Category: Animal Shelter Operations

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Trap, Neuter, and Release (TNR) Programs

One of our local cities forfeited a million-dollar grant to reduce the city’s feral cat program through a program of trapping, neutering, and releasing (TNR) the sterile cats back into the community. There are two sides to this issue and from my perspective, I’ve never seen a positive long-term outcome with TNR programs. Unless feeling good is your desired outcome. Sure, a number of years ago, organizations touted success stories, but many of those proved unfounded over time.

Communities began seeing surplus cats in communities because many people saw cats as too independent to be considered pets; so they didn’t invest in spaying or neutering their cats that seem to come and go from their households. When things are going well for cats, they like to breed. Most species are the same way. The offspring of these “domestic” cats started becoming feral. A feral population is dependent on the carrying capacity of the community. As food became scarce, the cats would stop breeding.

“Little Old Ladies” upset the carrying capacity of the community by setting out food for the cats to eat. The cats would start to breed again until they exceeded the carrying capacity again. Like raccoon populations, disease would wipe out the population when the population is stressed with too many animals. Raccoons are usually on a seven-year cycle.

The problem with TNR programs is that in addition to spaying and neutering the cats, the cats are offered vaccinations, thus reducing the possibility of death through disease. Another problem with managing feral cat problems is that an excess removal of cats allows vermin to increase. I recall that in one neighborhood that was aggressively against cats discovered that rats grew in population corresponding to the removal of the cats. Anytime you are messing with animal populations, you are messing with Mother Nature.

Cats became a growing concern in animal shelters wanting to become no-kill. It seemed at the rate that cat’s breed, that having a 90% release rate was looking like a passing dream. Some shelters, to meet their no-kill goal, started taking the cats surrendered at the shelter and treating them as part of a TNR solution. They were taking the cats surrendered by their owners and sterilizing them and then releasing them back into the community. The trick was to release them into an area where the owners would not know what they had done. Some believed that throwing a domestic cat in the wild to starve to death was inhumane. No one reported on the impact of these starving cats. So they may or may not have survived. The point was that by doing this, the shelter could boast that they have reached no-kill. Many began to say that TNR stood for Trap, Neuter, and Re-abandon.

The notion, if people continued to feed feral cats, it was better to feed a sterile cat than a fertile cat. Or so we thought. It seems that over time, populations adjust. Even in a population of sterile cats, if the carry capacity increases, the population will adjust for that increase. Cats from other areas will move in. Thus the reason that TNR programs fail. They are good for a while, but if left unattended the fertile cats take over again and they do so quickly.

No-kill is a constant goal for animal shelters and even a short time win looks good for statistics and that is what no-kill is all about is finding other solutions for the animals in our shelters because killing an animal just doesn’t seem like a good solution. I have always advocated that the best solution to killing animals is to prevent their births. Not enough is being done to sterilize every pet. Shelters continue to adopt intact animals…. stupid….. very stupid. Pet owners cannot be trusted to take care of sterilizing their newly adopted pet. Trust me, I have years and years of experience in this area.  It is shocking the number of men who tie their testicles to that of their dog’s.

So? Is TNR worthwhile? It is a short-term solution to a bigger program. It makes us feel good by helping with our statistics and staff doesn’t have to perform euthanasia. It provides additional business for our local veterinarians. While you are doing it, it’ll feel good. A few years down the road, you’ll look back and wonder if you had made any impact at all.

Mother Nature maintains everything in a balance. The best way to upset that balance is to introduce humans into the equation (something that I picked up in college and later realized in life). For TNR to be successful over a long period of time, you’ll have to continue your efforts. As we have discovered that TNR usually has an immediate impact that you can feel good about; but, when you stop TNR, the feral population will rebound.

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Ribbons

Have you ever watched a movie in which a person in their dress military uniform comes into the room with a chest full of decorations? Your first reaction is that the person has witnessed a lot of action in the military. That may or may not be the case. The first ribbon you get in the military is the one that shows you survived boot camp. It’s probably the only ribbon that you feel that you have earned. My second ribbon was the Marksman Ribbon. The idea is to hit your LARGE target 90 times using 90 bullets. My target had 104 holes, so I earned the Marksman Ribbon. I later discovered that the shooter next to me was shooting into my target. Shooting at the wrong target doesn’t count towards your own Marksman Ribbon. It is nearly impossible to not pick up an Outstanding Unit Citation Ribbon. They are handed out like candy and I can no longer remember how I earned mine. Granted, I was only in the military for four years, but the most prodigious ribbon was the Philippines Presidential Ribbon. I know, you probably think that I saved the President’s life, but I am not sure that I did. While serving in the Philippines, I donated blood to the Red Cross and earned that ribbon. My father should have been the one to receive that ribbon because he took all of his kids down to donate blood on a regular basis. Donating in the Philippines just seemed like the natural thing to do. I probably earned other ribbons, but I didn’t keep track, I don’t think the military did either. You could just go down to the BX and buy whatever ribbons suited you.

