Just One Dog - Part I: Euth List

Adele, Chi II, & Roxanne at Rasta's Spring 2012

March 14^th 2012 marked the beginning of change, unknown to us, as volunteers from the Valencia County Animal Shelter in Los Lunas, New Mexico delivered the first round of spring puppies to Rasta’s Rescue Ranch in Santa Fe: Adele, Roxanne, and Chi II. 

After wellness checks and getting over a bout with kennel cough, the girls were taken to their first adoption event at Petco.  Adele found her furever home within 3 hours and Chi II caught the eye of a devote dog-lover while stopping at a friend’s shop in route back to the Ranch.  It was love at first sight for Francine at Petco and the owner of Craft Cut.  Francine and her husband had just been to a big adoption event at PetSmart, where the Santa Fe Animal Shelter and other rescues had dozens of dogs available for adoption.  Francine had looked and looked, but didn’t find her dog.  On the way home she just happened to say to her husband, “Let’s just check Petco.”  We were the only ones there that day and as soon as Francine saw Adele (now Ade) she knew and visa-versa. 

Note here, on 3/12/12 time was up for Adele, Roxanne, and Chi II, all three pups, three-months and under, were on the ever-present euthanasia list.  Figurative or real, the Euth List exists at kill shelters throughout the United States.  In some places it’s created in the mornings, very early, prior to opening, and dogs of all kinds are pulled from their tiny cement block and concrete pens, not always by human hands, but sometimes a tool and thereafter given their lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital or other lethal drug combination by a euthanasia technician.  And some places still shamelessly pile animals into gas chambers.

Every day rescues, cross-posters, transport coordinators, and volunteers work tirelessly to the last minute to pull dogs and cats from kill shelters.  They take pictures and videos, and then post them on Facebook, websites, blogs, and YouTube.  They share their stories across the country, reaching out to fosters, reaching out for help, because they know so much has gone wrong with the shelter system.  They know something must be done and do what they can.  They give where others have failed, they fight an endless tide, because for some ignorance is bliss.

Some fail to spay and neuter because they think those cute puppies they dump at the shelter will find homes.  Some get a dog then realize it doesn’t come trained.  Some must move and can’t take their dog with them.  And the list of reasons, for some, continues.  Not realizing there is help, many turn to the taxpayer funded county shelter, which is usually underfunded, understaffed, and overwhelmed.  No sign on the door reads: “Owner Surrenders Will Be Euthanized Within 24 Hours” or in some places immediately.  No sign posts the kill rate of the shelter, be it 90% or 60%.  No staff member recommends checking with local rescues.  Rarely do they offer free spay and neuter clinics, though often low cost clinics are available.  No real honesty exists because the truth would hurt the sensitivities of enough that the community might get in an uproar and start protesting, exposing, and deconstructing to find a better way, to get answers, to change what is.  That’s what happened on April 30^th 2012 over just one dog….

Stay Tuned for Just One Dog - Part II