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Quick clicks, good reading: The Sunday wrap-up
By Gina Spadafori
November 29, 2009
In no particular order …
O, Canada! What a horrid mess at the Toronto Humane Society, an organization that apparently went off the rails long ago. The place was raided, officials arrested, financial records being demanded, and the mummified remains of a cat in a trap caught and never removed from the ceiling were discovered:
“It sent chills down my spine,” said Kevin Strooband, lead investigator from the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. “I don’t know what is going on here, but it seems like a house of horrors.”
[...]
The facility has been described by former employees as a place of unimaginable suffering, where the weak were stacked in overcrowded disease-ridden conditions and left to die in terrible pain.
Collection of articles here. I don’t even know where to begin … but this has to be the extreme example of a shelter industry so far away from its mission, so used to killing instead of saving, so overwhelmed with compassion fatigue — and too busy pointing the finger elsewhere — that demands for shelter reform and no-kill communities just can’t be heard.
A new broom sweeps best. Time for serious house-cleaning in the shelter industry. And if that means no donations until “leadership” leaves and a new generation of shelter managers can be brought in to better care for sheltered animals and boost placement rates … so be it.
O, Canada, part II: Also coming from Toronto … a politician introduces legislation to reverse Ontario’s pit-bull ban.
Microchips, please: A police dog was killed in a shelter. The dog, an older black Lab, was just another unadoptable BBD, who figured him for a skinny abandoned farm dog And the police department? You have a valuable animal like this and you can’t be bothered to microchip? And what’s up with kenneling this old guy at the water treatment plant. No one in the department could make him family? Poor Felony. So much for a lifetime of service.
Pets in the pews: Loved this piece on NPR this morning about church congregations that welcome dogs. Some admit it’s about building attendance, but I don’t care: It’s a great move. I’d even consider giving up my Sunday morning if I could take one of the dogs with me. Of course, since Woody’s Swedish, I’m guessing he’s Lutheran.
From the article:
[T]he Rev. Tom Eggebeen, the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church [...] says churches have been slow to recognize the deep bond people have with their pets.
“The question was raised by other people, you know, why dogs?” he says. “Not only are they important family members, but there’s more to it than that. They belong to God, too, by gum.”
Eggebeen, himself a dog lover, says another question he is often asked is whether he believes dogs have souls.
“When God created life, he blessed every dimension of it,” he says. “So we share that with all the animals of the world.”
Services like those offered at Covenant Presbyterian are part of a growing interest among people whose pets are central to their lives.
Laura Hobgood-Oster, a professor of religion at Southwestern University, conducted a survey that found more than 500 churches nationwide conduct annual blessings of pets and animals.
Feathered, fowl and looking for trouble: Heather Houlahan has some funny stuff about her turkeys, all of whom made it through Thanksgiving with their necks intact. The video is especially interesting: She wrote me a note that the turkeys were a gang of delinquents. The video is proof. And I thought geese were mean! Nice work by Rosie the English Shepherd, farm dog extraordinaire. That bitch doesn’t put up with any gobbler nonsense, that’s for sure. Start here and read backwards.
Social media matters: I spend part of yesterday setting up a fan page for our Dr. Marty Becker on Facebook. Check it out and become a fan. Also, splitting up our various Twitter feeds. Mine, a combination of pets, sustainable agriculture, politics and any cockamamie thing that catches my eye, is here. The general PetConnection feed, which used to be my personal Twitter account, will focus solely on pet news and information. And finally, I set up a Twitter account for Dr. Becker, here. Christie and Kim have their own personal Twitter accounts, as well. Dr. Tony does, too!
Got a great link? Want to add your own Facebook/Twitter link? Toss it in the comments.
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That looks like a longhaired dachshund facing the camera! Good choice. Pets coming to worship services feels like a wonderful idea. Brings people in and humanizes services!
Comment by David — November 29, 2009 @ 10:28 am
Good thinking! Since pets provide as much comfort as religion … If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em :)
Seriously. This is great news!
From Samuel, a Sacramento rescue dog at his website: http://www.sammystory.net
Comment by Sammy Bourke — November 29, 2009 @ 4:07 pm
One of the issues with the THS is that they pride themselves on their LOW euthanasia rates… but they keep those rates low by allowing animals to die in their cages instead of euthanizing them. Vets quit often because they were expected to get permission before euth… going against their code of ethics.
Comment by personality_dialysis — November 29, 2009 @ 6:43 pm
That “police dog” story is weird. I’ve never heard of any real police dog being treated that way by its department. The dog ‘worked’ by riding around with various evening shift patrols - uh, right there, that smacks of unprofessionalism by the department. Why was he not a dedicated K-9, with one trained handler? In 7 years, even in a rural area, a dedicated, trained K-9 team would likely find a lot more than $25,000 in drugs. Local pot growers alone, if searched for even a half dozen times a year, would probably find that much in 1 year. And any department that’s keeping an 11-yr old dog (or any dog they supposedly care about as a team member) in an outdoor kennel, in Minnesota, even with a couple of doghouses, is not deserving to have any tax dollars spent on a new dog - if that’s what they did to get this one, which I wonder about. Oh, and why was the dog at the water treatment plant instead of the police department. How do the ‘officers’ know that he was really fed and watered if they weren’t doing it themselves? Their searching for the dog was pathetic and ineffectual, which shows that the dog wasn’t that important to them as well. Poor, old, unappreciated, barely-cared-for dog. I wonder if there was a stipend for the dog’s care that was being kicked back to someone….hmmm.
Comment by KateH — November 29, 2009 @ 7:44 pm
Poor Felony. Sad. Tragic.
Comment by Snoopys Friend — November 30, 2009 @ 9:59 am
Social Media: my twitter feed is LoriLR. I shall be following y’all.
Comment by Original Lori — November 30, 2009 @ 11:33 am
More social media (mine): Animal Shelter Tips Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/.....4302075503
Comment by Cathy — December 1, 2009 @ 5:10 pm
The Toronto Humane Society was first exposed by the Globe and Mail, a national Canadian newspaper.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le1160810/
Warning, graphic images
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le1152383/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....le1159902/
One Bark at a Time has a collection of links to articles on the situation that he assembled on his way to Best Friends for a vacation.
http://onebarkatatime.blogspot.....ciety.html
Comment by Social Mange — December 1, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
I think Dogs and Church is a great Idea. I know my dogs have brought me closer to God. Every time I walk into a hunt test/obedience/agility or Conformation ring, I become very religious and pray a lot. :)
Comment by Verde — December 2, 2009 @ 11:14 am