Please! Help the animals at the Las Vegas, NM Shelter!

This is a cross post from an animal networking group in New Mexico. This woman has worked tirelessly to help the animals that go through the City of Las Vegas, New Mexico's animal shelter. What all this sounds like is that the Mayor and City manager are entrenched in their thinking and as a result are allowing cruelty to exist. Anyhow, here is her (edited to remove some names) post. If you can help, please do so. Even if it is to write the mayor and city manager or help get these animals out and into foster care. This lady is with the Animal Welfare Coalition.

"Since late August, there has been one attack after another. Everything we achieved and planned for welfare of shelter animals has been blocked or distorted. I could go through whole sequence but I am very tired. Simply, the Director of City Shelter would rather all dogs and cats were euthanized than any effort put forward to care for, adopt or transfer them. His name is Elmer Martinez. He heads several departments within the city. The shelter is the lowest on his list. He has been the motivating force behind the shelter supervisors' (past and present) obsession with killing and neglect. He is one of the most manipulating and deceitful individuals I have ever come upon. ( And I fought for the freedom of Black and Puerto Rican boys with the NYC courts.) I have seen hate and prejudice but never the amount of cruelty and corruption that I have witnessed here in Las Vegas. A simple request such as "Please shut the kennel doors on freezing cold nights" is answered by Elmer Martinez and Tim Dodge, City Manager, claiming that I and all of the Animal Welfare Coalition members are"undermining" the interim supervisor, Robert, whose decision it was and is to leave doors open. No, I just didn't want the dogs to get sick. AWC was not involved at all. The dogs are sick. The doors are still open. There seems to be no recourse as this a patron system and Martinez is supported by the higher ups in city government, the Major and the City Manager. I have given the best battle of my life. (NYC prejudiced judges seem like kindness and light after this.) In order to protect my own animals ( poisoning is accepted practice here, as is shooting ) and myself, I am leaving. Hopefully by March 1st. My heart breaks with the plight of the animals in this town. The pitiful irony is, there is no reason to slaughter the shelter animals. With very little to no help, I moved over 1000 dogs from shelter to rescues and good homes in the past year and half. With help, we could have researched many more rescues in the West and moved many more dogs and cats. With financial help, we could have had medical care and a van and gas to transfer. And on and on. We were getting there, then Elmer and Kelly forbid all volunteers. No dog walking, no cat petting, and no exercise pen, still. Now, no adoptions, "a chain of command" to report with any action to free an animal. I have been thrown out of the shelter and then told to come back and then told I was not allowed to be there so many times that I am dizzy. I have no idea what my status is right now. When I go in to photograph animals or help with animals, I have been told to leave by City Manager. At other times, I am called in to look at a dog that needs to get out. God knows. Again, tired of fighting. And the city has never paid me a cent or a "Thank You" for getting dogs out. Odd, very odd.
Somehow, I still have hope. Just can't hold it all up without real help. Time for relief to arrive.  Elmer is threatening to start the 3 day kill ordinance, which is unfortunately legal, in city ordinances. Oh yes, the City Council voted the shelter and Animal Control over to Public Safety, read Police Department , two months ago. It has not been taken over yet supposedly any day. Finally, the intelligent and very kind Animal Control officer has been so badly treated by Elmer that she has requested a transfer to Water Control. She loves the animals and cares for them beautifully. She could plan and build a humane shelter. "

Here is one proposal and reply from another member:

"My proposal: a massive letter writing campaign to the city of Las Vegas, telling them that we WILL NOT be bringing our company to visit Las Vegas until they right this situation. What I need from you is a 'bullet list' of issues to cite in our letters or phone calls. In other words, what are the 3 biggest issues there? Inhumane treatment? Facilities? Please let us know what exactly we should highlight in our letters and phone calls. We need to spread the word to the animal community to inundate the mayor's office.
Mayor Tony Marquez
City of Las Vegas
1700 North Grand Ave
Las Vegas, NM 87701
(505) 454-1401
The mayor's email address (no guarantee that he'll get this, so hard-copy letters or phone calls are better): mayormarquez@yahoo.com
Maybe it will help, maybe not, but at least we've done SOMEthing.
Also, letters to the editor of the local paper would also bring attention to the situation. Email letters for the Las Vegas Optic to: tmcdonald@lasvegasoptic.com"

I felt also that perhaps getting word out to the communities and other area major newspapers and news agencies  would help bring the spotlight on. I also would like to turn this over to the ASPCA as they try their best to monitor these types of things and can shut down shelters if needed.

Anyhow, please help get the word out and help the animals in Las Vegas. Thank you!

Shelters, abandoned pets, and animals needing help

There are some upsetting things happening to animals that perhaps I feel we should pay attention to.



Currently I see more and more articles about pets being abandoned in record numbers. As the economy fell, and people started losing jobs, one of the first things they gave up to save a little money was their pets. One shelter in Elkhart Indiana is reporting an average of 600 to 700 animals being dropped off there a month, and sometimes as many as 30 animals a day, they are overcrowded and in crisis mode. They are also having to put the majority of those animals to sleep. They aren't the only ones in crisis. Local pet rescues or foster groups and sanctuaries are also running out of space, food and funds.

