Shelters are not Animal Stores...
I wanted so badly to adopt after I read the original article. Couldn't figure out why the Chicago Heights would not allow you to adopt...and here are the reasons. I vow to adopt, once the ciivil lawsuit it over.
The thing that bothers me is, almost all shelters are in need of food, towels, paper towels, whatever, but when you are already a responsible pet owner, needing the companionship of a dog that needs to be loved and you want that devotion, how dare they tie those dogs lives up in civil court where it is already proven the former owners neglegted them, and those dogs have no voice?
They have to sit in cages, and while the Humane Society wants people to adopt, they put you through a criminal prosess, as if you don't need one, if they feel the way they do. I have a fenced in yard, a house, a taxpayer, what more do you want?
Unless you people in the Humane Society are willing to really want us to adopt, people will go to the pet shops, no questions asked, and and that's why you have the problems you have.
Every Humane Society in the Southland show only pit-bulls, or agressive dogs, or dogs known to be prone to siezures. They would gladly hand those over to you. Pick out a little lap dog, it can't be adopted...why? Cuz they are worth more to them than those biters.
There's political crap behind them...I volunteered for them. They want you to take the loosers so they have room for the loveable kind.
I suggest you raise money by auctioning off the pitbulls to the very people that mistreat them...and allow us responsible with homes, taxes, etc., jobs allow our pick to relieve your silly interpretration of who gets what dog.
I have visited over 10 shelters in the past two years....all I got offered was pitbulls. Sell them back to the owners or enthunazie them. They kill babies and are abused by their owners, yet you cry you are in need of dog food, etc.
I want a dog from there, adn if I don't get one next week, I'll pay more from the pet store just to save one on my terms. I don't care about your home investigations. More kids get killed than dogs at the hands of their parents.
Either loosen up on your so-called wanting people to adopt the strays, or be stuck with them. So afraid of where they go when I walk in with a suit an heels...but you want proof of anything personal. Thanks..I'm sick of you begging us to adopt when you so relunctanly treat us as criminals, instead of human beings. Makes you wonder what your priorities are? Your jobs or the dogs' life?
You make it so hard to adopt, that I believe adopting a foreign child is much easier.
Don't cry us a river, either.
No matter how you come to the conclusion of who is best to own...let me provide an example of how useless you people are in determining who gets to adopt or not.
You allowed a friend of mine to adopt three cats and one dog. She lost her house. She can't afford the shots, she can't hardly afford the cancer the dog has, nor the food required. Did you inform her that cats don't share their little litter bins? No...cuz I picked up their crap off the floor two years ago.
Yet you allowed a woman with 12.00 an hour to take on two cats, then four, can't afford the food, nor the shots, nor the cancer opperation, and she lost her house and has to live somewhere where her rent is more than the mortgage....
Do you understand? You can't fight people that you think can raise two cats, now four, or a dog that is afraid to go outside to do his duty. You threw that dog at her...took advantage of her. That dog would have died under your care or her care.
Quit patting yourselves on the back.
I haven't talked to her since she was evicted, went into an apt, paying triple for having animals, and sent me an email she had to move. I know why she had to move...your dog can shit in your own home, but not in an apt.
You as the Humane Society SUCK!
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2137821,040410animalshelters.articleA look at how rescuers tend to the animals that land on their doorsteps
Comments
April 3, 2010
BY DONNA VICKROY
There's a misconception that animal shelters are just like pet stores. Nothing is further from the truth.
"People think they can just come in and pick the cutest animal. It's not like that," said Emily Klehm, executive director at South Suburban Humane Society in Chicago Heights.
Shirley Culbertson, of Homewood, volunteers at the South Suburban Humane Society and has been a foster parent for many animals that come to the shelter.
