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Keeping Score (Part 1)
Posted by:
jn on
June 12, 2009 at
11:15AM MT
On May 28, I posted about Adopt-A-Cat Month , awaiting any news that maybe, just maybe, the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter or the local rescue groups would plan for, and advertise the event. After all, the YVAS professed its desire to reach out to the community in ways we'd never witnessed before, and promised to focused on desire to educate the public about the importance of pet adoption.
In almost all shelters across the country, the number of cats always exceeds the number of dogs. The reason for this is that most often, shelters do not take measures to promote the value of owning cats, do not place emphasis on that value, and sometimes, the cat section in a shelter is on the opposite end of the dog section, leaving cats often ignored or misrepresented (not that I suggest that cats and dogs be placed in close environments). Another reason is that people who own dogs are more likely to get them spayed and neutered early on, thereby decreasing the number of litters produced. Such is not the case with cats. What better way to encourage the public to adopt cats, during the month of June? What better way to work toward increasing space allowing other cats to temporarily be held until adopted? What better way to impress the public and thereby create consistency throughout the entire year and every year thereafter? June 4, the first week of Adopt-A-cat Month. No news from local shelters and rescue organizations. No advertisements. No notice in the papers, and no notice on local news stations. No plea to the community about the countless number of cats available for adoption. Ok, I think to myself, perhaps they are simply and innocently unaware of this important national event? I send a message off to YVAS, and to another local rescue group. Neither respond. I omitted the other groups for the following reasons (although I feel this does not give them immunity in the long term): one has their hands full with an entirely different situation. Another has relatively few cats. Another apparently doesn't have enough cats that warrant a public plea to adopt. Now, let's look at the statistics. As of today, according to their websites, as well as petfinder.com , listings for adoptable cats are as follows (for YVAS, I included cats listed on the site including "on hold" cats): Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter: 96 cats and kittens (this number has increased by 18 in less than a week) Help For Homeless Pets: 96 cats and kittens (this number has increased by 9 in less than a week) Last Chance Cat Sanctuary: 11 cats (I feel this is an inaccurate number, since the director has been known to state on various occasions, they have anywhere from 60-100-plus cats) Hope Haven Animal Rescue: 9 cats BARK Animal Rescue Kare: 1 cat Keep in mind, that as in the case for HHP, LCCS and HHAR, many of those cats have been in their care for quite some time, a few for as long as 9 years or more! With the exception of a few "special needs" cats, the total number of combined cats available for adoption in Billings is pretty high. Also keep in mind that this may not represent the true number, since some of the rescue groups and the shelter do not always place ALL of the cats they have in their care, on their websites. Nor can we accurately account for the number of cats and kittens who may be in temporary foster homes at this time. Given the number of available cats for adoption, the need to focus on getting these cats into responsible loving homes is dire, especially due to "kitten season", in which spring and fall are the months intact females are likely to mate and birth in the hundreds and thousands. Yet, not one organization thought to utilize Adopt-A-Cat Month. Not one. And where are the public service announcements begging/encouraging pet owners to spay and neuter? Does kitten season not correlate with a dire need to send that message to the public? Sure, it's an old message, one that often falls on deaf ears, but that doesn't mean we should become complacent in delivering that message and stepping up to increase awareness and education. To their credit, and I DO wish to give them credit, most of the rescue groups do host occasional spay and neuter events, as well as low-cost vaccine clinics. But, they are few and far between. We have to change this. As far as Adopt-A-Cat Month, it could have been a very easy, low-cost event to promote. In my previous article, June Is Adopt-A-Cat Month!, I presented a few websites inspiring creative ideas to promote cat adoption. This is not a little-known event, it is a national event, one in which many shelters across the country take advantage of, and quite wisely at that. It is an excellent opportunity for shelters to increase awareness, educate, get creative, impress the public and keep them coming back for more, or, at the very least, maintain public support. More importantly, it saves lives. Except in Billings, MT. I'm generally a forgiving person. I understand the trials and obstacles that animal shelters face on a daily basis. I understand time restraint and lack of funding, poor community support and all of that. What I don't understand is the lack of thought or idea. I don't understand how a website can place in bold text under a "Calendar of Events" section stating that "June is Adopt-A-Cat Month", yet, no one even knows what it is, that it is not recognized and utilized to their favor. I don't understand how not one person at that shelter had no clue what the Adopt-A-Cat event was, much less took the time to find out, on their own. I don't understand why a veterinarian representing the shelter didn't think to bring that up, in advance, and plan for, through a meeting, or perhaps just in passing to a staff member. I don't understand how a vet on the board of directors can showcase a pet on a local news station weekly segment, make a statement that the shelter currently has 100 cats, yet not consider a well-known national event to aid in lowering that number significantly. As of June 7, there were 78 cats and kittens shown on the yvas.org website. There were 19 dogs. Today, June 12, there are 96 cats and kittens shown on the yvas.org website. That's a stark increase of 18 cats in just 5 days. There are 27 dogs. Imagine if an Adopt-A-Cat event were being held. I'm willing to give the YVAS a temporary pass this time. Only because they've been without a director (until last week, that is), and because apparently "no structure", and "no volunteer force" is currently in place. If you think you're confused on that last part, so am I. Allow me to explain.....
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