Running scared, or DCAP's co-option dance begins

Earlier today, I listened to Nathan Winograd's October 30 interview on Animal Wise Radio. It's available as a free, downloadable podcast.

During the interview, Winograd referred to the "Co-option" chapter of his first book Redemption. He saw the Dallas Companion Animal Project (DCAP) coming a long time ago, because this sort of reaction is not uncommon. It's happened in other cities.

Here's how co-option works. It's a three-step process.

1. The folks who did nothing to stop killing in the past begin to get nervous, as more of the public insist that the shelter gets rid of bad management and stops killing the majority of animals in its care.
2. Eventually, these folks decide that the only way they can hang on to power is to begin to start tossing the phrase "no kill" around. This will buy them some time. For example, they'll probably begin to classify many more animals as "unadoptable". This cunning little math trick will immediately increase the numbers of "adoptable" animals that aren't killed. Easy!
3. However, this charade, combined with the others in store for us, won't fool us forever. When their failure eventually becomes obvious, the DCAP task force won't be blamed. Nor will they be held accountable. Instead, the public will be blamed for the killing again, as they were before the task force was formed.

DCAP's Rebecca Poling, is refreshingly honest about her unsuitability to chair this task force. If you read her "About Me" page here, you'll get the drift. For example, she admits she isn't involved in any "hands on" rescue any more. She's not lazy - she's "focusing on the big picture". And she thinks we need tons of unenforceable laws to keep the "stupid" members of the public in line.

And where are these brilliant plans to reduce shelter killing? Not for our eyes. DCAP's Facebook page and Web site have NO details of what the task force is planning to do to reduce euthanasia rates, even though Poling knew it was coming way back in May (see previous post).

Instead, DCAP's Web presence is nothing more than pages of cheerful mutual masturbation, thanking other shelters for joining the Project. Here are some examples from the DCAP Facebook page:

Welcome A Different Breed as a new Animal Advocacy Partner! Thank you for your support!

More new Animal Advocacy Partners... thanks Take me Home Pet Rescue for joining the Dallas Companion Animal Project!!

A big shout out to Paws in the City for joining us as an Animal Advocacy Partner. Your support is appreciated!

French Bulldogs are in the house via Short Mugs Rescue Squad! Thank you for joining us as an Animal Advocacy Partner!

To be fair, not 100% of the Facebook messages are suckups. I think some of the shelters who are now "Animal Advocacy Partners", whatever that means, mean well.

Occasionally, someone will dare disagree with this rubbish - including those who have been truly successful with the No-Kill Equation. But any message they post will be deleted in minutes.

They are also occasionally told to fuck off and not post any more. Here's an example:


Asking Poling and Co. to be accountable is kind of like asking Wayne Pacelle to be honest about the HSUS's fundraising efforts. (And since the HSUS reports have done nothing to improve things at Dallas Animal Services, can we have our $50,000 back?)

I feel sorry for many of the shelters who are joining, as they're ready to do what needs to be done to make Dallas a no-kill city. Instead, they'll eventually realize that DCAP's message hasn't changed - just the name.

In the meantime, the killers at Dallas Animal Services and in Dallas City Hall will continue to kill the majority of animals they take in, while they continue to tell us to shut up and let them do what they want to do behind closed doors, without accountability.

Dallas Companion Animal Project: Ouch, ouch and ouch

Since Jody Jones was brought in to run Dallas Animal Services (DAS) a few months ago, I decided to take a wait and see attitude to see how she planned to manage.

Recently I have decided that she might as well have stayed in Richmond.

The bottom feeders at Dallas City Hall, especially the ones in the Animal Shelter Commission, have already got this no-kill Dallas thing wrapped up. (Not really, but this is what they want you to think.) They've named themselves the Dallas Companion Animal Project. Let's call them DCAP for short.

Seems that the committee-sitters have decided to retain their links to the folks who helped them kill the Companion Animal Protection Act earlier this year - namely, THLN, HSUS and similar - while attempting to pass off their mysterious plans for a no-kill Dallas as Nathan Winograd's No-Kill Equation.

To my mind, if you're in bed with the THLN and HSUS, there is absolutely no way you can make no-kill become a reality. But DCAP insists this is true.

DCAP's Facebook page proudly links to THLN, HSUS, and similar "hidden-agenda" organizations. Ouch One.

Winograd not only noticed that DCAP's Rebecca Poling borrowed an outdated quote of his; he was sufficiently outraged to write to the major of Dallas and to point this out in detail. He also made his letter public.

