It is so hard to be sitting on information and have to wait until it becomes public. I knew a few days ago that Patitz in Indy was being kicked off the animal commission but had to wait until the news story came out.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20090924/LOCAL18/909240451/Ballard+cans+head+of+animal-control+board+who+removed+2+dogcatchers
http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/politics/Shelter_leadership_defending_changes_20090924
Warren Patitz was (oh how I loved to say that, was) head of the Animal Commission in Indy and responsible for bringing Doug Rae there. He also was heavily involved in the "conference" of Nathan Winograd's. And his business would stand to gain a lot with the "No Kill" movement. Thus an explanation for Patitz supporting Rae.
Rae's probation period ends Sept. 30th. Indy is wiping the slate clean and Rae is next. He never should have had the job to begin with. These "No Kill'ers" are so sneaky. They get themselves appointed to commissions and bring in their buddies. We have to watch for that and prevent it. The humane community is it's own worse enemy in that most of those involved feel they don't have the time to do things like serve on Ad Hoc committees or go to budget meetings. This is what is getting the "No Kill'ers" ahead of us. They are making the time to do these things and the results is what has happened to Indy and Rae.
Mark the calenders for the 30th.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
21 comments:
I do know from another blog I follow that the agency there was looking for a new dog manager, and now the ad is pulled from their site. I pray for all the little Oreo Cookies that Rae isn't going there. They had a giveaway last weekend and got rid of 200 animals. I wouldn't say " adopted or found loving homes" they gave them away. I am following King County and stay in touch with Catmom. They will do their best to close the shelter, but the fight will be heavy. I,m covering the Bay area
This whole thing was so egregious.
Warren Patitz and I think also his wife got themselves on this animal control board, and didn't disclose their group does business with Nathan Winograd.
Patitz then handled the interview process so that Winograd's colleague Rae (who had just been kicked out of Philadelphia animal control for incompetence- like letting aggressive dogs get adopted!) could get a job in Indianapolis.
It just reeked of collusion, coverup, special favors.
But this is so. The No Kill business people, also the breeders, pretend to be unbiased "animal lovers" and get themselves on these animal control consulting boards and the like.
Which shouldn't exist! Private citizens should not be making decisions that officials should be making, especially when they are related to the health and safety of the people as well as animals.
Not to mention, No Kill doesn't work, and Indianapolis wasn't told that. They were told stories that were not honest which claimed it did.
Which is also what King County is being told. Stories. Fabrications.
Gret, you're talking about Nevada Humane Society and since they aren't on the Chameleon system anymore, it will impossible to track the returns. Rae has stopped using the system since mid-July, right after his $4 fiasco. There is proof that other shelters were getting the people who adopted trying to give back the dog or cat. Some had bitten people. And they said that Rae had turned them away. And you know the SF Animal Commission is "debating" no kill, right?
Anon, I think I understand what happened. The City wanted to do the right thing and let the "humane" community select the AC director. Unfortunately, the City people don't understand that this is a nasty business, it ain't the angelic, from the heart shit they have been led to believe. Hoarders posing as "rescues", breeders yelling how responsible they are, etc. You know the story. So Indy thought they were making a good decision but it was based on the misguided public perception of what this is all about. No kill sounds good - on paper. Reality is another subject. So they have learned the hard way but they have learned. And they are wasting no time correcting the situation, unlike LA City did with Boks. Took them three years.
Did you see this comment?
"Hallelujah!!! Try and take a walk in the morning through the near eastside neighborhoods- menacing loose dogs are to be expected. They show up in your backyard or porch at any time of day and night, often unexpected- truly frightening. I have seen a small pet dog attacked and shaken to death by a stray. It is one of the most important quality of life issues for me, a constant concern that robs of us a relaxed neighborhood stroll"
Rae has told field officers to not pick up strays, I don't know if that will come out to the public. Probably will after his dismissal when the employees don't have to worry about retaliation. It's one way to reduce the numbers. San Antonio had a big write up this week about their problems with strays everywhere as a result of their attempt at no kill.
Or this comment. People taking matters into their own hands and killing animals INHUMANELY. It didn't end up on the no kill shelter numbers, that's all no kill cares about. They don't care about the animal left on the streets to have this happen.
This is better than humane euthanasia?
"One reason calls are down this year versus last year is because I have given up calling for a dog catcher. I am sure I am not the only one. Why bother? Besides, there's a guy in our neighborhood who probably took matters into his own hands after being repeately ignored on the topic of loose dogs hassling schoolchildren on their ways to/from the bus. I don't know his exact approach, and it is probably better that way. At least we don't have the stray dog problem to the extent we used to."
Of course people will take to shooting, poisoning, and any means to keep themselves safe. Finally an article this morning that isn't in Rae's favor.
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/21111960/detail.html
Seems the TV station is receiving complaints. People are getting desperate there.
Well well well.
Did you see what is REALLY happening at Best Friends? I found this on the KC animal Control blog you have a link to.
