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Death threats du jour: How not to change an attitude
By Gina Spadafori
August 30, 2010
A woman in the U.K. dumped a live cat in trash bin and was caught on government surveillance cameras doing it. Confronted, she “defends” herself by saying she did it as a lark, and, “It’s only a cat.”
Moronic dirtbag? No doubt. Worthy of death threats? Of course not. But that’s just what she got. From the Telegraph:
Ms. [Mary] Bale admitted that she ”shouldn’t have done it” but added that she did not deserve the hatred of people around the world.
Lola’s owner Stephanie Mann, 24, has appealed for calm. [...] She said: ”I can’t believe the reaction to the story. I only posted it on Facebook because I wanted to see who she was.
”Now that the police know who she is, I think people should leave it to them and the RSPCA and not take matters into their own hands.
”Whatever she has done, I don’t like her, but I don’t want her to get hurt. It needs to be dealt with properly, not by people getting aggressive with her.”
Lola the cat, by the way, is OK. And while Bale isn’t anyone’s idea of an animal lover, there’s considerable debate over who loves an Australian Shepherd more in another case that has triggered death threats, this one in a California town. Maria Goodavage of Dogster does the story justice, drawing apt comparisons to to people fighting to get their pet back after Katrina, and how the pets’ new adopters fought just as hard to keep them, not only because they’d bonded with the animals but also because they did not approve of the standard of care the animals got from their previous owners, who were often poor.
In the California case the chasm isn’t economic (or racial, as in many of the Katrina disputes) but a rural-urban divide. Chuck Hoage, the original owner of the dog in question, is a rancher, and Annie lived a traditional ranch dog’s life, with no-frills care and not a lot of oversight. From Maria:
One day you hear your dog, Annie, is at a shelter. You joyously race to the shelter, but when you get there, it turns out she was adopted out to another family several days earlier. And they refused to relinquish her. The empty, lost feeling you have had for weeks is now deepened. You recently lost your wife. And now it looks like the dog is gone for good, thanks to what would turn out to be a major county shelter snafu. The county won’t step in to help. “I just want my dog back,” you tell a newspaper, choking back tears. You say she is your “whole life.”
The family who adopted her believes that if that were true, he would have looked for her sooner. In the meantime, there’s a Facebook page, the name of the adopted family leaks out, and inevitably there are threats against Annie’s new family. (Update: The name of the Facebook group has been wisely changed to “Friends of Annie” instead of “Give Chuck Hoage His Dog Back!” and the people who adopted Annie posted a letter to the group.)
Should Annie go back to Chuck? Of course. Should Lola not been dumped in the garbage bin? No duh. Should animal-lovers jump onto these bandwagons and issue threats? Just say no.
Speaking of Katrina: With the Gulf Coast marking the five-year anniversary of the deadly hurricane, it’s a good time to note that something good did come out of the tragedy. In no uncertain terms does anyone in any official position now believe that it’s acceptable to force people to abandon their pets when evacuating.
I can’t help but remember that time for the heroism of so many people, including many friends of mine, who went to the Gulf to help people and animals. In particular, the work of the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine come to mind. The Baton Rouge institution turned a large part of the campus into a refugee center and veterinary hospital for displaced animals of all kinds, and veterinarians, technicians and all kinds of volunteers from all over the country pitched in to help.
The lessons of Katrina are continuing to be taught. In Blackburg, Va.,Virginia Tech recently staged a trial run for a disaster. The Roanoke Times reports:
There were aggressive dogs, scared dogs and easygoing dogs Friday at Virginia Tech’s Alphin-Stuart Livestock Teaching Arena.
There were cats meowing in crates.
There was even a three-legged Eastern box turtle.
The animals, along with 200 human actors, all portrayed theoretical refugees fleeing a make-believe Category 3 hurricane in Hampton Roads for a “state managed shelter exercise.”
Five state agencies, including the Virginia Department of Social Services and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, participated.
If a Category 3 or stronger hurricane hits Hampton Roads, up to 750,000 people could be forced to flee low-lying areas such as Norfolk and Portsmouth, said Bob Spieldenner of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
Of those, up to 60,000 would need access to public-run shelters.
There are also plans to evacuate Northern Virginia in case of terrorist attack, or other large-scale disasters. To prepare for such events, officials are constantly evaluating potential shelter sites. Large public universities such as Tech are a major part of those plans, Spieldenner said.
