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Daily
Sun wrong about Humane Association
Guest Editorial
By Amy
Durant
Coconino Humane Association Receptionist
I am an employee of
the Coconino Humane Association and have been for over a year. I
would like to respond to Anne Minard’s article "Coconino
Animal Shelter battles low funding, critics" published in the
Dec. 16 Arizona Daily Sun. T'here were many incorrect
statements in the article:
Minard
writes of watching “as a worker aims a garden hose into its cage,
and sprays the cement floor clean." If Minard had asked us for
a tour, or at least asked how we clean the cages, we would have been
more than happy to tell her that we step inside the cages and spray out,
not into, the cages. If the dogs are wet, they have to
actually run into the water from the hose, as we make every effort
to keep the dogs dry at all times.
"The
water exits through a small rectangular opening leading to the
outdoors." Minard seems confused about how the shelter is
configured, as none of the kennels lead to the outdoors. The water
actually leaves the cage from under the gate, then going into the
drainage system in front of the kennels. None of the kennels open
directly to the outdoors.
"That
same opening lets in a constant stream of cool air." First, I
do not know what opening Minard is referring, to, because, as stated
before, there is no opening that leads to the outdoors. But yes,
there is a constant stream of air coming in from the outdoors. We
find, through time-tested measures, that a constant stream of air
leads to a reduction in airborne diseases, such as kennel cough. If
we close all the doors and windows and leave them closed for even a
few days, the instances of airborne diseases go up drastically. We
also recently installed a radiant heat system that cost
approximately $18,000. We spend almost $800 a. month on heating
bills. This heating system was recommended to us as the best one for
the animals by a professional. The kennels are actually quite
comfortable, and all young puppies and older dog are given blankets
to increase their comfort level.
"Brother-and-sister
puppy pairs lay atop one another in furred huddles against the
cold." Actually, these same "brother-and-sister puppy
pairs" lay atop one another no matter what the weather. Puppies
find it comforting to huddle with their litter mates. It has nothing
to do with the weather. If you read books about new puppies, you
will see that trainers often recommend that puppies be given a
stuffed animal to huddle with, as it increases their comfort level
in a new environment.
"Some
of the dogs bark, the echoes booming in the vast, dark room."
"Dark" is an incorrect adjective to use to describe our
kennels. We actually have more than adequate lighting in our
kennels. This lighting consists of 30 fluorescent lights with 8-foot
bulbs, 10 floodlights, and 6 skylights. As the photograph of me
holding a litter of puppies shows, the kennels are well-lit and all
the animals are quite visible.
Minard
asks why the number of animals euthanized “persistently hovers
around 2,500” a year?" First, the actual figure is much
closer to 2,000 animals a year than 2,500. There are many reasons
why so many animals are euthanized at our shelter each year. We are
the only facility that euthanizes unwanted animals in the County, so
of course the number is high here. We also take animals in from all
over the region, including the reservation, and at times have
received animals from all over the country for various reasons. Many
of these animals are uncared for, ill, aggressive, old, or otherwise
unadoptable. We cannot, however, turn away animals the way Ask for
Pets and the Critter Crater can. We have to accept any animals
brought to us. We also deal with the problem of people unwilling to
adopt from us for various reasons, be it the price of adoption, the
lack of purebred animals, or the requirement that all animals
adopted from us be spayed or neutered. The animals that these people
would have adopted end up "unwanted" and, once the shelter
gets full, have to be euthanized. We also get all the puppies and
kittens in from the public who refuse to spay or neuter their
animals, and again, we can't turn the animals away.
There
are many reasons why the number of animals euthanized here hovers
around 2,000 a year. But we like to focus on the more positive
aspects of our organization, such as our adoption and
return-to-owner rates, which are over 55 percent. Perhaps Minard
should have investigated the Humane Association further instead of
publishing lies perpetrated by critics.
According
to Minard, "Critics contend ... that Pugh and the shelter could
do a better job of public education on the issue of pet
overpopulation." We do quite a bit of public education, and,
with more income, could do even more. We are currently planning a
newsletter that will address that issue as well as many others, and
would love to do more public education on various animal-related
issues. We actually do, on average, 70 classes a year, not to
mention booths and tours. Time and money do become a factor,
however. We only have seven full-time employees, two of' whom are
administrators. The remaining five employees have a full-time job of
caring for the animals at our shelter. We do get away as often as we
can for educational purposes, but the animals and the shelter come
first, as they should and must. With more income, we could possibly
hire someone to concentrate fully on education, and therefore widen
our educational scope within the community.
As
an employee of the Human Society, I agree that yes, the turnover
rate among employees is due to the low wages that we work for.
Imagine this —you work, on average, a 43-hour week, without
overtime pay. Your job consists of cleaning up fecal matter for a
good part of the day and putting animals to sleep the rest of the
day, as well as dealing with a very often irate public. And, when
payday rolls around, you are making about $3 an hour less than
studies have shown a Flagstaff resident needs to meet all his or her
basic needs. Why do we continue working here, you ask? We love our
job, and we love the animals We obviously are not in it for the
money. If we were, we would have long since departed for jobs with
better pay. If more income is what it takes to get our rate of pay
up to a living wage, so be it. There are other things that would
help us as employees. How about sending a thank you card to the
shelter employees, recognizing that they are doing a thankless job
for little money but that you appreciate it? How about coming out to
the Humane Society and bringing them lunch or a snack as a thank
you? How about, the next time your animal is picked up by Animal
Control, instead of yelling at the receptionist, thanking her and
her co-workers for taking care of your animal? After all, your
animal could have very easily been hit by a car instead of ending up
in a warm, caring environment.
It
makes a hard job harder when an article lambasting the organization
you work for comes out on the front page of the paper. And Minard
has certainly made our jobs, at least for the next few weeks, a
nightmare. Although we do appreciate the ads the Daily Sun
runs periodically in the pet column for us, overall, this article
was very disappointing to us. The fact that this article came at
Christmas time just adds to the problem. I have already fielded
approximately 10 calls concerning the article, and this is only the
first business day after it was published. I would like Minard to
come to the Humane Association and ask one of the employees for a
tour, as she should have done while planning this article. Or, how
about this? Ms. Minard, you do my job for a day, and I'll do yours.
No, on second thought, I'd rather not. Publishing opinions
masquerading as fact that will be spread around the community as
truth does not sound like a job I would want, no matter what the
pay.
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