The Town Hall Meeting at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien, Washington, exceeded everyone’s expectations. Even though the rain dampened the outdoor event scheduled to precede the meeting a bit, the turn out was the highest for any Town Hall Meeting, ever! Both sides were able to express their views, and over 25 animal organizations showed up to show support. The speculation that long term improvements can be made has a glimmer of hope, but it will take a real commitment from the local officials. The homeless pets seem to be on their way to receiving better treatment and having more opportunities to find their forever families, but will the authorities get down to business to go the distance? This, for now, remains to be seen.
Click here to read the full update from the Seattle Times.
The Journey to No-KillWill King County, Washington become the next no-kill community in the United States?
That is the goal of the
Metropolitan King County Council, which has instructed the shelters of
King County Animal Care and Control (“KCACC”) to implement programs to save all healthy and treatable animals.
“This legislation is reflective of our values, reflective of our value for all life, reflective of our belief that life is sacred, both human and animal life,” said King County Councilmember Julia Patterson, prime sponsor of the legislation, which was approved by council last May.
But recent developments have made it clear that the no-kill goal is not going to be achieved in King County without a fight, and King County is seeing quite a battle rage about the current conditions of its shelters, as well as whether or not the shelters should embrace a no-kill philosophy.
Gregory Castle, one of the founders of Best Friends, wrote a letter to council members urging them not to give up on the battle.
“King County is on the verge of a remarkable opportunity – not only to turn around the disturbing conditions that have been reported in its shelters, but to make itself into a national model of compassion,” wrote Castle, who is also President of
No More Homeless Pets Utah. “There is no doubt that King County has the tools to create a community that saves all of its healthy and treatable animals: a compassionate, prosperous, and pet-loving population; a strong network of local rescues and humane organizations; and now, the inspiring stand that has been taken by the King County Council.”
The King County Animal Care and Control (“KCACC”) shelters serve a population of about 1.2 million people, and take in approximately 12,000 animals per year, euthanizing about 38% of them. Although Seattle is located within King County, the city proper has its own shelter, which has consistently been saving upward of 80% of the animals who enter its doors. The area is also served by the
Humane Society of Seattle/King County, which saves more than 85% of the animals it admits.
After passing its no-kill legislation, which mandates that KCACC shelters save at least 85% of all animals admitted by the end of 2009, the King County Council set up a citizens’ advisory committee to help instruct the county on how to reach that goal. Made up of diverse citizens and representatives of local animal welfare organizations, that committee issued a 120-page report last fall that found the conditions in the KCACC shelters to be “deplorable,” and issued 47 recommendations for immediate improvement.
The committee unanimously found that: “The animals in KCACC's shelters suffer from high rates of disease, improper housing, inadequate exercise and social contact, a lack of basic comforts, and high levels of stress. The outreach programs designed to move these animals out of the shelter are paltry at best, and KCACC has a very low profile within the community.”
Following the committee’s disturbing report, the council instructed the county executive branch, which is in charge of running the KCACC shelters, to make immediate improvements in response to the findings. If the county executive would not, or could not, implement these reforms, the council said that it would look seriously into the option of discontinuing public shelter services, in favor of asking for help from the private and non-profit sector.
“We have an absolute obligation to the animals in our shelter to provide humane care, medical treatment, and the best chance to be adopted into a loving home. Nothing less is acceptable,” said councilmember Dow Constantine.
In order to help it to decide whether or not the executive branch had the leadership, structural capacity, and will to turn KCACC into a model animal care program, the council hired shelter consultant Nathan Winograd, director of the
http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/] No Kill Advocacy Center, to advise them on that question.
To view Part I of the report,
click hereTo view Part II of the report,
click hereAfter spending a week in King County visiting the KCACC shelters and interviewing staff and various stakeholders, Winograd issued a report to council that the members described as “shocking,” and “damning,” describing conditions that they found “intolerable.”
Among other disturbing findings, Winograd found that cats in the infirmary area of the shelter – an out-of-the-way room without heat, air conditioning, or running water – had not received food and water for at least two straight days, and perhaps as many as four days. Winograd showed the council videotape that showed these cats over a period of two days with the same empty, disposable food containers, bone-dry water bowls, and dirty cages.
