3/25/08

    Today has been very exciting in the world of this project. In class today we did a little questionnaire about our change agents. Up until now, this has been one of my setbacks. The questions basically asked us if we had a change agent and when we were meeting with them. No one had contacted me back at that point in time, so I was left writing “N/A” on my paper. I felt defeated.
    When I got home tonight, I checked my e-mail. Alas! I saw a new e-mail from a name I didn’t recognize. It was from a woman named Melissa Levy, the Director of Development at PAWS (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society). She had been replying to my original contact for a meeting time so I could present my elevator pitch. The e-mail read, “Thanks so much for your interest in saving Philadelphia's animals! I'd be happy to set up a time to meet with you in early-April.” These were the best words I could read at that moment.
    Now, with a meeting time and the beginnings of an Action Plan outline, I’m back on track. I felt overwhelmed for a little, but this seemed to be what I needed to fix that. Sometimes, things take a while. Sometimes, things go well. This was a sign.

3/21/08

    It’s really impossible to not hear about how many problems there are with sheltering animals lately. Another article came my way, this one talking about a specific case of people who took in more cats then they could handle. There were tons of cats in this “sanctuary” with diseases, some starving and some dying of neglect. As the article put it, “…failed to provide adequate care for the cats on the 29-acre property, in part because there were more than she could handle.” These people tried to help these cats, which eventually led only to harm. Why is it so hard to succeed in helping animals sometimes?
    The redeeming thing about this whole story is what is happening to the animals now that they have been rescued. “Veterinarians and dozens of volunteers have been working round-the-clock since Thursday trying to nurse to health hundreds of sick cats removed in a raid from a suburban Pittsburgh animal sanctuary.” This is a true story of people in a community coming together to help these animals. There are volunteers. These people are making a difference. “The cats are being treated in northwestern Pennsylvania in a vacant building, once housing Clarion County Humane Society, that has been turned into a makeshift animal hospital.”
    This story really shows how it’s not that hard to help and not that hard to make a difference. Sadly, this took a tragedy such as this harsh situation to get all these people together to do this. But that doesn’t have to be the case. There are animal shelters that need volunteers. Animals in towns and in cities that need help. Animals that need homes. Sometimes, all it takes is people caring and coming together.

3/11/08

    Starting the draft of the Elevator Pitch this week was harder than planned. Deciding first on what media I wanted to work with was where the challenge began. First, I automatically thought iMovie. That’s a good was of using visuals, audio and content. After I had the “X” marked on my paper for that to be my decision, I had second thoughts. I looked at the other options. Written report jumped out at me. But I wanted visuals. Also, giving a group of change agents a written report isn’t the most interesting thing for them. So I created my own media for this project. I will be doing a written report, with photos embedded in and I will be giving it as a speech when presenting to my change agents. Problem solved.
    Starting the writing for the pitch has proved an obstacle. A bit of a stopping point. I thought turning all the knowledge I gained and all the writing for the blogs I have into an Elevator Pitch would be flowing a little more then it is. Besides that struggle, I think things are going really well. I feel like I’m actually doing something with what I’m learning, which is sadly not something that all students can say. Moving on from this point, I see more research, more contacting and lots of writing. Sadly, no change agents have gotten back to my e-mails. I will be making some phone calls this week as well.
    As this project goes on, I see myself showing off my blog more and more, getting excited about what I’m doing. Like I said, sadly, this isn’t something that all students are experiencing. But it definitely should be.

3/9/08

    “Every year, more than a half-million purebred puppies, destined for pet shops across the United States and Canada, are born in crowded and usually squalid conditions at Midwest, New York and Pennsylvania puppy mills. Unfortunately, these puppies become part of a society that routinely destroys millions of unwanted dogs and cats a year. The parents of these puppies spend their lives in wretched confinement, exposed to the elements, only to often encounter a cruel death at the end of their reproductive years.”
    This quote was taken from an article I found on my feed this week. The article got my attention with the title “Saving the Puppy in the Window”. It goes on to talk a little about how some people reacted to different statistics they found out about puppies dying and being harmed in puppy mills. This interested me. These people were feeling compassion for these animals, thus doing something about the problem. This is what I needed, a catch.
    “Many unknowing consumers cannot resist the cute puppy in the pet shop window of the local mall or shopping center.” Now, this isn’t necessarily a good thing. These people are buying puppies and then are not capable of taking care of them. What this is doing well is getting people excited and wanting to help animals. This article really gave me an indirect secret for my Elevator Pitch. People love cute. People love cute animals. If I use photos of cute animals, possibly cute animals in danger and in need of help, then people will pay attention to what I have to say. They will want to help.
    All I have to say is thank you to this article. Now all I have to do is find adorable pictures of dogs and cats. I have found my attention getter.

2/27/08

    At this point in the project, I feel like I have been educating. Educating myself. Educating my classmates. Educating anyone who will read my blog. The bulk of things so far has been research, research, research. Locate articles. Read articles. Understand articles. Share articles. Only now am I understanding that research is easy compared to outcome.
    Considering we are halfway through this project and this quarter, I think I have a pretty good grip on things. I understand my topic and I’m one of the luckier people who can find articles on my topic pretty easily. I have even been lucky to find a decent number of change agents to contact. The obstacle I am currently facing is what I want to do. My change. My solution. After everything I have learned, all of the little problems and things that need to be fixed, I can’t quite decide what I need to do or how I’m going to do it. I think I need to narrow things down and really understand what I am trying to fix. I’m not going to come to my solution until I completely identify my problem.
    For now, I’m going to continue research. I’m going to contact people, possibly do some interviews and figure out all of the different sub-issues. I’m going to begin sorting out my thoughts on what I want to do and how I can present that change. It’s a lot. It’s exciting. It’s halfway through.