"The Council has had Best Friends No Kill animal sanctuary touted as a model of No Kill policies. Both Nathan Winograd and his No Kill associates in King County (one of whom worked for Best Friends) have chosen Best Friends as their model for King County animal control No Kill.
And as supposed "proof" that No Kill works.
Problem.
No Kill IS NOT WORKING at Best Friends.
This is a 2009 piece by a No Kill supporter, an unbiased and even sympathetic observer.
"Best Friends has 500 dogs and thousands of volunteers they can use as Guinea pigs to determine whether or not a dog can go out into the real world again; I don't have the same luxuries. I'm limited in the number of dogs I can take, but so is Best Friends; they have so many difficult to place dogs that their adoption rate is quite low. Trying to find someone qualified to adopt a dog with special needs is especially hard, not because the people don't exist, but because they already have more animals than they probably should. It's easy to hold Best Friends up as the ultimate no-kill group, and what we should all be aspiring to, but the truth is that despite their millions of dollars, thousands of acres, and dozens of qualified staff members, they're struggling just like the rest of us. They have a goal of a ratio of one staff member for every eight dogs, and they're nowhere near achieving it; they've downsized their number of dogs from around 700 to 500, and the more tough cases they get, the lower the percentage of animals that can realistically be placed in homes. They do great work, and they're doing a wonderful job, but it's also comforting to see that they aren't perfect, that there are areas where they need improvement, and that like all of us, they have a long way to go."
If Best Friends with MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, acreage, and a huge staff cannot succeed at No Kill, how can animal control (who takes in biting cases, the sickest animals, the most unplaceable animals) go No Kill?
IT IS NOT FISCALLY OR HUMANELY POSSIBLE.
Best Friends is filling up with UNPLACEABLE ANIMALS and running out of money, even though they have millions.
They are reducing their population out of economic need (in other words, they are stopping taking in animals!)
Animal Control CANNOT stop taking in animals, or strays, disease, and biting occur.
The No Kill supporters in King County are not telling Council members that their No Kill model, Best Friends, IS FAILING.
While these NO Kill supporters try to set up King County for a financial meltdown and suffering animals, with overpopulation, warehousing, disease, and drops in adoptions!
The No Kill supporters in King County ARE NOT BEING HONEST about the national failure of No Kill.
No Kill is FAILING EVERYWHERE, even where there are mountains of money.
The councilors are being misled."
Of course, it doesn't work. I've been doing this for decades and have enough knowledge of the system and of the public to know it can't work. At least not the way it is presented and without mandatory spay/neuter. We are still in the dark ages with the lack of laws pertaining to pet ownership. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out, you only have to know basic math.
The problem is that the people sending Best Friends money are being told that No Kill does work, and these problems are not being revealed.
It's called marketing and they are excellent at it. Roger A. Caras, longtime president of the ASPCA and noted author, called "no kill" a hoax and while president refused to refer to the ASPCA as such. It is a term, not to describe, but to separate private shelters from open door shelters. I wonder how much money Best Fiends throws at marketing, money that could be better spent on spay/neuter. There will come a day when the truth will comes out.
Just FYI, you can find reports on administrative and fundraising expenses for Best Friends and other nonprofit organizations at Charity Navigator. http://www.charitynavigator.org
For what it's worth, you can find reports about administrative and fundraising expenses for Best Friends and other nonprofits at charitynavigator.org
I have an account with guidestar but haven't looked at Best Fiends yet. I'll do that now.
Rmember that the merchandise company that sells what Best Friends sells (the mugs, T shirts, sweatshirts, wine bottles, vitamins, other thingies) is owned by a separate private company that the FOUNDERS own and use for their own purpose
Best Friends is always trying to sell stuff, but not saying that the founders personally get the money! The merchandise is run by a private company.
Ugh. Look at all spent on fundraising with low efficiency
http://www.
charitynavigator.
org/index.
cfm?bay
=search.
summary&
orgid=
3356
Of course a lot of the money they have is left over from Katrina donation money that they never spent. They banked it.
I did look at it and something didn't look right to me. I have asked that it be looked at. The Utah attorney general's office needs to look at it because it is reporting that over $21 million was paid as wages for less than 600 employees.
That's why the Utah AG need to see if they are living up to their mission statement as a 501. I noticed certain things such as very few animals altered compared to their income. Although they are doing s/n in other places like LA with 20,000 s/n's, what they are doing at their facility is very low. And I also noticed that they gave the Whino a few bucks.
I use Charity Navigator and they give a very poor rating for all of these places. The charts they show for NHS are clear about what happened when no kill took over the agency. I provided copies of that to our government officals who are dealing with Mr. Winograd.
Also the details are coming out on another blog about the assessments on the two sided shelter. Seems WCRAS did very well, of course it was only a few weeks away from good management, NHS did not look so good. Mr. Winograd did that one.
Gret, thanks for the info. If NHS was not a non profit they would have already gone down. The Whino depends on these non profits because you can't get info thru public records. And if you try to physically do it, they escort you from the building.
Post a Comment