Taking it to the Street

For years, the Valley Animal Shelter had an animal shelter in conjunction with their Middleton office. And for years the neighbours and the local inn ( which ironically is now closed as well) complained to the town council until the shelter closed its doors. That wasn't a unique situation.... animal shelters wind up being located off the beaten track to avoid that type of problem.
All around the province, the shelters aren't hard to find.....if you know where they are. And that's fine.... for those who already know that the groups exist and how to find the shelters. People who have already discovered the joys of pet adoption will happily travel any distance for their new best friend.
Which is of course, a bit like preaching to the choir. What about all the good folks who DON'T know about the rescues and shelters.....the kind hearted animal lovers who would happily adopt their next best friend? I get a lot of feedback on the homeless pet site from folks who had no idea there were so many rescues and shelters in NS .... even the ones in their own community.
There is a reason that businesses sink or swim on the location they choose. They have learned never to underrate the value of being in the public eye.
Its natural to be protective of the animals in ones' care. As the guardian of four cats and three dogs, I would be capable of doing real damage to anyone who harmed any of my pets. So its understandable that some folks in rescue might be hesitant to 'drag' their adoptables around like sacks of potatoes looking for a buyer. Believe me, I would be the last person to suggest the adoptable get peddled at 'market' without a proper adoption screening.
Yet... if the animals aren't out in the public eye they will take longer to get adopted, if at all. We will never get to No Kill Nova Scotia until No Kill shelters can be open admission. Until then, they are just safe sanctuaries that have to pick and choose who they can save.
Our neighbours to the south have had a lot of success with mobile adoption vans and Pet Adoption storefronts in busy malls. There are a lot of good arguments for the van, because it could do double or even triple duty for disaster relief and large cruelty seizures. And of course the vans themselves sport easily visible logos and so are advertising on wheels wherever they go.
Pet adoption centers in busy malls elevate public awareness of pet adoption options. The reason businesses locate in busy malls in spite of the high rent and service fees is to take advantage of the foot traffic. In most cases, the pets are not housed at the center but are either brought in for the day by either one or several rescue groups.
One doesn't have to be a financial wizard to understand that this is going to be a tough year for everyone. Mobile adoption vans and storefronts might have to sit on the back burner until the tide turns around.
That does not mean there is no way of getting the animals out there in the public eye. There are still a host of other options to be explored:

• Rescues and shelters could arrange 'special guest appearances of a few of their adoptables for a couple of hours at local businesses. People love animals and businesses generally like anything that draws people in.
• Posters of adoptables, with little 'take home cards' listing the contact info for the rescue or shelter, could be posted in local vet offices and feed stores. There are great free online templates for doing printable posters
• Rescues with dogs could arrange for a regular 'Sunday Stroll" with some of their adoptables wearing 'adopt me' scarves. Volunteers could be waiting at the end of the stroll with thermos' of hot chocolate or lemonade to encourage interested folks to stay and talk. And of course pamphlets on the rescue, or even just calling cards with their address and url could be available too.
• Organize a demonstration obedience training class at the local dog park to help get the word out there,
• And of course there is that suggestion I keep plugging... the NS Week for the Animals which could really be a positive way of getting pet adoption out in the public eye with everything from coloring contests to workshops to demonstration dog sports.... a week that positively brims with fundraising opportunities as well, and last but not least...
• Never underestimate the value of special promotions. Judging by the site updates I had to do, both the November Adopt a Senior Pet Month at Metro and SHAID, and SHAID's Home for the Holidays program have yielded good results. Get the word out there with posters in local stores.

At the end of the day, nobody wants any rescued animal to be bartered off like an old sock. But neither does anyone want the animals to stay in the shelters. If old dogs can learn new tricks... then its time that we people do too.