This thought path that has taken me, and now you, reminded me of a guy that I went to college with. He got a job as a part-time law enforcement officer in a small town near the college. The town was nothing more than a speed trap along the highway. The guy’s boss went on vacation and for a short time, he became the Chief of Police. When I saw this guy wearing his uniform, I started laughing. I know, you should respect law enforcement authority but this guy was dressed exactly as a Latin American dictator: five stars, ceremonial ropes hanging from his shoulders, and, of course, dark sunglasses. He was proof positive that the uniform doesn’t make the man.

So, at this point, I try to turn this story into something that represents a message for animal welfare workers. The descriptions that we give the public are often undeserved depictions of the animals in our care. Many animal rescue groups lie about the animals, so that they can get them adopted. The pressure of becoming no-kill has caused many organizations to lose their integrity. It became so bad in Virginia that laws had to be created to make it illegal to provide a false narrative about an animal for adoption.

Many communities have pet lemon laws that make it imperative that we be honest when dealing with prospective pet owners.  There is nothing better than a Letter to the Editor in your local newspaper to put you in your place.

We have become a nation of false narratives and many animal shelters have jumped into lying as a matter of daily operations. It has become so ingrained in our society that we can no longer encourage people to adopt our animals because we have gained so much mistrust in the communities that we serve. No-kill is a good thing, but not at the loss of your organization’s integrity. The real harm comes when our staff so freely gives out false claims that they can no longer identify truth from fiction. Organizational leaders need to listen to what their staff and volunteers are telling people and take action when they are not being honest.

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Integrity

“Integrity is a quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It refers to firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values. People with integrity follow moral and ethical principles in life, including professional areas of work such as decision-making, interacting with colleagues and serving customers or clients.” If you still believe anything that the internet says.

Some says that, “Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.” But, God is always watching. Integrity is a rare thing. We are all born with equal amounts of integrity, but as we grow older we begin losing our integrity. Some lose it faster than others. The problem with integrity is that once you lose it, you never get back; over time, losing more of it becomes easier and easier.

Mainstream media may never be trusted again, because they have lost their integrity. The easiest way to keep from losing your integrity is to fear God. If God is always watching, then maybe you don’t want Him looking down on you in disappointment. If you have not cut all of your ties with God, you might feel guilt when cheating in life. It is His way to drive you in the right direction.

If you can’t find your way to fearing God, then imagine wearing a polygraph in all of your dealings with the business of your life.

Trustworthy is the first law of being a Boy Scout. You are to, “Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you.” The world needs more Boy Scouts.

What does this have to do with working in animal welfare?  EVERYTHING!

Bible passages:

Job 2:3
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Ps 7:8
The Lord judges the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.
Pr 11:3
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
Pr 19:1
Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
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The Roadkill Hunter

Traumatic times occur in our lives that we forever remember where we were and what we were doing. I’m old enough to remember I was on the school grounds when I learned that Kennedy was assassinated, and I was a few blocks away from the Pentagon on 9/11. You might have attended the same American Humane Conference as I did. Of course, the conference shut down and the smell of burning fuel filled the air. Most of the attendees watched, as all America did, the footage of the airplanes hitting the Twin Towers. A few of us walked the few blocks to see what was happening at the Pentagon.

As the day progressed, the events hit home: what should we do? Flying home was not an immediate solution. I attended the conference with my co-workers from the ASPCA. One of our group managed to rent a van, I think the last one available. It was nuts.

On the way back to Illinois, I invented the Adventures of the Roadkill Hunter. It was a long drive. I proceeded to entertain my fellow riders with episodes of The Roadkill Hunter using my Aussie voice. As our hunter carefully approached the roadkill waiting to see if the flattened piece of fur was either dead or playing possum. After a few hundred miles, my fellow riders gave me an option to either shut up or be left on the side of the road.

When we approached the Champaign Airport, we were stopped by a police car. Clearly, an early morning encounter had not prepared the office for a van full of tire conference goers. It became obvious that the officer didn’t know what to do. Clearly, airport security was stepped up after 9/11, but the plan didn’t include how the police would handle would-be terrorists. The officer didn’t let us approach the airport, nor would he allow us to leave.

