salty popcorn with nutritional yeast

Multnomah County Animal Services Physical Inventory 8-5-10: dogs in need/at risk: update … Sable was killed within 72 hours.

 Gail's remarks  No Responses »
Aug 072010
 

From: “gocbwatchdog@aol.com”
Sent: Sat, August 7, 2010 7:25:39 PM

Sable: help came too late

MCAS killed Sable within 72 hours for her skin condition. She is dead. The family called me this afternoon. They were the Samaritans who found her several months ago running down Powell Blvd. She never had a chance at life, thin and neglected then they took her in. After learning from me from public records that Sable was at risk (skin condition is a death sentence at MCAS) they had gone out to redeem her to seek care and humane options. They had taken her in as a stray.

The family is poor, he is disabled and on oxygen. They kept her several months, perhaps up to 6. They were advised by MCAS that she needed to be licensed, have her rabies, and they needed to address her skin problems (probably secondary to diet and fleas) or they would be steeply fined and charged with “neglect” The veterinarian told them the cost would be $400 to $500, money they did not have. MCAS, no one in fact, referred them to the PAWS team or other veterinary resources for low income persons. Not having that, they spoke to Amy Sacks at the Pixie Project. She enthusiastically directed them to take Sable to MCAS advising them that Sable would get “wonderful care; they would take care of her.” They did. She was dead, no options offered, no rescues contacted, in 72 hours, basically when they went through the door and they took their surrender fee. Amy Sacks has all of the MCAS stats and in separate earlier correspondence advised me she is well connected and would not work with me to help animals I sought resources for if I didn’t stop criticizing MCAS. This is the 4th animal I know about she has referred to MCAS that as a result of her encouraging referral has been killed.
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Von Lunen Special to the Oregonian, August 05 2010: What about tapping licensing fees (for dog poop collection) ? a government propaganda response again

 Gail's remarks  No Responses »
Aug 062010
 

From: “gocbwatchdog@aol.com”
To: pets@jvlunen.com; dennispeck@news.oregonian.com;
theresebottomly@news.oregonian.com; pbhatia@news.oregonian.com
Sent: Fri, August 6, 2010 1:05:58 AM

Mr. Von Lunen:

Are you working for county government as the The Oregonian’s free government press release agent? Or do you just take elaborate dictation? I am puzzled.

Where did the following answer/information come from: in response to a reader’s question?

“Only about 14% of pets in Portland and Multnomah County are licensed, according to a report by the Animal Services Task Force. The low compliance rate has contributed to animal-control officers’ being laid off. The county’s animal services face a dire budget situation. Diverting shelter and animal funds to pet-waste management collection can’t be high on anyone’s list right now.”

This is completely disingenuous. One doesn’t blame the public because not enough presumably license to collect dog poop (there’s a perk).Here are some corrective facts..Nationally few cats anywhere are licensed at all. In Multnomah County the compliance rate for cats is 7.4%. The national compliance rate for dogs is between 30 and 35% . In 2008 in Multnomah County it was 25.6% not far from the national average. However, MCAS once was way ahead in licensing revenue collections. But beginning in 2003, when Michael Oswald took over, the “Great Depression” occurred and on every possible measure MCAS has declined. What has changed is the leadership. Mr. Oswald commented about his predecessor’s work in 2003 when he first started : ” The License Campaign over the last 8 months (under Director Gary Hendel) has resulted in increased compliance and increased revenues. And the revenue we bring in helps fund our current services. As of February 28th , we are $85,000 ahead of this time last year.” What happened?
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Re: 2008 City of Portland-Multnomah County Animal Services Task Force Report recommendations

 miscellaneous remarks  No Responses »
Aug 042010
 

—–Original Message—–
From: D*** M*******
To: ted.wheeler@co.multnomah.or.us; randy@ci.portland.or.us;
ahjohnson@ci.portland.or.us; district1@co.multnomah.or.us;
district3@co.multnomah.or.us; district2@co.multnomah.or.us;
lonnie.j.roberts@co.multnomah.or.us; mayorpotter@ci.portland.or.us;
sadams@ci.portland.or.us; dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us; erik@ci.portland.or.us
Cc: gocbwatchdog@aol.com; fixlanecounty@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, Jun 3, 2009 11:22 am

Multnomah County Administrators,

I am writing in regard to the 2008 City of Portland-Multnomah County Animal Services Task Force Report recommendations scheduled for review this month. I advise strongly against adopting these recommendations for many reasons, the main reason being they will fail to help the animals at MCAS.

