STOP KILLING HOMELESS PETS

SAVE THE PETS

Have you ever been to the shelters and seen the faces of the dogs that will be destroyed in just a few short days and you can only pick one? Your heart literally breaks ! The thing that makes me really sad is that these poor creatures never asked to be born, and yet they are killed because people don't neuter and spay their animals.

The various animal welfare centres are overloaded and under-funded. Their individual programs to find homes for healthy animals are hamstrung because of lack of money. This situation has existed for many, many years without a solution being offered.

Now, Kansas City in the USA has taken the lead in introducing an innovative solution %u2013 and it's working! Here's the story:

An incredible new program called 'Ray of Hope' has taken the euthanasia rate of unwanted cats and dogs in Kansas City shelters from 54% to 4% during the first six months of 2009. It%u2019s a program that links together the services of the Kansas City police, the Humane Society, volunteers, local no-kill shelters and rescue groups both in the city and across the country.

Charles Vreeland, President of the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City (HSGKC) says, %u201CIt%u2019s a grand experiment and an idea we%u2019ve had for several years, but until Captain Rodney Smith came on board as the new police captain we couldn%u2019t get it off the ground.%u201D

'Ray of Hope' is all about cooperation, coordination and communication between these agencies,and it could be replicated in just about every city across the globe. It%u2019s actually a pretty simple concept of government entities and non-profit groups working together as a team to save the lives of innocent cats and dogs.

This is how the program works. HSGKC acts as the coordinating agency that pulls together all of the resources in the community. Every Monday afternoon Captain Smith, Humane Society shelter director Karen Sands and veterinarian Michelle Taylor, DVM, walk the aisles of the city %u201Cpound%u201D taking notes on every animal.

Their findings determine which pets will remain with the city shelter for adoption and which cats and dogs will be moved to HSGKC%u2019s facility for adoption.

Then Sands returns to her office for the most important part of the project, finding placement for the rest of the pets. Breed specific rescue groups are notified about purebreds, and local rescue groups are called to see how many cats and dogs they can take.

The pressure is always mounting because every day more stray pets are being picked up by animal control and placed into the city shelter.

Once Sands has depleted her resources in the Kansas City area, she reaches out farther to neighboring towns and even across the country to a sanctuary in Colorado where they have developed a partnership.

To date, 'Ray of Hope' has saved 800 animals. The agencies were able to place all but a few of the very sick or very aggressive pets.

%u201CThese are highly adoptable animals. They just need a chance. They need more than three or four days,%u201D Robin Rowland of HSGKC said in an interview with the News Tribune.

The Humane Society has taken on the important task of covering the cost of vaccinating and spay/neutering the cats and dogs that are removed from the city shelter. Then the local rescue groups reimburse a portion of that cost for those procedures back to them.

'Ray of Hope' has even taken into consideration the issue of feral cats that cannot be adopted into private homes. They have coordinated with local farmers who are willing to let the cats roam in their barns. 'Ray of Hope' makes sure the cats are provided with food.

Even though 'Ray of Hope' is a demanding program, the agencies involved don%u2019t plan on stopping anytime soon. %u201CIt%u2019s so satisfying when you see these dogs and cats get a home. That%u2019s why I keep doing it. I%u2019m so driven by that,%u201D Sands said.

%u201CWe have to make this happen. The alternative is, literally, a matter of life and death.%u201D

Could Cape Town be the first city in South Africa to follow Kansas City's lead ? Doing this would not only save the lives of innocent pets, but will also brand Cape Town as 'The City that Cares'. We await your response, Mr. Mayor, start the ball rolling!