The Animal Innovations Show Doobert.com

This podcast has really been a game changer for people wanting to get involved in animal rescue. It goes into every possible facet of types of volunteer work to making animal rescue a career. There is truly something that EVERYONE can do for the animals! There are interviews with people on the front lines of rescue, those who volunteer by using their technology skills, all the way to shelter veterinarians. I love listening each week and learn something new every episode.

After being invited to be a guest on the Podcast, I instantly binged several episodes in a row and was wondering how I had never heard of them before! Their positive encouragement and educated stance on Animal Welfare is beyond enlightening. They tackle subjects in all fields of the animal world and recognize the hard work that volunteers and animal professionals are putting in to make the world the best place possible for animals and their human companions. It is inspiring that this group is working so hard to promote unity, compassion, and positivity in this dedicated field.

Thank you for all you do! Keep up the incredible work!

Thanks for taking the time to make this podcast, I am an Animal Services Officer in the most populous city of a Southern state and have enjoyed listening while cleaning kennels each morning.

I would like to bring attention to a major issue I feel has not been touched on enough. My shelter is located in the heart of the problem, specifically the overpopulation of dogs and cats and the lack of education towards the importance of Spay/Neuter. A lot of your interviewees have touched on “kill shelters”, all of which have indicated to me that there may be a lack of understanding/awareness of the problems Shelters/Rescues face in the South.

I think it would be extremely beneficial to take some time to interview professionals in the South who work at Shelters that euthanize, and focus on the importance of Sterilizing your pets. Our shelter, which I am not at liberty to name, houses up to 300 dogs at a time. In June 2018 alone we brought in over 600. We work with numerous rescue groups to transport dogs and cats to “no kill” programs in the state and work daily to transport others up North, typically on a biweekly basis depending on the demand.

From the dozen+ rescue organizations we work with, fosters, spay/neuter vouchers, regular Free Adoption weekends, plus a dedicated employee/volunteer force that works to reunite lost pets - we still cannot keep up with the amount of strays that we bring in. We even double up dogs that get along in kennels to open space.

As you can see, we work around the clock to clear out as many kennels as we can to open up space for more animals. We are resourceful, passionate, and love these animals. The reason we exist and the reason we have to euthanize is because of the overpopulation of pets, many of which come from low income areas.

When we do euthanize, the selection process is emotional, and focused on pets deemed unlikely to be adopted. Aggressive and extremely sick animals are the first chosen, and unfortunately bully breeds that have been here the longest are selected next. This happens only when we are at full capacity, with nowhere to put the animals. Once again, we regularly see 400-600+ intakes a month during the summer, sometimes up to 50 a day. It doesn't take a math major to see those numbers don’t line up.

As Animal Care Professionals, we need to focus on educating the importance of Spay/Neuter and WHY “kill shelters” have to euthanize, rather than attacking them and simply accusing us of “killing adoptable pets”, as one of your interviews stated. The term “kill shelter” scares people away from the very places that need pets adopted the most.

I appreciate your time and reading my lengthy review. I look forward to listening in more, and hope to hear from more perspectives touching on these issues.

Thank you,

Officer B