The Coalition for Change provided us with the following statement criticizing this weekend’s cat giveaway at the Connecticut Humane Society.
The CT Humane Society sponsored a special adoption event this past weekend. It was called ‘Feline Frenzy’ and all 3 year old cats (and older) were “FREE TO A GOOD HOME.” The Coalition for Change has a number of concerns with this latest initiative.
First, the idea of giving away so many (since the CHS can accommodate scores of cats) implies that each cat has no value. It is as though you were invited to a cat “buffet” where you could sample different types of felines and keep what pleases you and throw away the rest.
Of course, it is our hope that most of the adopters this weekend were ethical and reputable pet owners who will be able to afford to keep the cat healthy and happy. We can only hope that CHS managers and board members insisted on current vet records and actually checked them, because under normal circumstances when patrons are willing and able to pay approximately $80 for a cat, the assumption is that they will also pay for its continued care.
Next, most reputable rescue organizations have a firm rule regarding “Free to a Good Home.” They don’t do it. There certainly are exceptions such as a cat with a serious heart murmur, an elderly dog, or any animal with health issues. Isolated incidents such as these could warrant a free adoption.
Furthermore, a shelter of this capacity that gives away a high volume of cats has just lost revenue that could be used to help other homeless animals. For example, if CHS gave away 18 cats valued at $80 per cat, they have just lost $1,440, which is equivalent to a CHS animal care employee’s monthly salary based on 36 hours per week at $10 per hour. The CHS Board of Directors continues to resist the Attorney General’s recommendation to release more of their endowment for direct animal care. Then, to add insult to injury, they give away a number of adoptable cats.
Finally, it costs CHS quite a lot of money to make these cats healthy and adoptable. When the average cat is brought in, it may not have reliable vet records. Therefore, each cat needs rabies and all feline vaccinations, as well as blood tests for contagious cat diseases and parasite protection. These services cost money. While the $80 (or so) does not cover all of the care provided, it does recoup some of the cost.
The Coalition for Change applauds the efforts of the CHS and many other rescues to find homes for as many animals as possible. However, CHS should investigate more responsible ways of promoting their pets such as taking the mobile adoption bus out every weekend, or as frequently as possible, to the many events held within CT all year round. The goal is to get as much exposure for the animals as possible. It is also an excellent public relations strategy to go out frequently into the community to showcase the animals available for adoption as well as to inform the public of responsible pet ownership.
Cathy DeMarco, Spokesperson for the Coalition for Change
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If only the animal care workers made $10 an hour! They should for all that they do. Little do people know there is no such thing as a “FREE” cat. I only hope that when the cats get ill they see a veterinarian and don’t get returned to the shelter in mass quantitiy!
That is my fear as well, that once the animal gets sick or something, they can say, okay OPEN the door and let them go since they didn’t spend any money on it. REAL BAD idea here if you ask me. Why not just ask all the poor people to come and grab a cat like it was a sale at Walmart….UGH!
I love the part about being more responsible and getting the bus out. For real people!!! You have a bus that most shelters or rescues would LOVE to have and it sits in a parking lot to be used for a moving (which hardly moves) billboard. When I was a volunteer, two summers ago, I was out with that bus EVERY weekend BOTH days of the weekend, gave up my free weekends all summer long for the sake of those animals to find homes. Why is it that some volunteer’s can do the right thing but the managers and the board don’t see the same way? WHY IS THAT? It’s staring you right in the face folks! Most of it is common sense. Thank God the coalition has the guts to stand up to these attrocities. If I could ask Chris White or any member of the board one question, which I’ve given up asking them questions…..is HOW can you justify the cost of this said bus to do NOTHING? How can you look at the books and say hmmm we spent $$$$ on this bus that never leaves the parking lot. Riddle me that oh mighty board members…..
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Putting the merits of this event aside (since I’m not sure it is such a bad idea-reasonable minds can differ), can I ask why this was not advertised better? CHS does have a full time PR director, correct? Is it too much to ask that she get the word out about an event like this, as opposed to putting a small write up on the CHS website literally 3 or 4 days before the event? I am not even being sarcastic….I really am wondering if I am missing something here?
Yes,exactly! And from what I heard they hired an additional PR consultant of some type as well. They didn’t get nearly any media coverage for their big Waterford groundbreaking event either. What are they doing over there?
No media coverage for the Waterford event, and they shut down the Newington branch for several hours on the day of the Waterford event, without even letting customers know! It’s time to get it together, CHS! The animals deserve better than this!!!
I heard about this event on the radio for an entire MONTH leading up to it – People at work were talking about it. I think it was publicized quite well. My twin sister lives in NY and caught wind of the event and considered coming herself.
I google stuff going on at the shelter all the time and I heard NOTHING about it…and I’m a VOLUNTEER!!!
I found out literally 7 days before hand.
I’m glad you heard about it Jen, but it seems like very few other people did. Even the volunteers didn’t know about the event until days beforehand. Why not let the volunteers know what is going on, so they can spread the news? An event like this shouldn’t just have radio coverage…it should be in printed media…it should be on pet forums online….and at any rate, I listed to the radio every morning and night to/from work and heard nothing!