One of those rare win/win things

When I was a little girl, my parents always went out on New Years Eve. They were one of those wonderful couples who truly enjoyed each other's company and were even good enough sports to leave whistles and horns out for us to find on New Years Day.
For most of my adult working life, New Years Eve was just one more banquet or buffet to cook... and in time to organize. To this day, the biggest treat I can have for New Years Eve is to be at liberty to stay home or visit friends. After years of being one of the few sober people in the room, going out and painting the town on New Years Eve holds all the appeal of babysitting any toddler who is not my grandaughter.
For my parents, the flip side of being such a wonderful couple was how very tough it was for my Mom to soldier on for seven years after we lost Dad. After forty five years of that, it would have been unrealistic to expect Mom to celebrate New Years Eve in high style.
My folks had always been charitable, giving what they could, when they could. After Dad passed, it became one of Mom's little projects to make sure that the balance sheet of giving was always carefully weighted to minimize her income tax. New Years Eve became her time to quietly celebrate both the good feeling of having done well and the satisfaction of knowing she would receive enough of an income tax refund to pay her property taxes : )
I am fifty four years old... so I have discovered that time really does fly by more quickly as one gets older. Just the other day I was sitting at my daughter's table having a lovely New Years Day Dinner and suddenly 2008 is nearly over.
For those who were meaning to donate something to any cause dear to their heart, New Years Eve day is the last day to do so if one plans on using it to help with this year's taxes.
For those thinking of helping the animals in this province in any way, in no particular order:

• ARC
• S.H.A.I.D.
• CAPS
• LA Animal Shelter
• Bide Awhile
• TLC Animal Shelter
• Pick of the Litter
• Hope for Wildlife
• P.E.T. PROJECTS
• NS Labrador Rescue
• Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada HomePage
• Tiny Paws NS Chapter
• CBFSS
• and last, but definitely not least, go to http://www.spcans.ca/ to either support the provincial SPCA or to http://www.spcans.ca/who_we_are/Branches.html to link to their Branch sites.

I apologize in advance if I have somehow missed listing any NS group that does have a tax number. Normally anyone with a tax number is quick to mention it on their website, as well as listing whether there is a minimum donation required for a receipt.

Rescues may be built on love for the animals, but donations are the 'gas' that will keep them running and enable them to save more animals. This is just one of those rare times when folks can do something good for themselves and do something good for the animals all in one shot. In my books, that's worth celebrating.

What a difference a day makes

Sometimes the injustice of life is enough to make me weep. Cats and dogs are dying every day because their original guardians didn't care enough to train/alter/care for and of course love them enough. Cats and dogs are dying every day because shelter staff keep on doing things the way they've always been done. Cats and dogs are dying every day because of stubborn resistance to change by those who are unable to admit that compromising their compassion was the wrong road to take.
There are moments when I am still four instead of fifty four ... when I still expect life to be fair. This morning I took McG into the vets for what I thought was going to be a fairly routine senior citizen checkup. We've lived with his heart murmur for years and adjusted to the reality that last years dental surgery had stepped it up.
The short version of this story is there wasn't any good news waiting in his xray ( Scotties are small enough that one xray covers their heart, lungs and tummy ) and his blood work. For the short term his heart meds have been stepped up to double strength and we'll go back in four weeks for another 'photo shoot' and blood work. That will give us a better idea of what our timeline is.
The four year old in me wants to throw something. In a world where so many are so careless with the pets in their charge... it is utterly unfair that someone who is willing to do just about anything has no good options available. There is nothing that is operable. McG's sodium levels are too low to allow for lasex. After a certain point of listening to what can't be done it just became a blur.
McG is only eleven and has never had a hard day in his life. He eats good food and gets regular checkups. McG has never thought of himself as little... in his mind he has always been the biggest lad on the field.
I have been down this road before with other old friends... this bittersweet place where every day must simply be treated like a gift. McG has seen me through some very hard things .... for whatever time we have left it is for me to return the favour.

Holiday Miracle needed for 26 Cats on the Rock

The Clarenville SPCA, http://www.clarenvilleareaspca.ca/index.php is in urgent need of fosters and / or adopters for these gorgeous kitties. Their shelter was already full on the 23rd of December when they had to remove twenty-six cats from a home. The adults are already spayed or neutered although of course the kittens are just getting to the age where they can be altered.
By the way, yes there are only 24 kitties pictured here, because two very lucky ones already have an adoption pending.
To read their bios, http://www.clarenvilleareaspca.ca/adoption-cats.php. Dreyfus, Dolly, Munchkin, Treasure, Tabitha, Sparkle, Velcro, Jody, Nathaniel, Missy Moo, Becky, Trouble, Smokey, Buddy, Cinder, Toby, Chelsea, Misty, Pumpkin, Sweetie Pie, Smoocher, Ollie, Precious and Gail are all in need of their own little miracle for the holidays.

