US Tour Summary

Save Our Strays USA Tour Summary

On September 27^th 1999 the Save Our Strays USA Tour started in Chicago, IL at the No-Kill Conference and ended December 18^th in St. Louis, MO at a meeting held at the Humane Society of Missouri. In between, the tour went from Indian summer into cold, snowy winter. It covered 12,562 miles, visited 36 cities, logged 72 motel nights and consumed many regrettable truck stop snacks and fast-food meals. The total cost for the tour was $16,254.

The intent of the tour was to raise public awareness of the annual killing of homeless animals and bring animal welfare people together to discuss the dynamics of pet overpopulation and programs that have a major impact in saving animal lives. These findings were based on a compendium of referenced information presented in the book I wrote on pet overpopulation called, "Save Our Strays."

Pet Savers Foundation, Spay USA, Petsville.com, La Boit, Inc. and The Cat Fanciers` Association benevolently sponsored the tour. The tour featured a 26-foot mobile spay/neuter van manufactured by La Boit, Inc. These vehicles can be a major tool to meet five animal welfare needs: 1) provide accessible low-cost spay/neuter service in high-problem, low-income areas of our communities; 2) provide pre-adoption sterilization to area shelters and rescues; 3) provide feral cat colony spay/neuters; 4) provide low-cost spay/neuter service to rural communities where veterinary service is unavailable and 5) do double duty as a mobile adoption vehicle and disaster relief vehicle.

The tour had highlights and lowlights. The most profound impression from the tour was the beauty and grandeur of this great county in which we live. It was truly a delight to experience the many splendors of America The Beautiful; the fall colors, the Midwest farm country, the New England notches, the Big Apple, the southern pines, Texas, the southwestern desert, snow in the Rockies. This truly is a great nation.

I found the places that left the most memorable impressions were the places where I was fortunate to meet and make friends with the wonderful, caring people who are working diligently to save homeless animals. At many of the tour stops the host agency would invite me to lunch or dinner and we would have a chance to talk about local animal issues that beset their communities. I even got an opportunity to attend a championship baseball game between Boston and New York at Fenway Park in Boston — a childhood dream.

I have met very few people in the animal welfare field that I dislike. Even if I disagree with them on issues, I respect them for their efforts. Most everyone gives of themselves in so many ways to help and care for homeless, forsaken animals with meager monetary return. I have always felt it important to separate the people from the issues of homeless animal management. I don't think the people can work any harder, but I do think we can work smarter.

Workshops to discuss pet overpopulation issues were performed by two-thirds of the communities. Many city agencies went to great lengths to produce the meetings. Columbia, SC sent out 500 invitations. So did Atlanta, GA and Buffalo, NY. Some meetings had two or three hundred people. The average attendance was 50 to 70 people.

I was truly impressed by the people who attended. These were people who know the value of education and are looking to improve their understanding of homeless animal issues. Some traveled as far as 3 hours one way to attend.

Many memorable meetings were held. In New York City, I was honored to present my ideas to the major animal groups in the ASPCA boardroom, in front of a giant portrait of Mr. Henry Bergh himself. In New Hampshire, I was honored to present at the state capital to a committee on pet overpopulation. In Los Angeles, a press conference was held welcoming me to the city by the honorable councilman, Henry Thomas and Mr. Dan Knapp, director of the city animal control. Buffalo, Baltimore, Atlanta, Richmond, Nashville, Columbia, Austin, Santa Fe, San Diego and St Louis were other memorable stops.

The agencies that planned the seminars took a chance. They were not sure of what I was going to say, and, as we all know, these issues can become quite controversial. Is he of the no-kill or traditional shelter philosophy some would inquire? (For the record, I am for the animals.) I am strongly working for the day when the killing of animals in shelters is unnecessary. This ambition aligns me with the no-kill movement and many traditional shelter employees declined to attend.

I applaud host agencies for their courage to discuss these contentious issues. I am proud to say there were no finger pointing or accusations back and forth. Just an effort at coalition building and a presentation of programs that save animal lives. You either have the programs or you don't. Most everyone who participated left feeling his or her time was well spent.

I was very disappointed by the fact that twenty percent of the communities did not respond to this program. Considerable cost and effort was expended to bring this program to them for free. Either they did not want to host the event or when they accepted the host responsibilities and the day came for the event, nothing was done. Oops, they'd say. We forgot. This was contrasted by the efforts of one friend in Bakersfield who, upon notice that I was going to be passing through her town, assembled all the major shelter leaders, rescues and a media interview in 5 hours time.

Some communities thought I was a mobile spay/neuter van salesmen and allowed me to park on their site for a couple of hours while people toured the van. It was frustrating because I have spent years researching pet overpopulation issues and know I have a lot of information to offer. Because I was coming off the high of conducting productive meetings at previous stops, only to be eschewed by skeptical management at a non-participatory stop, I felt a failure to complete my mission in those communities. I felt a loss, specifically for the animals.

I believe the animal welfare field needs to focus on issues and programs. These are the tools that save animal lives. I believe in putting forth information and successful models that have been productive in saving animals throughout America. Trend analysis reveals that killing in shelters is increasing not decreasing in the majority of communities. If we do the same thing this year that we did last year there is a good chance that we will get the same results. Progressive change should not be feared but embraced if we want to lower our shelter kill rates.

Did the tour raise awareness with the general public of pet overpopulation issues? No, that was a failure. The media was very reluctant to cover the issue of pet overpopulation. I found it very difficult to get media coverage. Reporters were more interested in covering Donald Trumps bid for the White House, the Dow Jones ups and downs or the latest party that Monica Lewinski attended. Companion animals dying in shelters are deemed non-newsworthy.