I live in Lane County and have been involved in making progressive changes at our county shelter, Lane County Animal Services (LCAS) for the past three years. In 2006, the No Kill Community Coalition (NKCC) was formed after Nathan Winograd gave a seminar demonstrating how implementing the No Kill Equation has succeeded in ending the killing of adoptable animals in other communities. I developed and maintained the lost and found cat program at LCAS for two years and I was Co-Chair of the LCAS Advisory Committee for a year.

Since the NKCC became involved with LCAS, our Board of County Commissioners (BCC) passed the Save the Adoptable and Treatable Animals board order and has sought to implement progressive programs at LCAS inviting community participation. Much progress has been made since then that has resulted in far more animals being saved and adopted into loving homes. A community member Advisory Committee continues to deal with ongoing issues at LCAS.

LCAS is not a No Kill shelter and has a long way to go. But progress has been made and there has been a shift of perspective among LCAS staff and the community about saving adoptable animals. A lot more adoptions, volunteer participation and community support have resulted.

Taking a complex subject and summarizing it here, the bottom line is this: There is only one way to end the killing of adoptable animals in every shelter/community nationwide–to hire a shelter director who understands how the No Kill Equation succeeds and who possesses the skills to make it happen.
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Additional historical perspective

 Gail's remarks  No Responses »
Aug 042010
 
FACT SHEET: MULTNOMAH COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES PERFORMANCE
From: Gocbwatchdog@aol.com
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 11:05:14 EST
To: mult.chair@co.multnomah.or.us

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MULTNOMAH COUNTY GOVERNMENT: FOR WANT OF THE TRUTH AN AGENCY WAS LOST
Propaganda is no substitute for the facts about Multnomah County Animal Services downward spiral and increasingly dismal performance. The excuses for failure are wholly unacceptable. The fact that Michael Oswald is a long time county bureaucrat shouldn’t shield and excuse him from performance standards. Multnomah County government promised change. Was that just another empty political campaign promise? What is the excuse for the facts that more animals are killed and fewer saved in Multnomah County?
Whatever performance measure one uses, it is patently obvious to anyone that deaths have dramatically gone up while adoptions have gone down at MCAS during Oswald’s tenure. The sharp decline in death rates was due to his predecessor, Gary Hendel. Michael Oswald assumed the directorship on March 3, 2003
Multnomah County Animal Services – Animal Trends
FY 00 Live dog Intake: 3,915 dogs killed: 1,140 dogs adopted: 1635
FY 01 Live dog Intake: 4,350 dogs killed: 890 dogs adopted: 1278
FY 02 Live dog Intake: 4,400 dogs killed: 1,019 dogs adopted 1243
FY 03 Live dog Intake: 4,210 dogs killed: 762 dogs adopted 1176
FY 04 Live dog Intake: 4,346 dogs killed: 754 dogs adopted 928
FY 05 Live dog Intake: 4,422 dogs killed: 1,136 dogs adopted 811
FY 06 Live dog Intake: 4,600 dogs killed: 1,259 dogs adopted 765

Re: Asilomar Statistics 2008

 miscellaneous remarks  No Responses »
Aug 032010
 

Asilomar Report for Calendar 2006 – Multnomah County Animal Services
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2007 – Multnomah County Animal Services
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2008 – Multnomah County Animal Services
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2006-2008 – Portland Community Statistics

—–Original Message—–
From: Robert Babcock
To: gocbwatchdog@aol.com
Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 11:39 am
Subject: Asilomar Statistics 2008