2/22/08

    An interesting article came my way this week while I was looking through my feeds. It was debating the effectiveness of the No Kill shelters at different locations in the country. To start, they pose the very interesting question of, “Have shelters failed these 'NoKill' plans or have the 'NoKill' plans failed the shelters?” That does seem to be the debate. Yes, the killing in these animal shelters needs to stop. But has this No Kill project been too much for the shelters to handle? Is there a better way that people haven’t thought of yet to stop the violence in these shelters?
    The author of the article goes on to say how successful the No Kill shelter program has been working in Philadelphia. As for the rest of the country, not so much. Then states, “Should we just give up trying to become 'NoKill?' Absolutely not! The ten basic 'NoKill' programs are a start but they're just a start…” I think this sums up everyone’s feelings. This is only a start. There needs to be more work done. With that statement though, another question is raised. What else can we do? How can we, as people, come together and have a bigger impact for the animals? What is wrong with the No Kill project right now? Things are getting better from the No Kill Advocacy Center. It is helping.
    My question for you, people of the world, is what is wrong here? What else? What next? I think that there is more. More that can be done. More ways to branch out the No Kill shelters in the country. I’m posing a challenge: What is the next step to take the No Kill shelters to an even more successful level?

2/21/08

    So this week, while doing research and reading some articles, I came across the same name a few times. The name was Nathan Winograd. After seeing his name more than a few times, I decided to look him up. I came across his website and discovered that he not only is very active with animal rights, but he is the Director of the No Kill Advocacy Center. He even wrote a book! The book, titled Redemption, is about animal shelters all around the U.S. The summary describes it as “…about heroes and villains, betrayal and redemption. And it is about a social movement as noble and just as those that have come before. But most of all, it is a story about believing in the community and trusting in the power of compassion.” That’s just the story I was looking for.
    Winograd’s website also gives basic information, informing me that he went to Stanford Law School and has taken part in the creation of No Kill shelters in rural and urban communities. His blog can be found here . I’m hoping to send a few e-mails his way and maybe arrange an interview via Skype or even just exchange some e-mails. Until next time, I’m going to get a copy of that book!

2/8/08

I read an interesting article/document that gave me a couple more details on the PACCA lawsuit. A classmate of mine showed me this document. The link to it is actually in a comment under my last blog post (Sorry guys, I can’t quite figure out how to post it as a link in this entry yet. Tech editing will help that soon!). It seems as if this topic is getting more and more media attention everyday. I’m hoping to get in touch with someone from PACCA to talk about the issue, but for now I’ll just check out some articles.
    PACCA (The Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association) along with the Alliance for Philadelphia’s Animals is currently working on a campaign know as “No Kill Philadelphia” to help the number of animals that are currently dying at PACCA and other shelters around the city. The goal for this campaign is as follows:
    “In addition to a series of strategic initiatives designed to reduce the death rate at PACCA and improve the City’s ability to deliver animal control services such as working with rescue groups, increasing spay/neuter, offsite adoptions, and a fund for saving sick, injured and abused pets, the duo has also joined forces to hire an animal control expert to help the city become “no kill” in the next decade”.
    The article continues to explain what they hope to achieve in the future as well as whom they are working with. It seems to me that this campaign is a long overdue and good idea. Abuse in animal shelters is something that has been going on for longer then the media has given it attention. I think that this is a good step of larger and local recognition of a big problem in this city and many others.

2/5/08

To get started with these blog entries, I want to focus on identifying the issue and the broad goal. The problem is animal rescue, animal rights and animal shelters. The problem is people. The problem is lack of respect. The problem is ignorance. The problem is people being ignorant about rescuing and helping animals.
For a long time it seemed like the solution for the problem of abused animals were shelters to put them in. As I was watching the 6 o’clock news the other night, there was a story that caught my eye. If I remember correctly, the tag line stated how many more animals were being rescued compared to 5 years ago, but how it was discovered that the animal shelters were caught abusing the animals or not caring for them to the best of their ability. This shocked me. How could it be that the place animals were taken to for savior was the thing harming them most?
The news report stated that around 5-7 years ago 10% of the animals that were abused or in danger were being put into shelters. Now that percentage was raised to 65% of animals being rescued. While that is good, a lot of the shelters seem to have too many animals to care for now. There is not enough funding available to the shelters to properly feed all of the animals, as well as not enough staff members to care for the animals properly. The shelters can sometimes be extremely dirty and with many animals being locked in a cage for days without notice. The animals can go hungry and go without proper medical attention, sometimes when vitally needed. The link to the video (http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/bizarre&id=5900625 ) shows how the SPCA is charging the non-profit, animal rescue agency PACCA for abuse, neglect and abandonment of some of their animals. This is just one clear example of how an agency that should be helping animals seems to only be hurting them.
This is not a solution. Yes, these animals are off the streets. Yes, these animals are out of the hands of abusive owners. But no, these animals are not being properly cared for. No, these animals do not have the proper amounts of food. No, these animals are not getting the love they should be. I want to fix this. I want to make shelters more fit for animals. I want shelters to have more funding. I want to show people, ordinary people, how easy it can be to help out an animal or a local animal shelter. I want to show people that animals are important. Animals deserve a chance too. I want to show people how they can help.