As I have been researching no kill animal shelters across Canada, I was happy to learn of many more no kill shelters than I had imagined. There is truly a movement of compassion that is growing. I decided to share a short guide called "How to become no kill." I talked about Richmond, B.C., where a cat rescue group bid on the animal control contract and the city became no kill, and has been for ten years. I talked about Coquitlam, B.C., a city that opened its own animal control shelter fifteen years ago and became no kill. I talked about Stratford, Ontario, where a number of cats unexpectedly euthanized led to an uproar by citizens and cat rescuers, resulting in a commitment of the city shelter to become no kill. And I had the good fortune to access the No Kill Equation, a formula to no kill penned by American no kill advocate Nathan Winograd. I talked about how it was used in many Canadian communities. The first element of the No Kill Equation used to be called a "Feral Cat Trap-Neuter-Return Program." Now it includes dogs and is called "Community Cat/Dog Sterilization." In many developing countries, packs of abandoned dogs and their offspring, who can be terrified of humans, are a real problem. This problem arises in many of our First Nations and northern communities, where the usual answer is ... not compassionate. But in Canada, we also have groundbreaking work by Dr. Judith Samson-French. Her team sterilizes community dogs using contraceptive implants. Other groups also offer veterinary clinics to remote northern communities. Because we are a bilingual country, I also wrote the guide in French. There is a great need in both English and French-speaking areas of Canada. I hope that many animal lovers learn more about what they can do to relieve the suffering of animals and save more lives. - Irene Plett PS: In March, 2018, I updated the guide and published it on my cat blog. Topics: animals, animal rescue, no kill shelters, no kill communities, dogs, cats, No Kill Equation, Nathan Winograd, Judith Samson-French
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
WriterIrene Plett is a writer, poet and animal lover living in South Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Categories
All
|