Winograd found many other signs that KCACC could not provide “a minimally acceptable standard of care for its animals,” much less operate a model program. For example, he found that animals were not being routinely vaccinated, basic cleaning and disease-management protocols were not being followed, KCACC did not efficiently move animals through the system for adoption, and KCACC had an ineffective process for investigating animal cruelty complaints.
Winograd emphasized that the same problems have been noted in various reports and letters in 1991, 1992, 1998, and 2007, as well as in numerous volunteer complaints over the years, but KCACC has still only made superficial changes. He also said KCACC has failed to request more funding throughout the years, is operating its animal control contracts with local municipalities at a loss, and had not made use of a donation fund that now contains more than $600,000.
Winograd added that in his opinion, no amount of money would fix KCACC’s basic problems with management, supervision, and accountability.
In response to Winograd’s report, however, King County Executive Ron Sims flatly denied that conditions were as bad as he reported. Also denying the allegations in Winograd’s report were KCACC acting manager Al Dams, and members of shelter staff.
"That did not happen," Sims said in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "No animals were without water, and animals were not without the food they needed."
In addition, Sims and his administration launched an attack on Winograd’s credibility and the credibility of all those with a no-kill “agenda.” Although members of his administration had previously reassured council that they fully backed the no-kill objective, Sims suddenly reversed this stance, attacking the no-kill “agenda” during a radio interview, and describing its goals as unrealistic, and its proponents as extremists.
“The consultant believes in no euthanasia. There is a disagreement . . . nationally about whether that is a good policy,” Sims said during an interview on the local KUOW radio station. “He has a particular philosophy, and we aren’t sure that philosophy works.”
<a href=" http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=10428754"; target="_blank">Toby</a> is available from KCACCDespite the King County Council’s mandate for developing a program of trap-neuter-return for feral cats, and the executive branch’s previous commitment to this goal, Sims also reversed this position and said the county would not support the return of feral cats to urban areas.
Now, the King County Council and County Executive Sims face a possible showdown, as
Council members continue to voice their commitment toward immediately improving shelter conditions, and simultaneously, moving toward the no-kill goal. The King County Council will hold a Town Hall Meeting on 6:30 p.m. April 14 at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien, Washington, in order to allow local citizens to comment on the state of KCACC shelters and their future. Best Friends will be hosting a Rally for the Animals in advance of that meeting, at 6 p.m. on April 14, outside the Highline Performing Arts Center.
Following the Town Hall Meeting, the council will face a difficult choice.
“King County Animal Care and Control has failed the animals and the people of King County,” said Patterson. “The Council has only two choices – continue to micromanage the Executive department until change occurs, or find another entity that can fulfill our county’s expectation for humane animal care.”
Good News! Update as of April 11, 2008Since this story was written, Best Friends is pleased to announce, the King County Council and King County Executive Ron Sims have called an end to their division and reached an agreement that would put $1 million in immediate funding into the King County Animal Care and Control system. The agreement also sets up an intra-county workgroup to determine the future of all animal-related services provided by the county. Composed of a variety of people from different departments within the county, including one representative each from council and executive services, the workgroup will be charged with examining the feasibility of either privatizing county sheltering services, or restructuring the provision of these services within county government.
At a press conference, County Executive Sims, and Councilmembers Constantine and Patterson all expressed their firm commitment to a developing a model animal care program that would save all healthy and treatable animals in King County.
“No animal in King County should be killed because of lack of space, a lack of adequate community partners, or a lack of adoption alternatives,” said Constantine. “We are not just holding ourselves up to a national standard, because that is an antiquated standard, and many shelters nationally have been abysmal. We are holding ourselves up to a higher standard for the 21st Century.”
Sims emphasized that he was in full support of council’s objectives to achieve a save rate of at least 85 percent.
“Animals should not be considered by society or government as disposable,” he said.
For more information on this new development, please see
click hereFor more information on this story, please see:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/355311_animal18.htmlhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004289277_shelterreport18m.htmlhttp://www.kingcounty.gov/council/news/2008/March/JP_DC_winogradreport.aspxhttp://www.nokillkingcounty.org/news.aspimages courtesy Nathan Winograd, No Kill Advocacy Center