Read the rest. And you know, it’s not a bad idea to review your own disaster planning, along with your communities. Here’s a cheat sheet to get you started.
A veterinarian’s take on being under the knife: Dr. Douglas Mader is clearly in competition with our own Dr. Tony “No Pants” Johnson for the title of Funniest Veterinarian in the World. I just laughed throughout Dr. Mader’s article comparing his own surgery to the experience of many pets. And in the humor, there’s a gentle lesson or two for pet-lovers. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, huh?
From the article:
Surgery was scheduled for 6 am. That meant that I had to be at the hospital at 5 am. (Do you think our clients would tolerate that schedule?). We were late arriving.
“You’re late, Ms. Mader.” The gruff, morning receptionist barked at my wife when we arrived from the rainy parking lot.
“Doug was hiding under the bed.” My wife tried to explain. “I tried to get him out but he just kept crawling back further.” She threw her hands up in the air, as if the histrionics would help with the explanation. “I finally had to get my neighbor to come over. He brought his big push broom to try and scooch Doug out.” She pointed at me, as if the nurse forgot who I was. “When that didn’t work, we bribed him out by putting Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the car.” My wife was proud of her trickery.
“He was supposed to be fasted, Ms. Mader. Are you telling me that he ate this morning?”
“No! He didn’t eat.” My wife was miffed at the nurses’ insinuation that she did not follow instructions. “I only gave him the Krispy Kremes to get him in the car. The Diet Coke was just to wash down the sugar.”
Sweating the not-so-small stuff: The most excellent Winn Feline Foundation has given its annual research award to the equally most excellent Dr. Leslie Lyons of the University of California, Davis, for her work into feline genetics. … Should shelters charge people for bringing in pets? Is it a fair fee-for-service or a sure way for pets to get dumped on the street by people who don’t have the money and were doing the best they can? Did you miss the meaning of the word, “shelter”? (OK, OK, you can guess where I stand). … 50 best books about animals? Maybe, maybe not. Some of my favs were missing. Were yours? … Love groups who look to keep pets with their owners, especially those set up to help people with veterinary bills. … Pilots N Paws is organizing a September event to get pets from shelters in areas affected by the Gulf Oil spill to shelters where they have a better chance of getting new homes. Volunteers needed, whether you have a pilot’s license, plane or not.
Update: Hat tip to Therese, as always, for catching a small Iams recall. More Salmonella concerns.
David will be back Thursday taking over the news director chair. As always, send those juicy tidbits to PetConnectionNews@gmail.com.
Images: CCTV and Facebook.
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I have seen Doug speak and I will tell you he def will give Dr. Tony a run for his money…
Comment by Cindy Steinle — August 30, 2010 @ 8:39 am
Are we sure Dr. Mader and Dr. Tony aren’t the same person with clever pseudonyms? Have they ever been seen in the same room together? I remain suspicious.
Comment by David S. Greene — August 30, 2010 @ 9:00 am
The lessons of Katrina were the lessons of Hurricane Andrew.
It just took public officials in most places another 13 years to catch up with what was universal knowledge among on-the-ground responders:
Plan for the way people actually behave in crisis, not the meek, orderly way planners wish they would behave.
Chief among the ways people actually behave — they will not tolerate being separated from their spouses, children, dependent parents, or in the case of many people, their pets.
Try to force that kind of totalitarian “efficiency” on disaster refugees, and the results vary from simple noncompliance (that gets citizens killed, and puts emergency responders in great peril) to completely justified and proper civil insurrection.
We tried to tell them. Truly we did. At planning meetings, FEMA weekends, public comments on regional disaster plans. It took a little dog named Snowball and a screaming, vomiting child to make the damned point.
The lady whose body Pip and I searched for — the one who stayed in her house on the Mississippi coast with her dog. The last human voice she heard was a 911 dispatcher’s, as she pled for help that could not reach her, just before the surge wiped her neighborhood flat.
We found what was left of the dog.
A woman and a dog killed because politicians and bureaucrats stubbornly refused to respect basic human nature.
Two of how many?
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 30, 2010 @ 9:05 am
Amen, Heather, amen!
Comment by Liz Palika — August 30, 2010 @ 9:15 am
Word.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 30, 2010 @ 9:15 am
In my community of Des Moines there is no registry for lost and found dogs. Shelters should post found dogs, and allow owners to post lost dogs, in one central place. I think that is part of the No Kill equation.
I started a web site at http://www.missingpups.com with a decent database. It is so easy.
