>From:    [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The more I read--the more concerned i become.
 
Sometimes this seems pointless.  Try reading my posts instead of skimming
them for things to attack.
 
>I don't understand why Zen wants us to read the articles in Animal People
>to see the current statistics on animal shelters.  The editorials were 3
>and 6 years old and worthless to use as a current statistic on shelters.
 
Because those articles are well written and point to trends that are
decades old.  Do you have any information that those trends have reversed
themselves?  If not it doesn't matter that those editorials are a few
years old.  I think you really need to understand statistics far better
before dismissing any out of hand.  Since Animal People hasn't written an
editorial mentinoing a reversal in trend I'd assume that it is still on
track.  Perhaps slowing.  Perhaps accellerating.  But not reversing.
 
>There was a section on poor people.
 
You missed the whole point of that paragraph which was immediately
followed by:
http://www.animalpepl.org/93/5/editorial1.html
   Nor was lack of money the problem for the man with a new house and
   two sports cars who ordered us to cease catching and fixing ferals
   who made their homes on his property (although we caught them on the
   property next door), or for the countless people in wealthy suburbs
   who asked us to neuter their pets at our expense.  Because selfishness
   and irresponsibility know no class structure, the rest of us must
   unfortunately continue to subsidize neutering the pets of a certain
   number of the rich as well as the poor until and unless we can devise
   a socially acceptable way to hold every pet owner to account.
 
That paragraph you misread badly was stating that poverty is a reason that
folks give for not neutering their animals.  Not a single word about folks
dropping ill animals off at shelters.  Nothing.  The point was that the
problem WASN'T money.  It was pretty clear in making the point that when a
neutering program was brought to the poor, those same indigents folks
worked hard and at significant sacrifice to do better for the animals than
the wealthier folks mentinoed in the next paragraph.
 
>The articles also mentioned the abuse and neglect of animals that Zen
>doesn't really believe exists to any degree.
 
Cruelty does exist.  But I also think some folks exxagerate it for effect.
I think some folk are so to tied into small details that they miss the big
picture.  "Can't see the forest for the trees"
 
>But now I read that cat and dog shelters aren't getting any funding from
>these huge societies either.  What does this mean for ferret shelters?
 
http://www.animalpepl.org/97/10/editorial.html
 
   HSUS still raises funds by encouraging the misconception that it is
   an umbrella for animal shelters, yet puts less funding into shelter
   work each year than hundreds of individual high donors
 
We've been saying this for years.  If you are trying to support animal
rescue operations do not donate to the HSUS.  If you are trying to support
ferret rescue skip ALL organizations larger than the shelters themselves
and any club that specifically supports that a shelter.
 
>As cat and dog shelters slow down their intake--which is not happening
>here
 
That signifies a problem in your area.  Fix it.  Whining about what I say
won't bring about changes in your local people that aren't altering their
dogs and cats.  Learn from those locations where there is success.
 
>But since donations for cat and dog shelters only come from cat and
>dog enthusiasts...
 
Again read what I wrote.  Private dog and cat shelter won't do ferrets just
as most private ferret shelters won't do dogs.  I wrote about the public
shelters that do not have a dog and cat mandate.  They have a mandate to
ALL animals.  All animals does indeed include ferrets.  Currently many
public shelters merely euthanize all non-dog and cat turn-ins because there
is no room for anything else because of all the dogs and cats.  But also
many public shelters are getting less and less over-crowded.  They are
getting more room to handle something other than dogs and cats.
 
>What cat or dog lover is going to want to syringe feed a sick ferret
 
Us.  We are dog lovers.  Diane is a cat lover and I'm a cat tolerator.  Are
we allowed to love ferrets AND other animals?
 
>People I personally know do not want to donate to fert shelter I
>believe in,...
 
I don't donate to the shelter you refer to either.  I think I have more
important places to put my money and support to acheive better results.
And again you miss the point that it is public shelters I am talking about
not private shelters.  All of your points are the same.  You don't seem to
like dogs and cats as much as you like ferrets and resent that others like
dogs or cats better.  You seem to think they are wrong for not donating to
a private ferret shelter.  They aren't.  But dog, cat, ferret, chimpanzee
and tarantua lovers ALL support public shelters.  Don't divide but try to
figure out how to unite.
 
-bill
[Posted in FML issue 2693]