Student wrote on Sep 23, 2008 9:10 AM:Such a shame that shelters are forced to euthanize at all. If only people understood the importance of fixing their animals. It seems ridiculous that people still allow their animals to breed regardless if it's a purebred or not.

Mary wrote on Sep 23, 2008 11:07 AM:There are several Escondido Humane Society Board Directors who have elected to stay on the Board and fight for change and improvement. If Joe had stayed on the the Board instead of electing to resign we would be that much stronger as a Board fighting for change. My advise to anyone who finds themselves in this situation is to stick it out and become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. By resigning you lose your voice and ability to affect the change you are seeking.

My advice to the Escondido Humane society is this wrote on Sep 23, 2008 12:06 PM:I have been to the humane society several times to try to adopt a cat or kitten. They are all caged and then locked into glass rooms. There is no way to see if you can connect to the animal. I have always gotten my cats at humane societies BUT they were able to pick ME! I hate the setup they have there.

To My Advice wrote on Sep 23, 2008 2:32 PM:The cat "rooms" were designed this way to prevent the spread of disease. If the cats were in cages, any cat with an infectious disease would quickly infect all the rest via visitors who put their fingers in the cages, and through air circulating from cage-to-cage. If you want the cats to have a fighting chance to get adopted, this is the only way to go.

Sorry I disagree wrote on Sep 23, 2008 4:23 PM:I have adopted cats from animal shelters in CA AZ and NV and never got an unhealthy cat and they were all in open cages.

Re to my Advice wrote on Sep 23, 2008 4:35 PM:You’re so wrong. Go in person (I did this past weekend) to Best Friends (Dog Town) rescue site in Kanab, Utah. They allow you in to see even cats with Feline Leukemia (very infectious). They have procedures. They have a "No Kill" policy" period! It's heartbreaking to see some of the animals there. And they have a very high adoption rate.

Re To My Advice wrote on Sep 23, 2008 8:18 PM:I disagree wholeheartedly with your assessment. Animals are not put up for adoption unless/until they are free of infectious diseases. I have been in many adoption facilities where cats who have cleared their adoption quality hurdles are housed (during operating hours) in a room where they can roam freely, climb cat trees and play with toys as well as each other. Prospective adopters are able to enter these rooms (in small numbers) and interact with the animals. This not only helps to encourage that perfect match, but keeps the cats social skills up without threat of disease since they have all already been cleared by a vet. Cats in cages only have one personality ... and that is one that is motivated solely by their desire to get out of the cage. Both the animal and the potential adopters would be better served if they could experience the animals in a more natural setting.

supporter wrote on Sep 23, 2008 10:11 PM:The Escondido humane society is a wonderful organization! Escondido Humane Society takes in stray and injured animals which can not be said for many shelters across the county, let alone the nation. The animals are always well taking care of and the welfare of the animal is always on the minds of the staff and supporters.

Robbie Benson wrote on Sep 24, 2008 8:34 AM:Re Mary

We appreciate your feelings but we don't think we've lost our voice at all. Our concerns have now been "voiced" in three newspapers with millions of readers as well as a national no kill forum. We think that makes our voices heard loud and clear.

Cat Lover wrote on Sep 24, 2008 9:26 AM:I have tried several times (unsuccessfully) to adopt a cat or kitten from the shelter. They're not interested in finding good homes for the cats, they're interested in only being dictators about who is "qualified" to get their cats.
Well....I now have 3 very happy indoor cats who love my 2 dogs and 2 young kids. (I didn't qualify at the shelter because of those 2 factors)

Unfortunately, I was forced to "Purchase" my cats from breeders because I didn't qualify as a competent owner at the shelter.

Who do you people think you are? Get over yourselves. There are plenty of good homes out there. Isn't relaxing your standards better than killing those animals?

To supporter wrote on Sep 24, 2008 10:28 AM:uh...the EHS is paid by the cities it contracts with to take in stray and injured animals. It's their JOB for which they are compensated. It's what happens to these animals after EHS gets them that is causing the issue. Healthy animals are being put down if there isn't enough space for them. EHS needs to either expand their facility and bring in an administration that takes "no-kill" to heart.

