One Step Forward, 1,031 Steps Back

By the end of April, MADACC had managed to kill 1,031 animals. The worst part? This is about 30 more lives saved this year compared to this time last year. SICK. Just sick. This is a perfect example of why shelters need to go NO KILL. They cannot simple say we will work to do better. This is what happens when the goal is "doing better" 30 more lives save, 1,031 killed, MURDERED. Trust me when I tell YOU, that saving one life is better than saving none. I believe that I can help. I can save one life at a time and that does make a difference to me and the one life I saved. But one life saved and 1,031 killed is not good enough for a shelter system; a shelter run on the backs of animal loving citizens. I think even folks who don't really care too much about animals as a whole would still agree this is outrageous! At the very least, this is a poor use of tax payer money and is a down right inefficient way to run a government entity.

So what do we do? We continue to push for no kill reform, we continue to support any and all better practices that MADACC comes up with, BUT we continue to hold them accountable. We continue to tell MADACC that we will work with you, we want you to succeed but killing 1,031 animals in four months is not good enough, it is not acceptable and we are watching...

Adopt. Foster. Volunteer. Donate. WE can do this. WE can change the system.

New Foster Program Will Save More Lives

The most recent meeting at MADACC was the most promising yet. Unfortunately, I arrived a few minutes late to the new location ((more on that in a minute)) and I missed the public comment portion. But what followed was a hope-filled executive director's report. MADACC has re-vamped its foster program to include short-term fosters. They are teaming up with the Wisconsin Humane Society in order to get animals out of MADACC, into a transition home where they can recover from colds and such ((like Sinatra needed)), and then instead of being locked into a foster home until they can get adopted, the animals will go to the Humane Society where they will be safe until a forever home comes along. I love this idea for two reasons.

1. The ultimate goal of this is to get cats and dogs out of MADACC in eight days. This is important because right now it's clear the shelter is not properly set up to deal with sick animals. And when one gets sick, it quickly spreads. Taking the animals out sooner will help with this. It also gets animals out before they can be put on the kill list. Right now MADACC has to keep an animal for eight days then they are allowed to kill it. I'm glad this new ED realizes this is the case and is doing everything she can to prevent that, although she is unwilling to take on the board right now and just put her foot down and say we will not kill here any longer.

2. It takes a village. No really, read my Master's thesis. The one area where Nathan Winograd and I disagree is on this point. I think it takes an entire community, an entire animal welfare system, everyone, in order to save every animal who ends up in Milwaukee County. I have always been a big advocate of community support and collaboration  Teaming up with the Wisconsin Humane Society and individual fosters is a HUGE step forward toward No Kill Milwaukee.

The best part about the meeting, we were talking about SAVING lives, not just killing less, but SAVING! There is a difference. Another part I also appreciated, more and more people from the community continue to show up to these meetings. So much so that they had to move the location to a bigger room at the West Allis city hall building. I am so glad no one is letting this new executive director off the hook, and I'm even more glad she doesn't seem to want us to either. Ch-ch-changes are a coming.

Oh Yeah, You Two are Dogs

Now that it's back to being just the three of us ((Sinatra was adopted, see post below)) I thought I'd share a true Miss-Adventure. Recently, on one of our walks the grossest thing in the history of all of our walks happened. Somehow, someway Missy managed to pee on Mister. Now, I'm not surprised one of them peed on the other, but I was 100% certain when that went down, it would have gone down the other way. I can't tell you how many times Missy narrowly missed getting Mister all over her. Mister is a true boy who will just pull up and lift without any regard for where he is or what he's near. Missy isn't much better, except for one huge difference: she's a girl dog! She doesn't lift to pee!

So how exactly did this happen? Missy does not know she is a girl dog. She insists she can do anything her brother can do. Often times she climbs up on bushes and mounds to pee, and everyone once in a while even lifts one of her legs very awkwardly off to the side. And one time Mister's curiosity got him into a BIG mess. He just always has to sniff her biz, and one time that biz got right on top of his head. I tried to clean him off with an empty plastic baggy I had handy until I could wash his head when we got home. The whole thing didn't even seem to faze either one of them. In case there was any doubt before, yeah they are a couple of dogs after all.

A special shout out to anyone who made it to the end of this post. I don't think I've written the word PEE that many times before. So, thanks.

Sinatra Saved!

I cannot believe we went the entire month of April without posting! I think that is some sort of record for us, and one we aren't proud of! Not that the dogs and I haven't had our fair share of adventures in the past month. It's amazing what not having the Internet in your home will do for your blog. Anywho, we he have the BEST news. On April 11th, Sinatra went HOME. He now has his very own forever family. They have re-named him Myles (which I don't really like better than Sinatra, but whatev) and he now has a dog brother, a cat brother, and two loving parents! It was hard to say goodbye to my little bud, but I couldn't be happier for him.

I would love to foster another animal in need just like Sinatra. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him, other than he had a cold and was out of time. That is no reason to die. And thank goodness he didn't. We hope Milwaukee Pets Alive will continue to let up open up our hearts and our home to another fantastic cat. Sinatra saved. Who's next?