Many towns who have food depots for people who need the extra help for food are also taking pet food donations to help people care for their pets, so that they don't have to give them up. It is done with the hope that by providing food and for some areas, veterinary assistance the animals won't be given up and can stay in the home, and thereby help ease the load on the shelters.

There were also many, many reports about pets and livestock being abandoned when a house was being foreclosed. Many of these pets were just left in the house to "fend for themselves", or turned loose to survive on their own. I am not sure what the owners of these animals were thinking when they did this. Is it pride? Are they embarrassed to take the animal to a shelter or sanctuary and admit they can no longer care for it? Do they not realize that what they are doing to the animal is much much crueler than voluntarily giving it up?

Pets are just as hurt and confused and heartbroken as a human might be when going through all this.   The separation from all that they know, the upheaval, the fear of the unknown, yes they share those feelings.

Then there are the shelters who are closing because they have no funds coming in, as in the case of one in Colorado. And there is no knowing where the animals will go or if they'll just be euthanized.

The one thing that is most upsetting for me that I am seeing more and more articles on are reports of shelters with poor public relations, or very poor policies on how long they will hold an animal that is picked up and not claimed. Or poor and abusive management or directorship.

I read one incident in another pet forum about a shelter in Pennsylvania (I have not been able to corroborate this yet) about their policy of only holding an animal for 48 hours from pickup. Apparently this person posting this had a friend who had been out of town and had someone taking care of their dog. The dog got out and was picked up. When it was discovered and the shelter was called to see if they had a dog with that description, they were told no, no dog of that description. The reason for the no, was that the dog had already been euthanized. Apparently this is standard practice for this shelter.

Poor management happens. A shelter in Memphis, Tennessee has fired it's director for animal cruelty and abuse and an inability to follow proper procedures for euthanizing animals. It was also found this person had a previous history of this at the shelter in Albuquerque, NM. There are other articles out there about poor shelter management, doing a Google search turned up many such articles and complaints.

Despite all this sadness, there are good things. Like people coming together for a cause, extending their capacity a bit to help take in an animal, to help provide food and care through donations for those that may need it. And to help get the word out about local resources for people in crisis to help care for their pets.

To help with problem shelters Petfinder.com posts these tips:

Theres Something Rotten in My Town

Most animal shelters and humane societies are staffed with dedicated, caring individuals and operated with the animals best interests at heart. But should you ever come across a substandard organization

 

• Document problems before taking action. Write times, places and specific problems in a journal. Be specific. Be reasonable. Be sure.


• Talk to the shelter staff and management. Focus on apparent problems and learn why they exist. Then explore ways to help remedy them: improve phone service or animal care by volunteering; prepare a grant proposal to fund kennel improvements; consult with local veterinarians about establishing a program of health care.


• Rather than pointing fingers, try to improve the shelter from the inside. Offer to join the board of directors if your skills make you a likely candidate to organize volunteers, to oversee a fund-raising event. Encourage other like-minded people to join you.


• If you meet resistance or indifference, you might take your concerns to the board of directors; or, if a municipal shelter, to the city or county administrator who oversees it. Enlist the help of sympathetic people with clout (public figures, donors, media folks) and expertise (veterinarians, animal welfare advocates).


• Rather than expending energy on a seemingly fruitless struggle, direct your energies elsewhere. Work to support a humane society that does have strong and effective programs. Or organize a group of individuals to fill a void in your community: establish a nonprofit low-cost spay/neuter clinic; fund spay/neuter surgeries for low-income dog and cat owners; establish a network of foster homes that will rescue animals, have them neutered, set adoption criteria, and place them in permanent homes.

Resources

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
424 East 92nd Street
New York, NY 10128-6804
212-876-7700
Contact The ASPCA for Throwaways, a spay/neuter video available in English or Spanish ($15); adoption posters and public service announcements (cost varies). The National Shelter Outreach department provides materials, resources, training, referrals and advice to animal protection organizations across the country and maintains a library of resource articles on www.petfinder.com. Email outreach@aspca.org.

American Humane Association
63 Inverness Drive East
Englewood, CO 80112
303-792-9900
AHAs offerings include national and regional training conferences for shelter workers; Protecting Animals magazine for shelter staff; a comprehensive shelter Operations Guide; large publications catalog (free); public service announcements and posters (cost varies).

Humane Society of the U.S.
2100 L Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-452-1100
HSUS offers a free publications catalog; Simple Things You Can Do To Help End Pet Overpopulation booklet; Be a Pal (Prevent a Litter) kit; Animal Sheltering Magazine for shelter staff; national annual training conference and trade show; breeding moratorium campaign packet.

Take some time, if you truly care for and love animals, offer to be a foster home, or donate what you can in food or time or money to help make life easier for animals or ease the burden on your local shelter. Help get the word out to spay and neuter your animals. Maybe you are crafty like one of my good friends, she makes origami Peace cranes that she pays for the supplies and makes and sells for $5 each and all the proceeds goes to the shelter for their spay and neuter fund. She does these at her and her husband's place of business and sells them there. They really are beautiful and the monies raised do help the shelter and pet in our community. You can donate old towels, blankets, etc to the shelter, they always need those. If you know someone in trouble, find out all you can about local resources for the pets and owner, if you can even offer to provide the food for their pet if you have no local pet food depot. Or offer to care for the animal for awhile for them. Sometimes just these little things help a lot.

