Animal Welfare Professionals

I'm with shelter/rescue in San Jose, CA. Some vet techs have been reaching out for help to rescue animals that are brought to them to be euthanized after their 3-day stray hold at this shelter (the shelter does not have it's own vet staff). This shelter is located about 120 miles east of San Jose.

The techs will call at 10 pm at night and by the time we listen to the message at 7 am, they have animals on the table for euthanasia already. The techs tried networking on a public rescue related Facebook group and got slammed so they have not stopped asking for help via that forum.

This shelter has one ACO and zero staff and volunteers. Their euthanasia rate is 97%. The rescue is not allowed to network these animals because the shelter will ban any rescue doing so from pulling. The animals that we have managed to pull are wonderful and adoption ready almost immediately (after s/n, etc) - very little medical required and are behaviorally sound.

I have no idea how to help this shelter because we cannot keep working this way (the rescue is headed straight for compassion fatigue and burnout). Anyone have experience helping a shelter in this situation? How do we work with them and improve the lives of the animals? How do we get policies in place to improve this situation being that we are so far away?

Can the rescue call earlier?

Would the government structure above this ACO be receptive to saving more lives and/or spending less on drugs for euthanasia?

The vet techs call us and they do the best they can. They are responsible for euthanizing animals from various rural shelters in this area and they are very overwhelmed.

I am not familiar with this rural town's government structure. This is a very impoverished area and the people living there have no access to animal welfare related resources. Their City Manager is an interim position so it's going to be difficult to get his attention with all he has on is plate, but I can give it a try. 

I would definitely encourage you to set up a meeting with that interim City Manager and let him know that you want to help. Help is the key word here. That there is a better way to solve the problems of their constituents and that today the residents of his community do not agree with euthanasia as population control. Maybe you can find out what types of calls the ACO is required to respond to and to make sure he/she is focused on public safety and animal safety (which is the purpose of animal control). Sometimes ACOs end up doing things as a convenience for the citizens which does not impact either public or animal safety and ends up with unnecessary euthanasia. Maybe you can help him understand that there are organizations out there that would love to partner with them to help the citizens in place (safety net program) and to help find animals homes if they truly need to come into the 'shelter'. Keep in mind that most county officials no nothing about animal control, they just don't want to hear complaints and feel that removing animals is a way of keeping the citizens happy.

Thank you! I will be drafting correspondence to the interim City Manager and I will emphasize our goal of wanting to "help." 

any way to set up a private FB page where shelter can simply list animals at intake and rescue can monitor more closely in real time?    

I think it would also help if the shelter had some help with recruiting and training volunteers to help them out.