We slowed down in pulling small dogs out of Camarillo in 2010 and by the end of 2011, we just simply stopped... As a rescue, we hold pull privileges at 7 other shelters, and there was never a time when there was a shortage of small dogs needing to be rescue... (sigh)...
For us, it is all about the dogs... But you can only 'scale Mt. Everest' so many times, trying to do a good thing as a volunteer or as a rescue organization when you realize the effort is depleting your resources and is outweighing the good you can do, ya know?...
Too many of the dogs we were pulling out of Camarillo were very sick and/or broke with kennel cough once we saved them... We also felt that VCAS was not truly dedicated to No-Kill... And there was an overall high level of frustration dealing with the department and the staff in 2011...
On a personal note, prior to the birth of TLC, I volunteered with two other rescues in the area for almost 10 years... Neither rescue wanted to save dogs from Camarillo because the difference was $10 less than the general public cost... While Joe Q. Citizen feels OK returning a dog back to the shelter, rescue folks do not... We knew what would happen to any sick dog we returned, and both rescues felt their limited resources could make more of an impact elsewhere with less frustration...
So, for a couple of years, I pulled the monies out of my own pocket to save dogs from Camarillo for another rescue... And then at the second rescue, I championed the idea of saving dogs from our own county, to the point that there was (for a time) sponsorship by the Heigls to allow rescues to save Ventura County dogs and puppies (this is no longer going on)...
My history in trying to change things at Camarillo goes back over 10 years now, but by the end of 2011, I had just had it... VCAS was just not making enough progress to change and I knew TLC could make more of an impact elsewhere...
To see where VCAS is today, you need to remember where they were... In 1985, almost 12,000 dogs entered their doors and almost 8,000 went out the back door dead in steel drums, carted off to the rendering plants to be make into by-products... In other words, for every 10 dogs that arrived, only 3 walked out alive... Sad, huh?
Twenty-five years later, that has been reversed... For every 10 dogs that arrived, 7 walked out alive... But in those 25 years, the mindset of the general public has changed.... More rescues had been birthed and are buying time for these pets.... People started spaying and neutering their pets... In 2010, only about 7,000 dogs were picked up or surrendered to VCAS, and that is a significant change from 12,000 per year...
But just like with a diet, the first pounds come off easily and as you get down to the goal, the pounds are harder to come off... Such is the dilemma of No-Kill... The closer you get to the goal of a 90% save rate, the harder it is to achieve it... Believe it or not, there are folks that will do just about anything to sabotage No-Kill in Ventura County --- just like a family member who will tell you, "Oh, one little piece of cake won't hurt your diet... You can start again tomorrow on your diet again..."...
Sad to say, this is not a diet... Tomorrow may not come tomorrow for some of these dogs... Twenty-five years ago, a family just wanted a dog... Today, families want THE perfect dog and anything less than perfection eliminates a dog from their adoptive selection process... If the dog is over five years, the misconceptions of the general public is that the dog is TOO old (not true with the smaller breeds)... Or they want a breed that no one else has (and end up shopping on the Internet to pay a huge price for a puppymill puppy)...
Dogs being adopted today have to make it past the hurdles of superficial adopters or they get left behind... Few folks adopt with their brain or heart - they adopt with their eyes, not thinking about whether a specific dog fits best into their lifestyle or their (honest) energy level... This is just like that woman who really wears a size 12, but squeezes into a size 11 in the juniors section!... Eventually the zipper breaks and they fault the manufacturer!
You see?.... Dogs are furever... Adopt them at mid-age and they still love you just as much at the age of 5 as they love you at age 10, 15 and beyond...
Not much in our lives are furever any more... Whether it is the family unit or a secure job... But rescue dogs have something special - they have 'an attitude for gratitude' - they know (somehow) just how bad things can be (or get), and when they find a great owner, they are grateful every day for that unconditional love they get and return to their BFF....
So why is our county still having to euthanize dogs at the shelter?... Numerous reasons, but one that the general public needs to be made aware of...
Just like the 'Made in America' movement sprung out of the realization our jobs were going overseas, the residents of Ventura County need to realize our county cannot go No-Kill without the COMBINED and CONSISTENT dedication of rescues in our county to pull the dogs in our own backyard...
In 2011 when TLC stopped pulling from Camarillo, six months later Donna Gillesby stepped up to run the facility... TLC 'came back home' to save dogs again...
In 2013, 77% of the dogs and puppies we saved came out of VCAS, along with 11% from owners who were going to surrender them to VCAS...
Oh yes, we still pull out of county on occasion - we took 29 of the over 200+ from the Yucca Valley hoarding situation because few rescues could take that many adult dogs at one time...
And we still get called and contacted with emergency cases - in 2013, 12% of our saves were the Yucca Valley dogs (6%) and emergency cases (6%) no other rescue would step up and save from outside Ventura County... Take for example, the litter of 5 ringworm puppies that rescues from 4 hours away would not take on... But we take the "hard cases" from anywhere that other rescues pass on, be it Camarillo or otherwise...
However, we will put our 88% of 455 total saves from Camarillo and lay them out on the table for the general public to see who is working so hard to save our own FIRST...
We Ventura County taxpayers fought the dumping of tons of trash from the City of Los Angeles in our landfills here in Ventura County - we need to do the same thing in regards to rescues in our community savings dogs from out of our county as well... The next time you visit a rescue to adopt a dog or cat, take the time to ask where that rescued pet came from...
And if not from Ventura County, ask why not??...
Ask them why they are pulling dogs from other counties and why they did not step up FIRST to save a Ventura County dog or cat... If we want these euthanasia numbers to continue to go downwards, it is going to take ALL of us working together!
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