Bennett and Clive Phillips.

The study confirms that the type of person who adopts from an animal shelter is thoughtful and in general wants to do the right thing which is what I'd expect.

Teenager kennel technician slept with dog at animal shelter during Texas snowstorm

The world is aware of the incredible snow storms and freezing weather engulfing Texas made worse by the power outages caused by what appears to be a less than robust electricity supply. People are in danger and we must not forget the animals. The feral cats are no doubt dying or barely surviving in the extreme weather.

Teenager kennel technician slept with dog at animal shelter during Texas snowstorm. Image: Marion Area Humane Society shelter.

Some animal shelters have suffered power cuts. The animals have been saved by foster carers who have taken them into their homes which have been heated. This story is about Emily, the youngest kennel tech at an area animal shelter: the Marion Area Humane Society shelter.

I'm told by 10TV that she drove to the snow at 8 p.m. on Monday and then spent the entire night in the shelter snuggled up to Flo a pit bull mix sleeping with her in her kennel. An example of complete dedication. Another technician, Riley, promised to drive in early Tuesday to check on the dogs and cats as well.

Riley gave the distinct impression when interviewed that the staff at the shelter are truly dedicated. She said that the cats and dogs at the shelter are like their children which is fully understandable and the staff will do all they can to look after them and the difficult circumstances.

"All these animals are our babies. We know all their names, although traits. Every single one of our staff members would be here if they could no matter what."

There are fifteen dogs and more than thirty cats at this shelter. They are in good hands. They deserve a big pat on the back for their commitment to the welfare of the animals in their charge.

Three things to think about before adopting from a shelter

I will leave it to Joanna Miller, the Director of Operations at the SPCA, to explain three points worth considering before adopting a cat or dog from an animal shelter.

 

Stealing Kittens from a Shelter. What Next?

This must be a first. Thee young men stealing two kittens from an animal shelter. It seems despicable.  When you think that animal shelters often struggle to keep going and are dependent upon the adoption fees which are relatively modest it is the worst kind of petty crime to steal from an animal shelter.  

They are non-profit. If someone steals from a big corporation it is equally bad in the eyes of the law but on a moral basis some people could argue that it might be justified because, after all, big corporations are sometimes rather immoral organisations anyway.  But from a shelter which is non-profit and doing some good work it seems extraordinary to me.

The burglary took place at SAVE in Princeton, New Jersey, USA. The trio of 19-year-old men attempted but failed to steal 2 kittens from the animal shelter.

Fortunately, two of them were caught in the act while a third gave himself up which is rather strange. I am not sure what his motive was. I don't think it was out of honesty.

One of the shelter volunteers who was outside in the backyard saw one of the burglars running out of the back of the shelter with a kitten in his hand.  He caught the burglar red-handed by pinning him down and recovering the kitten. The police were called and they turned up shortly thereafter.

The other kitten was also recovered and both were unharmed.  The person gave herself up was Corey Thompson (left in photo).  The other two alleged burglars were Hamza Cheema and John Moore (right in photo).

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