Conference misery::feline_v1

    This is just a question about something I wondered about once in a
    while and maybe the program addressed it. And this is just a general
    question- not about San Fran in particular...
    
    when a cat or dog is given to an elderly person by a humane society,
    does the society also help with the costs of food and medical care
    for the animal for the life of the animal (or person?). 
    
    Pat
    

    re: .2...yes, the SF SPCA does provide assistance for medical care and
    grooming.  I can't remember if they also helped with food.  The story
    featured an elderly gentleman who said who wouldn't have been able to
    keep his beloved doggy without the financial assistance.
    
    What a story.......
    
    Mary
    

    Do they also take the animal back their elderly owner dies?

    Wonderful and inspirational story ... each of us should promote this
    kind of activity whenever and wherever we can.  Landlords should be
    made aware that not everyone can afford a home BUT those who can afford
    an apartment should be able to keep a pet (cat or small dog).  Animals
    contribute to the health and well being of their owners -- young and
    old! 
    
    Best,
    
    RK
    

      I didn't catch the entire thing, but in some communities that I've
    read about with pets for the elderly, they actually have a plastic or
    metal plate that attaches to the door of the house or apartment that
    instructs police/medics to take that animal to a specific vet or
    shelter in case something happens to the owner.
    
      In the San Fran area, the SPCA has garnered the support of many pet
    food manufacturers and distributors and they're donating large
    quantities of food for these older citizens. 
    
      JM 

    The really amazing thing is that San Francisco SPCA is just a few miles
    away from the Peninsula Humane Society, the shelter that penned the
    breeding ban in San Mateo county.  SFSPCA is proving that the answer to
    euthanasia of hundreds of animals each year isn't to completely ban the
    breeding of purebred cats and dogs, but to get the message out to the
    people that pet cats and dogs should be spayed/neutered.
    
    Jo

      One very graphic picture that was aired during this show was in the
    operating room of the SPCA.... On a table there were about 8 or 10 cats
    laid-out... The commentator said that in a typical city, these would
    have been killed by injection, and it initially looked like these cats
    were dead.... However, the commentator went on to explain that THESE
    cats ere simply under anesthetic to be spayed...and would then be
    placed in homes where people loved and cared for them....
    
      JM

    
    While I do applaude the many wonderful things that that the SF SPCA
    do there is also another side to the story.  Basically they have
    changed their charter and they way they do business.  They have turned
    over all of the "unpleasant" tasks to the county.  They do not accept
    kittens under a certain age, they do not accept animals that are ill,
    they basically only accept the animals that can be readily adopted.
    Obviously one organization can not be all things and deal with every
    problem.  They have chosen the areas that they wish to focus on and are
    doing an excellent job, and have chosen not to be involved in the
    other not-so-pleasant aspects of animal rescue.
    
    

    Another thing that the SFSPCA does, which is wonderful, is at Christmas
    time they work together with GUMPS department store and take over all
    of their windows.  The windows are set up with Xmas themes and and
    ventelated properly for the animals - in these windows you will find
    Cats & Dogs of all ages ready to be adopted - it has been a huge
    success.  One year there was a living room scene and in the kitty bed
    by the fire place was a mom cat with her litter of six kittens - all
    were adopted - the people would have to wait another 2 weeks to collect
    them - but they said it was worth the wait.  Volunteers from the SPCA
    are inside the store and out on the street as well - talking to people,
    answering questions and filling out adoption forms.  One year they ran
    out of animals!  They also have a Cannine Parade one a year which is
    really something to see!
    
    I'm from SF and one of my babies was adopted from the Mobile adoption
    from down town - several friends volunteer for them and my Vet has done
    alot of work with and is quite close to the Director.  They are
    providing quality care - good educational programs and innovative
    ideas.
    
    Giudi + 3

    Re .9
      There was no mention of whatyou have stated in the show...in fact,
    the director was shown with a litter of kittend that were newborn, that
    were picked up with their mother from the streets somewhere, and the
    word was that they'd be kept with the mother until old enough to be
    weaned. 
    
     They surely didn't downplay the need and use of euthanasia when it was
    required, but went on to explain that the animals picked up are not
    simply and arbitrarily destroyed as in most cities. 7000 WERE killed by
    injection, but these were terminally injured or ill, too agressive to
    be placed. 
    
      In many cities---and I've spoken to workers who used to work in
    "SPCA"?? shelters in more than one major city---when someone brings a
    dog or cat into the shelter, the poor nimal is dead before the person
    gets back into their car, and in some cases before thay get back to the
    streets! I was told that they don't even make an attempt to place most
    animals....only some of the cuter puppies and kittens, but that the
    adult animals are gone almost instantly...
    