Dang, catwoman got to it before I did….I heard the same thing. They have “hired” some sort of Public Relations consultant???? You have a PR director!! IF she needs to HIRE (at donations expense) a PR consultant, than my thoughts are she isn’t capable of doing her job and needs to be replaced just like the rest of those who cannot perform their jobs and now that they can’t suck up to Richard Johnston, they should be nervous. Is this ANOTHER incident where the board thinks this is the best course of action. Again, spending more money to do the job that someone is already getting paid to do. I can’t see how this place can manage much longer in the shape that it is in. Help needs to happen and the sooner the better….
This makes me worry about the possibility of cats being taken for cruel purposes.. it’s not unheard of for perverted sickos to scour the classified for animals “free to a good home”, pick them up and then do despicable things to an animal for fun.
I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s a fantastic point Bunny.
Good thing it wasn’t a free-pitbull weekend…
Ugh – don’t even joke about that. It’s probably what’s coming next, because we have a lot of those too!
Does anyone have anything GOOD to say about the CT Humane Society? No, I don’t work for them and never have (to put that out of your minds). I really think that every organization has their faults, and they’re doing the best they can in their eyes. My dog just went through training there and found it all to be quite wonderful and successful. I’ve dealt with them a few times in the past looking for pets for both myself and family/friends, and the operation there seemed to be quite good.
Why don’t you go volunteer there and get change happening instead of knocking them on a website at 9pm on Sunday? Can’t we find ANY positive in the fact that these cats got HOMES, instead of a small little cage???
No, nothing’s perfect, this is true. And I’m glad you had good experiences. And I cannot stress enough that the *staff* are generally wonderful. It’s management that’s the issue. And those in the know, and the investigations that George has reported on suggest we’re not talking about a few minor “faults.” And management, by the way, has gone out of its way to prevent change. One volunteer was “fired” for pursuing change.
Read all of George’s posts and I think you’ll see how serious these problems are.
Jen, I agree with James. The staff is basically good. It’s the management that is not up to parr. Unless you have worked there (I have) it’s hard to understand or believe what happens. Just mentioning the “small little cage” that the cats live in, some for a very long time brings back many emotions and is so heart breaking. Just one of the changes that CHS needs to get with the program on. Free roaming cats are healthier and much happier & well adjusted. Meriden Humane Society does it as well as many other shelters. It’s not rocket science to see that cats cannot live in little metal boxes day in and day out without acting out. Unfortunately the cats that do act out, do what is natural to them in those conditions are the ones that are euthanized. Wake up CHS & fix the problem(s)!
Jen, I agree that every organization has their faults. I’m thrilled personally that you had some great experiences. Let me just point out a few things.
1) You say, why don’t you go volunteer there! Many or MOST of the coaltion is a past or present volunteer or paid employee. I was a volunteer for FIVE years and for the most part it was fun until they started firing people for trying to stick up for themselves. We are trying to get things changed thru this Coalition because it is the only way you can get change to happen with these people. Pressure!
2) Find something positive in the fact that the cats are getting homes would be great as long as they are the right homes. Do you REALLY in your heart of hearts think that if you advertise FREE CATS that you are finding the perfect homes for them? You are attracting everyone including people who can’t afford to pay for an animal so how can they be expected to get the proper medical help if the need be.
3) Ask to speak to one of the five Paid staff members who were fired. How about Lynn for instance. Listen to how she was SET UP unknowingly to be fired and fell innocently into their trap. They tell lies, then stick together to make it stick. How do you go from being a stellar employee and then you support a union to be treated fairly….and suddenly you are on the poop list and you get fired.
4) I need to point out that the training that your dog went through was provided by an outside vendor. Those training classes are taught by top notch trainers but they are contracted out and paid for by the Humane Society.
I’m not only playing Devil’s Advocate here but what you SAW at your visits for CHS is what they ALLOW you to see. Take it from someone who’s been there and has had to lie to customer’s when they ask certain questions….The adoption counselors for the most part are great people and work like dogs as do the rest of the animal care staff. How would you feel if you were paid 9 bucks an hour, treated like dirt, get belittled by your manager’s and then fired? CHS should be the greatest place on earth to work and yet it has so many issues and until the bad blood that has been poisoned with the venom from Richard Johnston is eliminated…there problems will continue.
Hate to break it to you, Jen, but most of the people commenting on these CT Humane articles ARE those who have volunteered and/or worked at the agency. They are far more informed than you on these issues and are not just angry people who have nothing better to do than “knock them on a website at 9pm on a Sunday.” If it weren’t for all these people speaking up, Richard Johnston would still be in control and the Board of Directors would have no idea what was really going on in the organization. These brave people have risked everything to speak out in hopes of improving the situation. 5 people lost their jobs!
I’m happy that you have had good experiences with CT Humane as many others have. It is because of these dedicated employees and volunteers that most customers do have a positive experience. The last thing they want is for the customers to stop coming in to adopt animals. They work tirelessly day in and day out to save these animals despite the bad treatment they receive from managers who try to limit their ability to help the animals. You have no idea what really goes on there, and a lot of it is far worse than anything that has been reported on here or elsewhere in the media. Maybe YOU should think about that before posting a comment on a website at 9pm on a Sunday.
