Prior to this, some no-kill shelters had very low adoption rates. They found it made more sense to advertise and take in donations than to deal with homeless pets. Those with high adoption rates frequently imported puppies and kittens from other countries— highly adoptable animals.

It’s so hard for us to place them, in part because there are so many here (our Petfinder listing for today shows 22 pitbulls/pitbull mixes out of 103 total animals) and most people come in looking for something entirely different. Also, so many people are just not equipped to manage a dog that has the strength and energy level of the average pit bull, and there are always landlord and insurance issues to consider.

We do regular pit bull spay/neuter clinics here — we have four “Payday for Pit Bulls” clinics scheduled next month, which will allow us to provide free s/n to some 120-140 dogs, with the first 30 per day receiving their choice of $20 in cash OR free vaccinations and microchip for their dog.

We also work with experienced pit bull rescue groups — two of our staffers are members of one of the big ones — and they take what they can.

We have recently been working with some of the long-term resident pits in our offices to make them more adoptable, and that is helping, one by one, but as you can imagine, that isn’t easy. Even though they tend to be just lovely, sweet dogs, I can see why they are so hard to keep — they are so athletic, going right up and over our double doors when they don’t want to be kept in one place.

BI’m in the middle of trying to get an advanced foster program together to enable us to get some of these guys out for a couple of weeks for evaluation and basic socialization in qualified homes, and we’re hoping this will help get more of them adopted, but realistically, the market here is so saturated. And we can hardly expect someone who wants a toy poodle to take home a pit bull instead, just because that’s what we have. Plus, this is not a breed that we can easily share with other shelters (like we could with all the toy breeds we received from a puppymill case last year), since everyone seems to have their own overload of them to deal with.

I feel like we really are between a rock and a hard place with these dogs. I am so sorry I missed getting questions to Richard Avanzino; I’m hoping someone else brought this up with him to see if he has any suggestions.

If anyone has gotten anywhere with this, I’d sure like to hear what they have done. We are certainly open to suggestions!

Like several of the other commenters, though, I also have some doubts and observations. This is a complex problem, and I don’t think that you can spay/neuter OR adopt your way out of it. There are alot of cultural issues that come into play, including the widespread attitude that pets are simply a commodity, that they exist for human entertainment, and that, ultimately, they’re disposable.

And, as a few people have pointed out, cats in shelters are particularly troublesome, given the numbers: in my community, they consistently outnumber dogs by 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 (those are the “adoptable” animals - these numbers don’t include ferals or scaredy-cats who get put down because they hiss from their holding cage).

Two years ago, I attended a local conference that specifically addressed all homeless cats (abandoned, feral, in shelters). It was called “It Takes a Village” and brought together people (okay, mostly women) to discuss and brainstorm on how to better address the needs of cats. The woman who organized the conference believed very much that the “commodity” aspect didn’t get the focus it deserved. She pointed me to this article that Patty Adjamine (New Yorkers for Companion Animals) wrote back in 2003. I still find it insightful - it points out some realities that are ignored by many in animal welfare:
http://tinyurl.com/czmsy3

I think a crucial element to ending shelter killing is keeping more animals from entering the shelter in the first place. And that, I think, takes a two-pronged approach: (1) providing education and assistance for people who face challenges (litterbox issues, introducing pet to new baby, finding pet-friendly landlords) and (2) creating a culture in which more people treat their pets as lifelong family members.

These goals should be part of the mission of every animal welfare org. If my local shelters are typical (and I sadly think they are), these aspects are almost completely ignored. Simple changes like problem-solving hotlines, or staff/volunteer behavior counselors could go a long way toward reducing intake. (They also would have to clearly and consistently communicate to the public that these services exist and encourage people to use them.)

Shelters should always be there, of course, for the real crises and those who, despite best efforts, prefer to dump their animals. But if more shelters operated as places of true animal advocacy, this is a discussion that we might not even be having.

Our plan was to do collective fund raising and have the expense shared by everyone including a big chunk of it from the county, Maddie’s and other financially stable groups in my area. I personally was contributing $7,000.

Here is copy of the letter we sent to the shelters, rescue groups, breeder groups and other animal interest groups in our town. Not a single organization responded favorably; they said it was a great idea but just too much money. After months of trying, it went exactly nowhere. :-(

Dear Director,

We are asking for your participation and support in a new program that will create invaluable tools for the animal welfare community in xxxxxxx County. Pets Count! is a research and development project aimed at gathering and using information about local demographics and the attitudes, trends, and insights of people in our community regarding pet ownership and animal welfare issues.

Since the homeless pet crisis can only be solved through extensive community participation and a clear understanding of the issues that are unique to xxxxxxx County, this project is imperative to the goal of ending the unnecessary suffering and deaths of homeless pets in our community.

The use of market research and demographic studies to help determine the needs of a particular community is the latest call to action to regional groups by National groups such as the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the National Council on Pet Population Study.

Most regional animal welfare groups are still using crude, outdated formulas for estimating program budgets and many continue to engage in the habitual use of speculative ideas to determine the needs of their community’s homeless pet population. This haphazard practice is finally being recognized as one of the most solvable problems contributing to the overall failure of regional groups to put a quick and sure end to the unnecessary killing of their stray and homeless pet population.

It is now clearly understood that reliable regional information is essential for a community facing the daunting challenge of realizing the goals of no more homeless pets and no more preventable shelter deaths.

With comprehensive community profiles, accurate statistical information, and professional, solution-based studies, regional animal welfare groups will be given a truly priceless set of tools for accomplishing their goals in a timely and efficient manner. It is not acceptable for animal welfare groups to waste any of their monetary and human resources while homeless pets are still dying for help.

Surrounded by the deaths of thousands of precious beings, we must show the concern enough and the competency to validate the information upon which we base our programs, our expenses, and, most importantly, the life and death decisions we make daily for the homeless pets in our community.

Accomplishment of this project’s goals will demonstrate xxxxxxx County’s unwavering dedication to finally putting an end to the atrocities faced by the homeless pets living and dying among us. If Pets Count! is implemented to its fullest potential, xxxxxxx County will be unique in the Nation for finally leaving dated traditions behind in favor of this progressive, professional approach to animal welfare issues. We are asking that you review the information provided in this packet and respond with your ideas and input into this important initiative.
___________

It seems to take longer for our shelter cats who have to be the only cat to find a home, because people who like cats tend to have more than one. (Guilty: we have four) So it would seem that there are more slots available than for dogs.

In general, do available statistics differentiate between feral and non-feral? I would think that that is an important distinction.

http://www.nj.gov/health/cd/do.....disp07.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?c.....8;oe=UTF-8