Squandering Resources
I hate waste; it makes me crazy. When I hit the wrong command on my printer and get more copies than I need, I feel like I’ve personally taken another tree down needlessly – so I use the front, back, top, bottom and margins of every piece of paper possible. A number of people have sat at restaurant tables with me marveling at my ability to down the leftovers on everybody else’s plate. Why? Otherwise, they’re headed for the dumpster – and I can’t abide by that. At work I’ve got a continual question running through my head: Is this the best use of this time and this money to save lives – either right now or for the long haul? If not, move on!
Like I said, I hate waste. So I thought my head was going to pop off when I heard about the recent incident in Austin. Austin shelters have been taking animals from Williamson County and Bastrop County in order to assist those local agencies in making room for animals in urgent need because of the terrible fires. Houston SPCA, in turn, stepped up to lend a hand by taking animals from Austin. Houston SPCA sent their own staff and vehicle to Austin – and even agreed to guarantee placement for those animals or return them to the Austin agency after the emergency passed. But local antagonists raised such a protest about Houston SPCA’s involvement (because they don’t approve of sending animals to an agency with a lower “save rate”) that the support effort had to be abandoned.
Texas Wildfires
Really? An area of more than 45 square miles has burned to the ground, more than 1,000 homes have been lost and this is how some people are squandering our resources in an emergency? What a waste! Dozens of cats and dogs could have already been in new homes by now. And staff and volunteers in Austin agencies could have provided even more support to animals and people in their own community and the communities directly impacted by the fires.
This rescue effort would have provided resources where they were needed. Instead, fuel and valuable time were squandered. It could have sparked a new level of relationship and cooperation to pave the way for more progress for animals amongst all of the people and agencies involved. That opportunity? Squandered. Instead – among other things – the public got to experience animal people “fighting like cats and dogs.” How many more animals will suffer because people who might have been recruited to the cause during this crisis (and kept on for the long haul) were turned off by this behavior?
This kind of antagonism is not smart, it’s certainly not strategic, and it’s a criminal waste of resources – time, money and attention – that the animals desperately need. And on a personal note, if my home and family are ever in the direct path of a major disaster, I sure hope there won’t be a flock of antagonists blocking the bus that’s headed our way to help us.
Related links:
“Time to Expand OUR Moral Imaginations”
Photo courtesy of Austin Humane Society
Tags: Board & Leadership, Shelter Management
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Ruthann Panipinto Says:
Dear Ms. Troughton,
I am an Austin resident who is active in the local animal rescue community. I don’t have the time to make a lengthy comment on this article at the present time. However I can say that I happen to be one of the folks who called the city manager’s office and spoke with a city council member’s aide regarding the foolishness of transferring some Austin-area animals to the Houston SPCA to make room for rescued Bastrop pets. And I would do it again in a heartbeat.
If you were aware of some of the details of the situation and the distance and energy and time involved here (check out where these three cities are located in proximity to each other) – not to mention the numbers we have regarding the kill-rate at the Houston SPCA and their practice of breed-specific euthanasia – you would realize that our actions were not a poor one.
I do not agree with aggressive protests. I believe in going to a source and discussion alternative actions – which is what I did. I have no idea what other’s actions were and can only be responsible for my own.
That being said if you would like to further discuss my thoughts and actions on this incident please do not hesitate to contact me at the email address above.
Sincerely,
Ruthann Panipinto
Austin, TX
J. Malik Says:
Why in the world would any shelter send animals that are perfectly safe with them to a shelter situation with a 65% or higher euthanasia rate?
As a pet parent and a taxpayer, living in the region affected by the fires, I was appalled when I learned what the Austin shelter was doing.
While I feel for animals and families that at risk from the fires, the Austin shelter has a duty to the animals that are already in residence with them. If the Houston SPCA truly had a desire to help out, they should have driven a little further and offered sheltered to those animals that were directly affected by the wildfire situation, then no resources would have been “squandered”, they had choice and chose to turn around according to your article.
Lay the blame where it belongs.
Howard W Says:
How many animals will suffer if you, the ASPCA, had just done the job properly in the first place? Talk about resources squandered!!! You, with all your resources, should’ve already had a presence in the community so you would’ve known where to send the animals from Williamson County and Bastrop County. The people that protested were just correcting your initial failure to understand the situation. Don’t blame them for YOUR inadequacies!!!
