Are our shelter leaders confused on shelter policies?

In an article printed in the Gwinnett Daily Post "Outlook brighter for shelter animals" writer Josh Green included this quote from shelter management trying to explain the shift that ended Gwinnett's policy of rounding up and killing thousands of feral cats each year since Lt Respess took over as shelter manager in late 2007. 

The article states "Adoptions are up 16 percent, and 28 percent more owners have come back to reclaim pets. The inflow of animals is down by 167 dogs and 1,000 cats. (The cat data is skewed because animal control has ceased picking up feral cats, which county ordinances restrict from being adopted)."

This article appears to be part of a public relations campaign seeking to justify our dysfunctional animal advisory council's and shelter management's role on improving shelter policies and "live save" rates at Gwinnett's Animal Shelter.  The above statement was issued on the role Shelter Manager Respess had in stopping the policy of picking up strays cats.

There is NO ordinance which restricts or prohibits "feral cats" from being adopted, that is a "shelter policy" procedure not an ordinance. In fact, there also isn't an ordinance that prohibits cats from "roaming" off leash or for owners to maintain control of cats on their property - yet since Lt. Respess took over in the fall of 2007 over 6,500 feral cats have been rounded up and killed.

Despite having this issue raised at numerous animal advisory meetings and despite personally delivering a message on more then one occasion to our BOC this policy continued up until August of last year when Respess finally stopped picking up "most" of the strays as ferals.

Fact is, Respess has still picked up and killed over 300 cats as strays THIS year despite their not being an ordinance which still prohibits cats as being strays in our community.

Lt Respess seems confused on the basic difference in our community passing responsible ordinances pertaining to pet ownership and shelter policies she enforces that come from the Gwinnett Police Department which is tasked with running the shelter. Part of that confusion comes from her lack of any previous experience in running a high volume open admission public shelter - a position she is clearly not qualified to hold.

These policies include the shelter policy that immediately kills all owner surrenders that enter the shelter without vaccination records - there is NO ORDINANCE which requires her to kill these dogs - she is instead simply enforcing a failed policy decision that comes from the Gwinnett Police Department - a policy I have been a longtime opponent of.

There is also no county ordinance which PROHIBITS the use of social networking to improve the chances for many of the dogs and cats facing death from being promoted in the community either yet, Lt Respess repeatedly uses "policy decisions" coming from GSP management as an excuse for killing even more dogs and cats that quite possibly could be saved if an effort was made to promote them.

We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett continue to suggest that for real change in the cultural shift in how we view the role of animal controls transformation into a role of providing animal services to our pet owners in addition to enforcing our animal control ordinances will require new management that understands the differences and concepts needed to be successful.

Georgia Shelters that network shelter pets on Facebook

Counties in (GA) currently posting their animals on facebook:


Hall County AC (Gainesville, GA)
Barrow County AC (Winder,GA)
Bulloch County Animal Shelter (Statesboro, GA)
LibertyCounty AC (Hinesville, GA)
Douglas County AC (Douglasville, GA)
Barnesville AC (Barnsville, GA)
Cherokee County AC (Canton, GA)
Floyd County AC (Rome, GA)
Hall County Animal Shelter Animals & Volunteers (Gainesville, GA)
Henry County AC (McDonough, GA)
Heard County AC (Franklin, GA)
Hazlehurst Animal Shelter (Hazlehurst, GA)
Paulding County Animal Shelter Pets (Dallas, GA)
Jeff DavisCountyAnimal Shelter (Hazlehurst, GA)
Athens-Clarke County AC (Athens, GA)
Cobb County AC (Marietta, GA)
Carroll County Animal Shelter (Carrollton, GA)
Catoosa County Animal Shelter (Ringgold, GA)
Gilmer County AC (Ellijay, GA)
Chattooga County AC (Summerville, GA)
Habersham County AC (Clarkesville, GA)
Butts County AC (Jackson, GA)
Barnesville Pound Pups (Barnesville, GA)
Spalding County AC (Griffin, GA)
Meriwether Animal Shelter (Greenville, GA)
Murray CountyAC (Chatsworth, GA)
Clayton County Police Dept. AC Unit (Jonesboro, GA)
Dekalb County Animal Services (Decatur, GA)
Savannah-Chatham County AC (Savannah, GA)
Ware County/Okefenokee Humane Society (Waycross, GA)

County NOT posting their animals on Facebook - GWINNETT.

Laberge and Respess have used the excuse that Gwinnett County does not allow departments to use Facebook even if that use would save the taxpayers the expense of keeping pets longer than needed, killing them or preventing pet owners from finding their lost pets on Facebook. However, Gwinnett's Sheriff Department has two face book pages - one for the Detention center and the other for the Jail Dog program.

The REAL reason we don't at least try to post our soon to be killed URGENT pets on Facebook is two things - the Gwinnett Police Department's inept management of the shelter (see privatize) and the lazy, inept shelter management that refuses to provide reliable information to the PUBLIC volunteers who have offered to network this life saving information.
 
County's that care enough about not killing their shelter pets - see above list
 
County that doesn't care - Gwinnett
 
Please call or email your commissioner and ask why don't WE care about networking our URGENT pets?

Gwinnett's Dysfunctional Animal Advisory Council's Meeting Minutes

For those who wonder what wonderful work on dysfunctional animal advisory council offers our county commissioners - here's the minutes to October's Animal Advisory Councils meeting.


Keep in mind with all the issues we have with Gwinnett's current shelter policies this same advisory council chaired by AKC legislative liason Gail Laberge cancelled July's meeting for a lack of anything meaningful to discuss. With a shelter still killing 80% of it's cats one would think adopting out afew more at the local Petco is hardly going to make any difference for the hundreds of cats who will be killed because both the animal advisory council and shelter director Lt Respess have stone walled repeated request for the shelter to support a local volunteer Facebook page that could have helped promote these cats and the dogs being killed at the shelter if only Respess and Laberge greeted meaningful suggestions with anything but excuses and the word NO.

With all the hundreds of cats being slaughtered every week the current advisory cound has no one from feline rescue on the advisory council since the previous advisory resiigned last December. As we have repeatedly discussed for three years now the current advisory council is not only dysfunctional but in fact negligent in tending the basic issues the board has been tasked with in favor of promoting the special interests of gail Laberge in her role as AKC legislative representative.

Pet owners deserve a real voice for pets moving Gwinnett forward in solving our pet overpopulation issues including those voices who understand one of the critical issues that MUST be addressed in breeder licensing which would differiente between responsible breeders who are allies in our war on pet overpopulation with irresponsible breeders who are clearly part of the problem.

http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/static/departments/police/pdf/GAAC_Minutes_10182011.pdf

Animal Task Forced to take up shelter's cultural shift

"I think there is a culture shift in the way the shelter is perceived, and it is a good thing," said Gail LaBerge, chairperson for Gwinnett's Animal Advisory Council, which studies animal-related issues.

Yes, Gail there is a cultural shift the way the shelter is perceived and that cultural shift began when our group  "We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett" proactively worked first on repealing her Animal Advisory Council's draconian dog barking ordinance that was being misused to intimidate even responsible pet owners out of their pets. 

Our cultural shift continued when We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett lobbied for and pressured Gwinnett's Animal Shelter is stopping it's abusive long standing policy of rounding up and killing feral cats despite the fact there was never a law passed that prohibited stray cats and with full knowledge that these cats would be wholesale slaughter at our shelter.

It was under Lt. Respess's leadership that over 4,800 stray cats were killed in 2009 alone - and over 11,000 cats have been killed since Respess took over as shelter director. Yet, Laberge's control of the animal advisory council for years ignored advocates pleas that Gwinnett incorporate a life saving Trap/Neuter/Release program in partnership with the feral cat rescue community.

To be clear, Gwinnett's Animal Advisory Council chair Laberge is not supportive of Gwinnett's newly established Animal Task Force that will study many of the animal welfare issues that the dysfunctional animal advisory council has ignored for years, including shelter policy operations and the future makeup of an animal advisory council that includes pet owner voices instead of a Laberge lead advisory council that was only interested in protecting the special interest of life long appointee's to that council.