If anyone has experience in putting something like this into practice or is in Iowa and interested please let me know.
Comment by Erich Riesenberg — August 30, 2010 @ 9:40 am
Disaster planners should learn from Galveston’s example: Persons evacuating ahead of hurricane Rita were allowed to take any animals on the buses that could fit in a cage or crate, or walk on a leash. I’m sure that contributed to the well over 90 percent evacuation rate. Of course, it helped that the mayor’s grandparents had been through the first, devastating hurricane, which caused her to devote much time and effort to planning.
Comment by Maria Shanley — August 30, 2010 @ 9:48 am
Amen Heather. The lesson I learned from Katrina is that the people who pulled shotguns on the “rescuers” who would separate them from their dogs were the ones likeliest to keep them, and that there were evil sadists like the St. Bernard uniformed thugs who forced people from their pets at gunpoint and then used their dogs for target practice. (And skated, of course, though everyone knows who they are.)
Suffice it to say that having been anti-gun all my life I have seriously reconsidered this position as a result of Katrina. I have also taken a couple of the local disaster classes, in part because it’s a good thing to do and in part to be able to proactively head off any crap directed at my animals.
Comment by Mary Eisenhart — August 30, 2010 @ 10:05 am
Another amen for Heather—and not just for what she said here.
Comment by Glenye Oakford — August 30, 2010 @ 11:07 am
Jenny Pavlovic, the author of “8 State Hurricane Kate: The Journey and Legacy of a Katrina Cattle Dog,” who was one of the many dedicated volunteers who went down to Louisiana to help with animal rescue and captured her experience in her book, wrote a great guest post for my blog about emergency preparedness for pets that might give some additional info and links not covered in the excellent FEMA link Gina provided: http://consciouscat.net/2010/0.....cane-kate/
This seems to be one of those topics on which you just can’t have too much information, especially as hurricane season seems to be heating up in the Atlantic.
Comment by Ingrid King — August 30, 2010 @ 1:36 pm
My shelter asks for surrender fees. And we don’t have abandoned animals covering our doorsteps every morning.
I think you need to ask yourself this- are people trying to do right by their pets? I believe that most of them are- which is evidenced by the fact that they brought their animal to the shelter in the first place. If they were the type of person that was comfortable tossing their animal outside, wouldn’t they have done that already, instead of taking the time and gas to drive over to one of our shelters?
But also, i think there’s a right and wrong way to do it. We’re open admission- that means we don’t turn animals away- regardless of situation (the exception being a bite within 10 days- and even then we may accept if animal control is closed for the night, or if children are involved, etc etc).
So we explain to customers that we ask for a fee at the time of surrender- this fee helps to cover the cost of caring for their animal once they leave it here (though in actuality it will only pay for their care for a little over a day).
If a customer says they can’t pay the fee, we ask what they ARE able to give for their pet’s care. A few bucks? We’ll take it. And if they can’t pay a dime? well we’ll send them home with a donation form- in the hopes that in the future when they have some spare cash, they’ll think of Fluffy and send some our way.
We view it as this: are we offering a service to the public? yes. Are animals suffering because we’re asking for payment for that service? no.
Comment by Anne — August 30, 2010 @ 1:53 pm
Anne, does your shelter take money from a person relinquishing a pet and then kill the pet?
I have a problem with categorizing people who are giving up their pets — for whatever reason — as the “customers” who consume a “service.”
Adopter as customer I can see, though I’m still not happy about the way that commercial lingo creeps into every human interaction.
I think it’s peachy-keen when someone relinquishing an animal to rescue can make a donation. Some can’t. Some won’t. The previous owner’s poverty or asshatism doesn’t mean that the animal is any less worthy of rescue.
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 30, 2010 @ 2:23 pm
The local shelter here also asks for a donation and they state, “We ask for a $70 donation for surrendering an animal.” They state the amount. They do not state up front that they won’t take the animal if the donation is not paid but I’ve had several people tell me it’s sure implied.
Comment by Liz Palika — August 30, 2010 @ 3:34 pm
@ Heather-
Just to clarify your question- are you saying that it’s ok for No-Kill Shelters to ask for fees, but for Kill Shelters their service should be free? Do you feel that the discussion of whether or not to ask for fees should be addressed with whether or not a shelter euthanizes? Or are they two seperate issues?
