You lose credibility the minute you ignore the solutions proposed … volunteer programs, off-site adoption events, pet photos, using social networking to raise awareness for the pets in your shelter, etc. … and go off on the tired old “stop demonizing shelter workers … we’re the only ones that lose sleep, work hard, it’s the public’s fault, etc.” In fact, one of the DAS Commissioners wrote me; look at his responses (included here). Because I was unable to respond to him in the timeframe he wanted (less than 12 hours) he said he would seek out other no kill solutions. How childish and unprofessional is that? Yet this is the leadership DAS has.

Currently, more than 30 shelters across the US are achieving a save rate of more than 90% because they have implemented components of the no kill equation. I ask people that say “overpopulation is NOT a myth” to give at least one example of a shelter achieving a save rate of 90% or better through spay and neuter and I NEVER GET A RESPONSE, only the accusation that we’re “demonizing shelter workers” … how do you take it that far off topic? Why not back up your statements with statistics and provide a list of shelters that are achieving a 90% save rate because they ‘educated the irresponsible public and have successfully spayed and neutered’ their way to no kill. Where are your facts? As you can read in the article, Dr. Ellen Jefferson of Austin Pets Alive abandoned the ‘spay and neuter as the only way’ because she is a numbers person and statistically, with all of their effort at SNYP, the kill rate did not change. Only when Austin implemented the other programs of the no kill equation did they achieve a save rate of 90% or better.

As I shared in the article and in my conversation with DAS Commissioner Chris Watts, ‘volunteers are standing by’ … DAS can do so much more, but they have to be willing to work with the entire community and not cling to old school ideas that have lead to the high kill rate. Implement a full volunteer program. Actively network the pets available for adoption (as well as the kill list) online on social networks. Be willing to accept that, whether you like it or not, the no kill equation is working in shelters that choose to implement it.

The numbers speak. DAS has a very high kill rate. I’ll ask again. Where is the list of shelters that are achieving a 90% or better save rate because of their successful “irresponsible public education and SNYP program? Back up your statements. I have serious concerns about people that defend shelter abuse of animals and archaic principles that lead to a high kill rate all the while stating that the critics do not know what goes on inside a shelter and continue to support the abuse and high kill numbers by pointing the blame at others.

IF DAS is truly interested in working with the entire community and a desire to save 90% or more of the animals that come into the Dallas taxpayer-funded shelter, people are willing to help you. Lay aside the egos and focus on what is actually working in other cities. This isn’t about who gets the credit, it’s about saving the lives of shelter animals. It’s a decaying society that continues to support the killing of healthy, adoptable animals. They are God’s creation and we have a moral responsibility to care for those that depend on us.

There is enough compassion and love in cities the size of DFW. But no one wants to hang out and work with a pound run by these killers. So the most important thing to do would be to fire all of them and hire people who want and believe in no kill. It has been done in other cities all over the country but not til the killers were forced to change or get out.

I’m moving our Facebook discussion here to the PawsTexas blog so that is is a public discussion as you have requested:

13 hours agoChris Watts
why are you not allowing me to respond?

12 hours agoPawsitively Texas
Hi Chris, I don’t have any control on things like that; my guess is it’s a Fb glitch that will hopefully be resolved soon You might also try refreshing the page, but I bet it’s a Fb glitch.

12 hours agoChris Watts
What about with the blog? And it not being approved?

10 hours agoPawsitively Texas
If you submitted a story, i did not receive it. If you are referring to commenting on a blog post, I’m not signed in to my blog. I generally only check comments when I sign on to post an update. Comments automatically go to moderation mode and must be manually approved which is not uncommon for a blog. What message are you trying to get to me?

10 hours agoChris Watts
i was in response to many of the concerns and issues that you brought up. Are you saying your not the moderator for the blog? Also Elaine Munch responded as well and her’s was not posted. Simply asking for a right to respond to what you are telling people one sided. Your blog makes it sound like I, as a commissioner am not doing anything but contributing to the problems and dont feel that is correct.