      At least San Fran is WORKING on the problem....so if the 'county'
    really wants to do something, why don't they do the same thing??
    
    JM

re: county doing more for the animals

funds are limited....the number of animals turned in is ovewhelming.  this is
the bottom line in the Santa Clara county shelter.  They do participate in a 
pet care show on PBS which also shows their animals up for adoption and 
encourages people to seek pets at the shelter.  However, the number of animals
that flow in to county shelters far exceeds the number of animals deemed the
responsiblity of the county-resident cities.  This is not to criticize what
S.F. is doing...it is wonderful, and a model of effort for other cities and
counties.  However, the story isn't complete by a long shot.

The fact is - more funds to encourage responsible pet ownership need to be
spent....mandatory educational programs in the grade schools and high schools
need to be in place.  Children must be taught better than their parents have
learned or we will never solve this problem....landlords need to be encouraged
to allow people to own pets - and we need to make a "property damage from
irresponsible pet owners" policy with funds in place to provide assistance to
the landlord to clean up the mess left by jerks with pets...perhaps 
low-interest, long-term payback loans would encourage the landlords out there
to be more reasonable.

We need to be more demanding of our community governments - demand that they
take care of the animals rather than just disposing of the unwanted ones.

    I think you folks have two counties mixed up here.  PHS is in San
    Mateo(?) county, and is the group involved in the  proposed breeding
    ban.  The Santa Clara shelter is in (surprise) Santa Clara county;  it
    was taken over in a coup a year or two ago by a group heavily involved
    in breeding, and the last I heard was going to refuse to do any more
    work for that county as far as accepting strays, etc., it was just
    going to accept "adoptable" animals turned in by their owners;  I may
    be out of date on what's happening in that situation -- I know another
    group tried to get the policy changed back, and failed, but what's
    happened since then i have no idea.
    

    I think Dian brought up the Santa Clara shelter for example purposes
    only.  The base note is about SF SPCA.  I mentioned PHS (in San Mateo
    county) just to compare they way two neighboring counties are dealing
    with the same problem.
    
    I haven't heard that Santa Clara county humane society had been "taken
    over" by a group of breeders in a "coup" before.  I only wish that were
    true.  The two members of the PHS Animal Task Force that are cat breeders 
    told me this weekend that Santa Clara county just passed an ordinance 
    limiting breeders to *one litter per year*. Period. They did this very 
    quietly.
    
    I haven't tried to verify the above information yet.  The two people
    came to me separately and brought it up in order to warn me about what
    was happening in my county.  They both said that it was announced at a
    PHS meeting by a Santa Clara Humane society worker.
    
    Jo

>    I think Dian brought up the Santa Clara shelter for example purposes
>    only.  The base note is about SF SPCA.  I mentioned PHS (in San Mateo
>    county) just to compare they way two neighboring counties are dealing
>    with the same problem.
    
exactly.  I just wanted to illuminate the fact that city shelters CAN reject
the unadoptable animals -- and those animals go to the county in which the
city resides.  The county shelters are overwhelmed out here.  While I do
not denigrate what S.F. is doing, I think it is no where near a complete
picture of the situation.

>    I haven't heard that Santa Clara county humane society had been "taken
>    over" by a group of breeders in a "coup" before.  I only wish that were
>    true.  The two members of the PHS Animal Task Force that are cat breeders 
>    told me this weekend that Santa Clara county just passed an ordinance 
>    limiting breeders to *one litter per year*. Period. They did this very 
>    quietly.

AND...what really ticks me off, they are STILL not going to the schools and
educating the primary reasons that animals are adopted into families in the
first place..the children.  They complain all the time about having to kill
so many pets, but they aren't spending time and money IN THE SCHOOLS TEACHING
CHILDREN ABOUT RESPONSIBLE PET MANAGEMENT.  If the kids went home with an
earful for mom about getting the puppy or cat spayed/neutered...more pets
would be spayed/neutered...after all, look what parents did in response to
their childrens' demands for cabbage patch dolls.

      Re last few..
    
      I'm a little bit surprised and somewhat puzzled that htis note has
    progressed in this manner. My intent--and that has not really
    changed--was to show that SFSPCA was and is doing something positive,
    and that was about it.
    
