I read this article Seized pit bulls stuck in legal limbo and the first thing I thought was "Great! Another dog fighting ring closed." Then I re-read the article and the next thing I thought was not as upbeat. I hope when you read articles like this you read between the lines ... Here are a few quotes from the article; the ones that stood out to me ... hopefully this will explain what I see when I read an article like this:
The 16 pit bulls seized as part of a raid on an alleged dogfighting operation remain at Heartland Humane Society in Corvallis ... Heartland is holding the dogs as “living evidence” while law enforcement and prosecutors sort out the case.
That means the animals can’t be adopted out or even evaluated for adoption potential until it’s decided who they belong to ... animals that were already at the shelter have been sent to foster care or to partnering humane societies.
So ... do you see the problem I see?
This Humane Society has two Municipal Pound contracts which means they serve as holding cell for cases like these. The Humane Society will likely be paid for board for the duration of the dogs' stay. Not that this is a bad thing - how else would they pay for all the services they offer to the public??
Are you coming to the same conclusion as I did?
Let's face it. There are only so many cages/kennels to put dogs into. According to the Humane Society's website, they keep Lost/Found dogs for the minimum of 3 days. They profess to euthanize as few "adoptable animals" as possible ("save rate" of 90% -- what the hell does "save rate" mean?!) but that doesn't mean they don't euthanize. So, any new dogs that come in are kept in holding for 3 days ... then what? Like it or not there are only so many cages. If the cages/kennels/foster-homes are all full and another dog comes in, there are few options.
Here's hoping this court case is over quickly so the Humane Society doesn't keep those 16 cages/kennels full of dogs that are in limbo - not adoptable, not moveable.
3 comments:
The poor little dogs have already been through so much. I am not against the Humane Society, but it is always a good thing when someone takes a peek at things from a different point of view. Questioning is not a bad thing.
sigh.
Those poor dogs.
The HS can only do what it can do.
What a job.
Poor dogs, I hope it all works out for them....
I don't know the situation in this particular HS...but with a 90% success rate, would they be part of Maddies Grant?
The city shelter I volunteer for is part of Maddies Grant and we can move dogs and cats to other shelters/ rescues if we get too full
I image even with OUT Maddies, they can send a plea to other rescues and shelters to take animals OR refer people who are surrendering to bring them to another rescue.
I hope they are doing all they can to help as many as they can...never a good situation to be in.
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