I have always enjoyed the precision of carpentry. How many other things in life are so simple? Success is a surefire thing if one measures carefully, cuts the correct angles, and uses the right fasteners while keeping everything plumb and square along the way.
Real life of course is much more complicated.. Take animal welfare for instance. On the surface it should be so simple. People with kind hearts want to save lives. What could be easier than that?
Of course , here in the real world the waters are often muddied by misconceptions that gain legs and gallop around Facebook. At best they cause hard feelings. At worst, they polarize the very people who should be working together if we are ever to get to No Kill Nova Scotia.
Fallacy #1 – All branches of the Nova Scotia SPCA are open admission. And before the keyboards catch on fire, yes I know they are ever so much better than they were nine years ago. But they are not Open Admission anywhere … yet. How did the idea that they are all open admission take root? The short version is that in March of this year, the Dartmouth shelter did an open admission trial run.
How did that work out? Very well as a matter of fact … so much so that “The director said this approach to intake could expand to other times of the year depending on the demands of breeding season and to their other shelters as well.” Personally, I think that is a wonderful step forward in the right direction.
But I am wandering afield as I am wont to do in my meandering way. This little “alternative fact” is often used to justify importing homeless dogs into this province. Not to be mean, but as of this writing, any group using that to justify bringing dogs in from away is living in a dream world.
Fallacy #2. Nova Scotia is already at No Kill. And before the keyboards catch on fire, yes Virginia I know that we have No Kill rescue organizations here in Nova Scotia. But here is the thing. This is Canada and we have a completely different system of doing things than the States.
What does that mean in realspeak? Simply that rescue and shelter statistics only paint a small part of the picture. Why would I say that? Because there are not enough rescue slots for all of the pets in need in this province.
So there is no possible way to determine how many treatable and adoptable pets are killed in this province. Why? For starters, no animal clinic in this province is ever going publicly publish the number of treatable and adoptable pets that get the short end of the long needle. Nor can anyone track how many abandoned pets become road kill or part of the food chain. Saddest of all of course is that there is no registry for the unwanted ones that are drowned or shot 🙁
What does this mean in realspeak? Simply that this is just another ‘alternative fact’ that is used to justify importing homeless dogs into this province. At best, rescues spreading this misinformation have not done their due diligence. At worst, those importing dogs have simply placed the lives of homeless Nova Scotia dogs at the bottom of their priority list.
Fallacy #3. It is commonly believed that all pets imported into Canada meet the same health standards required of locally adopted or sold pets in Nova Scotia. Actually, the only thing that imported pets require is proof of a rabies vaccine. Any other possible inspections are usually sidestepped by claiming the dogs are personal pets.
Does this mean that kind hearts who are moved by the plight of southern dogs in high kill shelters cannot do anything to help? Of course not. Even though Canadians cannot claim donations to American rescues on their taxes, cash donations to supporting rescues there would always be helpful.
There is of course the dodgy issue that there is no way to determine how helpful importing dogs actually is. Lets face it .. there is a fine line between helping and enabling, eh? Without meaningful measures such as low cost spay neuter at the source, pulling dogs out of high kill shelters simply creates a vacuum that will quickly be filled.
What is the bottom line? As far as I am concerned, it is really quite simple. It is not my job to think for everybody else. Who am I to scold a rescue for the choices they make?
That being said, any group that takes donations from the public has an obligation to be transparent with donors and supporters.
Of course, it would be slim pickings for any group with enough balls to admit that the lives of homeless dogs here in Nova Scotia don’t really matter to them. Or that they were not experienced enough to understand the implications of importing more homeless dogs into a little province like this. Very slim pickings indeed.
According to the Canadian Animal Health Institute, there were an estimated 7.6 million dog owners in Canada in 2016. Wow! Seven point six million tax paying voters who care about the health and well being of their companions. 7.6 million people who are going to pretty darned upset if they wind up paying big vet bills for diseases that were actually imported into this country by starry eyed, well meaning rescuers.
What time is it? Instead of advocating for regulations for rescue, perhaps it is time to focus on the need for stricter Federal rules for importing all dogs, including owned personal pets. It would be a simple step that would protect the health and well being .. and financial security of 7.6 million dog owners. What better win/ win for our Federal MP’s could there be than that?