President's Statement

"Building Shelters will not Build a No-Kill City, County or Nation"

There are a hundred million dogs and cats in America. We cuddle them, talk to them, and make them a part of the family. Every year $5 billion is spent for food, collars, bowls, vaccinations, little pink ribbons and a myriad of toys and other supplies. Those are the lucky ones... at least some of them are. Far too many who thought they had a home suddenly become the incredibly disposable pet when their owner moves, gets tired of walking them, paying the vet bills or any number of reasons. Then they are abandoned by the millions, taken to the pound or allowed to drift away from home and never searched for. Mangy "mutts", elegant purebreds, pit bulls, fluffy kittens, dogs that look like Rin Tin Tin and Lassie and Toto. Unspayed and unneutered, sick, starving and trying to stay alive on the street and reproducing more and more homeless animals. We see them all. We also see and rescue their offspring; many living in a filthy back yard tied to a short chain without adequate food, water or attention and those who never had a home. Some people go on vacation and drop off their pet rather than pay boarding fees. They say they will pick up another when they get back. MAN'S BEST FRIEND HAS BECOME MAN'S BIGGEST VICTIM.

Increasingly we hear statistics like "90% adopted" or only "600" adoptable animals euthanized. Never mind the thousands upon thousands that were killed and because of ludicrous semantics not even entered into the equation. The statistical manipulation involved is not terribly complex or necessarily duplicitous. By simply defining animals in one's care as either adoptable or unadoptable the "pool" can easily be reduced by at least half thereby doubling the percentage of adoptions. The abandoned mother cat suffering with upper respiratory disease and her three week old babies, the ten year old shepherd whose family chose to move to a new apartment rather than keep the wonderful dog they have had since puppy hood, the untrained and perhaps untrainable neglected dog and the purposefully trained aggressive dog may not be adoptable but if statistics are to have any relevancy they too need to be counted. If an animal enters a building alive and leaves dead it had either spontaneously died or been killed.

We must find more ways to help these beautiful animals! We must make it embarrassingly shameful to either purposefully or accidentally allow an animal to breed when so many are being killed at the shelters. Building bigger and bigger shelters to house more and more animals for a few days ignores the real problem and solves nothing. We must remove animal care from politics and the old boy / old girl /network. The faucet must be turned off. Studies have shown that every dollar spent for spays and neuters in one year will save three dollars in animal control costs in three years. Last year 23,497 animals were put to death at the four tax supported shelters in Clark County. We know there is a better way to spend our tax dollars!