9 hours agoPawsitively Texas
Chris, please take a step back and look at your tone here; each time you have addressed me, it has a tone of accusation. It’s as simple as I have not signed into my blog since the weekend; I’ve been out of town and busy with other deadlines. It’s nothing sinister. I don’t sign on until I post a blog. When I next sign on to post a blog update, I will check post comments, as I always do and as I have already stated.

Also as I explained before, my blog comment feature is moderated; if you publish a blog you quickly figure out how important that is. Even with Akismet, once spam bots figure out you’re an active blog, they bombard you with a lot of inappropriate, unrelated comments. I appreciate your interest in the blog post; please know I am proceeding according to my deadlines.

I am curious to know why no one on the Commission attended the DFW No Kill workshop held in March? Several where invited personally by me. And it’s a real shame because the content was incredible and the overwhelming response we received from attendees is that it exceeded their expectations. One councilman from a North Texas city that has a high kill rate and he has already begun writing the program to present for their city.

I’m happy to hear what you are doing as commissioner to lead the city to no kill; what obstacles are you facing?

9 hours agoChris Watts
I am a business owner outside of the rescue community, i volunteer my time on the commission, I serve on the Dallas Loves Animals committee, I write an on-going article in the Dallas Voice, I am in the process of working with a company that will change the rescue world tremendously for the better, I coordinate city wide rescue events that have record numbers of attendees and i have my family as well. When asked why I didn’t attend the conference – My schedule is full.

As a commissioner, I walk the shelter at least twice a week and I have gotten temps fired for their actions – in response to your blog. This is why that specific topic was not addressed at the commission meeting, it was handled. the connection of using Jody Jones name in the same sentence as letting a cat die in the wall indicates connection and their for another negative connection to the shelter. Stating the conflict of interest for Ms. Poling, when I’m glad there another set of eyes there. As a commissioner, I am working minute by minute to ensure that Dallas becomes a no-kill city, but its not by pointing out what I feel are the faults of others, rather offering suggestions and solutions. It’s conflict that will keep this city from becoming no-kill and everyone rushing to take credit for it – EVERYONE is part of the solution, responsible pet ownership is part of the solution and having united voice will be the only way its achieved.

I never see you talk about the struggles that cities are going through because of becoming no-kill over night. If you cant be transparent, then it simply defeats the purpose.

Taking quotes from Larry Powell and then using them out of context is not a way to win advocates to the cause. Also speaking as though you where at the meeting. We need an open honest forum to have conversations to work through differences.

Turn it back for a moment – I didn’t make it to the conference because of conflicts – why are you not at the Commission meetings the last Thursday of every other month?

about an hour agoChris Watts
if you cant respond, I cant support. We all deserve the opportunity to ask questions and receive a response. This is now a reason that I will advocate for other no kill plans – we all deserve the opportunity to respond and open a line of communication to the soltion – please look at my fb page tomorrow and my article in the voice two weeks from now as this conversation will be posted.

39 minutes agoPawsitively Texas
Gee Chris, I thought we were having a cordial discussion. As I have stated several times, I have other pressing deadlines that must take precedence. But I am doing my best to respond to your inquiries. It seems you are quick to jump to conclusions about my “lack of response.”. For the record, neither the City of Dallas animal shelter, the shelter commission, nor DCAP have an online forum for discussions such as these … so why the harsh criticism for my inability to respond to blog comments according to your timeline? Because I was not able to respond according to your timetable, you are tossing out the no kill equation … ?! Do you get how irresponsible that is? You represent an organization of many people; I am one person. This isn’t about you, or me, it’s about implementing proven life-saving measures that are saving the lives of shelter pets in other cities and that will work in Dallas too. For the record, in addition to the deadlines on my plate, and being responsible for managing a network with more than 35,000 people (a LOT of people message me privately for help), I’m personally dealing with a very recent aggressive cancer diagnosis for a family member that I love dearly.

