Post by daves on Jun 21, 2012 15:58:58 GMT -5
I have gone into HOOF mode (Highly Opinionated Old Fart) and I am prepared to be flogged, chastised, and corrected for sharing 'An open letter to NJ rescues'
I have struggled for quite some time to come to grips with the idea of rescues and shelters bringing large numbers of dogs up from the south (including Puerto Rico) to get them adopted in New Jersey, New York, and New England. When I decided to begin fostering I looked for a rescue group in northern New Jersey. I attempted to find one that got at least a fair percentage of their dogs locally and held regular adoption days within an hour drive from my home. Out of dozens of rescues I investigated, I found only one small one that met those criteria but they could not afford to take on any new fosters.
As I see it, the basic resources needed by a rescue are foster homes, finances, and adopters. How can these resources be used to do the most good? As an example I will use the work of one volunteer at a rescue here in NJ.
Dog #1 – The southern shelter described this dog as friendly to humans and other dogs. When it arrived it could be best described as being feral. After many months in the foster home with almost no progress towards the dog being socialized, an impassioned plea was made for donations to pay a fee to get the dog into a sanctuary and to transport it across the country. After the needed funds were received the sanctuary backed out of the arrangement. This was followed by pleas for more funds to place this dog with a trainer who was willing to work with it.
Dog #2 – What a heartwarming story this dog had. He arrived with a heavy heartworm infestation and needing surgeries to remove buckshot and for intestinal problems. Again the donations rolled in to save this southern dog.
Cost to save 2 dogs – over 18 months of foster care, several thousand dollars of donations, and one adopter. Over that same time period and for hundreds of dollars, instead of thousands, how many more than 2 dogs that were killed in only one shelter in our area could have been saved?
The fact remains that there are a limited number of potential adopters. Some percentage of them would have adopted a local dog if they had not adopted an import. What this means is that a dog once owned by your neighbor down the street or your laid-off coworker or your sick relative will have to live in a cage for a longer period of time or not ever get adopted.
Some rescues are not fair with the adopters. When I hear that a dog has been in a foster home I think of a family situation with other dogs where the dog has been socialized and has been at least started on housebreaking. These customers are not getting what they expect when the foster environment consisted of a group of dogs living in a barn stall. Even worse are the mass transports to deliver dogs sight unseen to eagerly waiting adopters. While most of these adoptions work out just fine, the ones that don't, give adoption and rescues a bad name. In more than a few cases dogs are adopted out to inappropriate homes, this only adds to the number of dogs dumped in our shelters.
A question for you is: what are your motives involved in importing these dogs?
I have to admit that in most cases the overriding motive is a compassionate one of saving a life. But, there are groups that appear to be mainly profit motivated – these are not rescues but mere animal brokers. One other motive is the search for recognition, glory, and reputation. For the time, effort, and expense devoted to rehabilitating that one southern dog with a good sob story, several handsome, well balanced, adoptable local dogs could be saved. The nightly list of dogs to be murdered (on average 17 per night) from the hell hole in New York City usually contains one or more exceptional dogs that would be easy to adopt once their kennel cough is cured. It should also be noted that there are county and municipal shelters here in New Jersey that are bursting at the seems with adoptable dogs.
As I see it your options are:
Make a profit
Make a name for yourself
Bring a bunch of dogs up from the south
Save as many deserving dogs as you can without adding to the overpopulation problem in your own home town
Which option did you choose?
I am not the only one that thinks this way as can be seen in this blog originating in Georgia.
www.animalrescueassistance.org/blog/2012/02/25/A-Plea-To-The-Rescue-Community.aspx
A Plea To The Rescue Community
Exerp:
After what I’ve learned in the past few years, I highly doubt I’d ever transport an animal again unless I personally did it myself and saw exactly where the pet was going. Somehow this myth has become widely accepted that there is a lack of unwanted pets up North. I myself even believed it for a bit until I started seeing all the urgent post of pets in New York City county shelters:Dogs in New York Open Admission Shelters, I started wondering why the rescues up North weren’t pulling locally when there were obviously pets in need. Imagine how many more pets could be saved locally with the funds spent on transporting pets hundreds of miles across the US? It especially concerns me when they are transporting pit bulls when the majority of the dogs in shelters all over the US are pit bulls or pit bull mixes.
Reader comment: Great article. I live in NJ and believe me, there is no shortage of adoptable animals here. We have some rescues and shelters pulling highly adoptable animals from out of state while just a few miles away, another shelter is euthanizing for space. Thank you for this article.
