A Shelter Story
This past weekend I stopped into a small shelter in Mississippi while on a road trip. The shelter was made up of 3 trailers, and a concrete slab with some chain link kennels and a few x-pens. The staff smiled and told me where I was permitted to go (I did not introduce myself as someone from the ASPCA) and they ran off to get back to work. I toured through quickly and came moments away from adopting several dogs. One particular pup, a little dachshund mix named Roger, captured my heart. Had I been heading home that day, Roger might have made the trip with me!
It was about 90 degrees, and the flies were relentless. I stood in front of one of the x-pens that contained a litter of puppies. The puppies were fast asleep, green mucus pooling around their eyes and noses. I turned to the other litters in pens near those puppies. They appeared healthy, clear eyes and noses. I looked at the slope of the concrete slab — sloped directly toward those puppy pens. The hose was neatly wrapped nearby. In my head that hose grew fangs and horns…it was evil — a tool to pass the illness from one pen to another. It was at this moment that I realized, once again, the power of the numbers.
Data and numbers can be a dry activity. In the case of sheltering data, nothing could be further from the truth. Each data jump or drop means lives have either been saved or lost. By keeping a close eye on your shelter data, you may be able to save more lives… The epiphany of this hit me, as it often does, while observing the set up at that shelter.
It was obvious that the staff cared about the animals and the facility. They were trying with very few resources. But if this organization had been focused on their data, they could suss out that the unfortunate euthanasia of this very sick litter could mean many more lives saved, as the litters around them would be saved. This was an organization that was trying, but without the focus of the one vs. the all, animals were at high risk. Trust me, I understand the difficulty in this concept when living in the moment.
As I was leaving the shelter, I turned back toward Roger and watched as he began to cough…
Tags: disease management, euthanasia, live release rate, naked data, R&D
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Courtney Says:
That is such a heartbreaking story…
Rose T. Says:
Sad…when people try so hard and they have little resources to make their dreams a reality. One vs. all – very difficult concept…….
Che Green Says:
Emily, thank you for the reminder. It is a terrible conundrum… we cannot focus too much on the data (the “all”) or we fail to see the individual lives at stake, but neither can we focus too much on the individuals or the “big picture” eventually eludes us. As someone who lives and breathes and occasionally dreams in statistics, I appreciate the reminder that the data is far more than just numbers.
Emily Garman Says:
Where most shelter workers would be turned off by your story is the unfortunate euthanasia of that one litter…what if they were, instead, able to transfer that litter out to foster? Assuming, of course, that a foster home was available. It gets the sick puppies out of the shelter, away from the healthy puppies, but they don’t necessarily have to die, either.
Emily Weiss Says:
Emily – Thank you for your thoughtful comment. We should all be ‘turned off’ by the story, and it is reality for some. Yes! Fosters can truly be life savers, and when the resources are available, absolutely that should be the option.
Cindy Steinle Says:
Perhaps rather than suggesting euthanasia, you could look around and refer to better positioning of the kennels. Offer some advice on disease management. Offer referrals for supplementation such as L-Lysine which is a very helpful tool in boosting immune systems. With amazing advances in shelter medicine looking at green goopy eyes and stating in effect that the litter must die to save the masses is amazing. Smaller less funded shelters would benefit more from learning how to prevent cross contamination in the future rather than relying on the killing of possibly inexpensively and easily treated dogs.
Emily Weiss Says:
Cindy – Thank you for your thoughtful comment. And YES – you have nailed the reason for this blog post- to start the conversation of getting from euthanasia to live releases!
kb Says:
Maybe it’s as simple as teaching them cross contamination prevention procedures? How to locate the pens, disinfect items, quarantine sick animals, etc. The hose doesn’t have horns, lack of education does.
writtenwyrdd Says:
Last year, our local shelter had to euthanize about 200+ cats due to ringworm infestation. The problem was due to having too many animals in a no kill shelter. The folks there tried so hard to save them all that, in the end, this heartbreaking decision was the result. If only people in our local area would spay or neuter their cats and keep them indoors, this would not be such a problem.
I’m a firm believer in no kill shelters, but sometimes even they are forced to euthanize.