Nevada Humane Society Takes a Bold Leap
January 23, 2007 : 12:00 AM From The No KIll Advocate
By a unanimous decree from the Board of Directors, the Nevada Humane Society (NHS) embraced the U.S. No Kill Declaration, turned to the director of the No Kill Advocacy Center for help, and hired Bonney Brown as their new executive director.
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Any animal, any time." That is the new policy for Washoe County, both at animal control and the private Nevada Humane Society for working with legitimate private rescue groups who want to take animals into their lifesaving adoption programs, thanks to a directive from NHS' new executive director, Bonney Brown.
In the past, NHS made it difficult and in some cases impossible for rescue groups to save animals otherwise facing death. "It makes absolutely no sense for a shelter to deny any animal to a rescue group or to put up bureaucratic barriers to do so," said Brown(pictured). "Because there is no shortage of animals needing to be saved, rescue groups can now take any animal, any time, including highly adoptable puppies and kittens."
These groups can help save pure breeds and mixed breeds. They return feral cats to their habitats, and provide kittens and puppies with a much needed second chance. They alleviate overcrowding, provide medical and behavior rehabilitation, and reduce costs to taxpayers.
They are, in short, the difference between success and failure, life and death. So why do some shelters still refuse or limit rescue group access to animals on death row?
In the 1990s, the nation's largest animal welfare organization was still telling shelters not to transfer animals to rescue groups citing vague concerns like "transport stress," "cherry picking," and "need for shelter animal diversity" - concepts that would be ludicrous, if the end result weren't so disturbing (i.e., an animal's needless death.)
And while this national agency has since changed its tune, they still suggest formal training, "home" visits and other obstacles to partnering with rescue groups. These hurdles are premised on a historical distrust of the No Kill rescue community and result in animals being killed.
In an environment of 5,000,000 animals killed in shelters nationally, there is hardly a shortage of "adoptable" animals and if a rescue group is willing to take custody and care of the animal, rare is the circumstance in which they should be denied.
Rescue groups can be a shelter's best customers and should be treated as such. Many shelters with outdated rescue policies have lost the support of these groups, which increases costs and reduces the number of animals who are saved. And no one should tolerate that.
For more information contact Nathan Winograd at
winograd@nokillsolutions.com
