Department Of The Partridge Of The Week
It’s that time of the year again. As has become a tradition much maligned anticipated in our neighborhood, moiself will be hosting a different Partridge, every week, in my front yard. [1]
Can you guess this week’s guest Partridge?
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Department Of Here We Go Again
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Department Of I’d Still Adore My Offspring Even If They Weren’t So Talented…
But on a consistent basis, they make it so easy, by doing things like this.
Dateline: several weeks ago. On our family chat sight, daughter Belle posted a picture of a limited edition, signed and numbered screen-print of an Igor Galanin painting (“Rabbit with Strawberries“) that she’d come across:
She coveted the print, and joked that, should we still be considering what to get her for Christmas, if we’d pool our assets, for a mere $1265 we could purchase that art for her.
Dateline#2: Christmas morning. Belle opened her present from her brother K. It was a painting he had done for her.
I told K if he loses interest in medical research he could have a career in art forgery.
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Department Of The Difference Between A Popular Yet Facile And Ultimately Misleading Maxim Masquerading As Insight, And
A Pithy Two Words Encapsulating The Wisdom Of Accepting The Inevitability Of Uncertainty And Causality, And Thus Embracing Reality
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“Everything happens.”
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Department Of Why I Sometimes Read A Local Small Town Newspaper Police Log
Saturday, Dec. 4
A caller reported they could hear “happy noises” coming from a nearby residence late night. Officers were unable to detect any noises in the area, happy or otherwise.
Sunday, Dec. 5
A caller reported a suspicious envelope with cryptic symbols had been left on their front porch. On arrival, and per the caller’s request, the officer opened the envelope and discovered a decorative card emblazoned with the phrase “Merry Christmas.”
While clearing a late-night call at a local hotel, a man approached officers to inquire as to whether he was wanted by Forest Grove police. It just so happened he was. He was arrested and lodged at the jail.
Thursday, Dec. 9
A caller reported a man known to have been arrested the previous day was knocking on their door in the middle of the night and sending unwanted text messages. The man left prior to police arrival, but not before leaving a box of shrimp at the caller’s door.
Sunday, Dec. 12
A caller reported a man, possibly under the influence, approached the caller and their spouse, while enthusiastically jumping up and down, advised that he was in a gang, then proceded on his merry way through their residential neighborhood. Officers were unable to find anyone hopping, skipping, or jumping in the area.
Thursday, Dec. 16
a caller reported a possible drunk driver at a fast-food drive thru late at night, advising the vehicle was moving erratically and nearly backing into the caller. Police located the driver neaarby and found they were not impaired or intoxicated, just having difficulty navigating the complex pattern of a drive-thru.
(selections from the Forest Grove Police log, Dec. 3 – 9 and 10 – 19)
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Department Of New Year’s Resolutions
The following suggestion for a resolution is not one moiself needs to make. Faultless Flawed creature that I am, I’ve plenty to work on, and yet I dare suggest something for Other People – specifically, anyone who has ever used the term “no-kill shelter” with regard to animal rescue organizations.
I heard a Well-Meaning Person ® recently talking about why they supported a certain animal rescue organization, which they described as “no-kill,” thus differentiating it from those *other* shelters – read, the county Kill-a-Thon Animal Shelter.
Organizations described as “No-Kill” shelters are privately funded; shelters funded by taxpayer dollars, such as your local city/county shelters, get the (implied, and sometimes outright) label, “Kill shelters.” Moiself has logged years of service volunteering for both kinds of animal shelters, and have seen first-hand how the “no-kill/kill” statistics and labels are inflated and/or misleading.
We’ve all heard the stories (perhaps true in the past but often exaggerated in the present) about how some county shelters are overcrowded and that animals brought in, whether found on the streets or surrendered by owners, can be euthanized within 72 hours if they are not adopted out. Whereas a shelter that touts itself as “no-kill'” means its policy is to never euthanize a healthy animals for any reason, due to illness or behavior issues. Once they take in a cat or dog, it stays with them until it is adopted out.
Sounds great – noble even, right?