I don’t attend the commission meetings because they are held on a weekday during business hours. From what I’ve read from Larry’s reports, few people attend. If you can switch the commission meetings to an evening or Saturday, I believe more people will attend. It would also be helpful to post the meeting minutes online especially given it would tell more of the story than what anyone attending may choose to blog about. As a Commissioner, will you take the lead to assure that all Commission Meeting Minutes are posted following each meeting? In 2011, they were rarely posted, then they were removed. Why?

The DFW No Kill Workshop began promoting the event 3 months in advance, so we gave people every opportunity to save the date and make arrangements to attend. No one from the Dallas shelter attended, except Jones who did not stay the entire day. I sent invites to Mark Cooper, Mike Rawlings, Joey Zapata, Rebecca Poling, Jody Jones, and a few other leaders. In fact, neither Jones, nor Zapata or Rawlings have ever given even a courtesy reply to my emails from several months ago.

I did not write my blog post as if I was at the meeting; it is clearly indicated in the first paragraph as I explained how to tell the diff between Larry’s writing and my own and the post contains two links to Larry’s blog for the full report. I did not mention the cat in the wall; I wonder if you have you confused me with another blogger?

Dragging animals, kicking their kennel doors, and allowing a collar to become embedded is animal cruelty and people should be outraged. Complacency about the cruel treatment of animals is societal decay; rather than deal with the problems within, the ‘irresponsible public’ is always blamed.

I believe it is a conflict of interest for ANYONE in any situation to receive a paycheck from the same organization that they chair. When people have asked to volunteer at the shelter, they have been told no; if more eyes are needed, and I agree that is always a good check/balance, volunteers can provide unbiased feedback – daily. When was the job that Ms. Poling has with the City of Dallas contract firm posted and how many applicants were considered before she was selected? What procedures are in place to protect the integrity of the Commission and Task Force given that she is now on the payroll for city work? Those are fair questions and should be easily answered.

The problem I see is that Dallas continues to follow the same old methods that haven’t worked. When Austin and San Antonio tried those same methods, they failed every single year. People HAVE offered solutions. When DCAP first launched, I know of at least one active rescue volunteer that offered to post the pets online to network them, as is happening in other cities (as I pointed out in my blog post with thousands of supporters helping). She was told by the DCAP chair it was not a priority; why? Probably the single easiest and most cost-effective new procedure that could have been implemented was ignored and six months later continues to be ignored. It costs nothing but time – and volunteers will give time with great passion. Dallas is averaging a save rate of less than 40%; no cost, volunteer networking could have changed that stat months/years ago.

I agree, everyone has their role in saving lives – and advocate that often; but people will become vocal when we see roadblocks and appointed leaders choosing to ignore proven solutions that are working in other communities. People like to say no kill advocates are complainers with no solutions offered. But what they fail to acknowledge is that solutions ARE being presented – and ignored by leaders. Even now, you have told me you will “advocate other no kill plans” because you took exception to my inability to reply to you on your timeline. How is that effective leadership? As I said before, this is not about you or me, it’s about what is proven to work.

I don’t know of a single person who supports the no kill equation that will tell you it’s easy. It’s not. But ‘no kill’ is achievable and that is why there is so much passion for the cause. It’s not about whether people like Nathan or not, me, or the people that believe in the NKE; it’s about paying attention to what is actually working in other cities that are saving a minimum of 90% of their animals and implementing similar programs. The easy route is to simply kill the shelter animals, to make room for more animals to kill, to make room for more animals to kill. That reminds me of the ‘definition of insanity’ … doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different outcome. That said, I am coincidentally working on a blog post about four Texas no kill shelters and some of the obstacles they face in achieving and maintaining no kill.

Seagoville is one of the only communities I know that became no kill overnight; most set goals over time. As I noted in my blog post, San Antonio hit their three year goal in the first 3 months by following the model that made Austin successful. If you ask any of the current no kill shelter directors – they will tell you how long it took them. If you want a realistic number for Dallas, following the NKE, ask advocates like Nathan Winograd or Ryan Clinton; they will graciously give you a schedule goal based on city size.

