Monday, August 8, 2011

WASHOE/RENO: A DESCENT INTO HELL

Congrats to Chap for coming back online with his blog. Just had to re-publish this one from his blog


http://nokillnowaynottomorrownottoday.blogspot.com/



SUNDAY, JUNE 5, 2011


Washoe County, The Unspeakable Tragedy

As a young man growing up, I often heard that figures can't lie, but liars can 
figure. Going over the stats in Reno Nevada for the past 3 years as it descended 
into it's own personal hell, that is a true statement. The final figures for 2010 show a 
turn in rate of strays to owner surrender that are 3 to 1. The only condition that 
can create that scenario is No Kill  run amuck. 
A couple of years ago NHS decided it needed to do something to look necessary, 
so they began pulling animals from Animal Control.  Prior to that time, we only 
took from the public, and if they wanted an animal from AC we brought it 
to NHS.  Don't misunderstand the ol' preacher, they never took all the 
animals the public tried to surrender, just enough to keep the good citizens 
off their back.  During that time they turned away terminally ill dogs, and 
harassed owners with the help desk until they left in shame.  Nice folks 
those NHS types.  We could have used Denise at one of our terrorist 
detention centers.  I went out to the parking lot in an attempt to bring 
comfort to a woman with three small children. She and her children had brought 
in two dogs adopted from NHS 5 months earlier, The husband  lost his job 
and the home was going into foreclosure, and the issues the dogs came 
with had worsened with maturity.  That means the 9 month old "puppy behavior" 
was taking on a serious tone.  Nobody told her that 2 males pitbulls are not the 
best idea, She had been told they were a "bonded pair" and would never 
fight.   Having gone to the SPCA and been turned away, I'm certain it was 
difficult for her and those children to walk into NHS with those dogs..  Like 
every other volunteer at NHS, I gave her the  "secret word" and she walked up the 
path to Animal  Control. Can't anyone see or care that of the 8,0000 dogs in 
that shelter in 2010, 6,0000 of them were "strays" ? Compare that to Sac or 
SF or even New York.  It's part of a tragic numbers game, and people and 
animals are hurt.  Stop the games NHS do our job , don't hide behind 
pulling from WCRAS to stay so full you turn away families with pets.  At the 
end of 2011 NHS loses any compensation, they are trying an end run to 
avoid  meeting their cmmitment. Last week I chatted with Denise and she gave 
me the story of how tough things are in this economy, how many animals are 
coming in and how they are out of room.  When NHS puts the welfare of the 
animals ahead of Nathan Winograd, maybe then I could respect them.

No comments: