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orange County Animal Services Sheltering Practices and Philosophies 49
<br />"I would love to have been 'no kill' the first day I got in the business," says Jim
<br />Tedford, executive director of the Humane Society at Lollypop Farm in
<br />Rochester, New York. "I remember walking into my first shelter and saying, 'Well,
<br />you guys just don't get used to all this killing stuff because we're going to stop
<br />this,' .,, I was going to fix it all overnight, I realized quickly that you couldn't."
<br />But that doesn't mean that Tedford hasn't devoted his career to trying to figure
<br />out how. Nearly 20 years after he started that first job at the Humane Society of
<br />the Tennessee Valley (formerly the Knox County Humane Society), he is heading
<br />up an ambitious initiative he inherited when he moved to Rochester in 1998,
<br />Called "Shelter of Hope," the plan is to reach a 100-percent adoption rate for all
<br />"adoptable" animals, "Will we then be 'no kill'?" Tedford asked rhetorically in a
<br />recent newsletter to supporters. "Not really-not if we continue sheltering any
<br />animal brought through our doors, Some will still be incurably ill, horribly injured,
<br />vicious, or too old to re-home, and we will be forced to give them the final gift of
<br />euthanasia. But, it is our sincere hope that we will one day be able to find good,
<br />loving, responsible, permanent homes for all adoptable animals,"
<br />Qf the "no kill" initiatives, Tedford says, "My real gut belief is that it's not a
<br />separate movement, ,., The bottom line here is that [everyone] wants the same
<br />thing, The fundamental difference is that we are not willing to declare victory until
<br />we've actually won."
<br />Increasingly, neither are many of those who have aligned themselves with
<br />traditionally "no kill" organizations. To many, "no kill" describes not the means to
<br />an end but rather the end itself. As Debra Griggs, the introductory speaker at the
<br />No More Homeless Pets conference in Norfolk last May, puts it: "'No kill' is not
<br />who you are; 'no kill' is what you become,"
<br />As the president and founder of Animal Rescue of Tidewater in Virginia, Griggs is
<br />responsible for organizing a coalition of 50 people representing animal care and
<br />control agencies, private shelters, rescue groups, and the veterinary community.
<br />While she herself doesn't have a problem with the phrase "no kill," she believes
<br />it's not worth it to upset or offend anyone, "We are trying really hard not to use
<br />those words because it can stop conversation," she says. "And .,. if we believe
<br />those words stop the conversation, then for heaven's sake, let's just find some
<br />new words, The words are not that important,"
<br />In Search of a New Lexicon
<br />As each side gives a little ground and the lines continue to blur, the terminology
<br />will lose its significance.. Recognition of successful partnerships among groups
<br />with varying philosophies has led No More Homeless Pets in Utah to deliberately
<br />downplay its use of "no kill," words that "don't necessarily help," says President
<br />Greg Castle. As a program of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a leader in the "no
<br />kill" movement, No More Homeless Pets (NMHP) travels around the country to
<br />encourage in other communities the same kind of coalition it has nutured among
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