We believe that Laberge shares responsibility for long ignoring the cultural problems created by poor leadership in Gwinnett's shelter operations and in the dysfunctional advise from our failed animal advisory council as well.  We must continue to push for cultural change that prohibits animal control from immediately killing owner surrenders merely because they lack documentation vaccination records. 

We must continue to demand that the shelter proactively promote adoptions and transfers to licensed rescue partners through the use of a shelter Facebook page that is currently prohibited by shelter management.

We must change the culture of how we help pet owners with pet retention programs, including programs that help struggling pet owners with assess to low cost spay/neuter and low cost vaccination programs. 

We must reach out to the pit bull community and seek real solutions that end our communities pet overpopulation issues that lead to far too many pit bulls being irresponsibly bred and killed by seeking breeder licensing laws that require all breeders to be licensed, pass a criminal background check, maintain a business license and to submit to yearly inspections by animal control.

We must provide low cost or even free spay/neuter for responsible pit bull owners to cut down on the number of pit bulls that end up at our shelter.  We must focus our enforcement protocols on those irresponsible pet owners who allow unaltered animals to roam by mandating spay/neuter for all pets picked up by animal control before allowing irresponsible owner's to reclaim these pets.

These are all the policy decisions that have been ignored under Laberge's regime as chair for our failed animal advisory council which speaks volumes for the need for serious change in how we go about offering responsible advise to our county commissioners.

We need YOUR voiced demanding that this cultural shift spirited by the responsible pet owners in Gwinnett continues as we move forward towards building a more humane community for our family pets.

You can follow the progress of Gwinnett's Animal Task Force on our blog - We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett which remains the only real voice for change for our community's homeless pets.

Changing the way we think about animal control

Much has changed in the field of animal control in the past five years. We know how to end the killing of all healthy adoptable dogs and cats. We know how to implement cost effective, community supported feral cat programs, low cost spay/neuter services and proactive adoption programs. Many animal shelters across the country have no only embraced the No Kill philosophy, but more important the programs and services that make that possible.

One would think that with all this success is saving shelter pets innovative communities like Gwinnett would be leading the charge at our own shelter – but it is not.

After an exhaustive study on how our county provides it’s advise our animal related issues it became apparent that the system was broken.  Detailed documents on every Animal Advisory Council meeting in the years from 2006 through the summer of 2008 showed an alarming disconnection with issues that plagued our shelter.

It became apparent that we not only needed to reform how we ran our shelter but more importantly how we developed our animal welfare policies and restore confidence with pet owners in the community.

The “Animal Advisory Council Reform Resolution” tackles the difficult process of how we provide expert advise to our political process in developing a long term animal welfare program that not only meets the expectations of the community but more importantly looks at programs that will reduce the cost of animal control moving forward while putting an end to the killing on healthy dogs and cats that our shelter is supposed to protect.

The credit for this resolution goes to AAC members Carla Brown and Tim Montgomery who worked diligently in finding common ground. The resolution is up for consideration by our commissioners is collaboration with the current animal advisory council who passed this resolution without dissent.

As in any change – the “devil is in the details” – here is precisely what these changes are::

The membership changes from the current seven members to eleven. Only two positions were left intact under the new makeup of the board, they are the Lawrenceville Kennel Club and the Gwinnett Municpal Association retains.

The Gwinnett County Extension Service position was eliminated and replaced with a representative from the “Livestock Animals”

Gwinnett Humane Society’s position has been eliminated and replaced with a representative for the “Gwinnett Rescue community”.

The Feline Interest position remains but will be filled by a representative from the Feline Rescue community specifically with experience in developing a feral cat program.

The two “Member at Large” positions have been eliminated and replaced with one member being appointed by each commissioner’s district and a representative appointed by the county Chair. This will form the direct communication link between the advisory council and the board of commissioners that has been lacking.

The advisory council will no longer report findings and recommendations to animal control and the Gwinnett Police Department but instead forward these recommendations directly to the Board of Commissioners. The GAAC will forward only those recommendations that have been approved by majority vote.

It will remain the responsibility of the Board of Commissioners to make final decisions on all recommendations submitted.

There are also procedural issues that were addressed.

Officers elected to the same office will have a two-year term limit.

Two Year Term Limit on chair position.

Members can set up subcommittees that investigate specific issues/problems without approval from animal control or the GPD.  This will set in motion creating subcommittees to investigate solutions for problems like feral cats, building a no kill community and developing an animal services unit that serves and educates the community on responsible pet ownership.  This coalition building will bring together many of the experts in animal welfare who have been disenfranchised from the process.

This is not cosmetic change - this is changing our animal welfare culture.  This is about opening up the door for others to join in on the discussion and participate in the process.

The most significant change comes with HOW this group will study issues.

Section 12 – Committees – The chairman may appoint, with concurrence of the GAAC, various standing and temporary committees to further proposals of the GAAC. Such committees may include members of the staff of various county departments, residents and business owners of the county whose background and knowledge may be a benefit of the GAAC in accomplishing it’s goals.

The purpose of the committees shall be to make detailed investigations, stidies and recommendations to the GAAC as instructed pertaining to matters or classes of matters within it’s purview.

The Chairman or Vice-Chairman shall be an ex-officio member of all committees.

This step alone opens up the process of developing breakthrough thinking leading the way towards solving long-term problems with animal issues in our community.

We now stand on the mountain of change.  While our efforts have brought us to this pinacle - it will be YOUR efforts that decide our county's destiny.   The question is "do we want to slip backwards and return to the valley of failure and doom" or do we want to march boldly on to the promised land that embraces life saving thinking instead.  I think we know that answer.


Please write your commissioner and ask for their support in passing this resolution.

The long and winding road to Animal Advisory Reform

Thirty months ago, I went in front of the BOC to discuss the controversial animal ordinance passed in January of 2007. That ordinance passed in all of “sixteen seconds” without allowing any public reading of the proposed changes or more importantly – asking Gwinnett County’s pet owners for their comments on the new law.

With that vote thousands of pet owners throughout the county discovered that even being a responsible pet owner could lead to criminal charges being filed for such minor infractions as barking dogs, dogs tethered for short periods of time, no tags, and a number of other issues that micro-manage the care we provide our pets. Offenses that should have been “fix it” citations instead had pet owners facing losing their pets.

For their role, the solicitor’s office (who drafted and were charged with prosecuting the draconian bill) used the threats of jail and huge fines to intimidate pet owners into surrendering their family pets. Pet owners were being threatened with lengthy jail terms only further endangering their ability to care for their family members and their pets.

Instead of focusing our animal control resources on educating citizens on how to be responsible pet owners, our animal control resources and judicial resources were being directed towards prosecuting and impounding pets with the worst possible consequences leading to even more deaths at our brand new shelter.

How this revised ordinance became "law" is even more disturbing. This revision of animal ordinances in Gwinnett was passed solely on the recommendations of the county attorney's office with the blessing of Gwinnett's dysfunctional and highly secretive Animal Advisory Council.

Battle lines being drawn – nobodies right when owning a pet is wrong

At the June 24th 2008 BOC meeting each of the commissioner’s was provided with copies of the Animal Advisory Bylaws and copies of all Animal Advisory Council meetings held in 2006 drafting those changes.

One longtime advocate wrote this as her observation

“This shadowy group (AAC) in no way represents the citizens of Gwinnett County and in fact hides from us, refusing to post it’s meetings, agendas, or minutes on Gwinnett County’s excellent website, which is intended to keep Gwinnett citizens informed. I have attended many (AAC) council meetings and in almost every case I was the only non-member in attendance.

She further went on to report “The partisan inclinations of the core membership, combined with lack of participation from several members and complete isolation from county citizens, resulted in the council’s passage and the Commissioners’ subsequent passage of an animal ordinance of such breathtakingly draconian nature that it punishes the most minor infractions with thousands of dollars in fines and years in jail without the benefit of a jury trial. This ordinance has made Gwinnett a laughingstock among animal law specialists across the country, with several lawyers expressing the opinion that the law is unconstitutional on a variety of grounds. I sincerely hope our commissioners will expand the Council’s membership to be more inclusive and require it to abide by the spirit, not merely the letter, of Georgia’s Sunshine Laws.”