Here an excerpt from his letter, in which Nathan eats Rebecca's lunch one more time:

...you cannot create a true and authentic blueprint for No Kill success by empanelling a Task Force chaired by a person who has no track record of success and who opposes the very approach necessary to end the killing of savable animals.

Here is a link to Nathan's entire letter. That's Ouch Two, DCAP.

But even though Nathan's letter has been public knowledge for several days, DCAP has not had the courtesy (or the brains) to remove his quote from any of their materials.

Here is Ouch Three. Even if the previous has not convinced you of the disingenuous nature of DCAP, this may.

Someone NOT involved with No-Kill Dallas (a group separate from DCAP, and supported by Nathan Winograd) has wandered over and registered every usable No Kill Dallas Web address. If you visit Register.com and look up these:

www.nokilldallas.com

www.nokilldallas.net

www.nokilldallas.org

you will see that they're taken. NOT by a group, but by an individual. And they are not in use.

Here's a screen shot of one of them, courtesy of Register.com.

My guess is that she is busting a gut to sabotage the real No Kill Dallas group - the group that Nathan Winograd actually supports. Because if she can do this, she can keep the spotlight on herself. You can read about this group and find out how to volunteer at the No Kill Dallas Facebook page.

Does anyone care to hazard a guess as to what's wrong with Rebecca? For someone who pretends to love animals, her actions betray her at every step.

But here is the ultimate bad news: while Rebecca busies herself with her egocentric activities and confuses a growing number of newcomers to no-kill, Dallas Animal Services keeps killing more and more animals. Every day.

THLN celebrates animal deaths at Sambuca

It appears that the Texas (In)Humane Legislative Network (THLN) thinks they have something to celebrate.

Click on the headline below to be nauseated by the story (but don't bother posting a negative comment, as it will be deleted):

THLN Victory Party Sunday at Sambuca

I suppose the THLN sycophants' celebration includes killing the Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA). Killing this act means that Texas shelters can keep the current modus operandi.

Nathan Winograd's blog post contains details of what THLN fought to keep:

Thanks to opponents, pounds in Texas will continue killing animals cruelly (gassing them to death). Thanks to these groups, they will continue turning away rescue groups and then killing the animals those rescue groups offered to save. They will, like the Houston Humane Society, systematically slaughter dogs they claim are “pit bulls” for just being dogs. And they will continue to lie to the public, claiming they are doing all they can to save lives; even as they have shown they will do whatever is necessary to defend their ability to kill animals and to protect that ability for others, even in the face of readily available lifesaving alternatives they simply refuse to implement.

There's not much left to say.

Except fuck you, THLN.

Man faces jail time for TNR. WTF?

From a St Paul, MN newspaper - click on the first sentence to be taken to the complete story.

****************************************************

Doug and Annette Edge thought they were doing the right thing for their community.

With feral cats roaming their North St. Paul neighborhood, the couple trapped the wild felines, took them to be sterilized and vaccinated, and then released them back into the city.

City officials, though, say the couple was breaking city animal laws.

In April, North St. Paul charged Doug Edge, 45, with two misdemeanors: failing to have a cat license and allowing domestic animals to run at large. Edge faces a fine and up to 90 days in jail.

"I'll go to jail before I pay that fine," he said.

****************************************************

The No-Kill Advocacy Center (visit their Facebook page by clicking here) has begun a letter-writing campaign to St. Paul's Mayor, Mike Kuehn, in defense of Doug Edge. Here's the mayor's contact information:

Fax: 651-747-2435

Email: mike.kuehn@ci.north-saint-paul.mn.us

Postal address:

2472 14th Avenue
North St. Paul, MN 55109

Shelter Commission meeting notes, part 1

The feedback from last Thursday's Animal Shelter Commission meeting has been considerably more optimistic than usual, due to the presence of the new shelter manager Jody Jones. Nobody has yet to find anything in Ms. Jones' background to be concerned about, and she is believed to practice the No Kill Equation as outlined by Nathan Winograd.

Of course, the Usual Suspects provided their usual contributions - although Joey "I'll get back to you" Zapata was thankfully absent and saved everyone some time and irritation.

The most-mentioned highlight of the meeting was provided during the final hour, when Commission member Rebecca Poling (Examiner.com writer and professional committee-sitter) did an incredible 180-degree about face. Even though Nathan Winograd ate her lunch on Facebook a couple of months ago - click here to see those details - Rebecca was heard actually quoting Nathan during the meeting.

Of course she didn't get it 100% right. She also insisted on boring everyone by quoting from a Web site called No Harm, No Kill.

This Web site is downright weird: initially it appears to support the No-Kill Equation, but as you read through it, you eventually realize that it doesn't. When you hit the HSUS link, you know something's up.

