Yavapai Humane Society needs your help

Mark Twain once said, “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”  Could the same be said of our community’s no-kill efforts?  Have reports of our “no-kill” success been exaggerated?

The Yavapai Humane Society (YHS) is not a “no-kill” shelter.  The mission of YHS is to promote and protect the health, safety and welfare of pets in central and western Yavapai County. 

To achieve this mission, YHS embraces a principle we call our “no-kill ethic.”  Through this ethic YHS applies, with varying degrees of success, the same criteria for deciding an animal’s fate that a loving pet guardian or conscientious veterinarian would apply.

Our community has experienced a remarkable 93 percent reduction in the number of homeless pets killed since YHSembraced this ethic in 2010.  However, the pet overpopulation problem is far from solved.  YHS still rescues over 3,000 homeless, sick, injured, abused and neglected pets every year.  That’s 8 animals every day.  YHS invests considerable resources into medical and behavioral rehabilitation to give every rescued pet its best chance at find a loving home.

With a 97 percent live release rate it’s easy to understand how some might think that YHS is a “no-kill” shelter.  So mind boggling is this success that some have accused YHS of “fudging” its numbers.  However, the YHS Live Release Rate is a simple calculation that compares the total number of beating hearts coming through our doors to the total number of beating hearts finding a loving home. 

While we can always argue over numbers or policy the one thing we can’t afford to argue over is the fact that our community’s homeless pets deserve our best coordinated efforts to alleviate their suffering.  It takes a village to create and sustain a no-kill community. 

I mention this now because YHS needs your help.  YHS is overflowing with homeless pets while experiencing a medical crisis.  Upper respiratory illnesses (URI) are impacting our pets.  Fortunately, we have the ability to isolate and treat sick pets so they don’t contaminate healthy pets – but we don’t have unlimited space.  While URI is easily cured outside a shelter, inside a shelter it can decimate an entire population. 

Historically, these “at risk” animals were rescued by local animal welfare groups through a program we call New Hope.  New Hope was designed to maximize the limited resources of our community’s rescue organizations so we can better work together to place homeless animals.  I fear that exaggerated beliefs concerning YHS’ “no-kill” status  has caused many NewHope partners to direct their limited resources elsewhere - as evidenced by a 65 percent decline in the number of pets rescued by New Hope partners over the past three years. 

Waning New Hope participation combined with a serious URI outbreak and a relentless stream of new animals is creating a perfect storm that puts our community’s homeless pets at risk of euthanasia for the first time in years.

This risk can be alleviated through a two-pronged community response:  

 1) adopt a pet; now is the perfect time.  YHS is hosting a Pick Your Price Adoptathon for the entire month of April.  All pets are spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped and YHS has the largest selection of adoptable pets in northern Arizona.  When you adopt you save a life.   

2) Rescue a pet; if our local animal rescues would focus their life saving efforts on helping our community’s homeless pets we could end this immediate crisis in short order.

3) Support YHS. Help us keep our pet residents healthy either by making a donation, registering for the Walk for the Animals or by donating Wish List items to our shelter.

Only by working together can we maintain our standing as the safest community in the United States for pets.  Surely they deserve no less from us.

Ed Boks is the executive director of the Yavapai Humane Society.  He can be reached at eboks@yavapaihumane.org or by calling 445-2666, ext. 21.

  

Sheba is a staff favorite who’s time is running out; please help us find her a home.  Sheba is a 3 year old female Pit Bull mix who is very people friendly.  She is not aggressive with other animals but prefers to be an only dog.  She is a “leaner” who will be a very devoted companion to her new guardian.  Sheba is also a graduate of the YHS Blue Ribbon Program and she is available for adoption today.Visit www.yavapaihumane.org/adopt for more information on Sheba and YHS adoptions.