No Kill - When the Math Doesn't Add Up

No Kill Advocates will tell you that we have the ability to end shelter of adoptable animals by simply focusing on adoptions programs that will triple the number of shelter pets saved. 

Do those numbers "add up" to a "myth of pet overpopulation" or is this nothing more than "nutty" no kill math?



Posted on No Kill Nation

Myth: You can't adopt your way out of killing

Fact: Using the most successful adoption communities as a benchmark and adjusting for population, U.S. shelters combined should be adopting almost nine million animals a year. That is almost three times the number being killed for lack of a home. In fact, it is more than total impounds. But the news gets even better.

There are over 23 million people who are going to get an animal next year. Some are already committed to adopting from a shelter. Some are already committed to getting one from a breeder or other commercial source. But 17 million have not decided where that animal will come from and research shows they can be influenced to adopt from a shelter. That’s 17 million people vying for roughly 3 million animals. So even if 80% of those people got their animal from somewhere other than a shelter, we could still zero out the killing. And many communities are proving it.

Another tool in the fight for No Kill in your community –
Of course, these number projections come from Nathan Winograd’s book "Redemption" which was first published over five years ago. If it is true that shelters can expand adoptions far past a mathematical point that would completely wipe out shelter killing then why aren’t these numbers becoming a reality?

Groups like No Kill Nation (formed in 2009) would be able to at least prove the point that successful adoptions programs that follow the No Kill Equation can be safely, quickly and cost effectively implemented merely because advocates have the will to end shelter killing as we know it. Yet, south Florida alone continues to struggle under massive shelter intake numbers that leads to nearly 80,000 dogs and cats being killed in south Florida alone.

No Kill Nation likes to project leadership or maybe some purpose in the discussions on reforming Florida’s massive pet overpopulation and shelter killing dilemma. 

Yet even communities like Manatee who have successfully engaged it’s community in saving more lives still killed one out five homeless dogs and cats that entered Manatee’s "No Kill" shelter in 2012. That is not math that adds up to a number that ends the killing of Manatee’s homeless pets despite the community effort and despite the unreleased effects on the county’s animal control budget.

The only proven method of reforming your community’s animal welfare programs that nurture life saving while working at reducing the financial and cultural impact of killing innocent homeless pets is through programs that focus on reducing shelter intake. Those programs include targeted low cost or free spay neuter services, community breeder licensing laws, pet retention programs and educational initiatives that focus on raising awareness on responsible pet ownership in the community.

Jacksonville has proved that large metropolitan communities can succeed in ending the killing by focusing funding investments in programs that work towards simply reducing shelter intake numbers now and in the years to follow. In these difficult economic times communities simply do not have the resources to expand animal control budgets while slashing other programs.

As we move forward in 2013 shouldn’t we learn from the lessons in Manatee and Jacksonville focusing our reform efforts on real change rather than the "pipe dream" thinking from the nuts of no kill?

If you want to make a difference please stop tossing your money away donating to a misguided no kill movement. Your donations will go much further towards ending not only shelter killing but the suffering of animal hoarding as well by simply throwing your support towards local efforts that truly provide the programs that responsible pet owners need most.

No Kill's Friendly Fire Supports Puppy Mill Suffering

These dogs "got their whole life ahead of them to work for ya"

I started Drats not simply as a blog in opposition of a misguided no kill movement but to be a voice for the silent suffering stuck in puppy mill hell as well. 

 

My hatred of puppy mills is in memory of the dogs rescued from miller auctions including those like my Sally and Sadie. Both were rescued from a breeder auction only to die far too young from the years of neglect and abuse.

As an advocate I have a hard time watching this video of a breeder’s auction. Both of my bassets Sherlock and Abigail lived to survive an auction like that. I cannot help but visualize both Sherlock and Abigail sitting in one of those cages frightened to death of what was going on all around them.

While both Sherlock and Abigail were among the lucky ones who survived only because they were bought for rescue a vast majority of worn out breeder stock is not so lucky. Their fates were either to spend their remaining years in more abusive often times Amish mill or death at the hands of their breeder if they weren’t purchased at all.

Sherlock and Abigail sold for a mere $25. That was the cost of their freedom. That is the value placed on their lives and their future. Only truly horrible people participate in this extremely cruel business of auctioning off such innocent and beautiful creatures.



BUT, What about ME?  Don't I count?

