The protest committee had our first meeting last night. I'm not sure how the other meetings went, but I can give you some bullet points on what was decided.
The Common Council has an open forum meeting on Friday. The section that discusses the shelter starts at 1:30. About 10 of us will be attending the meetings and we have prepared a statement to read to the council. We will all be wearing light blue shirts and orange buttons with Paw Prints (shelter colors) to signify our affiliation.
On Thursday May 13th, we are we are planning a massive rally outside of City Hall starting at 11:30. We are in the process of making signs, contacting the media and spreading the word. Rescue organizations from around the region have been contacted and are committing their support.
We have decided to put the emphasis on three points:
1. Financial - the cuts to the shelter staff and the adoption program would actually increase costs to the city. No adoption fees, less licensing fees, and increased stray dog and cat population.
2. Image - the "City of Good Neighbors" will now be known as the "City that Slaughters their Pets".
3. Safety - Cuts in the staff and the adoption program will inevitably increase the danger to the public at large. If the shelter becomes an ALL-KILL facility, the public will no longer feel they can call the city to pick up homeless dogs and cats which would create increased dog bite incidents, more strays causing traffic hazards, and people unwilling to call in incidents of animal abuse. Why call the city on strays when you know it is a death sentence to the animal?
The one thing that is frustrating to me is the news media. Although they have been covering the story, they are failing to touch on the bigger issue. I have watched and read every article about it and no one has mentioned that doing away with the adoption program will result in an "ALL-KILL" situation. Everyone seems to assume that the SPCA will step in and take over the adoptions. That will not happen as there will be no one in the shelter to process the animals and make sure that adoptable ones move into a rescue situation.
I will be going downtown today with petitions to try to get more signatures. We would like to present them to the Common Council at tomorrows meeting.
If anyone wants to read all the detail, here is the link on my website.
http://www.tutzauer.com/shelterhelpers/QA.html
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