While each of the sitting commissioners received this information only then candidate Shirley Lassiter responded with “it would appear that holding any government meeting should be professional, open and convenient to all the citizens.”

We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett couldn’t agree more. We not only believe that these meetings should be open to the public but more importantly the communication between pet owners in the community and the commissioners should be transparent and it is not.

Over the past thirty months our organization has worked diligently in presenting an “Animal Advisory Reform Resolution” that corrects these communication and transparency issues. Unlike the Animal Ordinance that was passed without public input our organization reached out across the county with full disclosure on all the issues involved.

We sought out the opinions of pet owners on issue that related to responsibly owning pets. We fought off numerous attempts by the AAC to drop these issues from AAC’s agenda. In the end these discussions generated the issues that were in serious need of reform. In the end we found common ground and compromise that served the citizens and gave a voice to responsible pet owners in Gwinnett.

The proposed revisions to the Animal Advisory Council Bylaws were drafted, discussed, argued and negotiated for close to a year now. To date, there has been nothing but support from the citizens on the final resolution that passed during the April 20th 2010 AAC meeting.

This resolution has been voted on and passed, the time for negotiation and discussion at this level is over. For animal control and the Gwinnett Police Department to hold these changes hostage six months later to protect the status quo of “catch and kill” is un-conscionable. It is NOW time to bring these issues to a vote in front of the commissioners who WE elected to oversee our interests.

Paranoia strikes deep – into your life it will creep

During the last AAC meeting the issue of reforming the Animal Advisory Council once again reared it’s ugly head. Shelter Director Lt. Respess brought up “new” concerns explaining “Animal Control and our superiors have concerns about the way the resolution is written”. With an air of pettiness animal control’s concerns focused on two areas, one “they” wanted to add a condition that “no one could serve in an advisory position who had violated any animal ordinance”. This stipulation is not only insulting to the citizens who would step forward but to the Commissioners as well, who I would hope would exercise good judgment and appoint people to this committee who they themselves have vetted. Appointments to the advisory council should NOT require approval from animal control or the Gwinnett Police Department especially in light of oversight implications.

One of many major malfunctions of the current makeup of the AAC is that anyone who disagrees with current (failed) policies at the shelter runs the risk of losing their position as an advisor. This stifles created innovation and leaves us with a process of simply defending the status quo. The current process of animal control and/or the Gwinnett Police Department having 100% control over who gets appointed or is allowed to stay on the AAC limits the free exchange of ideas.

The second area of newly created dispute was the reorganization that eliminated several obsolete positions on the AAC and replaced then with slots that addressed the county’s primary issues with animal control.

Animal control sought to keep Gwinnett Humane Society position while sacrificing a position for the rescue community at large. For several years now Gwinnett Humane has held a position on this council and yet open records have yet to offer any program or insight offered that would benefit the rescue community at large. Nothing has been proposed that would assist in building the critical partnerships with the rescue community but instead focuses on self-preservation of their own needs.

The number of pets going to rescue is down by over thirty percent since the new shelter opened. New leadership that understands the importance of building partnership with those who rescue dogs and cats is critical to our long-term success in reducing the carnage. This won’t happen without a voice that understands the significance these partnerships offer.

Building partnerships with rescue community will result in fewer animals being killed and return a substantial cost saving to the county as well – it costs MONEY to end a pet’s life – it costs NOTHING to send that same pet to rescue. This, the new feline interest position and individual representatives from each of the commissioners were areas that were never open for compromise.

Obviously, change is needed to dramatically turn around our failing shelter. Pouring money into a broken process is NOT a solution – change in thinking is. Several positions were removed with even more new positions created – those groups who felt disenfranchised would still have an option of lobbying for one of these openings.

The time for talk, the time for negotiation is over – we have a passed resolution that must be passed on to the BOC for an up or down vote.

People speaking their minds – getting so much resistance from behind

With thirty months invested in this reform effort “We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett” is past the point of offering further compromise. To hold these changes and the resulting citizen oversight hostage while thousands of dogs and cats are being killed is simply not acceptable. We are NOW reaching out to the community to support the “Animal Advisory Council Reform Resolution” with an up or down vote.

Our constituents have strong feelings on moving forward with building a more humane community for our homeless pets. We are solid in our support of building a No Kill community. Those feelings are being realized with the growth of No Kill Gwinnett.

Our supporters come from all walks of life, your church, your neighbors, your friends in rescue and in many members who work in and around Gwinnett County government. We may not agree on all the issues but there is a common bond that there is no moral foundation for ending an innocent dog or cats life simply because it’s convenient and because we can.

Rather then focusing on resolving the serious issues we have at animal control, far too many dogs and cats being killed, we end up with a broken partnership with the rescue community and a lack of professionalism in leadership that has resulted in serious morale issues that look the other way. The result is a process that does nothing but protect a failed model of status quo.

A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say hoorah for our side

The battle hymm's being sung, we are all tired of all the dire sideshows of personal ambition and goals rift with excuses and blame that changes nothing and allows the killing as usual to become our standard animal welfare policy. We are tired of being harassed and intimidated simply because we choose to include pets as an intregal part of our family unit.  Pets are NOT a nuisance issue - they are a quality of life issue.
We the Pet Owners of Gswinnett have presented a positive package for professional advise on animal welfare issues moving into the future. The makeup of this team would consists of citizens passionate about representing ALL points of view with a new focus where it’s needed most – lowering the number of dogs and cats killed at our tax supported shelter.

The new advisory council will be able to investigate not only life saving programs but cost saving programs as well. The new advisory council will be more responsive to not only pet owners in our community but there will be a dramatic improvement in the communication between citizens and their commissioners on animal related issues.

More importantly, the commissioners will finally have direct communication with the advisors they appoint and not be limited with ideas or proposals that have been screened by animal control.

The makeup of the Animal Advisory Board is in serious need of new blood which will include active participation by local pet owners and private volunteer rescuers who have for too long now been silenced from this process.

While the current makeup of the AAC may be powerless to do anything more then protect their own self-interest “WE PET OWNERS” have the power of electing commissioners who protect not only our families interests but our rights to responsibly own and protect our family pets.

There will be a meeting with the Board of Commissioner’s on Tuesday December 14th at Gwinnett’s Judicial Center. The meeting starts at 2:00 PM and the public is permitted to speak at the end. It is imperative that our community’s pets be represented as well as Gwinnett’s other important issues.

Those of you who have something to add to this dialog are encouraged to write out your thoughts that can be presented via email or presented to the commissioners for consideration during this public forum.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Gwinnett County Seeks too Tighten the Noose on Pit Bulls

A Gwinnett's Animal Advisory Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 19, 2010 at the Animal Welfare and Enforcement Center. 884 Winder Hwy, Lawrenceville. The meeting starts at 7:00 PM. 

Items included on the agenda include the year old discussion of a shelter "urgent list", a disaster plan and a new item added - a discussion on revising the dangerous dog ordinances to include pit bull licensing registrations, including tags, microchips, insurance ect.

It also includes a requirement that all pit bulls be on a leash at all times unless in an approved enclosure - in other words, your dogs could not be off leash even if supervised on your property.

We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett opposes any BSL types of restrictions that would only lessen the number of homes for good pit bulls needing rescue and would only increase the number of good pit bulls being surrendered and killed at our already "too high" kill shelter.

We oppose this type of approach for two reasons - as a pet owner, there is no evidence that breed-specific laws make communities safer for people or companion animals.  Those who own and care for pets responsibly are typically not part of the problem and yet are punished nonetheless.  Those who own any type of dog irresponsibly typically won't comply with the laws already on the books so enforcement is counter-productive.

As taxpayers these types of ordinances which attempt to mandate pet care are costly and difficult to enforce.  As we should learned from the "2007 Dog Barking Folly" - pet owners faced with losing their pets, facing huge fines or compliance costs might find it less tedious to dispute any infractions through the courts.  Not only is this a very expensive way to litigate these cases but it is disengenous of the county to further burden taxpayers with these additional expenses as well.
We need to put an end to this senseless approach at tossing a net over small problems that put unnecessary restrictions on those who responsibly own their dogs - including pit bulls.