I was also disappointed in the veterinarian turn out. I made it a point to make sure invitations were sent to all area veterinarian associations and leading veterinarians. I strongly believe their support is essential to a successful homeless animal management program. Whatever culture war has occurred, it is obvious there are casualties. They are reluctant to participate in animal welfare discussions. Unfortunately, they hold the biggest hope for ending the tragedy.

How would I rate the tour in terms of success? More spay/neuter vans will be in operation. It's been 5 years since Sean Hawkins developed the first successful spay/neuter van in Houston, Texas. Up till now there are only a handful of these vehicles in operation. Since the start of the tour, 7 units have already been ordered. I estimate that in the next year there will be 30 new vans on the road. Those vans will play a significant role in reducing unwanted litters.

After touring the country, I can say without question there is a big gap between programs that are needed to save animal lives and programs in operation? We have a long way to go. There were several alarming revelations from the Save Our Strays USA Tour:

Poor Low-Income Spay/Neuter's Assistance Performance
The first and most startling revelation was how little we are doing to provide spay/neuter assistance to low-income qualified people. The fact is this segment of society has more animals and more of these animals are intact than other economic divisions. It's not a question if these people should have pets, they do. The problem is they can't afford to have them altered. This should be the primary work of animal "welfare" agencies. I thought providing economic assistance to people who could not afford spay/neuter has been known for decades and commonly accepted. I thought these programs were in place throughout America. What I found was quite the contrary. Spay/neuter discounts that averaged 20% off are the norm. Even low-cost spay/neuter clinics associated with shelters primarily offered discounted veterinary services, not low-cost sterilization. There is a difference. Discounted services range from $30 to $120. To low-income individuals, if it costs over $10, it is too expensive. Oh, if they asked and pleaded and begged at some of these shelter clinics they would give it to them for free, but these services are not aggressively promoted nor did I find any city that obtained significant numbers in this classification of neuters. Why? Because a low-income spay/neuter program is an expense, a discount spay/neuter program is revenue. It's much easier to take money in than dole it out.

Very poor pre-adoption sterilization compliance
Pre-adoption sterilization is a very important issue in animal welfare. Why? Because studies show that 20% of animals adopted from shelters that are not pre-sterilizing are having litters. If the average litter is 4 to 5 animals, what have we accomplished? Spay/neuter contracts don't work.
One shelter I visited was spaying a dog after it had three litters. The dog was adopted from the shelter three years ago and put 30 puppies into the world.
This is unacceptable. Animals must be sterilized before they leave the shelter, period. Its like Sisyphus having to continually push a stone uphill only to have it roll down, then start again. I found many shelters, even some of the richest and most prominent, to be non-compliant with pre-adoption sterilization.

Lack of Understanding of Pet Retention Programs
Most animal welfare people have little understanding of pet retention programs. They are captives of the old repetitive marketing slogan, "Pet overpopulation, spay/neuter." Spay/neuter is just one half of the equation. These people fail to realize (or look at national studies) that state the average age dogs and cats enter shelters is 6 months to 18 months. Spay/neuter programs will not solve this problem. Once an animal is in a home and comes out of a home it is no longer a spay/neuter problem. It is a pet retention problem. There are very few communities that have implemented intervention programs (mainly identification and training) in this area. What few programs there, (1 or 2 shelter dog training classes) have little public impact.

Not Enough Budget Spent on Proactive Programs
Most sheltering agencies rescue, shelter and adopt animals. How can we blame the public for the killing of domestic animals when less than 5% of shelter budgets are spent on proactive programs that PREVENT tomorrows animals from becoming causalities. Management practices regarding strategic planning, program development and community proactive outreach are woefully deficient, even in our richest shelters.

Lack of Early-Age Spay/Neuter Performance
Living in California, I thought more and more communities were performing early-age spay/neuter because many of the veterinarians in California accept this practice as standard procedure and actually prefer to do early-age neuters rather than s/n at 6 months and over. This is not the case across America. I estimate that only 5% of veterinarians perform early-age spay/neuters. What I found most startling was the fact that animal shelters with public s/n clinics were not even practicing early-age spay/neuter procedures for the public. WOW!

Insufficient S/N Performance by Animal Welfare Agencies
Where Spay/Neuter programs are implemented they do not achieve significant numbers to impact the community. For example, a major city of 4,000,000 residence is served by a shelter that performs 4,000 s/n's. That sounds like a large number but when you break it down it's paltry. Most of these neuters are preadoption s/n's. Area s/n operations should perform 64,000 annually just to service new dogs and cats of low-income people in this city. If you included preadoption pets and feral cats, it should be closer to 150,000 neuters performed annually.

Lack of S/N Programs Targeting Feral Cats
How long will it take for everyone to realize that unowned, feral, freeroming intact cats are the main source of cat overpopulation. Very few communities have programs that target these animals with s/n service.

The fact is overpopulation is essentially a product of ignorance and indifference and only innovative and aggressive community proactive programs offer the promise of breaking this vicious cycle. Progressive local management is the key. We will never stop the slaughter if we continue to allocate 95% of our resources to treating symptoms instead of devoting more resources to the factors that cause the problem.

Each death of a healthy, sound animal in our communities represents an abject failure to provide homeless animal management. We must not let ignorance and indifference permeate homeless animal management. In the absence of proactive program we must ask ourselves, who is really to blame for the annual killing of animals, the ignorant, unknowing people in our communities or ineffectual management that fails to implement successful programs?