Bailing the boat

In the interests of transparency, SPCANS has been publishing its stats on their site http://spcans.ca/about/documents/statistics/2009Q2.pdf. and the latest ones are up for the April to June quarter. This kind of transparency has been a bold move that airs the naked and unvarnished truth out for anyone to see. ( the subject of why only ten of the eleven branch stats are included in this is a very interesting subject to pursue on another day )

These numbers certainly paint a great picture for the dogs. From Jan until March,for a variety of reasons, 116 dogs were killed by the society. From April until the end of June, the year to date total rose to 168 .... in other words, 52 dogs were killed. In other words, the number of dogs killed in the second quarter of the year was less than half of the number from the first quarter.

Sadly it is a different story for the cats. In the first quarter, 315 were killed. In the second quarter, that number rose to 569. In other words, for every four cats they killed in the first quarter, they killed seven in the second. And before the keyboards catch on fire, yes , I did read the press release that talked about having to kill twenty odd of the sixty cats that were seized in Port Felix but even if they killed all sixty of them it doesn't account for the increase )

There have been so many wonderful initiatives started by the new board of the society that one hates to be a spoilsport. The July 27, 2009 BOD minutes are online now and the one that really caught my eye there was Item 7, The Nova Scotia Cats Fund , where " the requirement for fund applicants to have registered charity status was discussed" In other words, its a great idea that still has a kink or two to be worked out before it can provide meaningful assistance for all the hard working little TNR groups around the province.
Normally groups that have CRA registered status do not hide their light under a bushell, because they know that there are many good folks who are looking for that tax receipt when they make charitable donations. Any group that can offer you a tax receipt has CRA status.
Still, with the increased number of cats killed this last quarter, any initiative for the cats is to be applauded. After all, if you want to be sure your donation is helping your local group, all you have to do is ask them if they have cra status. If they don't, you can still donate to them directly.
I know I go on like a stuck record, but with the number of cats being killed on the rise, this is a great time for special cat adoption initiatives. According to a Best Friends Survey that is being run in conjunction with their Focus on Felines campaign,http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/focus_on_felines.cfm , only ten to twenty percent of new cats south of the border are adopted from shelters. The rest are obtained from "friends, family and classified ads" Those are pretty staggering odds when you look at them.
My friend Joan did a post about the Nevada Humane Society, http://dogkisser.blogspot.com/2009/07/just-in-from-nathan-today.html .... and being the kind of girl I am, I couldn't resist going to the Nevada Humane Society website for a look see ( http://www.nevadahumanesociety.org/ )
What a delight! They are running a Hot August Night special with "blast from the past" adoption fees. As a sidebar to that , I love the way they refer to mature pets as classic pets. But I'm wandering afield .... this special is offering one or two kittens for $60.00, Classic Cats for $10.00 and younger adults for $15.00. Classic dog fees are $25.00 and adult dogs are $40.00.
No wonder that out of a total intake for 2008 of 3733 dogs and 4840 cats, the Nevada Humane society killed 190 dogs and 111 cats for the entire year in 2008. Those are numbers to aspire to.
Because of course the society statistics here in NS do not begin to reflect the actual number of cats that have been killed in NS this year. The best argument for adoption incentives is the increased ability to find a better outcome for more homeless pets.
We all know that stray cats are the mothers of all first generation ferals. How many stray cats have been abandoned and dumped because there was 'no room at the inn" ? The number of feral cats in Nova Scotia is directly connected to the fact that for years the only open admission shelter in the province was very high kill.
Everything is connected. Meaningful solutions for the homeless cat problem in this province will not occur until cat adoption is made attractive enough that shelters and groups can be open admission.
What time is it? Its not time to be timid. Its time to stop bailing and fix the darned leak before the boat goes under.