What isn't on the agenda is equally troublesome. There are no discussions planned on how the shelter might implement many of the No Kill programs that have the support of pet owners throughout the county. There will be no discussion on the process needed to implement no kill here in Gwinnett. Just more of the same - blame and punish approaches that have failed our community in the past.

Pet owners, taxpayers and voters are encouraged to attend.   Just say NO to growing "bigger" governement.

Build it...... they will come...."

Our animal welfare “authorities” are failing its citizens with wasteful spending during this period of economic uncertainty. This squandering of resources is a top down leadership crisis that is at the heart of the many problems that must be overcome.

The High Cost of Killing

At the September BOC meeting 2010-0757 Award BL068-10 was approved by a consent order (meaning no public discussion was allowed) to purchase FOUR new animal control trucks at a cost of $207,788.

The latest in failed leadership comes with the decision to purchase four new animal control trucks at a cost of $207,788.

This decision ignores the tight budgetary constraints that severely limits hours the shelter is open to the public, ignores lack of office staffing issues which further limits shelter operations in favor of providing four brand new trucks that clearly can not be justified during these tough times.

For a shelter that already fails each and every pet that dies under their care and control by not providing off site adoption events, fails miserably in promoting pets available for adoption, fails dismally with it’s volunteer program and sees increased efficiency only in the number of animals being killed, this expenditure will only lead to more killing – not less – as our animal control officers attempt to justify this need by rounding up more dogs and cats for slaughter.

If we are truly in a budgetary crisis wouldn't a more logical approach be reducing our fleet of 16 animal control vehicles, lower our costs associated with insuring and maintaining that fleet and shift our manpower over to shelter related duties instead? Shouldn’t shelter duties focus on life saving placement options for shelter dogs and cats instead of the age old fall back of simply killing them?

Rather then maintaining reduced shelter hours and thus doom even more pets to a certain death wouldn't it be more prudent to allocate manpower and resources for additional evening and weekend hours thus making the shelter more assessable to the community? This could be done without a need for more officers or additional overtime if we simply pulled a few trucks off the road.

Wouldn't it be a more cost effective use of manpower if the focus is shifted to staffing off site adoptions on weekends, adoption events at our shelter, and to focus on reaching out to the rescue community to increase the number of pets that can be transferred to rescue – as opposed to excessive road patrols?

Shouldn’t we at least consider moving officers off the street to work at the shelter on programs that will increase adoptions and save more healthy adoptable pets rather then this revolving door that only kills them?

Grassroots Reform of our Animal Welfare Programs

"Beyond the instruments of death where sunrise hears the screams.

Every man is torn apart with nightmares and with dreams

all while silence drowns the screams..........."

That the commissioners approved this tremendous waste of critical resources only shows how disconnected our leadership is with the real animal welfare issues in our community. This disconnect is a result of a dysfunctional animal advisory council which remains still in serious need of reform.

The notion of animal control focusing on lifesaving, and taking on what has traditionally been an animal welfare platform of lifesaving and social enrichment for our family pets is now firmly taking root as a “No Kill Movement”.

What we are witnessing is the transformation from traditional “animal control & enforcement” to “animal care, services and control”. Throughout our community rescue groups, animal lovers, pet owners, good Samaritans and animal advocates are demanding change. Rejecting the tired, tried and challenged failed notion that the best we can do is offer a “humane” death for thousands of innocent animals and that the shelter bears no culpability for the numbers of animals being killed, these individuals are challenging the status quo.

What would $207,788 buy in a No Kill Community?

While there is a cost associated with killing innocent animals, saving one’s life is a priceless commodity that separates a truly compassionate community from one that isn’t. The citizens of Gwinnett share a compassion for our pets – shouldn’t our leadership reflect those values as well?

Instead of making investments in life saving programs that will in time drive down the cost of animal control we continue to waste money on the “toys of the killing brigade” while the death toll grows higher.

Sadly, over 90% of these deaths are unnecessary.

What would $207,788 “purchase” in critical services?

With $207,788 we could have spay/neutered over 10, 000 cats and found them rescue groups or feral cat colonies where they would still be alive rather then paying the cost of collecting and killing them – that would be EVERY cat that’s been killed since opening the new shelter in October of 2007.

With $207,788 we could have spay/neutered 2000 dogs at $50 each AND 4000 cats that will be killed in the next twelve months under our current failed animal control program and still have money left to hire TWO full time customer service clerks to help with adoptions and working with the rescue community.

Instead, we get four new trucks at a cost of $52,000 each that will be virtually worthless once their driven off the lot. With sixteen trucks currently being used by the thirty plus animal control officers one should seriously question why this was such an urgent need that it trumps ALL other budget requests that clearly would have returned critical services to our community?

Sending out animal control officers to pick up more stray cats when we already kill over ninety percent of the cats that enter our shelter not only adds to the costs of running our kill shelter but wastes valuable fuel and vehicle expenses as well.

With an abysmal record of killing cats and dogs that enter our new county kill shelter is it really wise to patrol our county's streets for more animals to kill?

Shouldn’t our “Animal Advisory Council” be having this discussion on how our resources are being spent? The fact that this issue wasn’t addressed by the GAAC only demonstrates the urgency in reforming that advisory group in order that more meaningful alternatives are addressed.

Are We Simply Running a “For Profit” High Kill Shelter?

We the Pet Owners has been outspoken over the county’s failing to provide the resources needed to promote pet adoptions and responsible pet animal services to our community.

The issue of providing reasonable community assess to our new shelter has been a contentious issue since the shelter opened in 2007. While funding was allocated to build this shelter the county has failed miserably with properly funding programs and services vital to promoting responsible pet ownership in our community.

If all we are going to do is fund the killing of healthy animals in our new shelter then WHY were we mislead in building it?

From the AJC article “Counties Killing Dogs-Cats by the Thousands” (May 2010)

http://www.ajc.com/news/counties-killing-dogs-cats-473204.html

Gwinnett’s Animal Advisory Chair (GAAC) Gail Laberge states "The Gwinnett shelter has also explored expanding hours into evenings to allow working families more time to visit and shop for a pet. Statistics show a noticeable increase in adoptions when the shelter remains open late, but budget cuts won’t allow for overtime, so the shelter is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday."

We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett first raised the issue of increasing shelter hours and access for working families at the June 2009 GAAC (link) meeting where the issue was discussed.

At that meeting the GAAC approved (by a vote of 7-0) a resolution to send a letter to the Gwinnett Police Chief Charles Walters asking that the shelter open on Sundays from 12 to 4 PM and on Tuesday and Thursday nights and that the shelter be closed another day to make up for being open on Sunday.

While there was never an official response from Chief Walters on this critical services issue an excuse of lack of funding was circulated instead.

At the July 21 2009 GAAC (link) meeting a resolution was approved requesting additional office staffing to replace two positions lost in budget cuts. This 50 percent reduction in staffing was being used to eliminate critical services including maintaining timely and accurate information on the dogs and cats being held at the shelter.

Often times data base information wasn’t being entered in a timely fashion (link) resulting in many pets never being properly promoted for adoption leading to even more unnecessary killing at our shelter. While office personnel are vital to overall shelter operations this issue has still not been addressed by shelter management.

While it might be understandable that the county can’t fund every position needed to run an efficient shelter operation it does not explain why our shelter continues to rebuke offers of increasing volunteer participation by requiring those volunteers to agree to a strict criminal background check to volunteer at our shelter.

It shouldn’t take an FBI clearance to be able to walk a dog or bottle feed some kittens. The fact that our shelter management views local pet owners who want to help as “potential criminals” only paints a clear picture why management change is the only practical method of reducing the long term cost of running our failed animal services unit in the future.

The use of volunteers and how to educate the public on the need for volunteers to promote adoptions (on Facebook and other social networks), socialize dogs and cats to help make them more social and ultimately more adoptable has only been met with rules and excuses rather then innovative approaches that serve the pet owners in our community instead.

Volunteers and a need to STOP the SENSELESS KILLING are crucial steps needed for fundraising as well. Instead of our county being a leader – an innovator in providing services that promote responsible pet ownership - we cling to the failed policies of killing the animals we are supposed to protect.