(Mary Compton/SouthtownStar)
RELATED STORIES
• PAWS Tinley Park
• South Suburban Humane Society
Members dispute
In January, a group of South Suburban Humane Society members, led by Elmer Johnson, a resident of Crete and member of the society, filed a lawsuit in the Cook County Circuit Court charging that the shelter's board of directors is in violation of its own bylaws.
At the forefront of the grievances was concern about an election held at the nonprofit's annual meeting in December. According to the suit, contributing members had been allowed to vote yes or no in past elections, but in the December election they were only allowed to vote yes.
The shelter has until Friday to file its response. Executive director Emily Klehm declined to comment on the suit.
"Our first obligation is to the animal. Just because you love the Chow puppy doesn't mean it's the right pet for you."
To help people better understand the way shelters work, we asked two local facilities to explain the basics.
Klehm has been at the helm of the society since December 2007.
Karen Thelen Schutt, certified veterinary technician, is treasurer with Peoples Animal Welfare Society in Tinley Park. She has been with PAWS since 2004, when she became Animal Control Officer for Tinley Park.
Q. How do animals end up in a shelter?
Klehm: One of three ways:
1. Owner surrender. People give up pets because they can't afford them, don't know how to discipline them or because the animals need extensive veterinary care. Sometimes there are horrible reasons - "We just got new carpeting" or "We're going on vacation."
2. Strays. Found animals often are brought to the shelter. The village of Chicago Heights reimburses our shelter for any strays its humane investigators pick up.
3. Licensed humane investigators. Animals that are rescued from neglectful or abusive situations can be brought to the shelter for protection and care.
Q. How do you determine which animals can be admitted to the shelter.
Schutt: There has to be two open kennels for Tinley Park cat strays and two for dog strays at all times. If we have room and the animal is reported to be good tempered, they can take them in if there is room on that shift. If people cannot bring them in on that specific shift they are told they must call to find out when they can bring them.
With Tinley bringing strays in 24/7, the available kennel space can always change. If a stray is from outside our area or if it was found near another shelter's area we always suggest that the animal go to that shelter so the owner will be able to locate it.
If an animal is found at 111th and Cicero, it makes more sense for that animal to go to Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge. If the animal is a stray from Orland Park, we ask that the finder contact Orland police or their animal control officer. If the animal is a stray from the Mokena/Frankfort area and it is after hours or found by a resident, we will hold the animal for the Frankfort Township animal control officer until she can come pick it up.
We have in the past also taken dogs off of transports that come from high kill shelters, from southern Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Arkansas.
Q. Are animals ever turned away?
Klehm: Yes, if an animal has bitten anyone in the previous 10 days, state law requires that it be impounded and monitored by a licensed veterinarian for 10 days.
If the pet was adopted by another shelter, we strongly suggest it be brought back to that shelter. Every shelter I know of has this same clause.
But if the person dropping it threatens to abandon the animal, we will take it and get it back to its original shelter.
Q. What is your shelter's capacity?
Schutt: We can hold approximately 40 to 45 dogs, depending on sizes and ages, and approximately 100 cats when we are at peak kitten season, with about another 30 to 40 kittens in foster homes. Off season we usually have about 60.
Klehm: Sixty cats, 40 to 45 dogs and around 20 small creatures, such as lizards and turtles.
If we're filled up and more animals are brought in, we rely on our network of foster parents to help out.
Q. What is the adoption process like?
Klehm: There is a short application and an interview. We look at the adopter's lifestyle and at their pet experience.
Also, we require every member of the household, as well as any other dogs, to be present before an animal is adopted out. They all have to bond.
We maintain a database of animal abusers. Everybody gets checked. If there's any history of abuse, a prospective adopter will get turned away. Some towns have breed restrictions. Dolton, for example, does not allow pit bulls.
These animals have been through trauma. We have a responsibility to make sure their second or third chance is a forever home. Our primary objective is to improve the life of the animal.
Q. Are animals ever euthanized?
Schutt: PAWS is considered by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to be a no-kill shelter. We do not euthanize for space. Once an animal is with us it stays with us until it is adopted as long as it stays mentally and p hysically healthy.
