Hall_Monitor: Shelter numbers are still awful

Are there numbers that show the amount of animals in these catagories that are broken down into dogs and cats? These numbers are sad.

When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want them to bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!
Bobby Knight

Uncle Sam's Boot

I heard about a woman who takes it upon herself to have anyone's pet spayed or neutered. Without even telling the owner. She catches them in cages, and takes them in to who knows where, get's them fixed, and then let's them go.

I don't like this idea.

What if something happened, there was complications, infection set in, or whatever, she's potentially endangering the life of someone's pet, and what would she do if the animal died while in her care? I dont like the idea of anyone setting out cages to catch what are suppose to be stray cats, because chances are those cages are going to catch someone's pet in the process.

You're right those numbers ARE awful.

Probably to Alley Cat Guardians - you don't know what's going on Linda!

Robert Stanford
Community Advocate

JH: There are breakdowns. The shelter took in 5,816 cats, 5,786 kittens, 7,667 dogs and 2,061 puppies in 2008. There were also 1,074 "others" taken in, presumably animals like goats, unwanted horses, reptiles, etc.
The shelter euthanized 4,174 cats, 4,843 kittens, 3,804 dogs and 662 puppies during the year. Presumably, that's because puppies are the most adoptable, and cats the least. Oh, and 177 "others" were euthanized.
The rest of the animals were either adopted out, sent to foster homes or rescue groups, returned to the owners, transferred to another shelter or died at the Stanislaus shelter. A small number, 200, are listed as "missing" which I gather means they escaped. The majority of those are cats and kittens, which are better escape artists than other animals.
Linda: the trap, spay and neuter program is controversial for a couple of reasons, but I hadn't heard the objection you raise. Some people think if there is an over-population, if you trap a cat, why return it to the outdoors? Bird groups complain that the cats, fixed or not, prey on native birds, some of them endangered species. Since the cats are not native, they feel they should just be removed.
I assume the pets you refer to are cats, since dogs aren't supposed to be roaming free. There are several people in the county who trap cats and have them fixed, and I believe their thinking is that if you want your cat to remain unfixed, keep it indoors or on a leash. Letting it roam free causes unwanted litters for the county to deal with or to adds to the over-population of feral cats.
So again, it comes down to responsible pet ownership.

Tim Moran

I noticed that some shelters partner with private rescue groups. How many groups is Stan.Co shelter partnered with?

When my time on earth is gone, and my activities here are passed, I want them to bury me upside down, and my critics can kiss my ass!
Bobby Knight

Uncle Sam's Boot

SPAM.

I do remember that there were those who felt money was better spent on prevention...spay and neuter programs...than on overhead. I think everyone was in agreement for a new shelter...but not all agreed on how much to spend. Does that sound right?

The figures you have given are very disturbing. I want to give thanks for those who are working on behalf of our animal population.

I believe Bill O'Brien has voted against the new shelter a few times on principle, because he feels a massive spay and neuter program is needed first, to bring the numbers down. The county shelter does work with rescue groups, but some have criticized the shelter for not doing more. Interim Director Dave Young has commented that it's very difficult to get the various animal groups to work together - sort of like herding cats, to use a bad metaphor.

I was happy to hear about the new program going into effect. Can you let us know where our tax deductible money can be easily donated?

It raised my opinion of him quite a bit.

He was very positive regarding "rescue" groups and others that try to make a dent in our local pet over-population problem.

He talked candidly about the horrible conditions of the current shelter and the numbers that he put out were very breath taking concerning the number of animals that the shelter was originally designed and intended for (in the 70's) and the number that they have no choice but to deal with now.

I know that disease is a HUGE problem with the current shelter, particularly parvo - So most people if they have heard the advice of anyone who has adopted from the shelter will not.

One point of contention that I had a problem with was that he thought that the 72 dollars that are now charged for a low income voucher (which you must show a community services card of some type to even get in the first place) - was more than reasonable because it would encourage responsible pet ownership.

When I attended a BOS meeting regarding this - I heard DeMartini throw out a lot of flack that it was not the governments job to assist pet owners in their responsibilities.

I don't agree.

Nice article today on Alley Cat Guardians - I was half expecting to see Linda rip it up on the blogs today. Guess we dodged that hot air bullet.

Robert Stanford
Community Advocate

This was posted in comments after the Alley Cat Guardians story, by the ACGs:
Donations can be made to support the ACG spay/neuter clinic online at www.alleycatguardians.org or mailed to Alley Cat Guardians P.O. Box 576061 Modesto, CA 95357 Your donations large and small will help keep our clinic doors open. Thank you!

This is a wonderful organization - not only do they perform the work that was mentioned in the story in the Bee - they also advocate and have for several years now.

They take and have taken a lot of heat for that - help them out.

Robert Stanford
Community Advocate

This lady returns them. I have reservations about this because of the medical issues it raises for a pet. If the pet died under this persons care, chances are she wouldn't admit it. Why would she. She would be solely responsible. I spoke with someone from the shelter who said it's illegal to trap pet's.

I don't know, I understand over population is a big problem, but I still think this woman is wrong for doing what she's doing. If it were against the law to allow an unaltered cat outside, maybe I could understand it more, but it's not against the law.

It's a bad situation all the way around.

I had not gone back to the article to check.

Don't think that they do not monitor the colonies.

If it were not for them - we would be in dire straight to say the least.

Just because Linda wants to allude to "corruption" does not mean that it is there.

Robert Stanford
Community Advocate