The issue of inadequate staffing was again raised at the January 19, 2010 GAAC meeting when letters expressing concern for the staffing of the animal shelter have been sent to the Board of Commissioners.

There has been no official response to these letters either. If we can’t get our elected officials to respond to urgent and critical needs from an advisory group designed to keep them informed then who should address these issues – the voters who own pets?

So how does the typical malfunctioning governmental unit respond to under-performing departments that have come under repeated public scrutiny and criticism? At a special GAAC meeting on March 16 2010 the issue of RAISING FEES (not services) was addressed.

The lean budget prompted the advisory council in mid-March to recommend increasing fees. The council, which recommends policy changes to the county commission, voted to double the charge for daily boarding to $10 and for quarantine to $200. But members balked at a suggestion to more than double the owner surrender fee from $20 to $50, fearing owners would abandon their animals on the streets. The fee was increased to $25.

This is government at its folly best. When management comes under attack for failing to provide services that were promised when citizens approved building our new shelter – promises which included better access for citizens and ultimately increasing the number of pets who are adopted from the shelter thus driving down the number of animals being killed – our animal control management team blames the citizens for not providing the resources needed to do the job.

What wasn’t addressed was what the Gwinnett Police Department would do with the money these new fees would generate. Would these fee increases finally free up money to open the shelter evenings and on Sundays? Would we finally be able to hire a clerk responsible for putting posting pictures and bio information on pets waiting to be killed? Or would we simply squander these resources too?

The answer to how this money would be spent should outrage ALL citizens who are simply fed up with the waste and abusive spending of critical tax dollars that even our “conservative” politicians continue to vote YES on.

Taxpayers understand that we can’t fund every want and whim that local advocates are screaming for but it’s the lack of a cohesive plan that sticks out. Instead of recommending critical animal services issues be addressed our management team instead went shopping for new “boys will be boys and need their new toys” by requesting four new animal control trucks instead.

This obvious disconnect with pet owners in our community only demonstrates a much more critical need for reforming our animal advisory council so that the real issues needing addressed can be tackled. It also points out the blatant need to address a much more serious issue of bringing in professional shelter management that can tackle our disoriented and dishonest approach to our animal welfare issue that current management continues to ignore.

We need these reform measures for two reasons – one is to turn the tide towards stopping the senseless killing funded by our tax dollars and to reduce the cost of running our shelter in the coming years.

We will NOT lower our costs when our commissioners lack the desire to say NO to requests that do nothing but squander the limited resources that taxpayers DO provide.

While our governmental process is capable of responding to request to waste resources with timely voting on budget issues the issue of voting on reforming our failed process is stuck between the special interest concerns of protecting the county attorney’s office and the interest of the Gwinnett Police Department instead.

The “Animal Advisory Reform Resolution” was approved over three month ago and yet it has it still being held up by those groups who are not interested in relinquishing their own special interests that are part of the many problems we have at our shelter and NOT part of any solution.

Partnerships only work when there is a shared respect for the role each participant plays in helping to resolve the problems at the shelter.

Our county leadership must understand that only by investing in and working passionately towards raising awareness on the critical need for volunteers will we succeed lowering our shelter kill rates while reducing expenditures as well. Killing innocent animals are NOT without costs that are financially and morally reprehensible.

For more information on the alternative programs that are not being used at our shelter follow my blog at

http://by20hounds.blogspot.com/

Join in our community “No Kill” discussion – visit No Kill Gwinnett on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/#!/pages/No-Kill-Gwinnett/126165217428735

Death Row to the Jail House

A young scared three-month-old dog sits petrified on the euthanasia table not knowing his life is about to come to an end. What this young dobie/lab mix needs is obedience training and socialization. What he needs is the time to learn, but in this shelter his time is about up.

Over 3000 dogs a year are killed at Gwinnett’s Animal Shelter – their once healthy bodies turned to ashes. Over the years our animal welfare policy’s that are supposed to advocate and protect our community’s homeless pets has evolved into a policy of justifying the best we can do is “save a few” while giving the rest a gift of a humane death.

Ernest T Bass

Ernie, with those sweet eyes, is about to be killed because our animal control policies have determined he is “un adoptable” (in the short five day period the law requires he be held). What Ernie needs is just a little more time to become all the dog he’s supposed to be. More time to find that perfect home – that perfect master – a family of his own.- a life with purpose - his life complete. Instead, in a few quick seconds that is about to be over.

This past spring the Society of Humane Friends partnered with the Gwinnett County Detention Center in “Operation Second Chance” to save “death row” dogs from Gwinnett’s Animal Shelter.

In this collaboration, the Gwinnett County Detention Center would function as a “foster home”, the inmates would care for and train the dogs and the Society of Humane Friends would then find them homes.

I had an opportunity to observe first hand an innovative new program that seeks to provide these dogs with a real second chance. My observations paint an entirely different picture indeed.

On this warm summer afternoon a miracle is about to happen. Space has opened up in this innovative new program for young Ernie, with his luck and time running out he is snatched from death’s door and whisked away to a waiting jail cell for his second chance.

Ernie’s New Leash on Life

Behind the walls of the county’s detention center inmates would discover a new sense of purpose working with dogs rescued from the local kill shelter. Instead of being killed, Ernie would become one of dozens of dogs who have benefited since the “Operation Second Chance” program’s inception earlier this year.

The Operation Second Chance program is collaboration between the Society of Humane Friends working with the county detention center to provide training and socialization for at risk shelter dogs utilizing inmates as trainers.

Dogs chosen for this program all share something in common – they have been labeled as “un adoptable” and sentenced to die for a crime of being unwanted.

Sentenced to Salvation – Operation Second Chance
Behind the walls inmates, inmates find a renewed sense of purpose saving dogs who would be otherwise would be dead.

I witnessed Ernie when he first entered the cellblock 1-C. His lack of socialization was obvious but not surprising for a young dog fresh out of the shelter. Watching Ernie gain more and more trust with each day of training only reaffirmed how wrong it is to kill these dogs simply because they haven’t been trained properly.

This lack of training and/or social skills would not have been a death sentence in a shelter that had a No Kill philosophy where training would be provided to increase Ernie chances of being adopted.

They were animals facing a death sentence even though they’ve committed no crime, but they will be punished unless someone steps forward ands gives them that second chance. Those someone’s are young men living in confinement for reasons of their own – be it anger issues, drug abuse or other crimes who in time, are looking for that second chance of their own.

Once matched with a dog, the inmates are fully responsible for the dog’s care, feeding, grooming, housetraining, and most importantly obedience training. After a few short weeks or months of this round-the-clock care, dogs like Ernie are ready for adoption.

Both dog and inmate face isolation and rejection, but when their backs are to the wall they offer each other hope and salvation for each other.


It would take only a few days before this sweet boy would endear himself to everyone he met. Life was exciting with all his new friends.

It would only take a few short weeks before Ernie would be rewarded with a family of his own.  Thanks to Operation Second Chance this sweet boy has a whole life of second chances in front of him.

Many a year has past and gone – many a gamble has been lost and won

In a small way the “Operation Second Chance” program operates on the same program techniques as a “No Kill” facility. It utilizes a fostering and training program directed off site through a licensed rescue group to completely change the results of a dog that would be killed to a dog who finds a new home.

Who are these “convicted dogs” being rescued from death row and housed and rehabilitated in our detention center? They are the un adoptable – the damaged – the neglected – the abused – that society has historically chosen to provide “humane euthanasia” in an effort to save them from ourselves.

Meet some of the amazing Jail Dogs rescued from death row and the inmates who are their companions until they are adopted - presented by Karmalized Pictures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4825JHEJ_k

“Easy as it is to tell black from white – it’s also easy to tell wrong from right”

Their stories are heart wrenching – healthy dogs that enter our shelter with the hopes of finding a new home – a new family – a new beginning - are instead shamelessly slaughtered. The picture of survival for any pet entering our shelter is bleak with an animal welfare program that quickly and inaccurately labels these dogs as un adoptable thus sealing their doom.

