Stormy Dallas and other tales...

Alright, ladies and gents, let’s dive right into the day’s activities. Our topics will include how to convince a Cocker Spaniel to take one more college-level algebra class.
I’m kidding – Inky’s a drama major. Like algebra, however, we do have some puzzling equations to present:
DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES AND THE FUTURE: Stand by for some noise. There’s a promise of quite a racket being raised over the city’s budget-cutting, philosophy-changing plans for Dallas Animal Services.
The declaration of protest arrived in an e-mail last night from the Metroplex Animal Coalition.
Many of MAC’s people worked very hard for decades to get the City of Dallas to build a new animal shelter with an active, inviting adoption center.
Now, after only a few years, the whizbang shelter has iffy air-conditioning and has become, in spite of monumental efforts by shelter employees and rescue groups, a warehouse for holding thousands and thousands of unwanted dogs and cats that are about to be killed by lethal injection.
Based on the MAC note, there is a feeling of betrayal in the animal welfare community.
You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, readlarrypowell.com reported on changes coming to Dallas Animal Services, particularly the exchange of about 50 senior animal care staffers for contract temporary labor. The city says not to worry: change is difficult but it’ll all work out and the city has been happy with temp labor in other areas.
You may also recall that things really blew up last year when the guy who managed the animal shelter was indicted for felony animal cruelty – allowing a cat to die inside a shelter wall rather than letting employees open the wall and save the cat. No trial yet. But the guy keeps drawing his city salary. Meanwhile, innocent shelter workers are being canned to save money.
Here’s some of the text of the note distributed to MAC members and supporters by MAC President Elaine Munch: “A storm is coming. I wish a meant a ‘blue Norther’ as we could sure use one, but sadly, it's the storm we are going to have to create to once again set right what our city's management has turned upside down. ... We are going to need your help, and if I know this great animal welfare community, it's going to feel like a hurricane down at City Hall.”
There is a blog, Now Or Never For Dallas Animal Services HERE that is the information point for rallying on behalf of Dallas Animal Services.
The opening comment on the blog reads, “Perhaps it was wishful thinking, unbridled enthusiasm, or just misplaced faith in the City of Dallas to do the right thing.  Whatever it was – it was premature.”
The changes at animal services will be addressed Thursday at the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission meeting. That starts at 1 p.m. at the Dallas Animal Shelter, on Westmoreland at I-30, just west of downtown Dallas.  That meeting is open to the public – this is a democracy and the majority rules unless the majority doesn’t bother to show up.
There will be city staffers at the meeting. In reality, they have already set the course for the shelter’s immediate future and no amount of protesting at a meeting is likely to change anything unless the elected council members can have some influence over the hired hands. Council members are often unaware of citizens’ true interests, so they may not know that there are concerns within the animal community about the path the shelter is taking. (FYI: We’re told that Council Member Delia Jasso, a devoted supporter of DAS and the shelter, may discuss these developments during Wednesday’s council meeting.)
On Thursday, at the commission meeting, the city people will sit and listen, perhaps respond kindly now and then, and nothing will affect the decisions. By the time all the changes get to this point in the process, they are no longer proposals, they are realities. The clearest evidence of the reality of change is the distribution of reduction in force notices to shelter workers.
In the meantime, residents unaware of or indifferent to the reality of the true purpose of a municipal animal shelter, continue to dump dogs and cats into the facility at a pace that results in the deaths of thousands and thousands of animals a year.
But, the budget will be balanced and those residents no longer have to fret about “what do we do with all these kittens?” or “what do we do with the dog when we go on our Labor Day trip?”
See those animals at www.dallasanimalservices.org. That dog? That is a 2-month-old puppy who is among the many, many animals at risk at the shelter. He was an owner-surrender. He is Larry the Lab Mix. (I always thought Larry was a good name for a mutt and there he was today on the city’s website. Nobody want’s big ol’ black dogs, except those of us who have lived with them. This guy probably will be a great fellow to have around the house – if he doesn’t wind up in a body bag in a cost-conscious shelter.)
ON THE CLOCK IN CARROLLTON: The Carrollton Animal Shelter has a number of critters on the clock for Wednesday. This is Tuesday. Time grows short.
Remember yesterday  we posted a photo of a Dallas dog with eyes of two colors. Today we have this dog, Benny, a retriever mix, who was picked up as a stray. He weighs 47 pounds, is house-trained and is thought to be a retriever mix. (Aside: Readlarrypowell.com has already established Earhounds as a viable “type,” and with two odd-eyed dogs in a row, we may have to declare another type, iMutts.)
Now, this black dog is Rasha has been on the clock before. She got a reprieve. But now she’s in a bit a trouble.
The shelter reports, “She was originally released to the shelter by her people who moved back home after college and could not keep her. She then thought her luck had changed when she was adopted the very first day she was available. Unfortunately that home lasted less than one week before she was returned as she was too active for her new people. So now here she is again hoping that the third time is going to be the charm and her next home will be a permanent one. She is about 5 months old, altered and has her current rabies vaccination as well. She is a great young lady who weighs in at 36 pounds. She is a very active and playful lady who just wants a home with patient people who will play with her and love her for who she is.”
How many hundreds of dollars will Rasha cost you? Fifteen lousy bucks. That’s right. $15.
To ask about the Carrollton animals, call 972-466-3420 or e-mail CARE@cityofcarrollton.com.
CONTEMPLATIONS: So a juror in a Fort Worth trial tries to “friend” the defendant on Facebook? Yep, guilty of contempt of court. But do you think there’s a movie company trying to buy his story? Sometimes stupidity and romance make the best comedy. But, why bring up politics?  ... Walking in our front yard where the brown grass crunches, I got a whiff of an odor coming off the yard – it’s the same smell I used to get in Boy Scouts just before a bit of kindling caught fire. Yes, I think our front yard is on the brink of combustion. ... Please apply this to wherever you wish: At some point we all have to say, “Enough, already.”
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