Anyhow, don't be a sideline watcher, get in there and help. It really doesn't take much time to do. Help stop the endless euthanasia of animals, do what you can!

Why adopt? Why Spay and Neuter?

I am sure I have covered this topic once before, however, it is one that bears repeating. And I wish to add this disclaimer, I am not an expert on this, and the numbers may be old, but they will give you a general picture and the message is still the same.

First a few statistics on euthanasia and the shelters:

1. 
   

   Every day approximately 70,000 puppies and kittens are born in this country while only 10,000 people are born. 

   
   


2. 
   

   Every year over 6 million animals are euthanized in shelters for lack of available homes.  If the number were "only" 7 million, that would mean 135,000 PER WEEK, or 20,000 pets euthanized EVERY 24 HOURS.  365 DAYS A YEAR!

   
   


3. 
   

   An animal is euthanized in the U.S. every 2 seconds.

   
   


4. 
   

   On average, 64% of all animals taken into shelters nationwide have to be euthanized for the simple reason that there is no room for them or no home.

   
   


5. 
   

   The animals at animal control shelters are not "problem" animals. The animals available for adoption have been picked up as strays or taken from the owner for abuse, or neglect. They are truly in need of a loving home and are greatly appreciative for a second chance at life.  

   
   


6. 
   

   At least 50% of the overpopulation problem is non-neutered males.  Females can't do it alone.

   
   


7. 
   

   Purebreds account for 30% off all the animals in shelters.  "Papers" don't mean an animal should be bred.

   
   


8. 
   

   For every home you find for an animal that you have bred, a home is lost for a shelter animal.

   
   


9. 
   

   Breeding to "see the miracle of birth" demands that you also "see the tragic results".  Visit a shelter and watch a puppy being euthanized for every puppy your "miracle of birth" delivered.

   
   


10. 
    

    Animal overpopulation has reached a crisis point in this country

    
    

Now, some myths about spaying and neutering

 Most of these myths have been passed along for many years without any basis in fact. People still believe false statements like: "It will calm her down to have a litter" and "He needs to sow his oats," or "It will make her/him more protective." These are all inaccurate viewpoints and flat nonsense; and you have probably heard them all! Let’s look at a few more.

"My dog is a purebred so it's ok if I breed"  The fact is that 25% of all animals found in a shelter are AKC or UKC purebreds. There is no guarantee of quality. In fact, most times purebred animals have some serious medical and behavioral problems, due to inbreeding.

"My pet is a male; I won’t have any litters"  These animals are a very big part of the pet overpopulation problem since they escape and breed with females in heat. They roam more, are more aggressive and sire hoards of litters for someone else to raise, or destroy because they are unadoptable.

"It cost too much"  It will cost you a lot more to care for the puppies created by the dog!  And there are many, many low cost to free spay and neuter clinics. It is affordable!

"My children should see the miracle of birth"  School programming, virtual computers or films can convey the same information in a more caring way.

"She needs to have at least one litter"  Does a woman need to have at least one child? Having a litter does not in any way improve or change a pet's disposition.

"Spaying & neutering is painful for the pet."  How painful is giving birth? Surgery is performed under anesthesia and animals are usually back on their feet into normal activities within 24 to 72 hours. This slight discomfort is not harmful and prevents the suffering and death of hundreds of unwanted animals that could be born if you do not spay or neuter your pet.

"If I neuter him, he won't be as protective."  Instinct is not affected by hormones.  In fact, most pets when neutered will actually be more protective and loyal to their owners and will have reduced desires to wander, mark territory and fight with other animals.

"They'll get fat and lazy".  Not true! Pets get fat because of improper feeding and or exercise. They like us, if fed too much and too little exercise will get fat.

"A litter will calm my animal and having a litter will be better for her" Veterinary medical evidence says otherwise. This is just not true.

"Only females need to be fixed, it's not my responsibility"Not true, it takes two to make a litter. This is a chauvinistic idea that pregnancy is all the woman's fault. It is everyone's responsibility.

"My pet is special"  Every animal is special. Most will never be duplicated. Think of all those special animals that are killed daily. Adoptees are very special animals.

If this section still has not convinced you to neuter your animal, go visit a shelter. I challenge you to spend some time there. Ask when they euthanize animals & witness how the animals cringe, defecate in fear, and act when they are taken out to be killed. Look them in the eyes and explain why you do not want to neuter your pet.

Now..... all this being said, please spay and neuter your pet! And please promise to adopt from your shelter for your next pet(s), or if you can, offer to foster pets from the shelter so they may have more room to help other pets in need. If we are proactive about spaying and neutering, helping shut down puppy mills, eventually someday I would like to hope that there will be less animals, who deserve a life just as much as we do, lose theirs before they can experience it.