The Way Ahead is Always Paved by Voter Feedback

From this morning's Herald

SPCA waits for power

Sick animals shivering in cold, volunteers have no hot water to wash soiled cages, blankets

By PATRICIA BROOKS ARENBURG Staff Reporter Fri. Dec 26 - 5:12 AM

Some ailing puppies were shivering in the cold at the Metro SPCA on Christmas Day after spending about 30 hours without heat at the Dartmouth animal shelter.
The lights were on in a handful of rooms, but there wasn’t enough power getting into the Scarfe Court building in Burnside Park to generate heat for the more than 30 dogs and many cats and a handful of rabbits housed inside.
In an interview barely audible over the din of howling and barking dogs, Sean Kelly, the chairman of the shelter management team, said he had repeatedly called Nova Scotia Power to get someone to come out to restore power, but got nowhere.
"We had volunteers come in today expecting to clean a few kennels and help a few animals and instead they were hit with a huge amount of work and seeing the dogs like this . . . everyone’s just demoralized beyond belief," he said.
The high-pitched ring of the alarm, which activated when the power went off but couldn’t be shut off for security reasons, prompted more barking and meowing as it changed pitch. Volunteers had no hot water to sanitize the kennels and working areas, which stank of feces and urine.
About a dozen tall laundry baskets piled high with soiled blankets were lined up in front of two industrial laundry machine sets, while the blanket storage area was almost empty.
"If we don’t have power tomorrow, we’re done," Mr. Kelly said. "We’re out of stuff. We have to start bringing this to our homes."
Kat Horne, a member of the management team, said the shelter was using extra blankets to keep the dogs and cats warm during the lengthy outage, which began early Wednesday morning. Two thin-coated terriers were shivering in the observation room, which housed some sick dogs. They wear coats at night to keep warm, but would have to wear them during the day, she said.
The low, heart-wrenching moans of one particular dog — a large husky-German shepherd mix named Reegan — could be heard from the front entry, even though he was tucked away in the last cage of the dog isolation room at the opposite end of the building.
"When they can’t see, it freaks them out," making a stressful situation even worse for the animals, Ms. Horne said.
"What we really need is Nova Scotia Power to come and do something like they were supposed to yesterday."
There were no metro-area outages listed on the company’s online outage page when The Chronicle Herald contacted NSP. Company spokeswoman Glennie Langille confirmed the shelter’s strange power situation, saying the shelter’s outage was a "one-off" in the area and that the crews focused on larger outages and institutions on the restoration priorities list.
At 2:30 p.m., after The Chronicle Herald contacted NSP, Ms. Langille said a crew was on its way to fix the problem.
The power was still not on at the shelter shortly before 3 p.m., but Mr. Kelly was glad to hear help was on its way.
And, he said, the shelter is "going to try and get ourselves put on their list of priorities, so that’s just something that the Nova Scotia SPCA and Nova Scotia Power have to work out."
( pbrooks@herald.ca)

But I'm getting off topic. We've been having a chilly December all around the province. I don't even want to think about how very much worse this story would have been if the mercury hadn't risen dramatically during that time.

This wouldn't even have been mentioned in the news if Metro had a generator. If Metro is the sheltering partner for HRM, then as an essential service involving living breathing sentient beings, HRM has a moral ( and legal ?) obligation to protect the helpless creatures in its care. Ergo, HRM Emergency services has a obligation to provide Metro with emergency backup in case of disaster.

My brother, who is an engineer, tells me that propane generators are the way to go. The initial outlay might be a bit more, but they are cheaper to run and involve less maintenance. And then of course there is the purely practical aspect that when there is an extended loss of power, most gas stations cannot pump gas, while purchases of tanks of propane and propane deliveries are still possible.

