Who is in danger of being euthanized in your neighborhood?
DogsInDanger.com is an award winning web site owned and operated by The Buddy Fund Inc. and was founded by two dog lovers, Alex Aliksanyan & Brenda Bush, both directors of The Buddy Fund. The website was launched in October 2007 with the goal of:
1.Getting as many of these dogs adopted into loving homes as possible, before their time runs out; and
2.Raising awareness of the number of dogs being killed in shelters.
We are a nation of dog lovers. Then why is it that the shelters that are expected to provide these animals with a second chance at life are instead being forced to euthanize them?
Shelters are the last line for millions of innocent dogs. The public has no idea of the magnitude of this national tragedy. The sad reality is that over four million dogs are killed each year in shelters. Why, in a country of dog lovers, are so many dogs homeless? Because their families abandon them, for reasons like job change, divorce and new baby… and most shelters don’t have the necessary programs to get the dogs the exposure they need to find new homes. Shelters find homes for many dogs, but millions are euthanized. For far too long we have been told there is no other way.
Another milestone was reached by DogsInDanger, as the number of kill animal shelters registered with the web site reached 500! It has taken the web site 21 months to penetrate approximatelly 25% of all kill shelters in the United States. Sadly though, many of the shelters that have at one point registered never used the site. Concerns over their public image, anger by Board members unhappy about being publicly associated with the killing of dogs etc. etc. made many shelters reconsider their participation.
In a groundbreaking move, DogsInDanger announced a revolutionary program giving money to shelters for participating in their life saving mission. The program rewards shelters by giving them $1.00 for each dog that is uploaded to the web site, regardless of whether the dog is adopted or euthanized.
Registered shelters don't have to do anything more to participate. Commencing May 1, 2008 shelters will see the amount of their earning each time they log on. The money will be distributed to the shelters annually. Oh, one more thing, there are no strings attached to the use of funds - we just know that people who care enough to go through the extra one minute it takes to upload a dog will also do the right thing with our money.
The finger of shame though is exclusivelly reserved for shelters in the Northeast, 10states where not a single shelter is using the free, life saving service DogsInDanger provides. How they look at themselves in the mirror each morning is beyond our comprehension.
It was a sad day for dogs on June 15th, 09 when DogsInDanger announced it's abandonement of a long running attempt to reform the NY animal control agency. For nearly six months The Buddy Fund had been working with two brilliant attorneys from the global firm of Kaye Schoeler LLP in devising a legal avenue by which The Buddy Fund would be able to expose some really bad stuff happening at the shelter.
On the aforementioned date a document nearly 100 pages long was delivered to DogsInDanger that basically stated "no way to bring a lawsuit against NYAC&C under current NY State laws". Apparently when it came to animal affairs in NY, only parties directly involved can bring an action. Well that left the dogs, (their speech is incomprehensible therefore they make terrible witnesses) and The City of New York (since they sign the contract with AC&C). r local politicians.ou
If a shelter in your area doesn't use the website, please encourage them to do so. there are printable letters available here, along with an application to find local politicians.
What am I doing? Being out here in dirtville, I finalyy found a way to contribute again. I am going to be adding dogs from multiple shelters to dogsindanger, petfinder and other adoption resources! It's not much, but I can't tell you how excited I am to be doing SOMETHING again.
I freely admit cut and pasting most of this information... I simply couldn't word the information any better than they did. The pictures are dogs featured on the website.
Searching different states for dogs, I have come up with a list of states that are not participating...Check by zipcode for a more local picture.
Alaska
Connecticut
Delaware
Washington, DC
Florida
Hawaii
Kansas
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Dakota
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming
WOW!!! Out of 52 possible locations 33 do not use this service. A service they actually get paid to use! I am going to say it's a lack of voluteers. Running a non prifit, that depends on volunteerism, we are always on the verge of closing our doors and have, in fact, been unable to open several times due to the lack of volunteers.
To help some of the shelters get their red listed dogs posted all it takes is an an internet connection and a camera, on site....
check out shelters in your locale at:
http://www.dogsindanger.com/searchIndex.jsp
6 comments:
What a simple easy idea to help dogs and the thought that it's not used by so many is devastating... I'll put the banner on my blog to help spread the word.
Oh.. that is strange that AZ would bring in frogs to hunt. I'd be glad to come and help out- although I've never actually killed one. How strange..
norwood
Sometimes humans make things soooo much harder fur us than they should...
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Hi Stumpy
Wiggling the eyebrows at you.
Norwood
What a great service.
What also needs to happen is legislation to control the breeding of too many puppies. (Of course, I often think the same thing of humans.)
how do you find out about this stuff? it is unknown.. i was rescued by the NYC animal control (today's actually my gotcha day! with my mommie) and they called a foster home in western ma b/c i had a hard time being kenneled. luckily.. or i could have been who of those doggies.
The badge is up on my bloggie. I'll pass the word to the rescue orgs around here too.
belly rubs to ya,
tula
Norwood, our government at work, doing what they do best...wasting money. Stumpy doesn't have eyebrows to wiggle at you, but her bum wiggling is epic and she knows how to use it.
Khyra, I am just grateful that my dog friends, found their forever people and hope that the dogs that haven't will. Oh yeah, and that alot of people get a lot smarter when it comes to the animals.
Jeanne, something needs to happen, but the thought of putting anymore of my personal freedoms in the governments hands, scares the bejeesus out of me.
Tula, out here in dirtville, when it's hot, there is nothing much to do but read, and I do a lot of my reading on the internet. the next month or so will be perfect as far as weather goes, so I hope to spend more time outside, not reading.
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