Next time some no kill nut like No Kill Advocacy Center’s Nathan Winograd or No Kill Nation’s Debi Day tries to convince you how evil the HSUS is for not supporting shelters think about the dogs you saw suffering in this video.

Think about their scared faces and remember only a small number are rescued. Your LOUD VOICE in support of animal protection groups and your donations are needed to reform this horribly cruel industry where death would be better than living a lifetime of abuse. Only the truly ignorant use their collective voices to downplay the role HSUS plays in SAVING these lives. Only the truly ignorant donate to these ignorant no kill organizations who are willing to look away while pushing breeder enabling agenda’s of their own.

http://www.thepuppymillproject.org/youtube-channel/

No Kill's silent support of puppy mill misery

Puppy Mills Breed Misery

If you do nothing else today please take a few minutes to view this startling report from Dateline on the horrors of puppy mills and how our government fails to protect the poor innocent victims of this horrible industry. 

This is a story you won't find on any of the no kill Facebook pages.  You won't find the story of puppy mill atrocities on breeder friendly groups like No Kill Nation.  In fact, No Kill Nation's leadership includes show breeder Karolyn Rico who supports groups like the American Kennel Club with their pathetic partnership supporting puppy mills.

Sadly, thanks to the relentless attacks on the animal protection community orchestrated by a cultist lead no kill movement many of these victims suffer from our silence.

No kill cult leaders like Nathan Winograd ignores the horrors of puppy mills while clinging to his misguided position that the market will in time close down the mills when pet owners start adopting shelter dogs in his grand no kill vision.  His voice has been silent in supporting the laws needed to put ban end to this abusive industry now rather then allow these victims of misery to continue to suffer.

It is pathetic that the no kill movement fails to recognize the existence of MILLIONS of dogs who languish in squalor as part of a huge pet overpopulation crisis that leads to the millions of dogs killed in our public shelters.

As animal advocates our loud voice should echo to close down these horrible breeding mills. Not just because no animal advocate should be silent to this horrible abuse but because in doing so the number of dogs that fuel our pet overpopulation crisis would lead to less animals ending up in our public and private kill shelters as well.

Published on Jan 10, 2013
RUSSO'S Pet Experience Convicted Cruelty Criminal Owner -40 Years Fashion Island Pet Torture Fraud talks about Papers sent to H.B. Council - PROVEN BUSINESS FRAUD OF MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS SENT TO ALL ORANGE COUNTY CITIES. Fraud proven with legal Government USDA Inspection Reports, USDA Inspector Photos, Government Interstate Documents, and Russo's own State law required Paper work from INHUMANE FRAUD SALES OF 40 YEARS CONSUMER FRAUD SALES & FEDERAL LAW VIOLATING PUPPY MILL PUPPIES --documents listed in article below


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjObz4QnzeA

Strange bedfellows provide support for the "No Kill" movement

National Animal Interest Alliance - Mofed supports No Kill and sled dogs?

For all who are rightfully outraged at the slaughter of 100 sled dogs in  British Columbia the National Animal Interest Alliance supports the rights of those who choose to own "sled dogs".  This would be the same NAIA who is now one of the staunchest supporters of the no kill movement as well.  To date no one in a leadership role has pointed out how an animal use group liked the NAIA can support the use of animals in puppy mills, used for research and in this case sled dogs as well.

Why would an animal use group known to oppose any and all regulations for the "animal use industry" also be an ardent supporter of Nathan Winograd and the "no kill" movement?  One needs only look at the position statement's Winograd promotes with his "no kill movement" that creates a false impression that pet overpopulation is a myth (it is not) and the position that it isn't irresponsible pet breeders and irresponsible pet owners who are responsible for the millions of dogs and cats still being killed in our publicly funded shelters but it is solely the fault of shelter managers who do the killing. 

Of course, there is no explanation on the role of forcing millions of innocent dogs and cats to live out there entire lives without human contact and oftentimes in cruel and substandard conditions. 

Animal rights groups like the Animal Liberation Front wrote this about the NAIA's support of the puppy mill industry. 

http://animalliberationfront.com/AR_Orgs/naia.html 

It seems disengenous for the leaders of the No Kill Movement to constantly attack animal welfare groups that include Best Friends, the ASPCA, and HSUS simply because of policy positions these groups have that differ from those positions held by the no kill movement itself.  Why not call out these major animal use players as well?