Jen, as my name implies…I was a volunteer. The only thing I can say to you is that maybe YOU need to volunteer there and see how people are treated there. They hide it for the most part but if you REALLY pay attention, it’s obvous. Are you aware that one volunteer used her real name on here and spoke her opinion, then was told they were no longer needed at CHS. See, you don’t speak out when you work there unless you want to be fired. Have you EVER heard of an organiazation that FIRES volunteers…..The menality of those in management is unreal. Look at the all the articles. This is not a witch hunt. This is a representation of what goes on there and the animals deserve better. The fired staff members deserve better. You should show THEM your support as well.
Well Jen, it’s very “ballsy” of you to tell us to go volunteer there when I would say 98% of the people posting comments either work/volunteer or have worked/volunteered there – you know, the ones that actually know what’s going on? So actually YOU are the one that has no idea what you are talking about. I’m glad you found the training class to be beneficial, many people do, we have never faulted the training classes there so why are you even bringing it up? There are wonderful members of the staff there that work their behinds off for the animals. We have commended them over and over. There are very specific people (managers) making very poor decisions and THAT is what we are criticizing. Most everyone on here is working together to try to make positive changes. NO ANIMAL SHOULD EVER BE GIVEN AWAY FOR FREE. A simple google search will explain why.
This is very scary that an organization like CHS would promote “give aways” especially when they do not do vet checks on potential adopters. People fill out an application which many people lie. A kitten was adopted from CHS a couple months ago only to be taken to the new owners vet and made an appointment to have her declawed because her other cats were declawed. Sickening!!!!! Another excellent article Cathy! Kudos to you & the coalition for your continued work towards a better CHS. I know I am not alone when I say that you need to be part of the new management team of the new and improved CHS. Perhaps then the animal care workers would have a chance of seeing that $10/hour wage. Animal care workers that are so dedicated that they come in to work early, work holidays and are there FOR the animals certainly deserve more than the $9 and change an hour rate that they are currently getting. Unless you are management or Kitty Baker who gets nice fat raises and bonues for her belittling and badgering of the staff. She twirls around in her state of crazed frenzy and lacks any form of communication. What goes around comes around.
The CHS wants to have tons of room for kittens so they can make more money. That’s their main source of revenue…kittens.
So instead of euthanizing the older ” unwanted” cats or turning them away when people try to surrender them, which is their usual mo, they decide to just get rid of them the quick, easy, and irresponsible way…Free to good home.
Why not take some of the hefty endowment and put it towards humane education to keep the population down, or spend money expanding their animal care services, or assist local rescues so they can continue the good work they are already doing.
Because these people have NO IDEA. The CHS is run by unqualified managers and this most recent stunt just highlights their ignorance. What a waste of money, resources, and time. They should be using their money to help not throw the problem back onto someone else. I hope these poor kitties found good homes, and were not harmed by CHS’ poor decision making yet again.
Let it be know that Kitty allowed 1 person to adopt 3 cats, yes 3 free of charge.
Also when they ran out of 3 year old cats they dropped the age to the 1 and 2 year old cats, and even were giving out vouchers in case there wasn’t enough cats to go around this weekend. Almost all of these cats with the exception of just a few were highly adoptable cats and now CHS has all the older cats and special needs cats, these are the cats that they should of been promoting, but once again they haven’t a clue on how to run a shelter. By the way over 6 years ago Kitty was making 16.00 hr. I can just imagine what she is taking home these days. I’m sure she will get a big fat bonus for the high adoption numbers this weekend.
Interesting about the VOUCHERS….so basically they were giving out rainchecks to people? So can you go ahead and ORDER a 3 year old Male Tabby? And when one comes in, you can redeem your free coupon? That’s just what it sounds like. And this is the leader in serving the animals of CT??? Oh boy..yes BOARD OF DIRECTORS you made yet another blunder. Do you people not see the error of your ways? Has SATAN taken over the minds of these people?
The thing is, Satan was far more clever.
It is kitten season. People come in to look at cats, see a kitten, and take it home. This has been going on for a few weeks. During that time, a large “back-log” of adult cats has developed. The HUMANE thing to do would be to try to put those overlooked cats into homes as fast as possible.
I am not often in the position of defending CHS, but come on people, are you all so seriously one-sided in you thinking that you can’t be happy when something good happens? LOTS of cats went home. Home is better than a shelter. That is it. If you disagree, you’re an idiot. Period.
If you want to continue to speak ill of CHS, then go ahead, I certainly won’t stand in your way. But attacking CHS for one of the first really humane things they’ve done in a long time only make the Coalition look as self-serving as the Coalition accuses CHS of being. If the Coalition dismisses a humane act because such an act does not easily fit into their own paradigm of CHS=Abuse, then they are no better than CHS managers who abuse staff for not fitting into the CHS paradigm of subservience=skill.
It WASN’T a “humane” act though. They put animals into homes that couldn’t afford them and put animals with families that were VERY ill-suited for them (nippy cats with families with children, etc).
This just reminds me of when my school gives out free t-shirts or cups to students; none of us need them, but hell, they’re free, we’ll take ‘em!
Ask any reputable shelter, this was a horrible idea on CHS’s behalf.