The stress in the van was high. I was smart enough not to regale my comrades with another episode of The Roadkill Hunter.

Eventually, the officer allowed us to approach the airport. I suspect that his need for a coffee break outweighed his need to hold us hostage.

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Constitutionalists

When I was working in Portland Oregon, I encountered my first Constitutionalist.   These folks believe that if it isn’t written in the original Constitution, it isn’t legal.  We impounded this guy’s dog for running at large and he refused to allow us to vaccinate his dog for rabies.  He is right, nowhere in the U.S. Constitution mentions dog vaccinations, nor does it mention running at large either.  The problem was that County law prohibited me from releasing his dog without a dog license.  You got it, dog licenses require a rabies vaccination.  This guy wasn’t going to budge.  I had to be creative so that I could give this guy back his dog.

I waited out the stray holding time when the dog became my possession.  I then vaccinated ‘my’ dog.  I called the guy and told him he could return to the shelter and reclaim his dog.   There was no reason to stir the guy up, so I didn’t mention the vaccination.

We live in a culture in which everyone is pushing the boundaries of the authority that they will comply with.   I have to count my blessings that  I never had to deal with a sovereign citizen.  Who knows how that would have gone?

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Animal Disposal

One of the chief concerns in the animal welfare business is the disposal of dead animals. There is quite a business opportunity in disposing of the dead. But before I get on with this blog, let me provide a grave warning in dealing with skunks.

Animal control is often tasked with scraping up road kill and disposing of the bodies. Skunks are unique in that they can make you the most hated person in the community by bringing a dead skunk into your shelter for disposal. Always carry a shovel in your vehicle and bury the skunk on the roadside. Please don’t attempt to put the skunk in your vehicle or remove it from its current location. Let’s face it, the roadway will stink for months. Burying the animal will not distract from its current level of stink. Just bury it. You might think twice about bringing the shovel back with you. Your vehicle is your office. Do you want it to stink of skunk for three or four months? Bury it along the roadside. This might be the best advice I have ever given to anyone!

In Portland, we had a full-time officer driving around and picking up dead animals. We had a sweet deal with local veterinarians in which we would dispose of their animals. In return, the veterinarians agree to treat any animal that an animal control officer brought to them. It was a great deal because we did not have a veterinarian on staff at the shelter.

There are four methods of disposing of dead animals:

Incineration. This is a costly way to burn animals. It might be the most respectable manner to deal with disposal. Having an incinerator is problematic if your shelter is in a neighborhood. Even though the best incinerators have secondary burners to burn the smoke coming from an animal, it is a foul smell. I can recall seeing someone from the local Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sitting in front of our animal shelter in Milwaukee watching the smoke come out of our smoke stack. Incinerators can be a problem.

Landfill. It used to be pretty common to take dead animals to the local landfill; but, as time has gone by, fewer and fewer landfills will accept animals.

Rendering. Some companies pick up animals to be rendered into cosmetics. It isn’t commonly available, and it is personally frightening that I might be kissing my wife who is wearing lipstick of an animal that I once killed.

Burial. Some humane societies have cemeteries in which people can bury their pets. Given the volume of animals that animal shelters were once killing made burial cost prohibited.

 

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Drug Shortages

Today, our State announced that they may not be able to perform the killing of an inmate due to a drug shortage.  We don’t do a lot of lethal injections, so experiencing a drug shortage seems silly.  The drug, or drugs of choice are ketamine, fentanyl, and potassium chloride.  We all like our special cocktails.

I bring up this issue because animal shelters experienced a shortage of sodium pentobarbital many years ago.  The shortage lasted over six months.  I have always required that we have a six-month supply on hand at all times.  After the storage, I changed that requirement to a year’s supply.

Although animal shelters are euthanizing fewer animals now, you can imagine the problem of shelter overcrowding should you stop euthanizing altogether.  I was trained early in the Boy Scouts to be prepared.  You should take inventory of your supplies and ensure you can meet a supply shortage.  Carrying a six-month supply might seem excessive until you are hit with a supply shortage.  Be prepared.

UPDATE

It seems that the guy’s attorneys sued the State against their cocktail Du Jour claiming that it was an untested concoction.  That is the problem with fad concoctions.  I’ve seen plenty in our business for remote chemical capture.  They are asking the State to kill their client using the tried and true sodium pentobarbital that we have used in our business for years.  I suspect the one downside of sodium pentobarbital is that it might burn upon administration, but I can’t say for sure because I’ve never used it on myself.  But to be clear, I always anesthetized animals first before administering sodium pentobarbital.

