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| Alley Cat Allies pic |
Ten years ago, a document published by the Assn. of
Shelter Veterinarians alerted readers to the horrible conditions in many animal
shelters. “There is a . . . long list of
stressors for animals entering shelters,” it began, also making the point that “Poor
cat housing is one of the greatest shortcomings observed in shelters and has a
substantially negative impact on both health and well-being.”
Standards of Care in Animal Shelters” provided detailed directions for how
shelters should be set up to best serve the animals housed in those facilities.
(Since then, I’ve heard of just one
US shelter that has met all the standards of care – which may be a reason why
the 2010 “Guidelines” have not been updated!)
shelters is a fostering program that would greatly lessen – if not eventually obviate
– the need for them. And the good news
is that such programs are starting to happen.
Just think about homeless animals going to . . .
homes (!), instead of shelters. In real homes,
these animals, already stressed and possibly in need of training as well as
loving, could gain skills, confidence and comfort. (I never met a shelter rep who could offer
those incentives.)
Around the country, groups are trying out different versions
of moving the shelter to the community — fostering instead of sheltering
animals. It’s a seductive idea, but not
easily implemented on a large scale.
Just consider, for instance, recruiting and monitoring volunteer fosters,
and then overseeing possible adoptions of those animals.
for most shelter animals, numbers of them will be euthanized because they could
not adapt to being there and acted out largely because they were in an “unreal
world.”
an article in the Fall 2019 issue of Animal Sheltering Magazine, details
all this and much more. If feasible on a
grand scale, it’s very appealing.
It’s a great thing to
foster or adopt a shelter animal during this isolation period and shelter in
place together. You have time to become
acquainted, to play and walk together, to train . . . to bring home an animal
in need and feel less lonely yourself.
to arise when things open up again is weaning your new family member from you
and your 24/7 presence at home. As you
return to work or start job-hunting, you’ll seem to suddenly disappear. How will your pet deal with that?
Ease that trauma by
gradually conditioning your new companion to your absence ahead of time. Go out on errands that gradually become
longer, even if you just drive to a nearby park and read or phone-chat for a
while. Noiselessly secrete yourself in
your basement for a block of time and, as possible, take occasional day trips.
Plan now for how
to get your new pet used to your being out as well as being home.
merely thinking of “wet market” or “eating bats” or “species-jumping viruses” should
suffice to promote plant-based foods, I read it appreciatively and assumed others
would too.
defiant, angry. I was stunned . . . till
I recalled that even now, the city of Wuhan, China where the current pandemic
began, has banned only some wild animals. And holiday beach-goers ignored social
distancing advice.
writer’s argument — unarguable, I’d thought — against meat-eating? I could become a misanthrope.
Flashback: Trenton rescue kittens at St. Hubert’s
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| St. Hubert’s pics |
I hope you’ll comment on this post and/or
my earlier Q about how/when you use dog crates. Just go to 1moreonce.blogspot.com, and thanks!