Here are three problems I see in many high kill shelters:
1. The belief that spay/neuter will solve the problem – it will not. Dr Ellen Jefferson, exec director of Austin Pets Alive spoke at the DFW no kill workshop. She told how she initially rejected no kill because she believed, as a vet, spay/neuter was the solution. But over time, the numbers didn’t change. Spay neuter is key to helping a community become no kill, but it is not the single answer.
2. The problem is pet over-population; it’s not (see # 3 below).
3. That education to an irresponsible public will solve the problem. It won’t. There is a sector of society that is throw-away, but they do not represent the majority. Americans spend millions of dollars every year to dote on and spoil their pets; in fact, it’s one industry that has been least effected by the down economy statistics show. Here are stats from the No Kill Advocacy Center No Kill Primer:
• Roughly 23 million Americans consider bringing a new pet into their home
• 17 million of those homes have not yet decided where they will obtain a pet and can be influenced to adopt from a shelter
• EVEN IF the vast majority, upwards of 80% get a pet from anyplace other than a shelter (friend, breeder, Craigslist, etc.), US shelters can still zero out the deaths of savable animals with the remaining 20% that can be influenced to adopt from a shelter.
That’s similar to what I wrote in my post; Dallas has a population in excess of 1.2 million – only 2% are needed to help Dallas become a no kill shelter. A percentage of the adult population of that 1.2 million will never have a pet. And another percentage is the deplorable sector that abuses and casually throws their pets away. However, no one can statistically support the argument that the majority of the population is the problem. To put it another way, 98% of more than 1.2 million are not needed to adopt from the Dallas shelter; only 2%. How can anyone argue that is not achievable? In rescue, we tend to develop tunnel vision due to the horrors we see and that skews our perspective on the public as a whole. The millions of dollars spent annually by animal lovers is a better indicator of the passion that the general population has for animals.

DCAP launched with a divisive measure. The no kill Dallas folks had attended Commission meetings and were very open with their interest in helping Dallas become a no kill city; they met Trimble, Jones, and several others. I was in conversation with Commission member Shults about the DFW No Kill Workshop prior to the launch; on a Saturday in October, she told me by email that there was another no kill group, but they had “no website, no contact, and no real no kill plan in place.” The following Tuesday, less than 72 hours later, we all awoke to the media blitz announcing DCAP. If DCAP truly wanted to work with the community, they would have reached out to the no kill Dallas group and found a way to work towards the same vision. The No Kill Dallas group did everything they could to work with the City and Commission; but DCAP chose to ignore them. The DCAP board member was not honest with me when asked who the contact was; I was not entirely an unknown to her. I had helped network her rescue and we raised money on my network specifically for the pets she took in. If DCAP truly wanted to work with the city at large, they would have posted an open forum where people could submit ideas of how to make the city no kill vs only taking them privately; it’s not hard to allow comments or a forum on a WordPress site which is the platform DCAP is using. If you wish to truly have an open forum, host the DAS Commission meetings at a day and hour that more people can attend and add a public forum to the DAS and DCAP websites. What is missing here is that I posted my blog post twice to the Facebook.com/PawsTexas page and anyone is free to post a comment there. I rarely delete or ban commenters, offering an open forum. – I already offer what I am criticized for not offering. …?!