Although, personally, since people are killing themselves every day with fentanyl, I think the State could find someone on the street to test drive this new cocktail.  In the animal welfare business we seem to have a thing for using Acepromazine.  With the fast reversal when using Acepromazine, I always thought that you get the same results using water in the cocktail.  And who would be stupid enough to do that? That’s a hint for the State to not consider adding Acepromazine to their new fancy kill juice.  And using Ketamine… whose idea was that?  It’s like they got this recipe from their local drug pusher.  But to be honest, I used Ketamine in my anesthesia cocktail.

7/26/24 Update:

Prison officials are reporting that the cost of obtaining sodium pentobarbital is going to cost our prison system $200k for the upcoming execution.   Having overseen animal shelter budgets for years,  someone desperately needs to audit our prison system.  It is no wonder that government has become so expensive.  A $20 bottle of sodium pentobarbital is enough to execute a dozen inmates; where is the rest of the money going?

8/23/24 Update:

According to the news, the total cost of the execution is over $288k.  As mentioned above, the prison system is claiming that it costs $200k for sodium pentobarbital.  It would be so much cheaper if we just farmed out the euthanasia to our local veterinarians.  I just couldn’t let this drop, so I suggested to our State Officials that maybe an audit was in order.  I didn’t hear back from either of my State representatives.  Maybe this is just normal business in my State.

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Corporate Greed

In our business, we depend on other corporate organizations to meet our software needs.  For many years, I used Adobe products to assist me in designing marketing material.  If you spend any time on YouTube, you’ll find Adobe being criticized over their corporate greed.  It has been a long time in coming.  Unfortunately for Adobe, there are other comparable products.  I stopped using Adobe when they first started their subscription service.  I like to be able to buy a product and not have to keep paying ransom to continue using the product.

I recently opened a spreadsheet file and got a notice from Microsoft that my Excel registration was lost.  I could probably search for it, but why bother?  Microsoft is following in Adobe’s footsteps by demanding that I switch to their ransom (subscription) service.  Like Adobe, Microsoft thinks it has the only products out there.  I knew this day was coming, so several years ago I bought a license to the bundle offered by WordPerfect.  The Excel file opened perfectly in Quattro Pro.

Budgets are tight.  If you believe you are being held hostage to your software, start looking for alternatives.  You might be shocked to find a number of open-source (free) business software that is available to you.  These companies are not holding the gun against your head as they think they are doing.  Put them in their place.

I use Corel products for most of my graphic needs.  Affinity is the suggested replacement for Adobe Photoshop.  Although I have Affinity, I usually turn to Corel’s Painter or Paintshop Pro.  I only mention this because I recall that I got the WordPerfect suite through the Corel software.  If you decide to switch to WordPerfect, order the upgrade version if you are using another business suite.  Most companies recognize that your switch from (say) Word to WordPerfect is considered an upgrade in their eyes and you can get the software at half price, around $150.

Corel has a slick plan in which you have the choice of buying the product or renting it.  You can buy Corel Painter for $150 or you can rent it for $100 per year.  The notion is that if you always buy the newest version of a product, then renting it is cheaper because the software is usually updated every year.  With Corel, I find that buying aound Christmas seems to offer the sweetest deals.  But, in my old age, I seem to be fine using a version that is one or two years out of date.  And don’t become like me and feel the need of buying every brush that is available.  They just take up too much diskspace and slow up the loading of the software.  Take if from me, having all of the available brushes will never make you an artist.

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Our First Priority

The most important priority in government service is to protect the public.  Yet this priority is forgotten with today’s public policies.  Even today, we still encounter folks who want to defund those hired to watch our backs.  Opening our borders was such a mistake at a time when we have diminished police protection.

We are experiencing the same thing in our profession: saving animals’ lives overrides keeping people safe.   The worst of this, I experienced in Virginia.  Animal rescue groups would lie to potential adopters about aggressive traits in the dogs they had for adoption.

I was constantly battling staff, volunteers, and even my board of directors about adopting potentially dangerous dogs.  The problem became so widespread that the Commonwealth of Virginia was forced to write laws making it illegal for animal rescue groups to hide past behavior problems with dogs for adoption.  It is a sad day when you are safer buying an animal from the newspaper than getting it from your local animal shelter.

Today’s politics lead to anxiousness.  I was fortunate, I have always felt that God had my back.  Looking back, I realize how difficult it would have been to do the right thing without my faith.  The world does not have the answers, but the solution is only a whisper away.