Surprise! No surprise today.

This was posted Sunday Oct. 24 at the Dallas Animal Advocates blog. I broke it up into paragraphs for easier reading.

Surprise briefing Monday!

Tomorrow, Monday 10/25/2010, the Dallas City Council’s Quality of Life Committee will be briefed by Dallas Animal Services. The briefing, scheduled to being at 1 p.m. was scheduled without the knowledge of the Animal Shelter Commission, who only accidentally found out about it.

DAS is scheduled to discuss the background of Dallas Animal Services, including the 2001 HSUS report, an operational overview of Dallas Animal Services, a review of recent events that includes “Manager of Animal Control Resigned” (well, yes, that’s what happens when you tell someone you’re eliminating their position and give them a pink slip!), and a nifty comparison of Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio’s animal control departments.

1st question – Does the City operate a shelter. Duh. 2nd question – “Is there a commission, and how many member are on the Commission?” Then questions about annual impoundments (stats from 2005), # of animals surrendered and are their drop boxes available? Read the entire briefing HERE. If you are interested, it’s open to the public, but there’s no public comment period.


Before you start thinking "Crap, I would have liked to attend," hang on - the Committee briefing was cancelled almost as quickly as it was announced.

I couldn't get Google Docs to upload the briefing, but if you surf over to:

http://www.dallasanimaladvocates.org/

You can download the briefing as a PDF from the blog entry.

My first question: why the FUCK are they referring to the 2001 HSUS shelter evaluation? Does this year's evaluation suck that badly?

Second question: Why does this briefing not mention our fair city's appallingly high euthanasia rate? Perhaps the City Hall mindset is: We've been killing around 80% of the animals we "shelter" for decades, so there's no reason to keep up the good work.

And when will we finally hear what the 2010 HSUS evaluation contains? If it took me - or most of my readers - as much time to present a single report, we'd all have been fired for incompetence.

Dallas Animal Advocates blog

Like many others, I was initially encouraged by the title of this blog:

http://dallasanimaladvocates.wordpress.com/

Now or Never for Dallas Animal Services it proclaims in big black (and sometimes white) letters.

Okay ... so why can't anyone leave a comment unless they have a Wordpress login? Sheesh.

And alas, they're still kissing up to the H$U$. I couldn't comment about this posting, but at least I can copy and paste it:

The HSUS Shelter Evaluation Program
Posted in Uncategorized on October 11, 2010 by urbancritter

The Humane Society of the United States’ Shelter Evaluation Program offers “affordable (Editor's note: $25K is considered affordable? Think of how many spay/neuters you could finance with that), customized assessments to animal care organizations seeking assistance in making their shelter a better place for both animals and employees.” According to their website, they use “a tailored evaluation approach to meet your specific needs by utilizing a team of experts in the field of animal sheltering. Our team examines each issue, program, or policy in the context of your entire operation.”

A new link to clicky

This blog, Vox Felina, discusses TNR research and TNR opponents. The author has done his research, which makes some blog entries a heavy read, but valuable nonetheless.

Check out Vox Felina here.

Dallas City Hall doesn't discriminate ... they'll screw any taxpayer

This blog article was forwarded me to yesterday (I have an awful sinus infection and am behind on everything, including updating this blog). While the blog doesn't mention Dallas Animal Services, it illustrates how Dallas City Hall does whatever it wants. Taxpayers be damned, or sodomized, or whatever. If you're a taxpayer, you can't do shit about it.

(These are the same dolts who required TWO bond issues to be passed before they built a new animal shelter. Two years later and it's already broken.)


Think City Hall Should Get A Tax Hike? You Might Think Again After Seeing How Crappy It Treats Its Taxpayers. By Jim Schutze

In the last few weeks everyone has been talking about taking on a tax increase so we can give City Hall more money. I promise you this much: This story will make you wonder why on earth we would even consider giving the people at City Hall more money.

Is DAS finally headed in the right direction?

This following is from Larry Powell's blog. Forgive my cynicism, but I'd bet the rent that not every group who responds via RSVP will actually be invited.

THINGS CHANGING AT DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES: From a shelter with its back to a wall, the Dallas Animal Services Shelter is acquiring a new image. This latest development may help a lot.

The Companions For Life people and Dallas Animal Services are inviting managers of local rescue groups (all-breed and breed-specific) and private shelters to come to the Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center to meet with the interim manager, Dallas Police Lt. Scott Walton, and DAS Rescue Coordinator Mark Cooper.

CFL President Rebecca Poling says there are two dates, space is limited and you have to have reservations. These get-acquainted sessions -- one on Saturday, Oct. 2, (9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.) and the other on Oct. 14 (6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.) – will be in the meeting room at the Dallas Animal Shelter and Adoption Center. Deadline for RSVP on the first one is Sept. 30, deadline on the second is Oct. 12) E-mail your RSVP to info@companionsforlife.org – get more info there, too.

Suzette! Please check in.

Sorry to contact you in this fashion but I replied to two of your recent emails. And both promptly bounced. Any idea why?

FP

Overdue eviction notices

After reviewing the current status of our fair city's animal services, I feel rather ill.

Nobody seems to actually be running Dallas Animal Services. Tyrone McGill is playing golf on the taxpayers' nickel, while the folks running the Texas Humane Legislation Network (THLN) refuse to discuss why Suzette Watkins was shitcanned last month. And the Shelter Commission members continue to sit on their hands and pad their resumes.

Over on the Yes! Biscuit blog, a recent horror story was picked up - and a well-known No Kill advocate commented.

The link is here.

What will it take to dislodge the inmates from the asylum? Has Dallas begun to organize a No-Kill movement yet? If not, it's past due.