 |
|
 |
|
Letter From our Executive Director - Going no-kill
Date: ..
Author:
|
Dear Animal Friends,
The Athens Area Humane Society is about to undergo some major changes and since you are a key contributor to the organization, we wanted you to be among the first to know about these exciting changes.
Starting this July we will be transitioning into a No-Kill shelter and we will be preparing to move into our new location (inside our spay/neuter center at 1781 Mars Hill Rd, Watkinsville 30677).
If you recall, several months ago we informed the city of our intention to become a no-kill shelter. This transition requires walking away from the city contract making AAHS the open admission intake shelter for Athens-Clarke County. This is not a move that we took lightly. Continuing to be the open admission shelter meant taking in animals at any time and under city, not AAHS, policies. This put a tremendous strain on our resources and meant euthanizing animals with minor illnesses and/or injuries because we did not have the space or ability to treat them until they could leave the shelter. We all agreed that the euthanizing of savable animals for the convenience of space should not be the mission of a Humane Society. And we certainly agree donated funds should not be directed toward this purpose.
In our organization's past we once focused our resources on doing exactly as the city asked. This resulted in an organization that euthanized around 70% of the animals that came through our door. Over the past 2.5 years we have changed our focus to saving lives and we have been able to accomplish great things. In fact, during that time we have become one of the only open admission shelters with a 0% euthanasia rate for healthy adoptable animals.
Several key changes in organizational policy led us to being able to accomplish this goal. Most importantly is we started focusing our resources toward those animals that could be saved. This meant lowering hold periods for those who could not be saved and extending hold periods for those who could.
We had planned on working with the city one more year in an effort to allow everyone time to adjust to our changes. During contract negotiations we informed the city that we would only be willing to work with them if they allowed us to continue with the hold periods that we have found to be proven and effective at saving lives. However,in an email dated June 16th, city staff rejected our changes in full.
At that point we were faced with a hard decision. Do we continue to stay with the city contract for another year even though it will result in the needless euthanizing of animals or do we expedite our plans to become no-kill?
In a letter dated Wednesday June 17, I informed city officials that we would carry out the end of this present contract as previously planned. However, we opt not to resign with the city starting in July. We also requested a 45 day period after the end of the contract to move into our new shelter and turn the current shelter on Beaverdam Road back to the city. We will be relocating the shelter into our Spay/Neuter Center at 1781 Mars Hill Rd, Watkinsville, GA 30677.
I do not want to pretend that the process of finishing construction on our new shelter, moving all the cats and staff from the Beaverdam location, and informing the public of these changes, all within a 60 day period, will be easy. But we all know it is the right thing to do. No longer can we pretend that it is acceptable to euthanize animals that could be saved simply for the convenience of others.
We do hope that you support us in the move and are proud of us for taking a stance to save lives. We want to be responsible with your donations and focus on saving lives. No longer could our staff stand to euthanize another animal that only needed a few days of antibiotics or a minor operation to become adoptable. Euthanizing such animals truly takes a toll on an organization and an individual. Please know that this move would not be possible without your support. I truly thank you for allowing us the resources to take a stand and say that senseless euthanizing is unacceptable and not our mission.
To help keep you and others informed of the changes that will be taking place over the next few weeks, we will be posting regular updates on our move and organization changes on our website.
We thank you for your past support and we look forward to saving more animals with you in the coming years.
Sincerely,
Crystal Evans
Executive Director
Crystal@AthensHumaneSociety.org
|
|
 |