Instead in a simple concept, prison inmates receive training to, in turn, train dogs from our local high kill animal shelter. The prisoners learn a joy, a compassion and a responsibility that can come only from raising and training a dog, as well as skills that can help them find a new passion and perhaps a job.

Repeated over and over – this program becomes a win-win-win program for the community. The county taxpayers win by killing one less healthy adoptable dog, the inmate wins by gaining new insight and confidence in their own ability to make a difference and the family wins by being rewarded with a wonderful lifetime family pet.

The dog, already scheduled to die, is the BIG winner as he settles in and becomes adoptable. Some lucky local family gets to adopt a well-trained dog that, just a few weeks before, would have been put to death merely for being unwanted. The shelter reduces the numbers of dogs killed every year (which totals in the thousands).

Meet Bonnie, a sweet, loving boxer mix. Bonnie has a long permanent scar that runs down the length of her back probably the result of an acid burn. Despite whatever abusive happened to this sweet girl in the past she holds no grudges towards humans. She certainly wasn’t bashful in sharing a whole bunch of kisses when extended a friendly hand.

The sad reality is the person who abused Bonnie was never caught and never punished, yet Bonnie faced an uncertain future on the streets and a predictable death at our county shelter. Fortunately, Sheriff Conway saw Bonnie walking down the road and brought her to cell Block 1-C where she too was given a “Second Chance”.

After completing her training Bonnie was adopted by her handler. Not only is Bonnie in a better place but her trainer has gained new insight on himself as well. Bonnie is now able to love and be loved – that’s all a dog really needs.

It’s tempting to think about whether the lives of these young men and women would be forever changed if the opportunity to volunteer for animal welfare programs had been promoted prior to their run ins with the law. Are we doing enough with helping our next generation find their rightful place in society rather then punishing them when they fall?

Many of these “un adoptables” include the misunderstood pit bull that has been maliciously exploited by the media, politicians and even the national animal rights groups as well. All have set standards, passed laws and made adoption requirements that are all but impossible to meet.

Many are the much-maligned “pit bulls” who Shelter Director Lt. Respess describes as the “most common breed at the shelter”. Sadly, they are also the first to be killed as well.

Over the years our animal welfare policies that are supposed to advocate and protect our homeless pets has evolved into a policy of justifying the best we can do is provide them with a humane death.

While not all dogs chosen for the program are pits, they do share a common trait of being targeted for failure with a faulty temperament-testing program implemented at the shelter.

Those who fail this test are labeled as un adoptable expediting their fate with a certain death. Gwinnett Shelter uses an overly broad, meaningless definition of “un adoptable” or places unrealistic demands on potential adopters who would take a pet that the shelter otherwise would kill.

They ignore the fact that people want to help saving the life of a pet who someone else failed to love and protect.

Meet Jake

Jake is a border collie, red in color with white spots and white feet. Although blind in one eye this does noty stop him. Jake is full of energy, and is a very loyal dog who understands all his commands. Many of night Jake would his head on my lap and fall a sleep with one eye open.

Shelters with leadership or staff that is lazy tend to bend the unadoptable curve in the direction of how many dogs they simply want to kill. Eventually, the measurement becomes meaningless. Eventually good obedient dogs like Jake fall victims to this curve as well.

This systematic destruction is done under the guise of “public safety” but are these “killers” really the danger they are made out to be? Are these dogs “too dangerous” or not capable of being “socialized”?

Sadly the life saving programs not implemented by shelter management leave killing as the only viable but repugnant option for these dogs. Programs that would encourage moving trainable dogs into volunteer foster homes (off site fostering) or bringing in volunteers and experts for training to help socialize shelter dogs (improving adoptability) are noticeably lacking in the shelter’s “life saving” arsenal.

There is enough compassion, caring, kindness and love in our community to overcome the obstacles these special needs dogs face. Operation Second Chance” proves that kindness exists and that it does make the difference in placing these dogs back into the community rather then simply killing them.

We need to shift our community focus from excuses that kill to life saving solutions that nurture’s our compassion instead. With an emphasis on problem solving rather casting blame a goal of saving 100% of healthy dogs and cats can be a reality almost overnight.

Assisting and rehoming dogs and cats should be the only missions of shelters – especially those who function with the publics trust and tax dollars.

On sunnier days I envision a community that incorporates animal welfare programs that saves animal lives with volunteer programs directed at misguided young men and/or troubled young woman that help them visualize their future before they end up part of our penal system.

A system where our next generation saves the lives of animals facing death who in return save the lives of our next generation facing no future. They give each other hope – they become each other’s salvation as well.

Shelters need to be seen – not heard….

Animal advocacy and humane work have proceeded for years between the recognition of the need to be effective, enthusiastic outreach programs, and a tendency towards depressed and embittered self-isolation. We have been programmed not to speak ouit against the atrocities of killing in the hopes that a “few more” can be saved.

Unfortunately, throughout most of this time marked by the sounds of silence from the advocacy community has been drowned out by shelter management perceived or at least to accept – that sheltering responsibility includes an obligation to kill large numbers of animals, many healthy and young, others grievously neglected or abused. Transferring grief and guilt by blaming the public has become a time honored excuse to institutionalize the killing mechanism.

The “Second Chance” program proves that even the worst of the worst, like Ernie, like Bonnie, like Jake, are all adoptable if they are simply placed in a setting where their true qualities are accented.

While a fostering, training, adoption program like the Jail Dogs program will successfully place dozens of otherwise slaughtered pets into new homes an effective volunteer fostering program in our county could save hundreds perhaps thousands of pets that are currently STILL being slaughtered.

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.
Thomas Jefferson

We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett recognizes the significance of off site fostering, an inclusive volunteer program that rewards and encourages community participation while raising awareness of the thousands of wonderful pets needing rescue (from our own shelter system) and a renewed working partnership with the licensed rescue groups in our community. These are the basic steps needed to turn our county into a NO KILL community for our pets.

If untrained inmates can make such a dramatic difference for these jail dogs and give us new hope that with innovative programs aimed at our compassionate community of animals lovers can create life saving miracles too.

Our voices demanding change for ALL the dogs and cats still being slaughtered are needed. We must insist that we have an obligation to explore ALL the life saving options that are available before even considering killing as a last resort.

With the increase in shelter killing in our new shelter mistrust by the public remains endemic among citizens and pet lovers in our community. We don’t want to volunteer for a shelter that kills without rhyme or reason, we don’t want to donate money to a shelter that offers these dogs and cats little hope for survival, we don’t want to visit or adopt knowing that all we leave behind most likely will die.

Spirits are much higher when the public is given hope that these dogs will be rehomed – that there will be a “success story’ at the end. Americans love heroes and they love pets – the Jail House Dog program gives us both.

Stay turned, as We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett moves forward in arming an army of compassionate volunteers with the life saving tools we will use in the future as we build a No Kill Gwinnett for future generations to cherish.

To learn more about other successful jail dogs programs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We92yXNBv80&feature=related



Blood on the Floor

Well, goodbye world
It's sad but true
Got a date with the hangman
I have to leave you

I barked at my Darlin
three times or more
The reason I'm going is blood on the floor

The nights are so lonely
The days are so long
I'm in the jailhouse
Cause they say I done wrong
I don't say I'm sorry
I just say I'm sore
The reason I'm goin
is blood on the floor
Well, I came here one night
She was lyin' 
with her hands around 
a big blue gun
She saw me, started laughin
and I cried when I saw her gun

Goodbye world
I guess we must part
They're taking my life
cause I have no sweetheart
I don't say I'm sorry 
I just say I'm sore
The reason I'm goin
is blood on the floor

The reason I;m goin 
is blood on the floor 

Leave Those Cats Alone

This poor kitten has little chance of survival

Regardless of whether the cat is the most beloved and pampered pet or the wildest outcast, shelter policies that claim to be based on humane policies view cats without a human home to protect them as feral. Since they have no owner is it better to take them to the shelter and kill them rather then to allow them to survive on their own?

The palace of mirrors were cats are selected
The endless road, cold bloody moons and the wailing of the chimes
The empty rooms were their memories are protected
The angels voices whisper to souls departed from better times

Eden is burning

Either brace yourself for the night

Or your hearts must have the courage

For the changing of the guard - Bob Dylan

Information obtained through open records paints an even more dismal outlook of survival for cats in Gwinnett County. In June of 2010, Gwinnett Animal Control & Enforcement took in 480 cats killing 468 of them. Only 12 cats survived the shelters slaughter.