And as for a “backlog,” there was none, I volunteer there every week and there has been no issues with there being “too many” cats.
I agree with the Coalition’s assessment 100%.
Sorry, but it is not an absolute that a home is better than a shelter. THAT is idiocy. What is an absolute is that a GOOD home with well-screened and appropriate adopters is better than a shelter. See the difference?
And I have to add, I have NEVER seen the Coalition say CHS=abuse. The focus has ALWAYS been on CHS management. So try CHS management=abuse if you want to go off about “paradigms.” You clearly misunderstand the Coalition’s mission and concerns, which is a shame.
And finally (I promise) I assume you have your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed whenever a news report appears where animals are rescued from the “homes” you regard as absolutely superior to shelters and are in fact brought to those shelters where they actually are cared for. Next time you want to rant, run it by a lawyer first so that your reasoning isn’t quite so faulty.
Mouse, can you verify that each potential adopter was screened? The application asks about Vet Records but do they check? Noy typically unless they get a gut feeling…which is fine under normal circumstances but for this event, it should have been checked for sure, maybe it was…that would be BEST case scenario. An event like this just asks for Hoarder’s to come and get more cats for animal control to have to worry about in the future. I personally applaud all efforts to get animals out of the building but for the love of god, do it sensibly.
How can a home who’s ability to afford proper medical care,would be a concern, be better than a shelter for that particular animal? I seriously hope that this is not the case with ANY of those animals but seriously, what are the odds that if 50 cats went home, that all of them went to perfect forever homes. If under normal circumstances CHS gets returns, imagine what is going to happen in the coming few weeks with cats to be returned. I pray to the animal gods that every one of those adoptions works out for their sake but the reality is that some of them will be returned and THAT is even more inHUMANE to send these animals out to a home and quickly swept back into the shelter system.
Let’s be honest with ourselves here; this was a desperate decision made by incompetent people who trying to dig themselves out of a hole without any clue as to what they are doing, how an animal shelter should be run, or how their actions affect the animals they are supposed to be caring for.
While I would have been fine with a discounted adoption fee, no animal should be given away for free – cripes even CraigsList warns people of that! While I’m sure many of these cats went to good homes that would have been willing to pay the adoption fee regardless, I anticipate seeing many of them returned as well. If I were one of these customers, I still would have made a donation despite the cat being “free”, don’t know if that happened or not but I would hope so.
Each cat that was sent home was done by an adoption counselor. With the exception of the manager, you are talking about people I work with every day. People I trust to make good decisions. You are talking about me. So yes, the people were screened. Maybe we didn’t call vet references, but we rarely do. We, who work there every day, did what we always do; we sent animals to homes we hope with be good for them. And the cats that remain? They have more space than they did before. Which was the plan created by our veterinarian. So if you want to call every employee incompetent, go ahead and do so. But, by doing so, you are causing a schism between many members of the coalition who actually work with the animals every day, and those who look upon us from ivory towers of absolutist principle. I don’t like being judged for doing what I KNOW was right.
Um, you actually opened with an absolutist principle (home ALWAYS better than shelter) in your first post. You really need someone to review your posts before they go out. You undermine yourself too frequently through flawed statements such as those. Finally, it’s technically not YOU being judged–it’s the event itself that is being judged. Relax and read some poetry.
BUt in this case where you ARE giving them away for free, I feel it would have been MOST appropriate to call and get references or at the very least, ask for vet records. WHile it might not be your practice all of the time, in THIS case, would it have been such a problem to do that just to be sure????
Any update on if they are close to hiring a new executive director? It can’t happen soon enough. This person will have their work cut out for them. Someone needs to start steering this ship.
This precanned outrage is incredibly insulting. It is insulting to the CHS staff who work tirelessly to make sure EVERY animal goes home to the BEST home it can, regardless of what adoption campaign is being run.
It is further insulting to adopters. Jumping to the conclusion that adopters only take home free cats is because they are poor and ill equiped to be pet owners is heinous. Following your logic ANYONE who adopts who a pet, for a minimal adoption fee rather than paying thousands from a backyard breeder has suspect intentions. WHERE the hell is the logic in that? People should be applauded for adopting, not judged because they were swayed by a marketing campaign to put older cats in the spot light, at the time of year older cats are the most frequently passed over.
It’s further insulting to the CHS staff, the professionals, who concluded there IS a back log of cats and that it IS a problem and more space IS needed.
Finally, this is insulting to the very people you claim you are trying to reach: the Board. There is nothing but condemnation. There are no suggestions, no documentations, no discussion of what other shelters do to remedy over population during kitten season and how such techniques could be easily employed at CHS. Your argument hinges on the sole assertion that the money in the waived adoption fees was somehow a grave financial misapporpriation. Haven’t you all be complaining that CHS is too concerned with the bottom dollar – this is a financial loss for them – for the benefit of the cats. This was not a Cruella Deville style calculation to make the most room for revenue generating kittens at the expense of older cats. The fact is people coming in to adopt a cat see a kitten and take the kitten home instead. This is why all those “highly adoptable” cats were sitting at the shelter for weeks at a time. The donation waiver made them more competitive with kitten cuteness.