If serious issues come up that cannot be corrected, the animal is brought to the attention of the committee for discussion. Animals that become aggressive or have a bite report that goes to the County Animal Control are brought to committee. Five volunteers serve on the euthanasia committee for no more than two years consecutively. If the committee by a majority elects to euthanize an animal, members take the animal to one of our veterinarians for the procedure to be done.
If the animal is sick and is not going to get better or is suffering, our medical team discusses euthanasia at length with the treating veterinarian.
Klehm: Animals that are very aggressive or are a danger to staff or volunteers are euthanized. We have to for safety and humane reasons. Overly aggressive animals are miserable.
We get a lot of aggressive dogs here. Each one is evaluated for temperament, using a nationally recognized test. We use those results to determine which ones are adoptable.
Kennel stress is another reason an animal could be put down. Some high energy, highly intelligent breeds, such as pit bulls, are more susceptible to it. If they spend too much time confined, they start to go crazy, spinning in their cage or chewing at their own skin. They can even get physically sick.
We do our best to minimize it with three-times-a-day walks and play groups. Sometimes we'll simply move an animal from one room to another for a change of scenery.
Currently, the shelter has an 80 percent adoption rate for dogs and a 35 to 40 percent adoption rate for cats.
Fostering helps us save more than ever, but there are still very few resources for cats. Everyone has too many cats.
Euthanasia numbers at SSHS have decreased from 436 animals in '08 to 173 in '09. That's due to the growing number of foster homes - up from 75 in '08 to 452 in '09 - and to a new program called Seniors for Seniors, in which people ages 60 or older can adopt any pet that is 6 years or older for just $15.
Q. How do you get the word out about animals in the shelter?
Klehm: An emerging trend is community outreach. We sponsor Adoption Day programs at PetSmart and Petco. The stores don't make a dime on the events. We get all the fees plus a $25 donation per animal from the store.
We're doing more to get animals out of the shelter and into the community. Last year, we had 67 off-site adoptions. We've had adoption days at Cherry Creek Starbucks in Homewood and at Ryan's Pub in Frankfort.
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PUPPY MILL UPDATE
The fate of 53 designer puppies continues to hang in the balance.
The Kankakee Co. states attorney's office has announced it will not file charges against two women suspected of running a puppy mill in St. Anne, just south of Kankakee.
The dogs were confiscated in February during a raid by Cook County sheriff's police and taken to the South Suburban Humane Society in Chicago Heights.
"Basically, the dogs are in limbo," said Valerie Schramm, attorney for the humane society.
Numerous messages left with Kankakee County State's Attorney John Boyd were not returned.
A Friday hearing, originally set to determine if a temporary injunction preventing the shelter from adopting out the dogs should be continued, is now designated as the date on which a judge will set the next hearing date.
"It's only a civil matter now," Schramm said.
Schramm declined to discuss the shelter's plan of attack, only to say it has several options.
The dogs originally belonged to Karen Brownfield and Patricia Gorecki. Gorecki has two prior convictions for animal abuse, said Emily Klehm, executive director of the society. After one conviction, an offender can be charged with a Class 4 felony, which is what Klehm was hoping for.
"This is very disappointing," Klehm said. "We're outraged that the St. Anne 53 might be returned to these women."
Klehm vowed to fight that.
Meanwhile, the yorkies, poodles and other lap dogs continue to gain weight and recover from living in what Klehm described as horrific conditions.
The dogs were found Feb. 13 living in 40-degree, excrement-covered conditions in a trailer park, Klehm said. Two had to be hospitalized. One suffered a shattered knee and had to have its leg amputated. All were treated for mites, ticks and various mouth and skin infections. Ten of the dogs were pregnant.
The Cook Co. Sheriff Animal Crimes Unit was involved in the case, even though it took place in Kankakee Co., because of its expertise in the field, Klehm said.
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