Looking for miracles

What a wonderful muddy morning we had for our morning hike today. I shudder to think that we almost didn't go to the woods this morning because the top of the yard was so icy. If you have to ask why that would be a problem you have never slid down a slippery ravine or worried about dogs sliding down a stony hill into a tree.
There will be plenty of days yet when we will have to settle for a walk down our country road ..... that it would just be a real shame not to 'seize the day' whenever we can.
Every year, there seem to be certain times that are slower for adoptions ... when all of the grreat dogs and purrfect cats seem to 'sit on the shelf'. July ... when the whole world seems to go on vacation. September ... when parents are spending a small fortune on school. And of course January ... when pocketbooks are still recovering from the holidays and the weather doesn't encourage driving any distance.
But wait ... what about all those people who couldn't adopt the pet they were interested in? Won't they be lining up to adopt? Do ya really think?
Or did they do what they do every year, and simply go elsewhere? Somewhere without screening or support? Someplace where living breathing sentient beings are simply commodities with curbside guarantees.
Is it really good 'customer relations' for rescues and shelters to dictate to people when they can and cannot enrich their homes with a new pet? Ahhh ... but old habits die hard it would seem, and vestiges of the old "better off dead than in the not quite perfect home" still linger everywhere.
At the end of the day, each individual shelter and group that refer to themselves as No Kill are really like stand alone computers. While it is true that they are not personally killing any healthy adoptable animals, it still does not mean that their policies are not killing the animals.
There are waiting lists for every group and shelter in this province. Where do these pets come from? Not from reputable rescues and shelters .... because right in the contract they insist on their adoptables being returned if things 'don't work out'. No sir ... many of the good pets waiting for 'room at the inn' came from "the competition" ... the pet stores and puppy brokers and backyard breeders and of course the dreaded free online ad sites.
Not all of the animals on that waiting list will live to tell the tail. Nor do all the animals even make it to the lists when there is no 'room at the inn'. Sadly, far too many become Eagle / Hawk / Coyote Chow. Many simply starve and freeze to death because as pets they have not needed survival skills. Others find out first hand how horribly dangerous humans can really be.
The real holiday miracle would be if next year, all the rescues and shelters in this province embraced the Home for the Holiday's idea, instead of alienating adopters.
What time is it? Its time to recognize that sending adopters elsewhere is simply perpetuating the problem.