I expect that assistance for Metro from HRM will be more readily forthcoming on the heels of strong voter feedback. THe EMO may be contacted by emailing HRM_EMO@halifax.ca. You find contact information for your Councillor at http://www.halifax.ca/districts/index.html.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. Albert Einstein

We need some new traditions

No matter where we lived, when I was a little girl there was always lots of Christmas magic in our home. My Mom's people were originally from Holland, so our holiday began on the fifth, the eve of St Nicholas day. Before we went to bed, we each had a pair of wooden shoes that we would put outside our bedroom door. In the morning we would wake to find that St Nick had been by to fill them with chocolates and treats. ( One of the great miracles of the season was that we never wound up with branches in our shoes instead : )))
Like most families, our holiday traditions developed over the years .... often inspired by the various places Dad's postings took us to. Our time in Germany added gingerbread houses and a newfound respect for the possibilities of chocolate.
But throughout the years, there were always some constants underpinning it all. The presents never appeared under the tree until we went to bed on Christmas Eve. Everyone hung up one of Dad's big wool socks for Santa to fill. We always made a sandwich for Santa before going to bed. And of course opening gifts in the morning had to wait until Mom and Dad were awake .... and there was to be no nudging them up before five.
I am old enough to remember listening to the radio announcer tracking Santa's progress by radar on Christmas Eve. When midnight mass was full of mystery with latin and incense.
We bring some traditions with us and begin making our own holiday traditions when we leave our parents roof. The no putting presents under the tree beforehand works really well in a multipet household : ))) From the orange in the toe of the stocking to the menu that evolves over time, it is the homely little things that weave the fabric of our traditions.
If there is one constant in life, it is that nothing is ever constant. Just as we can never stand in the same river twice, we can never have the same holiday in spite of all our traditions. Children grow up, grandchildren are born. People should grow and change over the years as their experiences open their minds and their hearts to new ideas.
Back in the day, we used to pray for "Peace on Earth". I am older now, if not necessarily wiser, and understand that first we need real respect for life. Until we create an environment where it is socially, and more importantly legally, unacceptable for humans to abuse and kill helpless animals, Peace on Earth hasn't got a chance.

Why S.O.P.'s Should Be S.O.P.

Standard Operating Procedures are exactly what they they sound like in the military. They are a set list of procedures covering every aspect from mundane administration to defining the pecking order of responsibility and accountability on all levels.
They sound as dull as dishwater don't they? In today's computer savvy world, why would the military still use them? SOP's are used at all levels by all branches because they clearly define procedures and clarify any question of individual responsibility.
Some very hard lessons have been learned this year as a result of the Celtic Pets seizure. Much of the ensuing controversy could have been avoided if the society had clear cut SOP's for cruelty seizures of any size that would include, but not be limited to :

• specific timelines before seized animals could be adopted
• clear cut criteria for killing any seized animal
• precise accounting of all the animals, whether they were adopted, fostered, transferred to the custody of a rescue, still at the shelter or killed.
• an explicit definition of the BOD authority with respect to both the investigation and to the fate of all of the animals.

SOP's clear up the fuzzy grey areas and prevent individuals from assuming more authority than they actually should have. Organizations just run smoother when responsibility and accountability are "written in stone" If the society is truly in pursuit of more transparency, having SOP's for the sticky spots would be a darned good start.

After all, if there had been SOP's this year when the seizure took place, the society could have garnered much sympathy and public support for the plight of so many animals. Instead, the society very nearly circled the drain as a result of the public indignation about the misuse and overreaching of individual authority.

With SOP's, the society would have been able to draw in public support by allowing them to understand and share the journey. The society should have been strengthened .... instead it was shrouded in a veil of secrecy by individuals who refused to accept criticism or even hold themselves accountable to the society BOD. The society is still trying to recover the credibility and support that was lost at that time.

SOP's prevent situations like that from happening. We cannot and should not ever attempt to whitewash what happened this year after the Celtic Pets Seizure. I still have all the old pictures of Chinchilla Charlie ( remember him... he was the front door poster boy for the society after the seizure while they were drumming up donations and then he was killed, in spite of the fact that there was a place and training/ rehab available for him.

I still have all the old pics of Jackie, and I remember like it was yesterday when the society tried to take him away from Joan. SOP's would have made it impossible to rescind memberships and threaten Joan like that.

And the Celtic Pets Six/seven eight nine????? If there had been SOP's we would know how many of those rescued lived to tell the tail. But of course the person who made those decisions is gone and because there were no SOP's, that person got away with murder. Because there were no SOP's, to this day not even the BOD knows the numbers.

And of course, in the here and now, SOP's could change the killing in Cape Breton. But that is a rant for another day, because THAT whole situation is so darned big its going to take more than better administration to fix that.

At the end of the day, SOP's are like routines..... they free our minds to focus on the big picture.... and they minimize the time that gets wasted deciding what to do.