|
Qrange County Animal Services Sheltering Practices and Philosophies 51
<br />For his part, Friedman says the partnership has grown over many years of slow
<br />give-and-take, and eventually the initial guarded approaches from both sides
<br />have dissolved and been replaced by a growing trust, "Certainly I have
<br />differences with my local nonprofit SPCA," he says, "So I can go two ways: We
<br />can either go to war and we can just elaborate on our differences and do nothing
<br />and badmouth each other, which unfortunately you see in a lot of jurisdictions. Or
<br />we can say, 'Hey, let's agree to disagree on a lot of issues. Let's find out where
<br />we need to work together and do it,' The key is to stop making your place look
<br />good at the expense of mine, and vice versa."
<br />The growing focus on cooperation and partnerships should come as somewhat
<br />of a relief to those working in shelters that take in all animals-from the
<br />dangerous pit bulls to the wired adolescent Labrador to the old-lady poodle to the
<br />scaredycat sprayer, From their perspective, a "no kill" organization that touts its
<br />"no kill" status appears as an island paradise in a sea of inequity for animals,
<br />placing itself on a pedestal above other organizations. And that's not helping the
<br />animals who are rejected at the door because there is no space left for them-or
<br />worse, those who never make it to a shelter in the first place but instead spend
<br />their miserable lives with chains around their necks, unprotected and unloved in
<br />somebody's backyard, No organization or shelter is an island, and to pretend that
<br />it is by slapping an appealing label onto it and operating in isolation is simply
<br />setting the bar too low, ignoring the suffering and neediness that hide in the
<br />corners of nearly every community.
<br />An organization that uses the phrase as a "smoke and mirrors" term is not
<br />contributing to the overall solution, says Ed Boks, director of Maricopa County
<br />Animal Care and Control Services in Arizona, "That's fundamentally where the
<br />issue is: are we looking at'no kill' shelters, or are we looking at'no kill'
<br />communities?" he asks. " ,,, There are organizations that do all kinds of
<br />fundraising and all kinds of wonderful things, I guess, based on the fact that they
<br />can declare themselves 'no kill.' My question is, 'Well, what have you done for
<br />me as animal control-to make us 'no kill'? Because as you are out there, not
<br />working with us, not working with the organization where the killing is occurring,
<br />I'm sorry, I just don't see the value of your organization,"
<br />"I think that where I differ from a lot of the [other] 'no kill' folks is that they are
<br />satisfied with creating a 'no-kill' shelter, and they create a 10,000-foot or ,5,000-
<br />square-foot no-kill oasis," says Boks, who has been a speaker at No More
<br />Nameless Pets gatherings. " ... If all of the 'no kill' organizations in any
<br />community would focus an helping their animal control organization, I think'no
<br />kill' would become very, very, very achievable in any community."
<br />Let the Healing Begin
<br />Where the phrase "no kill" has already been embraced by the public, it may not
<br />be worth fighting, says Morris. "I think it doesn't behoove full-service places to
<br />keep fighting the name," she says, "but to make sure that it's not used against
<br />
|