The critical numbers appear in the separate “Asilomar Statistics 2008″ for the county’s shelter and for the Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland.[1] Both reports are attached. When MCAS’s numbers are isolated from those of the group, one sees that the remaining members of the Alliance – untainted by MCAS’s individual record – adopt 58.4% of all unredeemed animals and euthanize 29.8%. On its own, MCAS euthanizes 57.7% of all animals, adopting only 23.5% — almost exactly the reverse of the others’ aggregate performances. When the numbers are broken down by species, it is clear that while MCAS euthanizes 42% of its unredeemed dogs and adopts only 34%, the remaining members of the group euthanize only 20% of their dogs and find new homes for nearly 78%. The numbers for unredeemed cats are even worse. While the others in the reporting community manage to find new homes for 60% and euthanize 31%, MCAS kills 62% and finds homes for only 19%. Simply stated, Multnomah County’s own statistics demonstrate that (a) MCAS’s “kill rates” are twice those of its neighbors and (b) MCAS’s adoption programs are less than half as successful. Attribution of the region’s achievements to MCAS allows the agency to hide its own dismal performance and prevents recognition of the need for change at the shelter you oversee.

Robert E. Babcock

New shelter law in Delaware

 miscellaneous remarks  No Responses »
Aug 022010
 
News from the Nathan Winograd twitter feed…..
Pet advocates hail ‘groundbreaking’ shelter law
Surrounded by dogs awaiting adoption, Gov. Jack Markell on Friday signed into law legislation to give Delaware what some have called the most comprehensive animal shelter law in the country.
“Up until now, we have had no state standards of operation for animal shelters,” Markell said. “Today, that changes.”
Leaders of the state’s shelters gathered at the Stanton shelter of the Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, where Markell praised the law’s aim as one of compassion, ensuring that lost, abandoned and surrendered dogs and cats will get a better shot at being reunited with their families or getting adopted into new ones.
Click here for the entire article.

Multnomah County’s proposed 2011 budget, a persistent misunderstanding about animal services performance: funding failure

 Gail's remarks  No Responses »
Jul 312010
 
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Comment from the proposed 2011 Annual Multnomah County Budget: Animal Services, measuring success:
“Dogs and Cats entering the shelter and their Dispositions–key data used to measure performance and effectiveness in saving animals.
The primary outcome measure is to reunite animals with owners or find new homes for all healthy adoptable animals. We also measure our performance against the industry standard outcome measure of Euthanasia per 1000 human population. The national average in 2008 was 13.8 per thousand. In FY 2009, the rate in Multnomah County was 5.27 per 1000.” ( page 18/70)
The comment that “In FY 2009, Multnomah County’s (implied as MCAS)’s euthanasia per 1,000 human population is 5.27 per 1000” is especially troubling because it is misleading as a measure of MCAS performance compared to the national standard. It represents a persistent and constant misunderstanding and misdirection. If that measure has any value, it is in the comparison of communities. It has no application to individual elements of the community’s successes or failures because, when applied to a single shelter, it wholly ignores the performance of all the other groups and individuals who contribute to the community’s performance.

It’s a toga party! Is this a no-kill day for MCAS? Perhaps, Mr. Oswald? And each day after?

 salty popcorn's remarks  No Responses »
Jul 312010
 
The email message (downstream) was sent to me by a little bird….not by the person listed in the text below. Promoting adoption is a good thing but this seems like a really inappropriate way to do it (it been the place of killing for thousands of animals each year over the years). And the goal is 40 animals adopted? That’s good for one day but it will take a lot more than an annual toga party to improve the bleak adoption numbers of MCAS. And how many cats and dogs will be killed today? How many were killed yesterday? How many will be killed tomorrow? Will Mr. Oswald, today, announce a new mission, a new strategy, to put MCAS on the path to a no-kill future?
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2006 – Multnomah County Animal Services
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2007 – Multnomah County Animal Services
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2008 – Multnomah County Animal Services
Asilomar Report for Calendar 2009 – Multnomah County Animal Services

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Based on the data in the Asilomar reports…
1. The “intake” numbers for dogs has improved since 2006 but there is no trend of improvement for cats.
2. Since 2006 MCAS has done very poorly at reuniting cats and dogs with their humans. MCAS classifies some of those cats as ‘feral’ and they may or may not really be. For stray/feral cats, a trap/spay/neuter/release strategy would greatly reduce the number of cats killed. And regarding fees associated with redemption…I seriously doubt MCAS is doing all it can to help guardians free their cat or dog from jail/execution. The folks at MCAS should be doing all they can to find a solution for the guardians and their animals.
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