      Is SFSPCA some sort of magic act?? No! Are they infallible??? NO!
    However, I heard nothing at all during the 20 minute bit to indicate
    that they are operating within their jurisdiction in the manner of a
    "fishing expedition"...I.E. "Oops---this one's sick...throw it back",
    or "Can't take that one, it's got a severe injury....send it to the
    county." In fact, the director did address the euthanasia situation,
    and while they do not LIKE to put animals down, he was very clear on
    the issue. They DO still have to euthanize around 7,000 animals per
    year due to terminal injury, infectious and/or contagious and incurable
    illnesses, and in some canine cases, simply because the animal is too
    agressive and a danger to the community. It's still a sad situation to
    be forced by circumstances to destroy animals, but I saw NOTHING to
    indicate that they discriminate and ONLY handle the adoptable. At least
    they make some effort to get the adoptable adopted, which is a lot more
    than I can say for any city that I'm aware of in the east!!
     If someone has some documented PROOF that SFSPCA simply "ships those
    unadoptables to some other place to do their dirty work" then I'd
    really like to see it. The 20/20 bit had no indications of any coverup,
    nor does it usually become involved in any...the show typically does
    exactly the opposite by exposing dirt--as in puppy mills.
    
      I was hopin to focus on the POSITIVE---100,000+ ADOPTED, SAVED
    animals in a little more than a year IS "GOODNESS"!!!
      Worcester and Boston Mass probably KILLED that many in the same time
    frame without even trying to get them placed in homes!!
    
    JM

    As is often the case in notes, when someone brings up a subject, folks
    will add their two cents and very often the note strays from the
    original topic.  It is not surprising.  
    
    I don't recall that any of the previous replies said that the 100K+
    animals that SF SPCA adopted out wasn't a good thing, or wasn't
    admirable.  Yes it is admirable.  Yes it is wonderful.  
    
    I think that these replies were from a group of local residents who 
    have information to share about the local situation and this seemed 
    like a good place to put it.  If you would like me to move these replies 
    from your topic, just say the word and I will create a new topic for them.
    
    Jo

    The SFSPCA IS DOING SOMETHING POSITIVE!!  Having lived in SF all my
    life I watched this organization grow from what it WAS to what it IS
    and I am extremely proud of them from their Director to their
    volunteers.  They are doing the very best they can in educating people
    and they are taking it to the streets with their adoption units,
    trained volunteers and literature.
    
    The SFSPCA used to be funded by the city/county up until a couple of
    years ago - they have since become independent because the city/co.
    decided to no longer fund them.  I believe that the SPCA will only
    accept "surrendered" animals and that the task of "pick up" has fallen
    to the city "animal control".  Their independence from the city, in my
    estimation, has enabled them to go off into a more positive direction -
    which is educating people - getting the pets out to the puplic (mobile
    adoption) - supplying animals to the hearing impared and the aged -
    making available a "behavior" hot line and volunteers trained in
    counseling and matching up people with pets, reduced medical costs for
    Seniors, vet. care to the public, etc., etc, etc.
    
    The SFSPCA can't do it all - it receives no monies from government and
    survives on donations, contributions, it's adoption fees and medical
    facility and the likes.  It's focus is to educate and finding homes for
    these little orphans - and spending countless hours in making a lot of
    these animals adoptable.  A person can "surrender" his unwanted
    animal(s) to the SPCA or call the animal control...............
    
    100,000 animals adopted is a wonderful thing - I don't think that that
    figure would have been as high if they were still affiliated with the
    city.
    
    Thanks, Jim.
    
    Giudi

    Guidi, what does happen to the picked up animals -- is there another
    shelter?
    

    There is the SF SPCA in San Francisco, and then a county humane society
    too.  Not sure what it is called, but Marlene may know.
    
    Just an addendum to the Santa Clara County Shelter story, I spoke with
    Karen Johnson, editor of the NPA Gazette (National Pet Alliance) who
    also attend all the animal advisory committee meetings for the Santa
    Clara shelter and she had not heard of the one litter per year
    ordinance.  She plans to get in touch with the shelter people to find
    out if this was something that was passed by going around the animal
    advisory committee.  She will get back to me on it.
    
    Karen did mention that the Santa Clara shelter is suffering from budget
    cuts, and that the only services they are providing now are "state
    mandated services", which include picking up strays, sheltering, providing 
    medical care for sheltered animals, and euthanizing those that are not
    adopted within the adoption period.  They are also understaffed due to
    the budget cuts.  The situation there is grim.
    
    Jo

    Karen,
    
    Since the change in the charter I'm not exactly sure about some things
    but I am going to find out but this afternoon as there is a Mobile
    adoption unit out on Market Street - which is about 2 blocks up from
    our office.
    