Beth Graham Says:
This wasn’t antagonistic. Such a move was an unnecessary publicity stunt by the Houston SPCA in order to get an infusion of some quick and easy cash from the public. These were animals from the Town Lake Animal Center – Austin’s open admission shelter. Groups in Austin were READY and WILLING to take these animals – all nineteen of them. Sell it however you choose, but never forget this community not only cares about homeless pets, but acts. It pains me that such characteristics bother you so.
gretchen meyer Says:
Unfortunately, some stats were missing from this article. Austin’s live outcome rate at the open-admission shelter (from where the HSPCA was planning on pulling pets) is around 95% right now. We’re on track to kill around 2,000 total dogs and cats this year for our whole city. The HSPCA doesn’t publish their stats, but based on the most recent Guidestar report, their live outcome rate is only 50%. 80,000 animals are dying in Houston every year.
Austin’s shelter wasn’t full when the HSPCA came up to pull animals, neither was their largest partner who checks in with them daily and pulls animals when they are full.
So I’d argue that the waste didn’t happen when the HSPCA turned their van back around for Houston, but when they started the trip to Austin to save animals who didn’t need saving, while animals in their own backyard were dying.
Sharon Lawrence Says:
I was among the people who immediately got on the phone to the mayor and council to stop this foolish move. Under no circumstances do you transport animals 160 miles when there was no need to do so – regardless of circumstances. If Houston SPCA wants to help save animals, why don’t they help Corridor Rescue, Inc., which is doing heroic work rescuing animals from the (nor world famous) Corridor of Cruelty. Does Houston SPCA help them? No! To get help, Corridor Rescue had to partner with a rescue group in Missouri. Everyone opposed this move because we knew that we could absorb the animals here — we just feared how many animals would die in Houston to make room for them. On top of this all, in their own neighborhood (e.g., Montgomery & Waller Counties) there was also a horrific wildfire problem and a huge nightmare there with no space for rescued animals.
Leslie Harris Says:
Amen, Bert. As my mother used to say when something ticked her off, “that really burns me up.”
Sometimes we are our own–and the animals’–worst enemies. Good thing that sometimes we’re also the best friends. It’s the only thing that redeems us when we make such grave errors.
Tracey Williamson Says:
Sometimes fighting like “cats and dogs” as you like to put it, is what is necessary to be the animals voice. As we all know they have no power and it is up to us, the people who actually care about them, to make sure decisions made that affect their very lives are the right ones.
I don’t think anyone who has the real facts was turned off by this at all, but will see who really fights for these animals and has nothing to gain by it except what is best for the cats and dogs.
It sounds to me like Houston has trouble taking care of their own so how could they possibly have really helped place these animals? All the facts need to be presented here not useless drivel about leftover food.
Lindsay C. Says:
As someone who has donated to the ASPCA in the past I respectfully disagree with this article. I feel it fails to mention facts that are certainly pertinent to the matter at hand.
I am an Austinite. I was opposed to this transfer. I am not an antagonist. In fact, I’m pretty darn agreeable. But this transfer defied common sense.
Local rescue groups had offered to pull animals from the local open-intake shelter, Town Lake Animal Shelter, or TLAC. Despite this offer from local No-Kill rescues in the area to take animals, TLAC shelter director Smith partnered with HSPCA to transfer animals to Houston. Irregardless of the fact that Houston promised the adoption or return of the animals, there is never a shortage of resources needed in Houston. NEVER. Why should we have shipped animals to another city, thereby stretching their already thin resources to care and treat when resources were already available in Austin?
I’m sorry but I have to question what truly is the greater waste of resources?
Eileen McFall Says:
I hate killing. It makes me sad, and angry, and when it is done under the guise of “helping” it makes me absolutely ballistic. Houston SPCA kills a lot of animals, 35% or more, and like the comment policy on this blog that allows you to remove or not publish my comment under the guise that it is an attack, HSPCA censors and blocks its critics, polite and factual as they may be. Given that Orwellian approach to discussion, it’s not surprising that you came to the erroneous conclusion that “no kill” advocates were getting in the way, when in fact, they were safeguarding those pets. Thank you to Austin Pets Alive and any other local no kill advocates.
Alli Says:
I’m ashamed of the ASPCA taking a jab at Austin like this. With one of the best save rates in the nation this year, we have every right to disagree with our animals being sent to a shelter with a 81% KILL RATE. How could dozens of cats and dogs be in new homes already if Houston’s save rate is less than a fifth of Austin’s? (And the animals were not to be adopted out, but instead transferred back to Austin) The rescues that spoke up to stop the transfer have been instrumental in saving pets affected by the wildfire and should have a say in what happens in the process. I was at Town Lake Animal Shelter today and they have managed just fine throughout all of this and it has not affected our save rate. I’m ashamed to be a supporter of the ASPCA right now.
