Agenda - 09-19-2006-7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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orange County Animal Services Sheltering Practices and Philosophies t 7 perception the animal will die, which leads to people's fear of using the shelter, which leads to abandonment on the street, which puts the animal at risk of injury, illness and uncontrolled breeding. Then, when the animals are impounded as sick and injured strays, they're killed at animal control. With an adoption guarantee that says no healthy cat or dog will die in any community shelter, you break the cycle. People who find lost animals, who no longer want their animals or who can no longer keep their animals can have the confidence to bring them into the shelter, knowing these animal lives will be saved. They won't abandon them on the street ar leave them tied up in the backyard. And these healthy animals can then be placed, which then reduces shelter deaths and euthanasia costs. Q. Getting back to the term, "no-kill." It implies that those who practice it are good and those who don't are bad. Isn't this divisive in the animal welfare community? A. Many animal control agencies and traditional shelters feel that no-kill makes them look like villains. In deference to these concerns, Maddie's Fund no longer refers to individual organizations that save all of their healthy and treatable animals as no-kill agencies; instead we call them adoption guarantee agencies. However, we continue to strive for no-kill communities and a no-kill nation. The bottom line is, the no-kill movement represents a paradigm shift, a revolution, if you will, in the way we consider and treat companion animals. No- kill shelters have chosen a path different from traditional shelters, refusing to sacrifice an animal because society says there are too many. It's a commitment that directs organizational policy.. And when a minority movement like this gains momentum, those who are put in the position of having to defend the status quo generally feel threatened, no matter what terminology is used.