But the site mentions the Richmond SPCA, a group that Jody Jones worked with, so it's obvious why Rebecca landed on it. It's a fast and easy way to suck up to the new shelter manager. And we're betting that Rebecca's hoping like hell that Jody doesn't notice that she published a shitload of fear-mongering crap online just a couple of months ago. (This is the same anti-CAPA fear-mongering crap to which Nathan Winograd took great exception.)

Overall, the No Harm No Kill site is a mess, but Rebecca still insisted on reading big chunks of it out loud while everyone else mentally drummed their fingers on the table.

When she got to the Five Freedoms (which date back decades, and originate from the UK), a new Shelter Committee member snapped "Why not six freedoms? Including freedom to life?"

I need to find out who that new Committee member is.

More later, including Skip Trimble's latest legal buck-passing and Jonnie England's continuing inability to accept that she ain't on the Commission this year.

Jody Jones: Dare we hope?

Although local media has picked up the news that Dallas Animal Services has a new shelter manager, not much has been said about her management style. However, this was brought up in detail at yesterday's Animal Shelter Commission Meeting. (More about this meeting later, as I sort through the notes kindly emailed to me.)

Fortunately, the news looks good. I spotted this press release online at http://www.richmondspca.org:

Please join us for the announcement of a nationally-significant award recognizing the achievements of the Richmond community in saving the life of every healthy, homeless animal in the City of Richmond since Jan. 1, 2006.

Schedule of speakers:

Robin Robertson Starr, chief executive officer, Richmond SPCA
Richard Avanzino, president, Maddie’s Fund
Mayor Dwight C. Jones, city of Richmond
Jody Jones, shelter manager, Richmond Animal Care & Control

Maddie’s Fund designed the Lifesaving Award to acknowledge the contributions of community coalitions such as the partnership between Richmond Animal Care & Control and the Richmond SPCA, which result in saving the lives of all healthy, homeless pets in the community and that are likely to sustain an adoption guarantee in the future. This recognition is for lifesaving work in the years of 2006 and 2007.

Statistics for the two shelters making up the coalition were submitted to Maddie’s Fund by the Richmond SPCA. Both organizations collect data for the animals in their care based on the Asilomar Accords, which provide for consistent reporting across agencies.

If you're wondering what the Asilomar Accords are, check them out here.

I can't help but wonder if everyone at DAS, City Hall and the Animal Shelter Commission will be able to accept and implement the Asilomar Accords. If they do, perhaps the vendettas we've seen in the past - which were always fueled by a DAS and/or Shelter Commission member - will cease. It would be good for the animals, no?

Give a pit a break!

(To those who have emailed me asking for news of Jody Jones, the new DAS manager: the reason I've not posted anything about her is that she's managing to keep a very low profile. Considering the mess she inherited, I don't blame her.)

However, while we wait for the next Animal Shelter Commission meeting and perhaps an appearance from Ms. Jones, we can still rely on the old guard to make us wonder.

Recently I switched my already-spoiled cat Natasha to the Blue Buffalo brand of cat food. While I don't mind the price, I prefer to buy the larger sized bag so my pet-sitter won't have to go out and find it when I'm out of town. Petsmart is the only place near my condo that sells this brand consistently and in larger bags.

Earlier today I was picking up some cat food at the Petsmart on Greenville Avenue just north of Lovers Lane and Central Market. As usual I stopped by the adoption center to see who the SPCA had taken in recently.

In the past, the SPCA often didn't bother to keep this adoption center at capacity, but these days they seem to be trying harder.

At about this time, I noticed a smallish pit bull being picked up from the Petsmart boarding area next to the adoption center. The volunteers for a rescue group that had set up mobile adoptions in the aisle nearby were petting the dog and making a general fuss over her. She was enjoying the attention and so was her owner.

Suddenly I saw a short woman half-drag the dog away, hissing "Not her!". The dog's owner looked confused but didn't protest. The rescue group volunteers shrugged. The hissing woman continued out the door, with the pit on a leash and the sheepish owner not far behind.

The dog looked sad. I think she'd been enjoying the petting.

The whole incident was really strange. I mean, who wouldn't want their dog to be admired? And the dog had no signs of mange or anything similar, so there shouldn't have been any reason for anyone not to pet her.

Suddenly I recognized the "Not her" woman. It was Rebecca Kornblum from the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission. I've mentioned her before on this blog; she always appears to be unhappy about something or another. I have yet to ever see her smile during a Commission meeting.

I'm still trying to figure out the meaning of the "Not her!" remark. Does anyone care to guess?