Yes, the cat condo needs a remodel. Yes, the cats need more room. Yes a million times over that a million things need improvement. However, sitting back, being critical, passing judgment (about the staff and the public no less!) and generally kevetching without offering facts as to why this was unforgiveable or suggestions as to how to solve the problem is nothing but a masturbatory exercise in self indulgent rhetoric.
And that, Coalition, your insistence on reactionary, inflammatory, letters published here, insiting emotional repsonses and not much else, is why the Board continues to ignore you. I’m sorry, it’s harsh, but it’s true, and it needed to be said. You intentions are the best, but your execution needs improvement.
Mer, I think a promotion to get the adult cats adopted is wonderful. I think a discounted adoption fee with much more scrupulous screening (i.e. vet references) would have been great. It is no big secret that “free to a good home” is vastly discouraged and that is why there is this massive disapproval. Some financial obligation needs to be tied to an adoption – heck even if a donation was requested at the time of the adoption that would have been better than nothing. I’ve said that twice now, that is my suggestion and that is what is done at the other shelter I volunteer with when they are bombarded with cats (discounted adoption rate).
Thank you, Volunteer for your time volunteering and your perspective. I think your suggestion is fantastic. My problem is that it is here, in a comments section, rather than in the Statement above bearing the name of the Coalition.
The best suggestions are meaningless burried here, amid antagonizing discourse and impassioned speach. If the facts and suggestions don’t make it into the Official Statement they are worthless as far as making our point and as far as getting the attention of the Board.
Mer, whatever the fee, requiring money be spent to adopt by definition represents an investment in the animal, and a financial commitment; moreover, it provides some evidence that the adopter has the disposable income to care for the animal. That is a fact. This is why I personally dislike this promotion.
Two other points:
1) speaking only for myself, I have given up on the board. Chris White’s 30k of advertising revenue is just the tip of the iceberg. They did a poor job of oversight all along, which is why Richard Johnston remained in power so long. And long before the present conflict, recommendations were frequently made to the board and management and summarily dismissed.
2) I see no evidence that the *staff* are being insulted here. I myself have stressed this, that the *staff* are generally good people doing a good job and and working hard while being underpaid. The debate here is over whether this promotion was appropriate or not. THAT is the central issue.
1. Re: the fee: a free cat has no more intrinsic value than a paid for cat. Being able to sell drugs, blood, your kid on the black market, to come up with the modest money to adopt a cat is NO indication of your financial ability to care for an animal, and it is certainly not indicative of your willingness to care for the animal. One has nothing to do with the other. I can list a myriad of reasons why someone would be compelled by this campaign to adopt and none would have anything to do with financial ability to support an animal.
1.(a) Again, the implication that only the poor, destitute, or sociopathic would be trolling the CHS website, lying in wait for a free animal promotion, to swoop in and adopt an animal for ill gotten gains is really insulting to the public who were compelled by the promotion to opt for an older can instead of a kitten.
2. Whether you are trying to reach the Board or the pubic at large, this technique/strategy remains juvenile and ill-effective. I will not reiterate the reasons why as they are plainly stated above.
2(a) Furthermore, 30 seconds on google reveals that shelters (including SPCA shelters) across the country run promotions like this during kitten season and are considered a success. They send home cats, make room for kittens, relieve the burden on the shelters and get the public involved. So again, a reactionary response, providing no alternative solutions is NOT convincing, to anyone, whomever your audience is at this point.
3. The constant hand wringing, and “oh me oh my ANYONE could have taken those cats for ANY nefarious purpose” IS insulting to the staff. The implication is that these cats were handed out like a door prize for showing up, rather than going through the EXACT same screening process as any other animal. The staff busted their asses this weekend sending cats home with the best family, and for their efforts they find this in their face Monday morning. You don’t have to say “the staff handed the cats out like door prizes” to send the message that’s what you thought. And if it isn’t what you (a general you, not you specifically) thought, then what exactly was there to be upset about?
If you don’t like the promotion that’s fine – I can’t change your mind about that. I continue to maintain, however, that this is not an effective means of communication; it undermines the credibility of the Coalition, it paints the Coalition in a very immature, unsophisticated light and finally, and it was really truly insulting to the people who are actually there, as their REAL job, every day, doing the best they can with the circumstances they have.
I’ll keep it simple, since your reasoning is poor. I will only respond to the remarks that concern me most.
1) your economic logic is faulty. it is well established that people tend to value things (all things) more if they have to pay for them. you saying it’s not true doesn’t make it so. and your manic tone (selling kids–really? immature mode of argument, in your terms, I should say) hardly helps you.
1a) you once again put words in the coalition’s mouth with your reactionary assessment of an “implication that only the poor, destitute, or sociopathic would be trolling.” no such implication was made. no suggestion was made that the staff did not do the best they could to screen potential adopters. key is your use of the word “only.” the concern raised was whether there might be increased risk in unsuitable adoptions through this promotion despite the best efforts of the staff, not that “only” unsuitable adopters would come out to such a promotion. it seems to me that, whatever you may think of the issue here or its discussion, you hardly demonstrate a calm, measured review of your own.
