I will offer an explanation for yesterday and Pet Harbor. Sometimes when there is an upgrade to the system, it will lose info for awhile. That could be the cause of the fiasco yesterday. BUT, and this is a big one, I see that most of the dogs are already altered. Now most shelter alter upon adoption. Reason? Because if they die in the shelter or are never adopted, it is a waste of money. Considering that the Austin taxpayer is already spending much more money housing long term, this is adding insult to injury. The question also is whether these rescues are pulling already altered dogs, altered at taxpayer expense, because that is a good deal for any rescue. Then the rescues don't have to spend their money and they can make more on their adoptions. Many cities have ordinances about giving away city property or making gifts of property/money. Can anyone tell me if TLAC charges the rescues for taking animals out? If they don't, then TLAC is making a "gift" to these rescues and I wonder if that has cleared City Hall.
Also, I am getting word that there is a lot of overtime being used at TLAC. When Austin is having to cut programs, this doesn't make a lot of sense. Put that money to better use on programs to help kids and the elderly.
UPDATE 2: Pet Harbor is now back up this morning and there are 207 adoptable dogs listed. I also understand that the dogs I have listed below as being long term residents have been rejected by the rescues for behavioral problems. So instead Abigail choses to pimp them off on the unsuspecting and innocent public. Just setting someone up for a pit attack, it seems. I predict that Austin will be the quickest failure of "No Kill".
UPDATE: Today, I visited pet harbor and there were 27 pages of dogs for adoption. Now there are six pages and no pictures. Is Abigail pulling an Ed Boks on the Chameleon? Something is wrong, very wrong. Either they ain't keeping accurate records or they are trying to mess with the system just like Boks did in LA and New York. I checked my emails and I notified a friend about Pet Harbor at 7:00 Austin time, it was after that that suddenly all those animals disappeared. This would mean that whatever happened was done after hours. Anyone know who was at the shelter at that time?
Forget the numbers, just look at www.petharbor.com if you don't think Austin is screwed.
I guess Miss Abigail thinks that a shelter full of pit bulls is a wonderful thing because the shelter is definitely full of them. Note the absence of small dogs, only a handful. The rescues are taking advantage and cherry picking the best of the best and leaving the shit for Abigail to worry about.
For the public to go to a shelter full of pit bulls means that the public will now turn to the rescues for the cute, fluffy dogs. I can understand that people in the city might adopt a pit bull but people in the country won't. Country folks aren't gonna take a chance on bringing in a breed of dog known for aggression toward other animals.
And the pleas for help are all over Craigslist. TLAC is having to euthanize for space and I can guarantee that before long, it will worse than ever. The biggest agency, Austin Pets Alive, is begging for foster homes. Great except that they will saturate their market and those in foster will sit there, never finding a "forever" home. That's when the fosters will drop like flies and return their fosters to TLAC.
http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/2472980947.html
Every day the Town Lake Animal Center is full to the brim as people continue to bring in unwanted kittens and cats. Babies as young as a few days old, rambunctious weaned kittens, easy-going adults and sweet old ladies, all of them are at risk for being killed because there is no room for them.
Let the suffering begin. It is just down right wrong to keep a dog confined for this length of time. Word has it that one day the dog might be walked and the next day, no walking. Kennel stress will make an adoptable dog unadoptable in a short length of time.
http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/2490865076.html
Emmy Lou is her name and she's as sweet as her name sounds. She's a 6yr Female Boxer Mix and she's a total doll. She's been around other dogs & even CATS and could careless about them. She seems to just want to be around everyone and everything. This sweet girl has been at the shelter for almost 80 days and to top it off the heat is making her miserable.
http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/2482667128.html
I am in kennel 197 and I've been at the Town Lake Animal Center for 106 DAYS!!
http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/2497931258.html
The TLAC Shelter took in 16 new cats yesterday with literally 0 cages to put them in. They had to make the tough decision to euthanize a few kitties so that they could make space for all of them. TLAC is bursting at the seems with cats and kittens. Every new cat and/or kitten they intake today = a cat or/kitten that will most likely lose their life unless these kitties are moved out NOW so that some of the cages are freed up!!!
http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/2418236485.html
APA!'s bottle baby nursery, mom w/babies program, and ringworm ward are officially filled to capacity.