Maybe it’s just a matter of semantics in regards to the whole ‘service’ thing, though i can understand where you’re coming from. Let me ask you this- if a person comes in and asks for their old sick pet to be euthanized- are they considered a customer? are they asking for a service? should there be payment for that service?
I’m not trying to start anything, i’m honestly interested in your POV :-)
And just for clarity’s sake, my shelter does euthanize for health and behavioral reasons, but not for time limits, space, or lack of resources. And if an animal is being admitted with a known health/behavior problem that we consider not placeable, we are honest and upfront with the customer- we let them know that because of ‘x’ problem the animal wouldn’t be considered placeable at our shelter. So they can leave it here for euthanasia, or we can give them other resources to try (other groups, behavioral, medical, etc). Do we still ask for a fee from those customers? yes- to cover the cost of euthanasia and body disposal (burial- or cremation by request). We ask for a fee from our euthanasia-request customers as well- significantly less than the vet.
Are you of the opinion if an animal is deemed unadoptable after intake and is then euthanized, we should not have asked for a fee for that animal? Did we still not have to feed, clean, and care for that animal, regardless of the outcome (euthanasia, adoption transfer)?
@ Liz- maybe it’s geographical, but i was suprised to see the $70. That would be a very high fee for us, and most customers wouldn’t be willing/able to pay it.
You definately have to be careful with customers that you’re not too pushy with fees. We always tell customers on the phone that we can discuss it in person at the time of intake if they say they can’t pay
Comment by Anne — August 30, 2010 @ 4:26 pm
Just a nit—but an important one—re the surveillance camera that caught Mary Bale in the act. It was not a “government” one; it had been installed by Lola’s owner.
Comment by Susan — August 30, 2010 @ 5:55 pm
Just to clarify your question- are you saying that it’s ok for No-Kill Shelters to ask for fees, but for Kill Shelters their service should be free? Do you feel that the discussion of whether or not to ask for fees should be addressed with whether or not a shelter euthanizes? Or are they two seperate issues?
Not speaking for Heather, but—
First, let’s be clear about language. What a kill “shelter” does to animals it determines to be excess to its current needs is not “euthanasia.” It’s just killing.
Secondly, I believe that a No Kill shelter should ideally not charge a fee, and should not ask for donations in a way that might make someone feel they have no choice but to take the animal to the kill shelter instead—but at least the No Kill shelter is going to be actually expending resources caring for the animal rather than killing it. Asking for a donation, where the person is capable of making it, makes sense.
But for a kill “shelter” to charge a fee to take an animal and then take that animal more or less directly to the execution chamber is downright Orwellian, and I’m not sure why that’s not obvious to you.
Comment by Lis — August 30, 2010 @ 6:31 pm
It was just a question. Simple question. You didn’t actually ask me to clarify my question, you grilled me about an agenda you presumed was behind it. The fact is, I had only recently heard of kill shelters charging relinquishment fees, so hadn’t contemplated the various ramifications of that.
But I agree with Lis, it has overtones of the Chinese billing the political prisoner’s family for the bullet used to execute her.
I remember the controversial cocker spaniel in the HBO documentary about Sue Sternberg. The shelter seemed almost *eager* to take that dog, and it was pretty clear to me that the dog was slated for death the moment it walked in the door.
Now, maybe that dog was a nasty little piece of work that no shelter could responsibly adopt out directly to the public. But they sure didn’t sit the relinquishing owners down and tell them that they were going to set the dog up to fail a temperament test and then kill him after a last meal of McNuggets. Those owners thought they were doing the right thing. I have often wondered how they felt when they saw their former dog being killed on cable, as they doubtless eventually did.
I cannot determine from her website whether Sternberg requires a relinquishment fee. The website claims that RVAA is “open admission,” but there is no information about relinquishing an animal.
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 30, 2010 @ 7:32 pm
pet owner: I need to relinquish my dog. She’s 13, has a mild heart murmur that’s being effectively treated OTC. I have lost my job, and about to go into foreclosure and I don’t know where else to turn. Can you help?”
shelter: “Ma’am. It’s a $70 “gift” to relinquish your pet to us. Being an older dog with a medical condition, her chances of adoption are slim to none. We will likely euthanize her as soon as you back out of our parking lot, so the space she would occupy and the swill we will feed her will go to the puppies we are importing from South Carolina. Those cute puppies will earn us guaranteed adoption fees. Your beloved grey faced
gimpy,lumpy old girl won’t do anything but cost us. Just sign here and make the check out to….”