In other words, the shelter was only “able” to save less then THREE PERCENT of the cats entrusted to their care in the month of June.

Yet, despite these dismal, pathetic numbers there was no discussion whatsoever on addressing this issue at the July 2010 animal advisory meeting. The fact our shelter manager doesn’t consider this wholesale slaughter a “problem” is troubling. The fact that she offers no alternatives paints but another bleak picture of incompetent leadership.

A Glance Back at Feline Death by Numbers


Year End       2007     2008     2009

Clayton          1867     2095     2258

Cobb              3394     4058     4000

Dekalb           1077      1896     1843

Fulton               464        400      565

Gwinnett         3169      4025    4588

Over 10,000 cats have been slaughtered by this animal control administration since opening our new EIGHT MILLION DOLLAR shelter in the fall of 2007.

I use the word slaughter for a reason – any healthy animal who is trapped, captured or stolen and subsequently put into an environment where death is the only outcome has not been rescued, it has not been humanely euthanized – it has been cruelly slaughtered.

I first wrote in June of 2008 about the issue of a rabid shelter plan that aggressively went out picking up wandering cats only to bring them to slaughter in our shelter. My hope was that by raising awareness the compassionate voices in our community would holler and scream for this killing to stop.

Instead, even those voices claiming a stake in protecting cats, including ferals, has been uncharacteristically silent. Instead of condemnation there was but another rash of excuses that not only condoned the killing but allowed it to grow by 50% by year end 2009.

Now, we have reached a point were over 97% of the cats are being killed in one month alone – still no outrage. At what point do we as “No Kill Advocates” justify cutting deals “to save a few more” while turning our backs on the thousands who will die in the process?

Are we so afraid of failure that we have lost our moral voice? This author would rather fight for moral high ground rather then crawl through the dirt and dead carcasses to negotiate with the “terrorists” who are responsible for this slaughter.

Isn’t that what NO KILL ADVOCACY is all about? How do you advocate for “some” or a “few” of the animals? Only Allison Cauthen would do that.

Offering up the key to life and death for so many animals (dogs and cats) simply to grandstand and promise something that is morally offensive while ignoring the silent screams of those who are slaughtered is nothing short of repulsive.

It’s a sell out and one should question the motivation that makes these lives expendable. Can you imagine a situation where a negotiator agreed “give me a few and kill the rest”? This author can’t and won’t.

Frightened by what looms ahead?

Until this shelter administration answers the question “why do we kill healthy animals” this battle for No Kill will continue. The reason they won’t answer is because there isn’t a morally acceptable response to that question except that we don’t have the moral authority to continue taking innocent lives.

What is a feral cat?

You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks.
You that never done nothin'
But work to destroy – Masters of War

Though feral cats are members of the domestic cat species and are protected under state anti-cruelty laws, they are typically fearful of people. They are NOT a danger or health risk to the community.

The question that needs to be raised is does our local policy of picking up and killing stray feral cats violate the state’s anti cruelty laws meant to protect them “in their habitats”? We don’t get questions answered by being silent an d looking the other way – we get answers by confronting the abusers and holding them accountable for THEIR actions.

Feral cats live and survive outdoors, yet have no chance of survival and are killed once they reach the shelter.

Of course, there is no moral justification for killing a cat simply because the cat lives in the wild. This fact is backed up with a national opinion poll that shows 81% of Americans who believe it is more humane to leave a stray cat outside to live out her life then have her caught and killed.

Intentionally killing any cat is a criminal offense in all fifty states, regardless of ownership. Yet, when animal control picks up a stray or feral cat knowing that it will be killed upon entering the shelter shouldn’t that be criminal (sanctioned by the very entity empowered to enforce the anti cruelty laws) as well?

Many times these “feral” cats become friendly with the caregiver and decide to come inside after they trust the person. In addition, many cats we help are actually abandoned stray cats who wind up outside through no fault of their own.

The cats that are friendly are the ones we put up for adoption and work hard to find them loving homes. The other truly feral cats are not happy being inside. They prefer to live in their cat colony or environment where they exist.

There are an estimated 50 million feral cats in the United States living in groups known as colonies. Dedicated individuals and organizations practice a non-lethal strategy known as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) to reduce their numbers and improve the health and safety of cats and communities. With TNR, cats no longer reproduce, and nuisance behaviors are reduced or eliminated.

Without TNR, the majority of feral kittens do not survive to adulthood, and almost 100 percent of the feral cats brought to shelters are killed because they cannot be adopted as pets. –
Feral Cat Program of Georgia


To learn more about the “Feral Cat Program of Georgia”

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/fcpga.html

Do feral cats have a “right” to live?

Behaviorally speaking the answer again appears to be that feral cats are wild animals and should be treated by animal control as such. We no more have the right to address feral cats through "trap and kill" policies as we do to the wholesale slaughter of other wild animals such as birds, rabbits, squirrels or raccoons.

If a pet cat is abandoned or runs off and gets lost in the woods, has kittens and the kittens that grow up wild because they have no contact with people, are they wild or domestic? Technically, they would be domestic because of domesticated parentage but don't all domesticated cats ultimately come from the wild?

The concept of “rescuing” a cat that has been abandoned by killing it is not only repulsive but immoral. Defining a feral cat as a "nuisance" in the absence of any nuisance behavior is simply an excuse to justify this ignorant behavior.

Society goes to great length to protect "wild animals" with great efforts being placed on "allowing" man to live amongst them. Why are feral cats not afforded those same protections?

The reality is that all animals living in the wild face hardship—and feral cats are no exception. Since no animal groups support the trapping and killing of other wild animals—raccoons, rabbits, fox—why do we reserve this fate for feral cats?

Current shelter policy not only allows for the trapping of cats but animal control condones, supports and encourages this illegal trapping by supplying the traps. Citizens can bait these traps therefore encouraging cats to enter their property where they are captured and delivered to animal control to be killed.

We can argue semantics about whether the cats should be contained but the fact remains for animal control to condone and encourage the illegal trapping and subsequent killing of these cats is not only irresponsible but should be viewed by the community as abuse of power that sanctions animal cruelty.

At the point that OUR animal control participates in the rampant slaughter of any species they lose all credibility in enforcing any of our laws that are designed to protect animals.

The fact remains that the leading cause of death for cats in Gwinnett is not irresponsible pet owners, it’s not pets who die from neglect or abuse but it’s the killing of healthy cats at the hands of the very entity entrusted to protect them from this abuse – animal control.

Since animal control makes no effort to determine whether these cats being turned into the shelter have owners or are truly homeless or are truly feral, a system is put in place that allows and encourages people who dislike cats with an easy option to kill them.

The right to choose death as a “humane alternative” for wild animals?

No time to choose when the truth must die
No time to lose or say goodbye
No time to prepare
For the victims that die
No time to suffer or blink
No time to think

Socialism, Hypnotism, Patriotism, Materialism
Fools making laws for the flapping of jaws
The sounds of the keys as they go clink clink
But there’s still no time to think - from Dylan's No Time to Think

One of the excuses used for killing feral cats is that these animals suffer by being “forced” to live their lives in the wild. Think about that, animal control is ending an animal’s life so it might potentially spare it from future suffering?

In fact, the shelters current “rescue coordinator” has been quoted as saying that “she has no problem with killing all the feral cats that come through the shelter”.

Determining that feral cats can’t lead meaningful lives is not an opinion (since it isn’t a fact it can only be an uneducated opinion) shared by others in the community, especially the dozen of feral cat rescue groups who work diligently to save these precious lives. What gives anyone the right to negotiate away this compassion for saving lives – even feral cats – including those who wave a No Kill Banner?

What chance does this cat have when this is the best our shelter can do in promoting her life?

Kill them she does – that much is a fact. Cats that enter the shelter must pass a unscientific, unproven “temperament test” which identifies their characteristics as domesticated or feral. With the shelter consistently reporting killing nine out of ten cats in either group there doesn’t appear to be much difference in the survival rates of domesticated or feral cats.

