Tell the Alameda Animal Shelter there MUST be a dog volunteer program!
- by: Concerned Alamedans
- recipient: Bay Area Animal Lovers
She has suspended the dog volunteer program at the shelter. That means that dogs are not being walked, socialized, their cages are not being cleaned (except once a day in the early morning by staff), and they are not being bathed. They are left confined to their cages 24-HOURS A DAY, something that is highly detrimental to their health, well-being and drastically reduces their chances of being adopted. In an attempt to deflect public criticism, the shelter manager may attempt to have staff let dogs out in a back run area but this is not a sustainable solution with her small staff and, they can't manage to walk dogs, socialize them, work with adopters and do the many things that volunteers do and that are required to maintain a successful adoption program.
In addition, she has decided that animals cannot be listed on any other website but virtualpetadoptions.com. So, sites like Petfinder.com which is one of the largest if not the largest animal adoption site in the nation, is used by EVERY shelter and rescue group and has partnered with Animal Planet and is advertised on their TV station, cannot be used. Neither can breed specific rescue site like German Shepherd rescue. Using breed specific sites is important because someone looking for a certain kind of dog will often go to these sites. The shelter has been using multiple sites for years and now, all of the sudden and for no reason, none are allowed but Virtual Pet Adoptions. Since we are a small, out of the way shelter, a large number of our adoptions occur because the animals are found on the internet. Going from using several sites to just one will again, reduce adoption rates.
The Alameda Animal shelter has drastically reduced its euthanasia rate over the last several years and these new rule changes virtually guarantee that all the strides that have been made will be reversed.
Please let the shelter and city of Alameda know that Alamedans and bay area residents want an animal shelter that is looking out for the best interest of the animals in their care. Not one that puts politics above animal welfare.
We, the (former) volunteers of the city of Alameda Animal Shelter are very concerned about several new rules that have been enacted within the last two months. The two most disturbing are that the dog volunteer program has been suspended indefinitely and that animals are not longer allowed to be listed on several high profile rescue websites. When dogs are unnecessarily confined to their cages for 24-hours a day, they quickly become "cage crazy" and unadoptable. When they are not advertised on various rescue websites, because our shelter is so out of the way and unknown, they don't find adoptive homes.
We want to have a shelter that we can be proud of. One that takes the welfare of its animals very seriously. Please sign our petition so that we can show the city that this is an important issue to Alamedans (and bay are folks in general).
Thank you
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