I loathe these kind of shelters and their various guilt manipulative ploys and I am tired of reading the bullshit. Either save all pets on a No Kill basis or get out of the business. Need money? Involve the community. Be creative. Find solutions for funding and for placement, There are shelters all over the country who are doing this.See what they are doing and how you can do the same. They aren’t mainstream yet, but they will be. Jump on the bandwagon. Stop being the enemy.
Comment by Deb — August 30, 2010 @ 8:26 pm
um Deb . . . it’s not “pet owner”, it’s “customer”. {head desk}
“will go to the puppies we are importing from South Carolina”
are you in the North East? :)
Comment by straybaby — August 30, 2010 @ 11:33 pm
Update: Annie the Australian Shepherd has been returned to her original owner.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 31, 2010 @ 10:19 am
Glad that Annie is back. The “threats” against the adopters are, well — there may have been none.
Meanwhile, a columnist is calling the 4,000 people on the facebook group, and the radio host who had Annie’s owner on his show, “terrorists.”
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2.....qus_thread
Been a “terrorist” myself, so particularly enjoy that one.
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 31, 2010 @ 12:00 pm
The letter from Annie’s adopter is posted in the Facebook group. Including this:
“I challenge Annie’s fan club and ralliers … to put the same passion into issues such as education for our children, homelessness, creating food banks, affordable housing, or county water issues. I’ve yet to see this public show of support for the ‘real issues facing the county.”
Who says they don’t?
I get so tired of this “because you love animals it follows that you hate people” crap.
Heather is a rescuer and rehabber of animals. And also a search-and-rescue volunteer.
Christie in her non-animal time fights for LGBT rights, among other things.
I have volunteered for political campaigns and even taken time off work to fly to Colorado on my own dime to walk precincts. I also volunteer for efforts to bring fresh produce to “food ghetto” neighborhoods and I fight for a level playing field for humane, sustainable agriculture and real family farms.
All the bloggers and regulars here can tell similar stories.
This constant refrain of “if you love animals you must not care about people” is such complete and utter BS. Enough already.
Annie’s new people needed to give the dog back. If they’d done what was right in the first place, this never would have become an issue. Instead, they decided they were “better” than her original owner was, and that everyone who agreed with her original owner that they weren’t entitled to keep her was an “animal nut” who didn’t care about anything else.
The columnist who is now backing away from this needs to re-check his sack. I’m guessing his nuts are missing.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 31, 2010 @ 12:37 pm
Re Mary Bale, because no one has commented on her yet - rather than death threats, maybe some counseling/empathy lessons/ public service might be a better thing. The fact that Lola was someone else’s cat and Mary’s “tra la la” attitude make me think that she’s probably done some rather nasty, selfish and/or cruel things before because she doesn’t get that others (and pets) have feelings.
In fact, with a lot of cruelty and neglect type cases - yes, there are hardcore sociopaths and people who just can’t be reached, but I’m usually in favor of a restitution/ teaching empathy approach to solving such problems.
Comment by CatPrrson — August 31, 2010 @ 1:08 pm
According to a couple of news articles that just hit Google’s aggregator, the hunt for Mary Bale was run by 4Chan. Suddenly the incivility seems a lot more explicable.
Comment by Eucritta — August 31, 2010 @ 2:18 pm
I was unaware that apparently the word ‘customer’ is not cool in regards to a surrenderer. Honestly, I’ve never given a thought to it- we employ customer service staff in the shelter, and our definition of a customer is anyone that has any interaction with us- surrenderer, adopter, donor, volunteer, vendor, internal employees- pretty much everyone. Because we understand that every customer is a potential donor/adopter/volunteer, we have clear guidelines on how to treat customers, and that includes surrenderers.
I don’t know if our local no-kill shelter asks for a surrender fee (i’ll see if I can find out). But they are limited admission. For example, a woman needed to surrender her cat- she had stopped using the litterbox 3 years ago, and while they had been dealing with it, they were now forced to move to an apartment where they knew it wouldn’t be tolerated. They called the local no-kill rescue and were told that the cat is considered not adoptable and that they couldn’t accept it. They then referred her to us when she asked what else she could do. So she comes to us, where i advise her that we also would consider her cat unadoptable. But instead of turning her away, i offer her other options- she can leave the cat with us for euthanasia, she can talk to our behaviorists, i can give her the numbers of a local cat specific rescue that might be able to help, etc. I personally feel that we did right by this customer, and that the No-Kill shelter did not- turning customers away doesn’t help animals- even if help is offering the option of euthanasia.
