One planned shelter for animals, four different missions

One planned shelter for animals, four different missions
Kalamazoo Gazette, Letters to the Editor
Monday, April 09, 2007

By Julie Borsh

I'm responding to the March 14 Viewpoint, written by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals President James Di Loreto, titled ``Collaboration key to animal rescue efforts.'' In this article, many questions were raised in regard to a new shelter. I am not sure why these questions were never asked directly to Kalamazoo County Animal Services or the Kalamazoo Humane Society, but if these are questions the public has, answers should be provided.

The four groups involved in this project are:

Kalamazoo Humane Society: This non-profit, privately funded organization is managing the funds for the new shelter. This way, we can avoid having to raise the taxes of the residents of Kalamazoo County. This group operates a low-cost spay/neuter program and also educates people to help lower pet overpopulation.
Kalamazoo County Animal Services & Enforcement: This government-run group is the only animal law enforcement agency in the county, and also handles the stray animals found in the county. Animal Services provides many necessary services to county residents, which are paid for by tax dollars and service fees.
Kalamazoo Dog Training Club: This group offers classes to dog owners at reasonable costs to assist owners of pets to better understand their animals and promotes responsible pet ownership through these classes.
Kalamazoo Animal Rescue: This non-profit group is funded through private donations and operates with volunteers who take in unwanted animals and find them permanent homes.

Each of the four groups involved in the new shelter project have different purposes and missions. The only thing that will change when the new shelter is built is that those four groups will be located in one building, as opposed to four separate locations. Our missions are not going to change.

Therefore, when questions arise, such as ``Have the Kalamazoo Humane Society, Animal Services and Kalamazoo Animal Rescue figured out how they're going to respond when, inevitably, they are faced with space constraints?'' we can answer by saying Kalamazoo Animal Services will respond as they already do on a daily basis. Animal Services will reach out to rescue groups and continue to face the unfortunate task of euthanasia.

The missions and responsibilities of each group will remain separate.

Jim Di Loreto's comparison example of Calhoun County isn't applicable to our new shelter, because we are not doing the same thing they did in Calhoun County, and that is why we won't fail.

Jim also asks, ``Who will rehabilitate the 300 to 400 pets at a time in the proposed Animal Services shelter? Will all the pets be rehabilitated? None of them? Or only those deemed adoptable? If the latter, who will determine which pets are adoptable and which aren't and what methodology will be used for that determination? Where will the extensive medical care come from?''

When using specific numbers such as 300 to 400 pets, it's important to remember that about 50 percent of those will be cats, which don't need to be rehabilitated. The remaining number of pets are dogs, most of which usually don't require rehabilitation.

One of the added features of the proposed new shelter is that there will be a large indoor training area, which our volunteers will be able to use to work with animals that need special attention.

Animal Services does its best not to adopt aggressive animals. If our staff notes aggression to other animals, food or resource guarding, that animal will be deemed unadoptable to the general public, however rescues can transfer these dogs to their organizations. We also use a temperament test that was created by Sue Sternberg and is nationally recognized.

Current medical care comes from a variety of sources. Donations from the general public and the charity of several local veterinarians help us keep the costs of medical care down. The Kalamazoo Humane Society also pays a licensed veterinarian to come to the shelter for up to an hour and a half, five days a week. We also recoup medical expenses incurred by treating neglected and abused animals through the successful prosecution of their owners.

In the new shelter, the Kalamazoo Humane Society will operate a surgical wing that will not only assist us in the low-cost spay/neutering of adopted animals, but will also be able to help out in emergency situations, which will greatly reduce our current medical costs.

Jim Di Loreto states the SPCA has a no-kill philosophy. The word ``philosophy'' does not mean the same thing as policy. Even the SPCA has to put animals down that cannot be rehabilitated, treated or adopted. No-kill is a misleading label for groups such as the SPCA. No-kill, in the case of the SPCA, does not mean they literally never euthanize anything. It means that no ``adoptable'' animal is euthanized. Who in the SPCA determines which pets are adoptable and which aren't, and what methodology do they use for that determination? Animal Services could claim to operate with a no-kill philosophy because we do everything in our means not to euthanize adoptable animals, but because of the strongly misleading wording, we do not claim to be such an organization.

Jim Di Loreto also emphasizes his concern that we are only addressing the issues in Kalamazoo County, and that the region as a whole needs attention.

The SPCA focuses on rescuing animals from nine counties in southwestern Michigan. The vast majority of animals they take from other counties are adopted right here in Kalamazoo County. While nearly everyone can agree that pet overpopulation is a national issue, this does not help with the pet overpopulation in Kalamazoo County. Until we can get the numbers down in our county, it is not reasonable to expect that we can help lower the numbers in neighboring counties as well.

The bottom line: The new shelter project is a consolidation of building materials, not of the missions or purposes of the groups to be housed in that building.

It's also important to keep in mind that if and when your animal gets away from you, it will come to the Animal Services shelter, and that Animal Services is required to exist by Michigan State Law.

Even the best of dog owners can have a dog escape, and I know that no caring dog owner wants their pet to end up in a cramped, damp cage with poor ventilation, no air conditioning, limited heat and a drainage system that actually promotes the spread of disease. We believe we can build a new shelter with the support of our local communities because we believe the residents of Kalamazoo County want something better for their lost pets.

I encourage anyone with questions to please contact Kalamazoo County Animal Services at 383-8775, or the Kalamazoo Humane Society at 345-1181. We are happy to answer any questions and would love a chance to talk about the new shelter project.

Also, please check out www.kalamazoocaresforanimals.org. This is the official Web site of the new shelter project and is the most up-to-date source of information for those interested in learning more about this project.

This is not a project among just four groups. This is a community project, one that will affect every resident of Kalamazoo County, pet owner or not.

Julie Borsh works for Kalamazoo County Animal Services & Enforcement.