The fact remains, those cats determined to be “feral” are killed immediately as opposed to a domesticated cat being held the state mandated period for stray animals. This policy of labeling a cat un adoptable simply because the shelter has determined it is feral defies a state law that states “all stray animals are to be held in order that their owners might reclaim them.

The result of applying this unsupportable policy is that cats misidentified as feral are killed immediately. Thus cats that might have owners, who “test” as feral, are also being illegally killed. There are documented cases where citizens have had their domesticated (yet outside) cats killed simply because they failed an unscientific temperament test administered by an animal control officer who has predetermined that all “wild cats” are better off dead.

The Secret War to Kill Feral Cats

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm dumb
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though you claim I'm dumber than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do. – Bob Dylan

Even the wildest cat can learn to live around humans and may even exhibit pet like behavior to the person who feeds him. Those locally who care for feral cat colonies cats witness cats who rub up against their legs and even perhaps purr, just like pet cats. Don't mistake their aloofness as being a symptom of a dangerous nuisance animal.

Contrary, even the most pampered house cat that escapes and runs loose in the wild can survive with the deftness of the most voracious raccoon, rabbit, squirrel or other wild animal. Wouldn't that cat deserve the same respect and rights of survival as any wild animal?

We cannot continue with punitive enforcement that includes rounding up feral cats. This only discourages compassionate citizens from caring for these homeless cats. It also drives caretakers “underground” making them harder to reach and help.

If a person is feeding feral or homeless cats, they will be loathe to turn to the shelter for low cost spay/neuter help, rabies vaccinations or other support because doing so not only the entire feral colony of risk even though doing so does not violate any of the counties leash laws, pet limits or licensing requirements.

Why does Gwinnett Animal Control view an un-owned cat’s life as a series of brutal experiences? Are our policies enforced to "protect" these cats from future suffering? How do we justify using our animal control policies to systematically slaughter animals who are guilty of nothing more then being animals surviving in the wild?

Ultimately, while there are no leash law requirements for cats, there are state and local laws that protect animals that live in the wild from citizens who might choose to capture and kill them – yet – our animal control policies not only condone and participate in these “acts of cruelty” but perform the final act of taking an animals life at the very shelter financed with our tax dollars.

A law that should protect them from acts of cruelty was ignored over 4,500 times in 2009 alone. While the numbers are staggering the concept of visualizing the size involved in stacking 4,500 dead cats is mind boggling – and depressing.

Ninety cats EVERY week were killed in 2009 alone.

The palace of mirrors were cats are selected
The endless road, cold bloody moons and the wailing of the chimes
The empty rooms were their memories are protected
The angels voices whisper to souls departed from better times

Eden is burning
Either brace yourself for the night
Or your hearts must have the courage of the changing of the guard - Bob Dylan

To be effective, cat lovers and No Kill advocates, must confront those responsible – rather then ignore the excuses that legitimize this killing.

With a 50% increase in feline killing from 2007 to 2009 we can no longer ignore the excuses used to slaughter cats in our community. While this author is NOT a cat person the numbers alone scream out for reform. We must put an end to the feline policies that allow this mass killing to continue. This open season on cats can’t be negotiated away – it must be stopped.

The Economics of Running a Slaughterhouse

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
War can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the blood
That runs down your drain.


You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
When the death toll gets higher
You hide in your shelter
As the innocent blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud.


You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to allow feral cats
To exist in this world
For threatening their babies
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins. – author’s adaptation of Dylan

We have a shelter management team that enjoys killing – is addicted to the power that killing represents – that is why things never get any better at our new EIGHT MILLION dollar shelter that should be called what it is – a slaughterhouse for displaced animals.

There are more sinister reasons for the excessive slaughter of cats in our county.

It’s all about funding, job security and the county making a profit off the suffering of innocent animals. Think about this – if we weren’t able to substantiate – or pump up our kill numbers coming out of our new shelter wouldn’t we citizens demand downsizing the animal control staffing and budget?

It is that “fear” of downsizing that drives our current management team – run by the Gwinnett Police Department - that refuses to even acknowledge that killing isn’t even necessary. What size budget would be needed to handle an animal control services unit that welcomed volunteers, welcomed partnerships with the rescue community and worked diligently towards rapidly moving animals out of the shelter ALIVE rather then turn them into ashes and dust?

Since we have an absence of proactive management that seeks to improve operations, we are left with a lazy unsupervised staff that works hard at doing nothing to save lives or save the taxpayers money. Not only do we taxpayers receive lousy or no service for our tax dollars. We are repeatedly punished and accused of being part of the problem.

A few months ago the Gwinnett Police Department put in for a rate increase for those who surrendered an animal to the shelter. In our compassionate community this rate increase would have been welcomed IF the result was the animals being surrendered were offered opportunities to be adopted or placed into qualified rescue groups. Instead, we have a policy were owner surrenders are routinely killed almost immediately after arriving at the shelter. It has become profitable or a cost savings to kill these pets as soon as possible so that the money collected can go into the police department’s general fund.

Think about how much money is collected by duped pet owners who think their contribution will help their pet find a new home? It’s outrageous that these animals are killed for no good reason except we have policies in effect that reward expedient killing for profit.

"We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett" demand an end to the policy of killing ANY owner surrender until every effort at placing them safely has been explored. If they enter the shelter without shot records the shelter should use the money paid by pet owners to vaccinate these pets and make them available for adoption or rescue.

“Regardless of whether or not you’re a “cat person”, taxpayers around Atlanta spend over $15 Million taxpayer dollars each year dealing with homeless animals. Research proves that killing animals does not effectively reduce the number of homeless pets, including feral cats. Only spay/neutering and in the case of feral cats “Trap-Neuter-Release” has been the only proven success in controlling feral cat population numbers.” - Alley Cat Rescue

With a substantial portion of our animal control budget being allocating at “cracking down” on “stray cats” this is an area where long term cost savings can be realized by simply implementing a more effective, HUMANE feline cat policy.

That is why “We the Pet Owners of Gwinnett” advocates for ALL animals to have an equal right to live. We will not accept saving a few while ignoring the critical masses simply because current management is feeling the heat of our criticism and complaints.

This is all about “too little – too late”, we no longer have any confidence that the current leadership can be trusted to work in any honest partnership with the rescue community. We not only support “regime change” but will aggressively push for that needed change. There are compassionate leaders in our animal welfare community who share our dreams and goals that this killing must and can stop.

Working side by side with a killing mentality is not an option we will support. Through education we will arm an army of compassionate soldiers to engage in this change. It is this author’s belief that once the citizens of Gwinnett are presented with the facts they alone will make the right compassionate choice on how our community moves forward in our relationship with our homeless pets.

We must unify and must speak out loudly demanding NEW MANAGEMENT. No more excuses – no more wholesale slaughter of the innocent.

While the shelter industry claims to be in continuous development,
So are the tempers of it’s citizens. – I said that

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul. - Dylan


Please use YOUR voice to defend the lives of the innocent who continue to be slaughtered.
Citizens in our community who agree with my comments are encouraged to let their voices be heard by contacting their elected commissioner - here's the contact information.  Phone messages work too.

Gwinnett Police Department
Chief Charlie Walters
770 513 5000
Charles.Walters@gwinnettcounty.com

Animal Advisory Board 
Gail Leberge Chairperson and Lawrenceville Kennel Club

outland@laberge.org
Shelter Manager
Mary Lou Repress New Shelter Director

Mary.Respess@gwinnettcounty.com
Gwinnett County Commissioners
Commission Chairman:

Charles Bannister
770.822.7010
Charles.Bannister@gwinnettcounty.com

District 1 Commissioner: Shirley Lassiter
770.822.7001
Shirley.Lassiter@gwinnettcounty.com

District 2 Commissioner: Bert Nasuti
770.822.7002
Bert.Nasuti@gwinnettcounty.com

District 3 Commissioner: Mike Beaudreau
770.822.7003
Mike.Beaudreau@gwinnettcounty.com

District 4 Commissioner: Kevin Kenerly
770.822.7004
Kevin.Kenerly@gwinnettcounty.com