I have struggled for quite some time to come to grips with the idea of rescues and shelters bringing large numbers of dogs up from the south (including Puerto Rico) to get them adopted in New Jersey, New York, and New England. When I decided to begin fostering I looked for a rescue group in northern New Jersey. I attempted to find one that got at least a fair percentage of their dogs locally and held regular adoption days within an hour drive from my home. Out of dozens of rescues I investigated, I found only one small one that met those criteria but they could not afford to take on any new fosters.
As I see it, the basic resources needed by a rescue are foster homes, finances, and adopters. How can these resources be used to do the most good? As an example I will use the work of one volunteer at a rescue here in NJ.
Dog #1 – The southern shelter described this dog as friendly to humans and other dogs. When it arrived it could be best described as being feral. After many months in the foster home with almost no progress towards the dog being socialized, an impassioned plea was made for donations to pay a fee to get the dog into a sanctuary and to transport it across the country. After the needed funds were received the sanctuary backed out of the arrangement. This was followed by pleas for more funds to place this dog with a trainer who was willing to work with it.
Dog #2 – What a heartwarming story this dog had. He arrived with a heavy heartworm infestation and needing surgeries to remove buckshot and for intestinal problems. Again the donations rolled in to save this southern dog.
Cost to save 2 dogs – over 18 months of foster care, several thousand dollars of donations, and one adopter. Over that same time period and for hundreds of dollars, instead of thousands, how many more than 2 dogs that were killed in only one shelter in our area could have been saved?
The fact remains that there are a limited number of potential adopters. Some percentage of them would have adopted a local dog if they had not adopted an import. What this means is that a dog once owned by your neighbor down the street or your laid-off coworker or your sick relative will have to live in a cage for a longer period of time or not ever get adopted.
Some rescues are not fair with the adopters. When I hear that a dog has been in a foster home I think of a family situation with other dogs where the dog has been socialized and has been at least started on housebreaking. These customers are not getting what they expect when the foster environment consisted of a group of dogs living in a barn stall. Even worse are the mass transports to deliver dogs sight unseen to eagerly waiting adopters. While most of these adoptions work out just fine, the ones that don't, give adoption and rescues a bad name. In more than a few cases dogs are adopted out to inappropriate homes, this only adds to the number of dogs dumped in our shelters.
A question for you is: what are your motives involved in importing these dogs?
I have to admit that in most cases the overriding motive is a compassionate one of saving a life. But, there are groups that appear to be mainly profit motivated – these are not rescues but mere animal brokers. One other motive is the search for recognition, glory, and reputation. For the time, effort, and expense devoted to rehabilitating that one southern dog with a good sob story, several handsome, well balanced, adoptable local dogs could be saved. The nightly list of dogs to be murdered (on average 17 per night) from the hell hole in New York City usually contains one or more exceptional dogs that would be easy to adopt once their kennel cough is cured. It should also be noted that there are county and municipal shelters here in New Jersey that are bursting at the seems with adoptable dogs.
As I see it your options are:
Make a profit
Make a name for yourself
Bring a bunch of dogs up from the south
Save as many deserving dogs as you can without adding to the overpopulation problem in your own home town
Which option did you choose?
I am not the only one that thinks this way as can be seen in this blog originating in Georgia.
www.animalrescueassistance.org/blog/2012/02/25/A-Plea-To-The-Rescue-Community.aspx
A Plea To The Rescue Community
Exerp:
After what I’ve learned in the past few years, I highly doubt I’d ever transport an animal again unless I personally did it myself and saw exactly where the pet was going. Somehow this myth has become widely accepted that there is a lack of unwanted pets up North. I myself even believed it for a bit until I started seeing all the urgent post of pets in New York City county shelters:Dogs in New York Open Admission Shelters, I started wondering why the rescues up North weren’t pulling locally when there were obviously pets in need. Imagine how many more pets could be saved locally with the funds spent on transporting pets hundreds of miles across the US? It especially concerns me when they are transporting pit bulls when the majority of the dogs in shelters all over the US are pit bulls or pit bull mixes.
Reader comment: Great article. I live in NJ and believe me, there is no shortage of adoptable animals here. We have some rescues and shelters pulling highly adoptable animals from out of state while just a few miles away, another shelter is euthanizing for space. Thank you for this article.
I look forward to learning much here