It is important that we are judged by the "company" we keep and for this reason I can no longer support a movement that places all the blame on shelters while turning a blind eye to supporters of that movement - especially in light of the trend to capitalize on the no kill movement itself.  To read more about the animal "use" groups please do your research on the major including:

National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA)

http://www.naiaonline.org/

Meet the Animal Interest Alliance Board - (note - you won't find any shelter reformists in this group)

http://www.naiaonline.org/about/board.htm

Missouri Federation of Animal Owners (Mofed) - lobbied for opposition to Prop B in Missouri and has been linked to a bill which would have criminalized activists taking pictures of puppy mills or pets stores without permission.

http://www.mofed.org/

To read NAIA position on sled dogs

http://www.naiaonline.org/articles/archives/sleddogs.htm

So, the question remains - why is the No Kill Movement willing to enable those who use pets for personal gain by silently soliciting their support?

Is Pet Overpopulation a Myth?

• 
  
  Nathan Winograd is the author of "Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America" and director of the national No Kill Advocacy Center. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School, a former criminal prosecutor and corporate attorney, and was director of operations for the San Francisco SPCA and executive director of the Tompkins County SPCA, two of the most successful shelters in the nation. Photo courtesy Nathan Winograd.

We've all read by now the various arguments about the "myth of pet overpopulation" that first surfaced in Nathan Winograd's 2007 release of Redemption. 

The Myth of Pet Overpopulation did not originate with the release of Redemption but was first circulated in a book written by Patti and Rod Strand fourteen years earlier in a book called "The Hijacking of the Humane Movement Animal Extremism.

The Hijacking of the Humane Movement Animal Extremism: (1993) Author: Patti Strand, Rod Strand

Patti Strand is a long time Board Member of the American Kennel Club who chaired the infamous "High Volume Breeders Committee" in November of 2002 as the AKC struggled with finding ways to increase litter registrations by recruiting "High Volume Breeders" to join the ranks. 

Strand is also the founder and president of the National Animal Interest Alliance a political action group that represents and protects the legal interests of a diverse "animal use" groups including commercial breeders (puppy mills), furriers, hunters animals "used" for research.  

The National Animal Interest Alliance (NAIA) was founded in 1991.  According to their mission statement the NAIA  "supports the responsible and humane use of animals for food, clothing, medical research, companionship, assistance, recreation, entertainment and education.". 

Does the NAIA support the rescue community?  Here's a quote praising the defeat of the Puppy Mill Protection Act in 2002:

NAIA also notes that campaigns to stop pet overpopulation have been so successful they have caused a shortage of puppies and small dogs in many shelters. Rather than declare success and close their doors, some of these shelters now pay for puppies and dogs and import them from other cities, territories and countries so they will have dogs available for adoption.  NAIA believes some of the rescue groups and shelters participating in this relocation process are acting as dealers and pet stores and should be licensed accordingly.

If we are to believe according to Patti Strand pet overpopulation ceased to exist close to ten years ago.  How many of YOU have had to resort to importing puppies from overseas to keep your doors open and to continue to rake in them profits?  

How many animal advocates would rightfully be skeptical on the words of a woman who represents the AKC, founded the county's most prominent animal use group the NAIA, encourages the AKC to expand it;s reach and support irresponsible commercial breeders who support the NAIA, who supports Hunte Corporation (the world's largest puppy mill distributor and has supported the AKC's partnership agreement with Petland?  Where does credibility comes in play?

So, why does the self proclaimed guru of the No Kill Movement give creditability to Strand's unproven thesis based on a flawed Shelter Statistics Survey study conducted from 1994-1997?  

While Nathan Winograd promotes the "Myth of Pet Overpopulation" to offer false hope for shelter reformists - Patti Strand uses the "myth" to promote and protect commercial breeding. 

In what should be classified in an extremely "strange" collaboration, both distance themselves or ignore the effect mass breeding has as a contributing factor that promotes irresponsible breeding, irresponsible pet ownership and the resulting high number of dogs that ultimately end up filling our public kill shelters.

Even if, one chooses not to make the connection between puppies sold through pet stores (puppy mill products) and the problem with high kill shelters how does one support the cruelty involved in forcing breeding stock to live out their lives in cages?

While Redemption rightfully rails on shelters that kill with empty cages shouldn't we be equally outraged with dogs forced to live out their lives in a cage simply to supply puppies to areas where there are dogs being killed in our public shelters?