(end result for this cat- called the rescue, they had a 2month waiting list that she couldn’t do. She opted to leave the cat for euthanasia, but then we found the microchip. Turns out the cat was ADOPTED from the No Kill shelter that had turned her away the day before. Called them back, explained that it was their cat originally, and they picked it up the next day. Had they taken the time to HELP the customer in the first place it would’ve saved everyone some time and energy, but the end result is that a nice cat with a serious behavior problem was getting a second chance, and that’s always right by us)
UPDATE- I called and asked the No-Kill shelter about the fee- they ask for a donation that will cover the costs of getting the animal ready for adoption, such as sterilization and vaccinations- there’s no set amount as it varies by the animal and what they will need.
@Heather- i honestly didn’t mean to come off as with a hidden agenda- i had never thought of fees that way before, and i think when i was typing the comment a bunch of questions just came up that i kept adding. Really- i was just interested in your thoughts on the matter- I respect your opinion, even if I don’t always agree with it :-)
@Deb- I wouldn’t consider a heart murmur (or age) as a reason for an animal to be not adoptable. They just need a more committed adopter. Recently we had a 15 year old dog get adopted. I also have a fondness for the grandma dogs :-) it can be really hard when they’re dropped off to not be angry at their owners.
Also- I wouldn’t say it’s about the money (only 30% of our operating revenue actually comes from Adoption and Surrender fees)- at least for us. But it is about asking customers to take the relinquishment of a pet seriously, and to understand that SOMEONE has to care for them and pay for them once they do so.
Our euthanasia rate is down to 32% in ’09- that’s down something like 10% from the previous year. That number also includes owner requested euthanasia. Is it perfect? Nope. But are we making changes? Yep. For example- We’re super excited about our subsidized sterilization clinic we’ll be able to open next year.
Huh- I didn’t realize a discussion about surrender fees would involve discussions about euthanasia practices.
Comment by Anne — August 31, 2010 @ 2:41 pm
wow- that was a really long comment
sorry
Comment by Anne — August 31, 2010 @ 2:42 pm
I just see Mary Bale as one of those freaks who will pinch a toddler when no one else is looking.
It’s the calmly petting the kitteh and then … PLONK into the bin that wigs people out.
I had a first-grade teacher who was totally different when another adult was present; when it was just a classroom full of kids, the mask came off.
There are such creatures among us.
Comment by H. Houlahan — August 31, 2010 @ 2:49 pm
Anne … the situation you describe is exactly why when no-kill advocates talk about getting away from killing for population control model, they’re NOT talking about no-kill shelters. A no-kill shelter in a community without cooperation between shelters, rescue groups, volunteers and pet-lovers is a “someone else kill” shelter.
What “no-kill” means is a no-kill community, with spay-neuter incentives and programs and open-door at all the shelters. They exist now in many kinds of areas, and they work, with 90 percent live-release rates for shelter animals across the community.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 31, 2010 @ 2:54 pm
I completely agree. We work with lots of organizations to both accept and place animals. Are the smaller, foster based rescues able to take all the animals that we offer to send? Rarely. Do they often complain that we don’t send enough out to other groups before euthanasia? Frequently (not all of them- most of the groups we work with we have great relationships with).
It’s frustrating to be condemned by the local No-Kill shelter (that’s quite active in the No-Kill community- they even presented at the No Kill Conference this year), but then be faced with the results that they turn people away and refer them to us.
But we can’t change how they feel/treat us. All we can do is keep working on reducing euthanasia in our own shelter, and help those who ask for it
Comment by Anne — August 31, 2010 @ 4:08 pm
“we employ customer service staff in the shelter, and our definition of a customer is anyone that has any interaction with us- surrenderer, adopter, donor, volunteer, vendor, internal employees- pretty much everyone. Because we understand that every customer is a potential donor/adopter/volunteer, we have clear guidelines on how to treat customers, and that includes surrenderers.”
that sounds just like a retail establishment where everyone is a potential sale (retail establishments don’t like returns either but ya still have to be nice to them. And the “customer” is always right ta boot! ;)). what ever happened to the people you interact with being considered, well, people? When I volunteered, we wore different hats. Consulting with potential adopters, helping pet owners with problems, helping pet owners find lost loved ones, working with pet owners who could no longer keep their pets, and of course caring for all the animals at the shelter. Not so sure I would want to be considered as a ‘customer’ when I was there to help the animals/their owners/the shelter . . . customer is so impersonal.