    As I understand the animal control picks up strays - returns animals to
    their owners - owners can check there for lost pets, etc.  I don't know
    exactly how long they keep strays once they arrive - as I said there
    have been alot of changes.  I'm also confused as to the issue of
    distress calls and who exactly is handling that issue.  The SPCA used
    to have a special unit to respond to these calls of abuse etc. and I am
    hoping that they are still handling this.  They have taken many a cat
    and dog out of abusive situations, treated them and then placed them
    with a volunteer where that person helps the animal recover emotionally
    - I've heard of so many tragic cases that were turned around by the
    caring of these folks which lead to permanent homes for the animals.
    
    Any how - I'm going to check this stuff out in an hour or two, get some
    literature and report back.
	
    Giudi

    Re: Santa Clara county one litter per year limit
    
    It has been verified that this ordinance has been on the books since
    the inception of the shelter in Santa Clara county and it is not new.
    It is an ancient law, and it pertains to the unincorporated parts of
    the county.  The Santa Clara Humane Society has no funds available to
    police this ordinance.
    
    Jo

    
    Re: .20   Not only has the SCHS cut back to limited services but also
    where those services occur.  Cities and towns have voted whether or not 
    to fund the HS for their area.  This puts the HS in a precarious
    position.  They receive calls to pick up animals in towns that have not
    funded them.  They do the best they can but it is a tough situation to
    be in.  With the recession private donations have really scaled back and 
    they look to grants as a primary resource for funding,.
    
    

    Well I went up to the Mobile Adoption location at lunch today and was
    able to talk to one of the volunteers for a few minutes - they were
    very busy - signing up 2 new cat owners but came away with lots of
    literature.
    
    Goes like this - when the SPCA was affiliated with the City there was
    some sort of time limit on how long they could keep an animal before it
    was put down.  The director and the animal control people did not agree
    on this issue and since the SPCA as become an entity of its own it has
    become and will remain a no-kill shelter.  They do not pick up strays
    but do make rescue calls, cases of abuse etc.  Animals must be
    surrendered - you can call to make an appointment to surrender your
    animal and there are days and times for walk-in's.  All surrendered
    animals are given a complete physicial and tested before they are
    accepted.  FELV positives are not accepted as part of this adoption
    program .  The Animal Hospital provides discount
    medical treatment for pets of qualified limited income older people, $2
    Vacination Clinics for pets of low-income families.
    
    The Infirmary administers routine and emergecy veterinary care to all
    animals in the shelter and through the Cinderella Medical Fund,
    provides extensive medical treatment for Shelter animals needing
    special care in order to make them adoptable.  They have An Animal
    Behavior Services staff, Coupon Collection Campaign which distributes
    pet food coupons to needy Bay area Pet Owners, Charitable Chow Program
    supplies free food to pets of limited-income, homebound San
    Franciscans.  The SF/SPCA staff and volunteers bring animals to people
    with special needs through the Animal Assisted Therapy program.  The
    Animal Awareness Club which is free to City teachers, integrates humane
    education into the daily grade school curiculum as well as University
    and Communuty College Education via several college courses.  Hearing
    Dog Program recruits homeless canines from Bay Area Shelters and trains
    them to respond to important household sounds and places them with deaf
    and hearing-impaired people throughout Calif.
    
    Their latest is the PetRent Seminar - its a workshop and experts from
    the rental industry will give tips on how to find rental property that
    allows pets, to to negotiate with rental agents and property owners and
    how to best present yourself and your pet to a potential landlord.  I
    understand that there will be an overview of The SF/SPCA;s Open Door
    Campaign, which has been established specifically to help open up more
    of San Franciso's rental housing to pets.  It's being offered the last
    Wednesday of every month.
    
    =.19 Karen - There are other organizations in San Francisco which are
    no kill - Pets and Pals, Pets Unlimited, St. Francis, etc.  But
    unfortunately if they are taken in by Animal Control their chances
    aren't very good.  I cannot repeat here what I was told.
    
    I have a copy of Our Animals which is put out by the society and if any
    one is interested, I would be happy to make a copy and send it out to
    you.  As I said before, one organization can't do it all, but it looks
    like this one is trying and doing a darn good job.
    
    Giudi                                             

    The only way I can survive volunteering at the shelter is to
    feel "good" about the cats we rescue and adopt out...even though
    deep down I get sick to think of the animals that we can't
    help.   With all the cats that are rescued or brought to the
    shelter...I know we're not even putting a dent in the problem...
    but to us atleast we're helping.
    
    I did watch the 20/20 special on the SF SPCA....and give them
    all the credit in the world for doing their part....any maybe
    they can educate other shelters with some of their special
    programs. 
    
    Sandy 
    
    

re . 24 and the Open Door Campaign

I just read an article on this in a recent issue of Cat Fancy, if anyone
wants to read more about it.

Jill, who just thought about college days and hiding her roommate's cats when
the landlord came over :-)