I stand by what I said. I am not playing the blame game: I am saying that we all need to be responsible, and we do.

When I say “we” I include that group that you mention in the first sentence in your post. They are part of the “we”. Shelters are part of the “we”, communities that care about their pets are part of the “we”.

This is everyone’s problem, and I think that we all need to be accountable. Shelters generally aren’t self-governing: they answer to a board of directors, a city council or to some other authority. If the shelter refuses to change then we, the public, need to effect the change in whatever avenues are available to us.

I was part of a group that brought Nathan Winograd into my community to teach us about no kill. Is my community finally no kill? No, it is not. You just can’t fix apathy.

Thanks for the forum and for the opportunity for discourse. This has become one of my favorite blogs.

Shelters could be actually be what they claim to be — a place that protects and cares for an animal in a time of need — not places that see their job as killing pets and blaming/hating people.

There are communities now across the country — urban, rural, suburban — where this is happening. And there are more all the time.

The problem is a lack of vision and a surplus of blame. But that’s changing.

No, “we” are not all responsible for these deaths, because most of us ARE responsible pet owners. The blame game needs to end.

But we aren’t a humane society—if we were, 3-4 million pets wouldn’t be killed in shelters every year!

I agree that it’s incredible that they chose to kill this dog instead of highlighting him on air, but it doesn’t change the fact that this happens every minute of every day in this country.

We are all to blame here: we are responsible for not caring, for not making shelters accountable, for not doing enough.

“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.”
Albert Schweitzer

That scuba dog reminded me of Hawkeye and Mutley, the scuba diving cat and dog combo. I had been meaning to post their video, along with the Russian scuba cat on my site. So thanks for that reminder!

She’d gotten the info from HER FB friend who volunteers at the shelter, and had found this influx of 7 to be unusual enough to mention.

So two degrees of separation to an ES rescue person, and all the ES were quickly on their way to ES-savvy homes — two adopted directly from the pound, and five, including a very pregnant bitch, to NESR foster homes. Freeing up space at the shelter and getting them off the public dole.

Today I found out that this volunteer and a few others have been responsible for the pound killing NO healthy animals (she says they put down two badly-injured dogs) in the last 18 months. Just with Petfinder and social networking, posting pictures and generally working their asses off.

http://www.petfinder.com/pet-s.....erid=IN432

The pound is not officially no-kill. It just hasn’t had to kill for space for 18 months.

Their previous kill rate was 70%.

Miami-Dade FAIL.

I see their “pit bull” ban is working well for them. They have pages and pages of “American bulldogs” and boxers on their petfinder listing. And German shepherds, chows, and “pit bull terriers.”

FYI, the poverty rate in Dade County is 16.5%. In Jay County, 14.3%. National was 13.2% (All 2008 figures.) (Compare to Detroit, 26.1% or Pittsburgh 20.4%.)