Also, thought I’d check–does your closing emphasis on the “people who are actually there, as their REAL job” mean you exclude volunteers as having any standing? Talk about your implications : )
The board can ignore the coalition all it wants, as I understand it though, it’s not going away. While you state that the coalition doesn’t ever offer up suggestions to the board, I beg to differ. The coalition has offered many ideas, many concerns and discussed with them things that other shelters do. That is what our Researh and Information Team does, they go to shelters and rescues and report their findings to the group. Our big concern about euthanizing animals was the driving force behind the euthansia panel being formed. Prior to that, if someone didn’t like the look of an animal, they were killed, no questions asked. Now it goes before a panel. I am sure CHS will tell the public that that has been in the works for a long time prior…Not true. Johnston didn’t allow for things like that.
The “responsible” way to get these animals adopted out would be to find ways to promote them within the four walls of the shelter or using your mobile adoption bus or even sending a volunteer to a few events with a small number of adoptable cats in cages where they can sit outside with them…The bus is the key to helping the animals get adopted who otherwise might not be seen. Is that such a hard thing to comprehend from this organization? I understand that you need someone to get out there and drive the bus and get out there but had they not fired so many people, they would have enough staff to do this. I’m happy they are trying to find ways to get these animals out of there. But please do it sensibly.
I’m tired and I’m emotional so I am going to make one plea here. Do NOT assume you know more than me or the next person about the inside dealings at CHS. Just like everyone else here, I have been through more emotional turmoil at the expense of that place, and its management and the board and richard and every last despicable person associated with the place than I have time to write about it.
It’s those experiences that make me so livid at what I perceive to be a “Mean Girls” strategy here. I see a lot of talent and energy and good will and I see it being wasted in a “nothing is ever good enough” mindset. You want to brag to me about the euthanasia board? Did you forget that half the people were nothing but pissed when it was first implemented because the right people weren’t on it? This is what I mean. If you never meet in the middle nothing will change. (Not that I don’t understand the concern, what with half the death squad making up the board, but I think the point is the same – change has to start somewhere, and somewhere isn’t a perfect place).
But, if you all are happy with this methodology, then fine, I’ll shut up and this is the last you’ll hear of me.
Please don’t go away. Making us debate is great for both sides. Continue to post. I encourage the facts to be brought out from each side. Respecting opinions is great and it makes both sides more credible.
If you look at the article, you will see MER, that there was a suggestion made in there. The more responsible thing to do is to get the cats exposed using the Mobile Adoption Bus. Go out where you will run into people. THAT would be more responsible since a) You would be putting to use a VERY expensive investment that otherwise sits in the parking lot as a huge billboard. B) You would still be getting some money for the adoption.
I truly hope at least that some of the adopters made donations to the shelter and will have great lives. I personally don’t agree with FREE give-a-ways but if they all pan out, then that’s great. I just feel there are better ways.
I would like to invite everyone to go in to the Newington branch of CHS and look at the cats that are there now. Most of the cats have double cages, which is something that Dr. Bryant has been calling for for a long time. Until recently, his recommendations have fallen on the deaf ears of the prior administration. With fewer animals competing for attention, each cat gets more time out of its cage, socializing with our wonderful volunteer staff. This helps minimize anxiety, which further (along with decrowding) helps to prevent the spread of upper respiratory infection. The cat aggressive cats are in cages in the hallway, to minimize their contact with other animals, thereby decreasing their anxiety. This is a good thing. If the person with a doctoral degree is veterinary medicine thinks it helps, I’m going to side with him.
I also invite anyone to stand outside your local neighborhood vet’s office and watch the people that come and go. I’ve seen many, many cases of people pulling up in a Mercedes or a Lexus with a mangy half-dead dog on a chain leash. I’ve also seen people arrive by cab (because the bus wouldn’t allow their animal) who had to pay with pocket-change and state program credits, who took incredible care of their animals, providing an exemplary level of care.
To assume that “free cats” only attracts poor people, and that all “poor people” can’t take care of their animals is the same logic which justifies certain managers not adopting to black or hispanic people.
Does this not seem to indicate that fewer cats will be taken in due to lack of space–or will we soon be back to the old arrangement? Of course, with fewer cats to adopt, less money will be taken in. Not that CHS has a lack of money, evidently. Just got to pry it out of the BOD with a crowbar!! But it’s nice to know that Dr. Bryant finally has a real input into the day-by-day operations. I would think that this is in line with the best shelter models out there.
FYI, for those following the CHS stories like this one I find I’m getting the most up-to-date public-relations observations here on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cthumanePR
I’ve tried several times to call Kitty, to no avail. I’ve left my phone number. I got a nasty email from her telling me that if I want to talk to her, to leave my phone number, which I did several times. She’s pissed at me because I had originally donated dog beds to be used for the dogs in kennels. What does she do?? She gave them out free to people who adopt dogs, in an effort to make the CHS look good. I immediately went back the following day and took the beds back and brought them to a NO KILL SHELTER, the Meriden Humane Society, of which I am now a volunteer. Will I be returning Kitty’s call? Hell no. I have absolutely nothing to say to her.
Not only is “Free to go home” NOT a good idea, but the likes of Jay Baldwin are now out there on the streets, looking for “Free to go Home” ads so he can get his hands on more animals to kill. That and research laboratories are out on the lookout as well. Kitty, I hope your days are numbered there because your attitude stinks.
