Here are just some emails I rec'd after the Lubbock City Council met on August 26th. We must all keep a watchful eye and be ever vigilant in this fight - complacency will only get our priviledges taken from us!
Jim Gilbreath is one of the Council Members for Lubbock's City Council.
Ms. Humphreys,
Thanks for your email and input. I believe that your suggested "demand" is quite reasonable and I will be passing it along to our City Manager.
Best regards,
Jim Gilbreath
>>> "S. Anne Humphreys" 08/27/10 1:18 PM >>>
I want to thank you for your support of sane community solutions to the continuing problems in Animal Services.
One thing that I would ask you to demand of city staff is some sort of accurate record-keeping in that department. For the past several years, Animal Services has told us that they can't provide accurate information on animals impounded (dogs/cats), animals relinquished (reasons would be helpful), and disposition (killed, adopted, redeemed, released to rescues), as well as animals microchipped, and sterilized. They can't tell us exactly how many animals have been sterilized thru the Animal Assistance Program, nor how many animals have been allowed to leave the shelter intact--either by redemption or adoption, with voucher issued per the 2009 ordinance change, nor how many have been microchipped. These are basic statistics that should be REQUIRED of Animal Services, and the lack of record keeping (one member of the community was told that LAS cannot provide information on any microchips they implanted prior to 2004!) is inexcusable in a city agency that deals with pets (and property) of citizens at taxpayer expense. Failing to scan for microchips, microchipping animals without entering them in a national database (or in some cases any database at all) is at the very least costing us money every year and in some cases costing the lives of people's pets (or destroying private property, depending upon your orientation). And microchips are totally useless unless they are registered and unless the animal is actually scanned.
How can the Council begin to evaluate the effectiveness of new programs without any data to even establish where we are?
We all realize what a nightmare Animal Services has been for the last several years, and the animal community appreciates your attempts to turn things around. The new shelter will certainly be a step in the right direction, although lack of space for volunteers and for an education/training room (for which we have repeatedly offered to find funding) will make it less effective than it could be. Conversations with Ms. Ellerbrook have led me to believe she is trying to remedy--or remove--some of the attitude problems that have plagued the staff. But she tells me she is not sure funds are available for her to attend the No Kill Conference in Austin at the end of September--a one-day conference that only costs $35 and provides access to some of the most successful animal services problem-solvers in the country. If the city can't afford $35 and a plane ticket, I think HPKC and SPOTC members can probably donate the money.
Thanks again for your support. The dog owners/rescue community remains ready to assist Animal Services in any way we can.
S. Anne Humphreys, B.S., M.Ed., CPDT-KA
President, Heart of the Plains Kennel Club
Anne4TT@dharian.org866-0296
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All,
Just a personal note to say: Congratulations on a Job Well Done!
It's time to take back animal issues in Texas and who has more expertise than we do? We have lots of educational materials when you're ready which Judy mentions below.
This means so much to all of us in Texas as we have two victories this summer. Now on to El Paso. We need to develop more solutions and we have lots going on in San Antonio that I need to write up in that regard, just haven't had time yet.
I do want to steal some of Tim's speech he gave if he lets me. I'm always plagiarizing anything that will help us. It was just perfect for the moment as we had all plastered council with so much info.
We can at least take a deep breath ... but we must remain ever vigilant.
Mary Beth
----- Original Message ----- From: "Judy72649"
Subject: Thanks!
I just want to thank you for all your help yesterday. I'm so glad we were able
to stop MSN here in Lubbock, for now anyway.
Todd Klien is still trying to get something going, I think, but the rest of the
city council doesn't seem to be listening right now. They really crucified
Quency White, asst. city manager/animal advisory board chair. He didn't have
anything written for them but the media did have something! Hewas not able to
answer questions very well either, and we made sure we shook our heads in
disagreement or agreement, which ever his statements called for. The council
noted this too and spoke of it! He kept trying to say there was just as much
FOR MSN as there was against, but neither he, the Morris', or Mickey Jones
(morris crony) produced anything. IF anything was there I know they would have
came prepared to give it to the council to deflate our arguments. I know
nothing FOR MSN exists!
The two vets on the board had not bothered to contact their fellow vets in town
either as was apparent when questioned by the council. They had no idea how
much the other vets charge for spay/neuter, and no idea what they felt about
MSN. The council was put out they the whole board could not come to a majority
on the issue either.
I spoke with each of the council members and the mayor during breaks and told
them I had volunteered to hold responsible pet ownership classes, at my own
expense, for the new shelter, and my roommate, a professiomal here, had
volunteered to come out a couple of times a month to groom the animals so they
would look more presentable. Now, they liked that idea, something for FREE!
LOL If they take me up on it I know I will be contacting you for materials. We
also told them Martha Ellerbrooke is coming to our kennel club meeting next
Tuesday to speak to us about "what we as a kennel club can do to assist Animal
Services." They really encouraged this idea too.
So, it's a start in the right direction. Now if we can just get some kennel
club members and SPOTC members on the advisory board so we can block the Morris'
and their THLN cohorts before they even get a start, we will be better off. I
know I, for one, would serve in a heartbeat!
Once again, THANK YOU!
Judy Sumpter
Board Member, Heart of the Plains Kennel Club
TRPOA Legislative Steering Committee Member
AKC Registerd Dog Owner/Breeder
BREED SPECIFIC LEGISLATION IS A SIGN OF IGNORANCE. YOUR BREED MAY BE NEXT.