Comment by straybaby — August 31, 2010 @ 4:16 pm
I found this definition of customer on Wikipedia: A customer, also called client, buyer, or purchaser, is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services.
Notice that emotion, life & death, health, etc. are not mentioned. Care and compassion are not mentioned. Anne, it sounds like your organization is distancing itself from the community, not working with them.
Besides, most of us pet owners are very cynical about modern business practices. Didn’t those practices destroy our pensions, out-source our jobs, and bring us substandard products?
IMO, the use of the words “customer” and “customer service” is very, very cold.
Comment by PamJJ — September 1, 2010 @ 5:10 am
I can appreciate some part of taking a “customer service” approach to running a shelter. I really can. Working part-time at a retailer that was *all about* excellent customer service was a big help for me in learning a good attitude to apply in my own business (client-based and student-based, not “customer” based, and there is a difference).
But I have real concerns about all human interactions being reduced to the model of a commercial transaction. They will not, and should not, jam into that box.
Citizen, student, teacher, public servant, patient, caregiver, counselor, critic, advocate, leader, supporter, comrade, nemesis, friend, mentor, protege, patron — these are all roles that may be taken up by human beings in relationships to one another which cannot and should not be reduced to the model of a commercial transaction.
I don’t mind being called a “consumer” when I am playing the role of a person buying a product.
I mind it very much when this term is witlessly substituted for, say, “citizen.”
If I was faced with turning the responsibility for the care and welfare of my animals over to strangers, I don’t think I’d feel very customerish right then.
A shelter may be providing a service — to whom?
I’d hope “to the animals” would be among the first things articulated by the shelter leadership and workers. “To the community,” also good. Even “to adopters looking for a great new pet.” “To the person we can shake down for a relinquishment fee,” notsomuch.
Comment by H. Houlahan — September 1, 2010 @ 8:39 am
I’ve always worked in Customer Service, even before i worked in Animal Welfare, so i’ve never had a problem defining the people i work with as customers (and for clarification, i’ve never worked solely in retail).
One of the best tools i’ve ever used for training staff and developing how we want our customers treated is the book Animal Friendly- Customer Smart: People Skills for Animal Shelters by Jan Elster. 5 different humane organizations collaborated on this book, and all of them refer to customers as well. Any courses or seminars i’ve attended also used the term Customer- both for in Animal Welfare, as well as in Vet clinics, hospitals, etc. So i personally have never noticed a problem with the word. When i’ve said the word to customers i’ve never had a negative response. So maybe i just have blinders on, but i’ve never heard of that being a huge issue in animal welfare (but now i’m intrigued).
Obviously our focus is on animals, but we feel very strongly that you have to focus on the people with the animals- that’s why we have a dedicated staff that actually does very little animal interaction (Vet Techs and Animal Techs get the most animal handling time) and instead does mostly customer interaction. And the reason we have defined our customers is to help all staff realize that they are always an ambassador for our organization- even when off the clock. We understand that word of mouth is the best (or worst) PR we can get. For our surrenderers we practice non-judgement, and for our adopters we practice Education over Restriction.
I would disagree that because we use the word customer in defining a group of staff and people who may use our services, that we are distancing ourselves from the community. I would argue that actions (rather than words or definitions) would show otherwise- such as training classes, behaviorists, educational programs and camps, low cost sterilization, grief counseling- all programs that we offer.
BUT i do have a Customer Service meeting today, and now i’m going to ask everyone how they feel about the word and our use of it :-)
P.S.- i don’t think we ‘shake down’ customers for surrender fees. We just make an ask- if they say no, then that’s the end of it. Often times customers WANT to give towards their animal’s care- they’re writing checks before we even discuss fees. i’m always amazed at customers that tack on additional donations on top of the fee. Even for euthansia requests.
One generous customer can overturn an entire day’s worth of less-than-stellar pet owners.
Comment by Anne — September 1, 2010 @ 10:02 am
I have no problem with being a customer of a shelter. But using consumer when it should be citizen(#32) does set my teeth on edge.
Comment by redheather — September 1, 2010 @ 10:15 am
But using consumer when it should be citizen(#32) does set my teeth on edge.
Comment by redheather — September 1, 2010
I’m with you on that.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — September 1, 2010 @ 10:35 am