Nathan Winograd's and the leaders of the No Kill Movement's silence on this issue is deafening to all the dogs who suffer through this miserable puppy mill existence.  You can't rail out against the abuse that goes on in our shelters while ignoring often times worse abuse at the hands of kennels run by greedy puppy miller where the only motivation is profits.

In doing so, Winograd attempts to completely remove breeder responsibility from his No Kill Equation,  The result is Winograd shifts all the blame on our overcrowded shelter system and the besieged shelter directors stuck with doing society's dirty work of killing.

While this writer believes there is enough blame to go around it is also imperative that advocates, rescuers and pet owners do their OWN research on this important issue.  Once you start peeling away the layers you are left with the unsightly reality we all face - that unless we proactively campaign to reduce irresponsible pet ownership, demand tighter restrictions on irresponsible breeders and work towards building partnerships with our shelters, as opposed to this dotted line support being given irresponsible breeders - we will never reach our dream of a No Kill Nation.

Is Pet Overpopulation a Myth?

In an article called "Is pet overpopulation a myth?  Inside Nathan Winograd's "Redemption" Christie Keith wrote this in an article posted on SF Gate:

"In the still-heated debate over reducing shelters deaths in California, there is probably no more polarizing figure than Nathan Winograd, former director of operations for the San Francisco SPCA.
At first glance, Winograd has all the credentials any animal rights activist or shelter professional could ask for. He's a vegan. He left a lucrative career as a prosecuting attorney to devote himself to helping animals. Last year, his income was only $35,000. He has spearheaded the No Kill Advocacy Center, a national organization aimed at ending the killing of pets in animal shelters. While director of operations at the San Francisco SPCA, he worked with then-president Richard Avanzino to implement a wide variety of animal livesaving programs, and then went on to achieve similar success as director of a rural shelter in upstate New York.

For the sake of full disclosure, Ms Keith also writes articles for the "Pet Connection" which reports on various issues involving the American Kennel Club.  For the sake of accuracy, Nathan Winograd's tenure as "Director of Operations" at the San Francisco SPCA was limited to a period of less then two weeks.  In future articles I will explore the history, politics, facts and fiction of the No Kill successes in Tompkins, Reno, and Austin, Tx.

The first step is GET INFORMED.  Don't believe everything you read, much of what you read is nothing more than spin, especially by those with books to sell, webinars to hawk or tickets to the circus to sell.  Do your own research before opening up your check book and your hearts to but another animal welfare organization promising far more then they can deliver.

The Shelter Statistics Survey, 1994-97
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	This Survey, initiated in 1994, by the NCPPSP gathered the names of shelters and organizations believed to be sheltering animals. Only shelters that housed more than 100 dogs and/or cats each year were included. The final list had 5,042 names. All responses were kept confidential.  Information linking the names of shelters with their responses was not released. A survey card was constructed requesting shelter name, address, contact person and phone number. In addition, data were requested for the number of dogs and cats entering the shelters through animal control, owner relinquishment or other methods, and for the number of dogs and cats exiting the shelters through adoption, owner reclamation, euthanasia or other methods. Kittens and puppies were counted in the cat and dog categories, respectively. The data card was sent to the initial list of shelters in February 1995 requesting data for 1994. Reminder cards were sent out later that year. Changes to the mailing list were continuously made in response to shelter comments. The study was repeated for 1995, 1996 and 1997. The collection of data by means of survey cards was halted due to the low percentage of response by animal shelters.

While others might conclude that a fifteen year old study of a small sampling of shelter numbers that was halted due to a low percentage of responses by animal shelters is something we should blindly follow.  Most shelter and rescue advocates admit that our personal observations in the trenches of our own local shelters consistently tells us an entirely different analogy of pet overpopulation.  We can not agree with any analogy that there is NOT a pet overpopulation crisis in our own communities based on on those observations.  Not only are all the public shelters constantly full but most of the rescue groups and humane no kill shelters are full as well.

I can not find any degree of truth in the denial of a pet overpopulation crisis in Florida either.  How do you explain away the fact that over 78,000 dogs and cats are killed in South Florida alone?  When you start adding the numbers of dogs and cats killed the numbers are startling.

"Drats the squirrels and nuts are taking over" was created to explore these issues and to open up an honest dialog for discussion.  There has been an effort by the "No Kill Movement" to stifle this conversation by accusing anyone who questions any of the positions taken with accusations of "not knowing the facts, not having read Redemption, being part of the problem and being advised to shut up. 

Stay tuned for the rest of the story - shutting up is not an option.

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