Sunday, December 30, 2012

Where's DCAP?

Since I haven't checked out the Dallas Companion Animal Project Web site lately, I decided to take a look today. But it was gone.  I replaced the .com with .org - still nothing. Perhaps it's a temporary situation.

Finally I went to Facebook to see if they were still maintaining a page. They are - sort of.

It seems that the task of patting themselves on the back has been transferred to Chris Watts and Maeleska Fletes, who describe themselves as "co-chairs", aka "co-sit on butts and talk a lots".   Here's a DCAP posting on Facebook from November 2012 - I have added some comments in parenthesis:

Since the Dallas Companion Animal Project was launched a year ago, we have had the mission of making Dallas one of the most progressive cities as it relates to becoming a humane community for animals. The achievements have been plenty and the movement is so exciting!

We are only able to smile at the success of DCAP because of the dedicated people of Dallas. The passion, commitment and dedication to moving to a no-kill city is only because of YOU.

Everyday we are met with new obstacles (er...what new obstacles?) and everyday we have a champion to rise to the challenge (please ID your champion). Your dedication, compassion and commitment are what makes DCAP work, and there is nothing more then that to be grateful for.

On this day of being grateful, we, and the entire board of DCAP wish to applaud you for your efforts. It comes with a humble heart and a smile, you are the reason do (sp) many animals are alive.

Sincerely,

Chris Watts & Maeleska Fletes, DCAP Co-Chairs

Okay then, let's look at some of these so-called achievements Chris and Maeleska are crowing about.  

The euthanasia rate is what the majority of us are concerned about - right? From a PDF housed at www.dallascityhall.com, here are the official figures from Dallas Animal Services:
  • Euthanasia rate for September 2011 - 1,572
  • Euthanasia rate for September 2012 - 1,177
Considering that the DAS intake for September 2012 was LOWER than in 2011, these figures are even worse than they initially appear.

Backing up to 2011, DCAP's Rebecca Poling (Miss Friendly Fire) stated that their goal was to make Dallas no-kill in five years. In over a year, they have accomplished very little. Most independent 501c3 rescues still find DAS impossible to work with, which is a major part of The No Kill Equation. 




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