Except when reality creeps in; as in, the reality of how such organizations operate. Private shelters can and do screen the animals they accept. They often have a waiting list for admissions [2] and will not take in an animal with deadly or not easily treated illnesses and injuries, or animals with dangerous behavioral “issues.”
The government-funded shelters do not have that luxury. The veterinarians and vet techs and staff and volunteers of these shelters are just as dedicated as those of the private shelters, and, they have to take whatever comes their way. They will try try try and try again [3] to rehabilitate an aggressive, fearful dog, but if there is a credible chance that the dog will bite and would pose a danger to any prospective adoptive family, they will regretfully euthanize it. A dog who has bitten a human and/or killed other dogs or pets and is a repeat offender and has been removed from its home by a court order – guess where that dog ends up? Not in the private shelter. The stray dog or cat lying on the road, dying due to horrific injuries it received after being hit by a car – Animal Control services will take the poor creature to the county shelter, where it will be humanely euthanized.
All of those animals will be on the shelter’s “kill” statistics – the “no kill” shelter never had to deal with them in the first place. The private shelter will refer a desperately injured animal or an aggressive dog with a history of biting to the county shelter, knowing full well what will be the likely outcome…then later crow about their “no kill’ record.
For many decades there was no centralized coordination or analysis of public (or private) animal shelter care. That has changed, and Portland area shelters have been leaders in reducing the number of animals euthanized and increasing adoptions. Public animal shelters around the nation are adopting the strategies of Portland-Area shelters which formed a network in 2006 (Animal Shelter Alliance of Portland, ASAP) and later adopted the Asilomar Accords methods. [4] They’ve pledged to work in cooperation with other area shelters, sharing their data and working as a team to help out and, for example, transfer an animal to another shelter when one shelter is full. Withing two years of forming the network, The Oregonian reported that ASAP shelters had cut their euthanasia rate by 65 %, and the number of animals put down at Bonnie Hays Shelter plunged by 82 %.
Sometimes, a dog or cat will linger at one shelter for two weeks, getting no interest from prospective pet adopters, and all it takes is a change of venue – it goes from the Washington County Animal Services to the Clackamas County shelter and is adopted within the day. [5] I’ve seen it happen.
“If we can’t find a home for a cat or dog, we work very closely with a network of shelters and rescue groups in Oregon and southwest Washington that may be able to help. We have many placement partners that work with us to rehabilitate and find homes for dogs and cats. Unlike most animal shelters that take in stray animals, every healthy unclaimed animal that comes to our shelter finds an adoptive home. Most of the animals that have medical and behavioral problems also find loving homes through our adoption program or through our rescue partners. ”
( from the Bonnie L. Hays Animal Shelter Website )
Would you think of, or refer to, the dedicated staff and volunteers of that rescue organization as, “Those people who work at a ‘kill shelter’?” They deserve better.
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Punz For The Day
Pets Edition
Q. How did the engineers determine the dog was in a cat fight?
A: By using a simple claws and effect analysis.
Q: What do you call a hamster you keep in your automobile?
A. A Carpet
My cat won’t stop leering at passersby; I think he’s a purrvert.
My sled dog is not fat, he’s just a little husky.
My cat knows how to get anything she wants. She’s very purrsuasive.
A cat won first place at a dog show. Dog owners said it was a cathastrophy.
Lassie was having a sad day – you might say she was meloncollie.
I’ll jump in the well with little Timmy rather than listen to more of these.
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May you find and read a nearby small town newspaper’s police log;
May you support your local animal shelters;
May we all have a safe and fun New Year’s Eve;
…and may the hijinks ensue.
Thanks for stopping by. Au Vendredi!
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[1] Specifically, in our pear tree.
[2] Owners surrendering their pets.
[3] Sometimes wasting their time and resources, in my opinion.
[4] Ten years ago a cross-section of animal welfare agencies created and shared a National Database to enable the measurement of progress in animal welfare and inspire life-saving collaboration between shelters. The Asilomar Accords created a database to collect basic shelter data, allow shelters to compare their data and enhance individual and collective efforts to modify and guide shelter actions and policies.
[5] I’ve seen it happen! That is such happy news to get, when you’re working in the shelter.