If the people cannot afford to pay an adoption fee, what makes you so sure they can afford food, litter, vet bills, etc.??
Free giveaways of cats are a terrible idea. Here’s a previous article about cats, where you will see in the comments section that there are those people out there who look for free or cheap cats to feed to their big snakes.
http://nhregister.com/articles/2010/04/25/news/shoreline/doc4bd3bec7e2966479675972.txt
Free to good home animals are targets for dog/cat brokers. These brokers take animals under the pretense that they can sell them to research facilities where they do animal testing.
Free to good home animals are also used as bait to train fighting dogs. These are known facts. Free animals are so vulnerable to these types of predators; people can get a free cat and sell it to a research facility or use it as a bait animal…yes people do use cats as bait animals…
In fact I have friends in a rescue who seek out free to good home animals and save them. They go out of their way to contact these unknowing citizens and explain the danger they have put that animal in. And then they help with placing the animal.
Critics please, this is the largest animal organization in the state! They are acting absurd, extremely irresponsible.
The reason they have to give away cats is because the entire structure of this organization needs to be fixed. The management team has no clue what they are doing. They do not effectively place animals. When you run an adoption kennel without any structure, guidelines or rules you end up with an extreme backlog of animals.
To play devil’s advocate here, I did find this http://www.aspcapro.org/tips-for-free-adult-cat-promotions.php
This is a good article from a responsible shelter; however, still not too keen on the idea considering the cold hard facts regarding “free to good home animals.” Also, a humane society should be having this promotion because they legitimately have reasons to do so, which is very different from a mismanaged shelter giving away cats. The reason CHS is so inundated with cats is because of their lack of humane education to the public, lack of proper planning, stifling/inconsistence adoption policies, and their segregation from other shelters and rescue groups in CT.
Also, let’s consider some of the recommendations and see if they pertain to the adoption event at CHS:
“Only the adoption fee is waived: all other adoption policies remain in effect. Adopters must meet the criteria that apply to all other adoptions from your agency.”
Concerning the event at CHS, it is apparent that this “give away day” was a frantic frenzy from anyone who was in attendance. I highly doubt, knowing how the shelter is usually run, that adopters were fully screened before taking home a truck load of free kitties.
“Determine the cutoff age for cats included in the promotion…Ensure that you have enough adult cats on your adoption floor to meet the demand while still making good cat/adopter matches.”
It was also brought to my attention that when CHS management “ran out” of the cats that were specified for the promotion they began giving away the majority of their cats; leaving only the sick an unwanted cats behind. These are the cats that need an extra hand finding a “forever home.” What a shame.
“Be sure to build in time to alert and educate the media so that your promotion gets noticed. “
Although CHS touts the fact that they educate the public/media, it truly is rarely ever done, aside from advertising.
This promotion may work for some shelters; however it is not the best choice for a mismanaged shelter. Lack of prior proper planning, adequate numbers of staffing, and efficient adoption policies made this event more of a danger than a successful promotion.
I think that CHS did in fact have a legitimate reason for the event- there are many older cats that need homes. CHS ends up with tons of unwanted cats- Very simple. Adopting cats out makes more room for more cats, and, last I knew, there was a long waiting list to even surrender a cat to CHS. So whether you agree with the event or not, there was a very legit reason for it.
CHS is still grossly mismanaged on many levels, because the board, while making some progress, has failed to implement many strategies that can help animals find homes. I am appalled at the total lack of marketing efforts, the fact that the Facebook page is STILL not back online, and the fact that the board is so tight fisted fiscally. This is not a Fortune 500 company-it is an animal welfare charity that should be spending far more liberally in order to carry out its mission of helping homeless pets.
I particularly appreciate the Facebook observation, FWIW. Intentionally dropping direct access to 2000+ fans due to PR incompetence, for such an organization is, in a word, reprehensible. Not to mention the deletion of their fan base on Twitter, which was also sizable.
That actuallly was an interesting article. Gave me some perspective, however I still don’t agree with the whole idea. But it did make me think that done in the right way would be okay. I just personally don’t think it’s a good idea. Anyone can come in to any shelter and “play the part” of the perfect adoptee. I hope for the cats sake that they all are enjoying their new lives sleeping on the back of a sofa or atop a cat perch and that they did not end up with a hoarder or in the gut of a python…..
It should be made aware that CHS is back to its old ways, turning away Connecticut dogs to start taking in shipments of dogs from the south. Can’t wait for the parvo and behavioral euthaniasias to start again. They can’t handle the animals that they have now with the limited staff and they are neglecting the ones that are currently in thier care, how can they even see this as being the right thing to do is beyond me.
I’m split on this one. I feel you NEED to get dogs from the south so that you get a better selection of dogs for potential adopters. BUT, then I’m concerned about the lack of staff to care for them and make sure they get fed, walked and socialized. Otherwise, now you have a bunch of dogs being neglected and end up getting euthanized.
I hate the thought of all those southern dogs being gassed becasue there aren’t enough shelters up north helping out.