We can no longer save kittens less than 6wks of age, moms with babies, pregnant moms, or any cats/kittens that have ringworm because of lack of space. This means that any cats/kittens that fall under this category at Town Lake Animal Center are at risk for being put to sleep.
Plus they offered a $4 adoption fee, $4!!!!! How many of those bargain basement adoptions will ever see the inside of a vet's office? If you can't afford to pay the regular price, how can you maintain a pet? Check the shelters surrounding Austin and see what is happening there. Doug Rae, during his reign of terror in Indy, had a $4 adoption on 4th of July and the surrounding shelters complained to Councilmember Mike Speedy about people wanting to return their adoption to the Indy shelter and were turned away, they ended up at other shelters. Plus several of the dogs adopted during that event ended up biting their new owners. So Austin taxpayers paid for the altering, shots, etc and no return for that money. With Austin cutting other programs like for at-risk kids and the elderly, TLAC is throwing away tax dollars. Not even to mention that with firewords, taking a new pets home is not a good idea anyway. Bad enough for the pet to cope with the strangeness of a new home and then the fireworks.
http://austin.craigslist.org/pet/2477120000.html
TLAC is open TODAY and offering all dogs and cats for a $4.00 adoption fee!!!!
So, Miss Abigail, you have saturated your market, your shelter is full, now what do you do? You either euthanize or you become another example of the horrors of Nathan Winograd's "No Kill Equation" just like Philly. Remember how they bragged about their numbers until they were on the verge of having cruelty charges filed? Austin is heading down that path to hell but the hell is what the animals feel they are in. More to come, lots more.
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2 comments:
hi honesty. wanted to give you an anon inside look from a tlac workers perspective. yep, i work there for many years now. got to say that most of my fellow employees are not in favor of no kill. we see the ugly side. people who think theres no fate worse than death for an animal have never worked at a no kill place. i can give you a little info about the foster cat situation. most of the foster kittens that are on the report actually come back into the shelter and are adopted out thru the adoption program, not thru the foster home. thats why the numbers look odd. but there are far to many fosters for the system at this point. the staff is overwhelmed trying to take care of them all when they show up sick back at the shelter.
as far as dogs go, most of the shelters inventory is pitt bulls. no one wants to adopt a pitt with a behavior problem but abigal wont let staff euthanise them so they sit in kennels until they go nuts.
and dont be fooled, apa is the shelters worst enemy. they get free boxes of microchips and kitty aids tests. do other rescue groups get stuff like this? of course not. but apa reps make up almost half of the all-powerful animal advisory comittee so the shelter kowtows to anything they want. im happy to try to provide somemore insite on the shelter (annonymusly of course) if you have questions. ill check back later.
Thanks Anon for the heads up. I have had several employees and volunteers contact me as Not for Publication comments. If you are a regular reader, you will know that I feel that "No Kill" not only hurts the animals, but the good people who dedicate themselves in shelters to help the animals.
My question is that of whether the shelter is giving pets to these rescues already altered? I see on pet harbor that most have been altered. I see that the vast majority of dogs are pit bulls too.Pits, in particular, don't do well confined for long periods of time. She is putting her employees at risk doing this. Animal control employees are one of the highest risk jobs per worker compensation claims.
And feel free to send a comment marked not for publication because we all know that one of the first things these "No Kill"ers do when they get on the job is to "get rid of" old employees, the experienced employees and replaced them with their own. Thanks again.
I do have questions yes, because the current reporting system is so complicated and I am use to the creative bookkeeping by "No Kill".
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