Advocate spreads hope for shelter animals.Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard An animal welfare advocate said shelters need to challenge the notion that they have to kill friendly, reasonably healthy dogs and cats to keep them from being overrun with animals. Nathan Winograd, a former shelter director in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , told a crowd of about 200 people Thursday night at Harris Hall in the Lane County Administration building that a shelter running at peak efficiency can find homes for almost all stray and abandoned animals, as well as feral cats. Winograd said the "no-kill" approach can be adopted in Lane County. The first order of business in a no-kill community is establishing a low-cost, high-volume spay-and-neuter clinic, Winograd said. "It would work here because you have a large homeowner demographic, a progressive community and a groundswell ground·swell n. 1. A sudden gathering of force, as of public opinion: a groundswell of antiwar sentiment. 2. of support witnessed by the number of people here tonight," said Winograd, who currently serves as president of the consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a No Kill Solutions based in San Clemente San Clemente (săn klĭmĕn`tē), city (1990 pop. 41,100), Orange co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; inc. 1928. Camp Pendleton, a large U.S. marine base, adjoins the city, which is chiefly residential. , Calif. Winograd ran the Tompkins County shelter in Ithaca, N.Y., from 2000 to 2003 to prove that his no-kill policy could work in a rural community. He brought the agency's kill rate to the lowest in the nation: 1.9 cats and dogs Cats and Dogs A slang term referring to speculative stocks that have short or suspicious histories for sales, earnings, dividends, etc. Notes: In a bull market analysts will often mention that everything is going up, even the cats and dogs. per 1,000 residents. And the no-kill approach is cost effective, he said. His costs for holding a cat the minimum number of days, cleaning its kennel, killing the animal and getting rid of the carcass was $100. But the cost of sterilization sterilization Any surgical procedure intended to end fertility permanently (see contraception). Such operations remove or interrupt the anatomical pathways through which the cells involved in fertilization travel (see reproductive system). was $25. The drive toward increasing the number of no-kill shelters began in 1994, after Richard Avanzino, the director of the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is any of a number of animal welfare organisations whose operations include protecting and providing shelter to animals in danger. , tore the decompression chamber decompression chamber n. A compartment in which atmospheric pressure can be gradually raised or lowered, used especially in readjusting divers or underwater workers to normal atmospheric pressure or in treating decompression sickness. - now seen as a hideous way to kill animals - out of his shelter. Today, San Francisco has the lowest rate of shelter killings for a large city at 2.5 animal deaths per 1,000 residents. By comparison, the Lane County rate is 10 dog and cat deaths per 1,000 residents per year. The government-run Lane County Animal Regulation Authority and the nonprofit Greenhill Humane Society killed about 3,400 dogs and cats by lethal injection last year, statistics show. This amounts to 52 percent of the cats and 16 percent of the dogs that passed through the shelter doors. Johnni Prince, executive director of Greenhill, said Winograd brought up some valid challenges facing shelter operators. "We could do more if we had more resources," Prince said. The Florence Area Humane Society went no-kill in 2000, but it limits its intake of animals that have complicated medical or behavioral issues. Still, the shelter killed 24 sick kittens and puppies last year. "No-kill is certainly a viable solution," said Sandra Raykin, Florence Area Humane Society shelter manager. "I'm excited that Lane County is going toward that." Winograd said Lane County can either seize the opportunity to adopt a no-kill approach or maintain the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. . "But in the end, no-kill is inevitable," he said. |
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