I’m not sure this is a bad thing….I do agree that if there is lack of staff, this could be a HUGE problem in that the dogs will be neglected. But from the standpoint of saving dogs who will otherwise be eunthanized is great to hear. Having the CT folks get a wider variety of dogs is great. Being a big fan of the pit bulls, it’s very realistic to say that when you have mostly pit’s in the kennel, it doesn’t appeal to the average person looking for a dog. It will be nice to see some hounds and such in the mix again for the folks up here looking to adopt.
This may not be the right place to put this, but I have been DYING to spill this for YEARS.
How I feel about this particular issue, I am split. I am a former CHS employee. I worked in the Westport branch. Very few people want older cats. Sometimes great adopters would come in and take a free kitty because they understood why it was being given away. Other times, people who seemed to want something free would come in and it would be a battle of words to try and protect the cat from being adopted to a horrible person.
As far as the Humane Society goes, I feel so torn on what to think. The adoption counselors, many managers and volunteers that I have worked with have such big, caring hearts. One of the reason why many more animals have not been euthanize is because these people have literally broken rules and put in countless hours and days of their free time to save lives. PAID EMPLOYEES AS WELL!!! And yes, many lives have been saved. Working in this organization has its many ups and downs.
I can tell you for a fact that YES. There were a lot of what I felt was unnecessary euthanasia and it all fell on one employee whom of course, had a very big heart, and carries much compassion and love for animals. I assisted her once with two dogs that had heart worm and were not socialized properly. Otherwise than that, they were both perfectly healthy. The former owner happened to call to ask about their status because she just got a funny feeling. The rules for situations such as this was to tell any owner that their animal had been adopted. True story.
Years ago when Westport shut down for a few days was because they put to sleep about 20 or so cats due to an upper respiratory outbreak. I can’t even tell you how the employees and volunteers were running around like chickens with no heads, scrambling to stuff as many sick cats as we could into our own homes and get them out, still, many were put down.
I am sure that I am also not the only employee that is still, to this day haunted by bad adoptions that we were forced to do. I still think about a sweet black cat that a young teenage girl tearfully surrendered with her grandmother that was adopted out to a person incapable of caring for her. She called a few weeks later saying that she was not able to scoop the litter box, so she let her out of the house and she hasn’t returned. This woman just wanted to let me know because the cat also was not wearing her i.d. collar and she was not able to look for her herself.
Honestly, you need to give these adoption counselors much credit. They get paid so little to deal with so much. They get criticized by volunteers and people of other organizations for being greedy and making money off of animals. Really? Is $10 an hour, after taxes when you are in charge of 50+ animals making a living? You can barley afford to put food on the table with a salary like that. Then, if they have the courage to, they have to fight with bad adopters to protect the well being of the animals. One woman threatened to slap me and called me a slut because I was going to deny her adoption of 2 kittens because she called in pretending to be her own landlord. Needless to say, after many people witnessed her threatening me, she walked out of there with her two kittens.
I can’t comprehend how the society has money to put on fundraisers and even put a rooster statue in front of one of its shelters, yet cats that have unaddressed health issues can’t get a decent blood workup because they can’t afford it. The “extensive” medical work they get done is just a basic check up and vaccinations. No xrays, not even simple blood work is performed, only if there is an issue. I actually got in trouble for giving adopters old medical work with the former owners names crossed out, just so the new adopter would be aware of any possible issues.
I have heard that things have been getting better since I was last employed there, but still, something needs to be done. Employees are practically held captive by their hearts because if they all leave, who will take care of all those animals? So everyone please, DO NOT take any anger or hostility out on them, they don’t deserve it. They are caught between a rock and a hard place. And are just as fed up with all of this bullshit, but just like me, they need to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. Everyone in this fight, please stay strong, I really hope we can bring the society back to what it was intended to be.
It’s FOR people like you that we keep up the fight. The Coalition for Change has never criticized the adoption counselors or animal care people because we know what they do daily. I was a volunteer adoption counselor. I too know all too well when an adoption goes wrong. There was one time when I BEGGED CHS to reject an adoption that I know was going to end badly. They said of this particular dog that the adoption would have to go thru since the only alternative would be euthanasia for this beautiful Great Pyranese dog. I feared the worst and it happened. The dog hated anything around his muzzle yet knowing the woman was going to use a gentle leader (goes around the dogs muzzle) on this dog, he bit her and was put down. I cried many a tear for Chinook but I was so angry with CHS for it’s lack of consistancy. I’ve seen adoptions rejected for MANY reasons yet this one was a clear easy to reject adoption, yet they chose to allow it and knowing it could end poorly, we still put the dog down when we set him up for a bad situation. Send an email through our website, we’d love to hear from you. Thanks for telling your story.
[...] they – the CT Humane Society did have a free cat giveaway in June and got criticized. Ct Humane Society Cat Giveaway Criticized | Connecticut Watchdog Regular prices, not free but dang cheap considering they spay/neuter, shots etc. 10.00-80 bucks. [...]
Most of these posters from the coalition continuously say harsh and hyperbolic things and later say “The Coalition never aid this or that.’ give us all a break. Your hatred of CHS has made you all rabid. As for the idea that poor people are basically evil, get real. Can you say “Disgusting wanna-be snobs?” Are you all billionaires to be calling people poor? You people need to calm the fark down and GET LIVES1