And keeping cats in isolated cages is ridiculous. The healthy cats should be kept in a more open environment to encourage socialization.

supporter wrote on Sep 24, 2008 8:06 PM:Yes, the EHS does get compensation for taking in stray animals and injured animals in the City limits of Escondido, Poway and San Marcos, but the compensation is not nearly enough to cover the shelters cost alone, the shelter is still dependent on the caring volunteers, that give of their time and resources, and gracious donors to keep the shelter running. Healthy adoptable animals are not euthanized for time or space!!!

Jennifer wrote on Sep 28, 2008 3:14 PM:Before condemning the actions of the Escondido Humane Society I would like to explore some statistics and contributing factors that I believe have been ignored.

59.9% or all households have pets.
43 million dog owning households and 72 million dogs
37.5 million cat owning households and 81.7 million cats

Of these 153.7 million owned dogs and cats plus the uncalculated number of un-owned dogs and cats the HSUS estimates that between 6 and 8 million enter shelters every year (<2%). The HSUS estimates that about half of the animals entering shelters each year are euthanized (<1% of the total dog and cat population). This estimate includes both open door and limited admission shelters.

Anyone who has ever watched animal cops can tell that the people who devote their lives to working this industry do it because they love animals and have the strength of character to face the heartbreak and stress of this industry in order to make a difference.

I believe some of the recent criticism of EHS is well intended, but based on overly idealistic views of a few people who have not dedicated their lives to this industry but have spent hours each week volunteering much needed time and care to the animals.

It is difficult to look in the eyes of any animal and understand why it can’t have the chance to belong to a loving home, but realistically eliminating euthanasia does not solve the problems of pet over-population and does not take into consideration that there are differences in the type of work each shelter performs and variances on their ability to save every animal.

In a shelter like the Escondido Humane Society there are challenges beyond those faced by non-open door, non-animal control facilities. It is much easier to euthanize fewer animals when you select only owned animals without serious illness or known aggressive behaviors for admission.

To make a fair evaluation of the reasonable expectations of being a “no kill shelter” we need to look beyond the simple percentage of animals being euthanized.

These are some of the factors that need to be altered to make this a fair and equitable judgment:

1. Since strays are not normally accepted by non-open admission facilities we should limit the analysis to those animals that were admitted as owner surrenders and fall within the guidelines of behavior and health that are normally admitted to non-open door facilities.

2. Escondido Humane Society is an animal control facility as well as a humane organization. This means that they contract to provide animal control services to several jurisdictions. Animal control officers are public safety officers. Their first responsibility is the safety of the public. Any animal that has bitten a person without provocation or has shown signs of aggressive and potentially dangerous behaviors poses a public safety risk, and needs to be euthanized. These numbers should be eliminated from the analysis.

3. Because of the unknown medical conditions of the stray population that is admitted, we must realistically expect that disease will be a bigger challenge and may need to be more aggressively controlled than in shelters without stray populations. Animals euthanized to control contagious disease needs to be limited to only those disease control actions where the origin of the disease is linked to an owner surrendered animal that fit the admission standards for non-open door facilities.

4. Although we often hear of the owner that wants a pet euthanized for some bazaar reason the truth is that most owners don’t request euthanasia for a pet that is healthy and well behaved. Animals relinquished by an owner for euthanasia need to be eliminated from the analysis.

I believe that if this analysis was performed the Escondido Humane Society would fall well within the guidelines of other “no-kill shelters”.

I also believe it is unfair that we are criticizing open admission and animal control facilities that provide all animals presented to them with shelter, food, care and an opportunity to be placed in a good home, because they do not meet the same criteria as shelters who only admit the desirable, owned animals.

My conclusion is that the animals on the streets need open admission shelters like the Escondido Humane Society and I will limit my support to only those shelters that do not discriminate against stray and unwanted animals that have been thrown away.

I will continue to support EHS because my support is needed to keep these animals safe and cared for.

I accept that EHS may euthanize a higher percentage of animals than some other shelters, but understand that they are caring for the animals at the greatest risk. Eliminating my support for EHS would be similar to eliminating support for hospitals that primarily serve the elderly because more of their patents die.

I encourage Escondido Humane Society and the jurisdictions that it serves to concentrate efforts on public education and quality spay-neuter programs and I thank them for providing an open-door shelter for our communities.

I encourage the Escondido Humane Society to evaluate their processes to ensure that healthy, adoptable animals are moved through the system and placed in homes before disease and despair alter their adoptability.

I encourage citizens of Poway, Escondido and San Marcos to think about the outcome of the stray dog lying injured in the street before making your decisions on where to place your donation dollars.