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MSPCA taking in shelter animals from flooded Vermont
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That’s nice…
But what about the animals in our community?
Both the Animal Rescue League and the MSPCA have made surrenders by appointment-only and as difficult as possible. The number of abandoned animals in Boston and surrounding towns have skyrocketed as a direct result of the difficulty people are having trying to surrender. My shelter, which previously did not take surrenders, have had to pick up the slack. Person after person says they gave up trying to surrender to the shelters better equipped to help their pets.
Animals that are abandoned are much likelier to be stuck in shelters longer and be euthanized. It is essential that we make surrendering animals as accessible as possible. Both ARL and MSPCA need to return to their pre-pandemic level of service in our communities and stop shipping in animals from out of state for headlines while ignoring those already here.
I may be cynical, but I don’t doubt I’ll be getting an email blast to fundraise off these displaced animals while the flooding is still leading the news.
Charity begins at home.
at least give them a chance
It's better than letting them drown.
It's better than letting them
All animals deserve a humane life. Which is why it has been so frustrating seeing ARL and MSPCA chasing headlines while ignoring the needs of the communities they claim to serve.
Both organizations ought to be asked why all the services they eliminated or significantly reduced due to the pandemic have not been re-implemented. Because smaller shelters are not able to pick up the slack from the two largest and highest funded organizations.
whatabout whatabout whatabout
We can do more than one thing.
And that has nothing to with this, does it?
This was a case of two shelters taking in 21 animals that were moved to make room for additional animals that the shelter expects to receive in the aftermath of these floods (which aren't over). Google a picture of Middlebury and get back to me.
Does it?
Except they’re not. Which is exactly why I posted as both these organizations have literally turned their backs on animals in our community. From taking surrenders to taking transfers from smaller and municipal shelters, both ARL and MSPCA have totally stopped their former partnerships and former commitments to the community.
Both organizations ought to be asked why all the services they eliminated or significantly reduced due to the pandemic have not been re-implemented. Because smaller shelters are not able to pick up the slack from the two largest and highest funded organizations.
It has everything to do with it. Shelters work with limited resources and space. Both MSPCA and ARL have been under capacity for months as they’ve stopped taking surrenders or transfers from shelters with fewer resources. Smaller shelters are forced to euthanize more animals as they do not have the resources in money, volunteers, space, and behavior programs.
The upside of ignoring animals in need here is that they can drop everything to save a bunch of animals in Vermont to get media coverage and fundraise more. Meanwhile, animals right here in Boston are suffering and being ignored by the two most-funded rescue organizations in the region. You don’t see a problem here?
The MSPCA is chasing fundraising dollars pure and simple. If this was about animal welfare they would be finding time to help animals that are literally tied outside their doors—which they don’t. They call animal control which has two employees doing the work of eight people and countless volunteers at ARL and MSPCA.
Both organizations ought to be asked why all the services they eliminated or significantly reduced due to the pandemic have not been re-implemented. Because smaller shelters are not just able to pick up the slack from the two largest and highest funded organizations in the region.
Whatabout
Ah yes, good old "whataboutism." What about the starving children in Africa while we're at it?
Not sure what else is covered under "as difficult as possible"
but "surrenders in-person only" seems like a totally reasonable requirement to me - far better than people just dropping off animals and leaving the shelter not knowing any relevant information about the pet.
Oh, they’ve made it impossible.
Both organizations are not returning phone calls, turning away animals brought to their shelters, and if people do get through they are strong-armed to donate to offset costs. If you are patient enough to get through all of that, you’re given extremely limited times when animals can be dropped off.
The result is animals just being abandoned. This is worse for everyone.
Edit: Pre-pandemic both organizations offered walk-in surrenders and this was not an issue before.
They could use more volunteers
If they don't have the money and resources to take care of the animals, what are they suppose to do? It's unreasonable to expect them to have unlimited capacity and plenty of time.
Asking for a donation to offset costs hardly seems like an unreasonable ask.
They don’t need volunteers
Both ARL and MSPCA have a long wait list for volunteering. That is not the problem.
Money is always the problem, and I’m sure they’d like more of it. But I’d argue organizations that help animals in their own communities are more worthy of donations from that community. Both organizations have significantly cut back on their services here making it a far less bang for your buck if you are looking to improve animals welfare in the Boston area. But you do you.
Those who are curious about donating to help animals in our community should look at the Massachusetts Animal Fund. They help both ARL and MSPCA and make sure that money is used to improve animal welfare across the state: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/mass-animal-fund-how-you-can-help
Hee Hee Hee
This whole thread just made my day.
I guess I must be missing the joke
Can you explain what's humorous to you here?
We're all one global community
I don't really see why people should care about helping animals in the Boston area more than animals anywhere else. For obvious issues of logistics it's usually more practical to focus on animals who are near their shelters than ones that are far away, but when there's a van full of animals coming down from an animal shelter in Vermont that's much easier to process than individual donations of pets. I'm pretty cosmopolitan across the board, but in particular with pets, it's not like the animals care what state they're from.
We're all one global community
[double post]
I've volunteered at both
I've volunteered at both shelters over the years and it was a problem before. People left animals in boxes at the door regularly.
Not an issue
This is a response to iamblued because something is broken in the "Reply" mechanism....
I have volunteered at a local shelter for ~20 years and we regularly get dogs from out-of-state, mostly southern states that have *ahem* different ideas about spay and neuter. We've gotten some from Puerto Rico, too.
In fact, our dog came from another local shelter that got him from MI.
Importing dogs is a thing.
Do you know where our shelter animals come from?
Georgia and Texas send a lot of dogs our way since there are more adopters than there are uncared for dogs.
New England "states" are the size of some counties - Rhode Island is smaller than the average US county!. All of New England and half of NY state could fit into the state that I grew up in. Vermont is local by many standards of local.
Because it saves more animals that way
If MSPCA and ARL takes animals who are already cleared for adoption from Vermont, that leaves space in the VT shelters for pets whose homes were destroyed in the flooding. Those pets have owners who want to keep them but can't because they have no where to live yet. Once the owners get sorted out, they will return for their pets. Keeping those pets local is critical to getting them back to their owners. So the VT shelters will prioritize temporarily displaced pets over strays that haven't been adopted yet. They have to make space somehow.
The big orgs can handle situations like an animal hoarder cleanout or disaster relief. That requires money and open capacity.
How about a fundraising email blast of your own?