The Pound

Over at Electric City Weblog an interesting post was put up a while ago by GeeGuy. You can find it here

It garnered a response with a question about the Pound which you can find here

So, what IS going on over at the Pound?

Let's talk cats first. The city's response when they receive a call about a cat rescue is "we can't do anything," OR, "leave it, it'll come down out of the tree by itself." The fire department says they don't have the equipment to rescue cats (though, I must say, at least they went out to try on ONE occasion I'm aware of.) The last two rescues I observed were of cats in trees for over 3 days. They were rescued by The Tree Man.

For many years now, The Tree Man has voluntarily taken out his equipment, day or night, rain or snow, and rescued any cat. He does this without charge. He was acknowledge for this civic service by the Humane Society of Cascade County (HSCC). He is still doing it.

Only ONE Animal Control Officer calls him for rescue help. This ACO can only do that when HE knows about the need. So, many cats are simply left stuck for days on end, sometimes in bad weather, up the tree. The city does NOT call him.

The city is also handing out baited traps to people in order to catch cats on the loose. Problem is, many cats are being destroyed at the pound as they are unable to hold them. The claim is that these cats are considered feral. Many may be, many may not be. And, yes, we do have a cat problem in GF, no getting around that.

Dogs. Three separate reports came to me that the individual currently physically running the pound took a blue heeler out of its kennel, off leash, and outside, where it was hit by a car. Luckily, there were no injuries. However, the dog was then taken to the person's home as a foster. Being a heeler, it nipped and or bit a person (report came from this individual). They had the dog put down. This happened, even though I'd given the name of a rescue group for the dog. What fool puts a Heeler in a house with kids? What fool thinks that the name "heeler" means nothing?

Great to know that the person running the pound doesn't know diddly about dogs.

There is a 72 hour hold when animals first come in. After that, no guarantees on how long an animal has until put down. Funny, other pounds have specific time limits that are posted. You can actually go in and ask to adopt an animal that's nearing its time. Here, it must depend on the direction of the wind, I guess.

When the city took over the building, the only two state certified euthanasia techs didn't get hired. This meant that the local vets were called upon to put down animals. It's my understanding they did this on a sort of round-robin call system. One of the vets (and I wish, so as not to cause problems for the many honorable, moral, and caring vets in the town, I could offer a name, but I won't,) chose not to use an anesthesia shot prior to the death shot. The outcome was ugly. This vet is no longer called to the pound.

I know that the HSCC was required to submit a monthly report on animals picked up, held, adopted and euthanized. To date no one has been able to get their hands on any such report from the pound. Are the police not filing? Is it because the pound doesn't want the number of kills out and about? Is it because tough questions asked seem to make paperwork disappear, regardless of the subject?

I do know that the regional Humane Society has done a walk-through and given suggestions as to improvements. Funny, some of the same problems that the Animal Foundation and city cited against the HSCC were brought up at this walk-through.

Any money a person donates to the current pound goes into the city coffers. It may never reach the pound.

Being as I work all over town, as do a couple of other people, we compared notes and found that the majority consensus by citizens in GF is, The Animal Foundation of Great Falls has been raising funds (which I and these others have contributed to) for about 5 years. Why, in the past 2 years, when the need by the animals was so great, according to them, under the HSCC and now the city, has the Foundation NOT scaled back on its building plans and actually gotten an improved building up? Statement made by one individual who has donated quite a bit - There is NO evidence that they are actually worried about the welfare of the animals as much as they seem to be worried about the design and impact of their building.

Question posed at a City Commission meeting in July: Will the current shelter be no-kill? Will the Animal Foundation's shelter be a no-kill?

No answer was given. No response made. Not at the meeting, not in a public forum such as the Trib. Not by the city officials or the Foundation board members.

This is all ugly. People feel duped. And rightfully so. Here is what I see as a private citizen who has donated money, damned be the politics - I donated for a new, much needed shelter for the animals of Great Falls. I have done this since the beginning. There is over 1 million dollars sitting in an account which could be helping animals in need. It's not. Build a smaller shelter and plan for future expansion. Forget the dog park. Those animals have homes. Deal with the overcrowding, the kills, the sub-standard facility that can't handle what is happening now. Underwrite some of the costs of fostering animals. HELP the animals. That's what I gave my money and donated services for auction at fund raisers for, not to sit idle in an account when the need is clear and present.

I know this is a VERY hot topic. However, I measure everyone's care, concern and truthfulness by their actions, not their lip service. I see individuals paying for the health care and on-going maintenance of animals they personally rescue and re-home. I see individuals personally donating time, effort, income and materials to rescue, foster, rehabilitate and re-home animals. I see individuals stepping in and taking the responsibility for animals which they know will be put down in order to give them another chance. I see individuals within the HSCC still finding foster homes for dogs and cats, personally paying for rehabilitation or obedience classes, even though they don't have a building any longer.

Meanwhile, I've heard NOTHING about the award of the Animal Control bid which was extended by the City Commissioners on July 3rd. Anyone know the status?