Holly Kelch Says:
Austin has their situation under control. Hundreds of people stepped up and helped and it was an amazing thing. The Houston SPCA should focus on saving more lives HERE, LOCALLY. Instead of squandering their resources where it’s not needed.
No Kill Houston Says:
It would be really great if the ASPCA would state ALL of the facts in your “expose”, such as the animals at Austin’s TLAC did not need rescue–the director has stated repeatedly that there was no space crisis there; TLAC also did NOT have animals from the Bastrop fires; Two No Kill groups had already offered to take animals if TLAC ran out of space; according the Houston Mayor’s Task Force report the HSPCA kills at least 65% of all animals entering their doors–they currently refuse to be honest and transparent with the public and produce their current records; the HSPCA kills ALL Pit Bulls or anything remoting resembling a Pit Bull yet several dogs on the Austin transport list were PitBulls; the HSPCA kills all aggressive animals or sick animals yet several dogs on the transport list were described as aggressive, had bitten someone or were sick, meaning an automatic death sentence for those dogs at the HSPCA.
Please get your facts straight!
http://www.examiner.com/animal-shelters-in-houston/austin-to-consider-a-ban-on-transfer-of-shelter-animals-to-houston
Sue Says:
I’d have to disagree with you here – was there a guarantee that Houston wouldn’t euthanize/kill any animals in their shelter to make room for animals coming in from Austin?
The Austin rescues have done a wonderful job saving so many animal lives from the Bastrop fires; they asked that day what they could do to help and TLAC said they didn’t need help that day.
I don’t remember seeing or hearing anything about Austin having to turn animals away because they were so over-crowded, over-worked, or couldn’t handle the financial implications of all the rescuing they were doing.
And this wasn’t sending animals to a shelter with a slightly lower save rate – you’re talking about a shelter that has an absolutely horrible reputation.
I really believe you’re way off base here…..
Rebecca Poling Says:
Thanks Bert – for having the courage to write this article. It was only a matter of time before the something like this happened. The waste of resources as a result of this fiasco is criminal and people need to see that.
timy sullivan Says:
I don’t know all the facts in this case, so I have no idea whether this particular decision was a good one or no – but I sure do agree with you, Bert, that any time we let differences in philosophy keep us from working together to save animals (after making sure that specific details of any agreement are in line with our own philosophy), we fall into the category of “loving the animals to death.” If we partner only with those who are already on the same page, we limit our resources and miss valuable opportunities to teach and learn.
Bert Troughton Says:
Thanks to all of you for so many comments – here and on facebook. The good news is that we all seem to be in agreement on at least one thing: none of us wants to be wasting resources that are desperately needed to save lives. The challenge is that there seem to be multiple angles of looking at this situation and what did or would have constituted waste. (Indeed, isn’t that what humans confront everywhere? The story is always shaped by the angle from which we look at it.)
No matter how you slice it, though, effort was wasted here – time was spent by many people starting or trying to stop particular efforts.
I hope we can find the point(s) of agreement and build from there. What we don’t want is to be like parents in a bitter custody battle – both loving the children but acting in ways that hurt the children the most. How do we take this and figure out the constructive communications that will deploy resources in a forward and straight line in the next situation like this? (And I ask that more for each of us to consider with regard to our own local situations – because we all have them – rather than all chiming in from near and afar on this particular situation.)
Thanks again for sharing your perspectives!
Bert
Steve Sacchitelli Says:
Ms. Troughton,
I find it baffling that, even after being corrected on your assertions by so many Austinites, you continue to call this a wasted effort.
There was nothing wasteful about the effort put forth by these people who turned that bus around. Why would a successful, No-Kill community send their animals to a high-kill “shelter” when they had all the help they needed right there at home?
You are naive if you think the Houston SPCA, who won’t release their save and kill numbers, was going to ensure the safety of those animals and, if they were, to do so without killing more of their own to create space.
I wish more people would waste their time the way they do in Austin.
Nic Says:
The ASPCA is one of the most corrupt, hypocritical organistions out there. The article above proves that all you care about is money , you do not care about the animals and that you would gladly sacrifice animals to generate money or publicity. The ASPCA is not an animal organistion. You block legislation that would help animals, you kill dogs that have rescue, you drop off animals you don’t want at ACC knowing they will be killed and you fraudently fundraise on other states. Shame on you. People are funding out.I would never ever put an animal in the care of the ASPCA or any organistion it backs or supports.
Molly Frisinger Says:
I really don’t see any waste here at all, except the waste of the Houston ASPCA driving to Austin when they weren’t wanted or needed.
Austin heroically stepped up to take care of these animals. That’s the story here. Houston’s poor save rate and attempt to help without fully understanding the situation is unfortunate. But it isn’t the fault of anyone in Austin.