I believe the differences in rescue define what our role is, but we should still be able to work on the same side of the fence; that’s why in my post Friday, I wrote “volunteers are standing by.” PawsTexas has a large following and can help Dallas build a volunteer base. But you must be willing to let volunteers partner with the city to do the things that the task force and commission do not want to do. There is no reason not to have a Facebook social networking page – and many reasons why you should. If you look at what the other cities are doing as I shared in my blog with links and also at the DFW No Kill Workshop, you can employ a large networking base to help. But you must give them access to: adoption list, stray hold, and the kill list – with photos for each. People like to say networkers ‘don’t work in the trenches’ indicating networkers don’t save lives like others do and that we simply do not understand, but I celebrate the networkers. Social media opened new doors and has revolutionized rescue/pet adoptions. Networkers are key – just as are fosters, donors, and adoption volunteers; however networkers can actually often do more than the people working in the trenches. Some people can’t volunteer at the shelter (available time, emotions, etc.) BUT, they can network the pets, help raise funds, make donations, etc. If you want a solution, implement, or allow a volunteer to implement a solid social networking program for the Dallas animals. Had Dallas implemented a social networking procedure as was suggested 6 months ago, many lives could have been saved. You can’t blame the ‘irresponsible public’ when the leaders fail to implement proven strategies.

I am happy to promote a volunteer program for the city and also to train anyone that needs help on Fb. I also know people that would responsibly manage a Fb networking page for the city if given the option; one volunteer has been involved with Dallas rescue for a number of years.

Pawsitively Texas
Pawsitively Texas is a social network to connect pet lovers, animal rescue groups, volunteers, and advocates for the greater welfare of animals through public awareness and education. Founded December 2008. • We Love Animals! • Are against killing healthy/adoptable animals. • Encourage Spay/Neuter….
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May 3
Chris Watts
Now you can just leave me alone . There and many things,Alva that u don’t want know. I hope to see you are the next commission meeting talking about your plan but be prepared to be questioned about it

May 5
Pawsitively Texas
If DAS is serious about hearing from the no kill equation advocates, we would be happy to make a formal presentation at one of the upcoming Commission meetings and answer any questions you have. But it would need to be at a request from the Commission and with us placed on the agenda because in the past, there has not been any interest from the attempts made.

I am not your enemy; I’m not about ego or getting my name out. This isn’t about me. My mission is to save lives and to raise awareness of what people are doing that is working. If you follow the PawsTexas network, you almost never see my name

Spay and Neuter is one of the steps of the no kill equation and I am a SNYP advocate; however, as a stand alone method, it has never achieved no kill in any city.

“Pet overpopulation” is a myth that continues to be perpetuated by old school theories which indicates how out of touch people are that continue to perpetuate that myth; if one continues reading on in my post, I provided the stats to back up my claim. I also have links under the No Kill Resources link that further support the “pet overpopulation MYTH.” Where are the stats to support the idea that overpopulation is the problem? We see an overwhelming amount of deplorable acts when working with animal rescue daily and that can skew our perception of reality; however, that is a small percentage of the population. Consider that the City of Dallas has a population of more than 1.2 million and an annual shelter intake of approximately 25,000 – less than 2%. Consider that Americans spend MILLIONS of dollars annually to dote on and spoil their pets; the stats show that there is a much larger sector of Americans that love their pets dearly. It’s not a matter of income or IQ; we regularly see pets originally purchased from breeders for a thousand dollars are more dumped at the shelters as well as people who go without in order to care for their pets. At the DFW No Kill Workshop held in March, which none of the DCAP or DAS Commission members chose to attend (even though they were personally invited by me), Dr. Ellen Jefferson – exec director of Austin Pets Alive (largest US no kill city leader) shared how she too initially rejected the no kill equation. As a vet, she believed spay/neuter was the solution; however, in time, the numbers spoke. SNYP programs did NOT reduce the shelter pet population/kill rate; but Austin is now America’s largest city achieving a no kill save rate of more than 90% because they chose to step away from antiquated beliefs and try the ‘common sense’ no kill equation. The DCAP website indicates clearly they are not following the proven method that is working in more than 30 US communities. Why?

My blog post shared how other cities are using social media to save lives; that is an easy-to-implement-and-cost-effect procedure to save more lives that Dallas continues to ignore. Social media has revolutionized animal rescue and shelters that ignore the benefits have the kill statistics to prove it. Dallas is currently saving less than 40% of all animals that enter their doors.