No-kill task force appointed in Dallas...

Looks like a new less lethal day may have dawned in Dallas.
A City of Dallas task force –the Dallas Companion Animal Project (Dallas CAP) -- has been established to create a no-kill plan -- a way to end the mass killing of homeless dogs and cats in the city animal shelter.
According to a task force source, the plan is to have a no-kill system in place by the end of the year and fully operational as 2012 arrives.  This will take a coordinated community effort, community-wide cooperation and community-wide awareness of the goal.
As you may recall from previous reports, the City of Dallas’ Animal Services has been euthanizing more than 20,000 (sometimes closer to 25,000) animals a year. They are strays, owner-surrenders and, of course, hundreds of puppies and kittens born just to be killed.
The official task force announcement reads that the city is following the lead of San Francisco, Austin, New York and Richmond, Va.
As it turns out, the recently-arrived City of Dallas Animal Services Manager Jody Jones held a similar position in Richmond and guided that city to its no-kill shelter status.
The Dallas task force is chaired by Rebecca Poling, a member of the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission and founder of Companions For Life.
Formation of the task force was a team effort involving members of the animal welfare community and current interim assistant city manager Joey Zapata who, while serving as the city’s Code Compliance Director was directly involved with Dallas Animal Services and the shelter commission.  He has overseen Dallas Animal Services and its budget and been aware of the challenges of running the shelter for some time.
In the official announcement, Task Force Chair Poling says, “Our goal is to guide the community in identifying and increasing easily accessible programs that will allow us to stop the killing of healthy, treatable companion animals.”
Look for campaigns to get the community involved in these efforts:
--reducing the number of surrendered and abandoned animals,
--providing affordable spay/neuter programs,
--returning stray and roaming animals to their owners,
--creating options to surrendering pets
--and increasing adoptions of animals and transfer of animals to other shelters and humane organizations.
“No single agency or organization can possibly be responsible for all the components necessary to make Dallas no-kill,” says Chairperson Poling. “We’re looking for individuals, businesses, corporations, associations, nonprofits, advocacy groups and animal-welfare organizations willing to be a part of this effort by lending their names and encouraging others to do the same.”
And Asst. City Manager Zapata, in the task force press release, says, “We have a new mayor [Mike Rawlings] who firmly believes that Dallas should have the goal of becoming no kill; a city council committed to supporting the task force; and a new shelter manager, Jody Jones, who played a leading role in making Richmond, Va., a no-kill community.”
And in her official task force statement, Shelter Manager Jones says her experience in Richmond demonstrated the value of a team effort. "Working together to develop a successful no-kill plan will engage the community in the welfare of our animals and make Dallas a more pet-friendly place to live. It will save taxpayer dollars and result in a more educated and informed public.  It also will encourage private/public partnerships, and, most important, it will improve the quality of life for companion animals and people in the City of Dallas.”
The public, of course, will have avenues for input -- contact the task force through the website www.DallasCompanionAnimalProject.org. The project is also on Facebook or you can follow on Twitter @DallasAnimals.
 In addition to the city’s Jody Jones and Commissioner Poling, the members of the task force include these “heavy hitters” in the animal welfare community: Elaine Munch, Metroplex Animal Coalition; James Bias, SPCA of Texas; author Mary Spencer of the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission and SPCA of Texas; Jonnie England of the Metroplex Animal Coalition;  Susan Gregory of  Dallas Animal Advocates;  John McQuade of Greyhound Adoption League of Texas; Maggie Dahl of Animal Rescue of Texas; Dallas Police Department Reserve Officer Jill McCollum; Pam Asturias of Feral Friends Community Cat Alliance; Dr. Erin Shults of Mazie’s Mission;  Maeleska Fletes of Little Forrest Hills Animal Alert and Rita Hensley of Dallas Animal Services.
Those animals in the photos? Those are three of hundreds currently on the clock at Dallas Animal Services. The black and white dog is Paige, the cat is Brenda and the obvious Earhound is Sugar Bear. How did they wind up in the shelter? Paige and Sugar Bear were strays and Brenda, with her lookalike sister, Breezy, were owner-surrenders.
It really doesn’t matter how they came into the shelter. What matters is how they leave. Adopted or bagged.
TO COMMENT: You can  get up on the soapbox with me if you wish. To comment on this significant development in Dallas’ history with animals, go to the end of this report and clicking on "comment." Perhaps the task force would appreciate your thoughts and involvement.
CONTEMPLATIONS: This task force goal beats the usual Texas theory of “Got an animal problem? Let’s kill it.” ... Two months – especially two holiday-filled months -- is an awfully short time to pull all these factions together, but if everyone realizes they’ll be saving lives and changing the image of Dallas (where the former shelter manager faces an animal cruelty trial), maybe there’ll be some cooperation.  ... I hate to call this “Enlightenment on the Trinity” (that's so optimistic!) but that might be the best way to describe it. ... Rescue groups have already demonstrated a keen ability to help Dallas Animal Services save some animals, but the numbers are overwhelming and perhaps “the general public” will respond when called upon to participate. ... No doubt there’ll be naysayers and opponents who form pockets of resistance because of personality or envy. And some people think killing is the best way to control the animal population.  ... This is one of those situations that probably won’t require new laws or ordinances, just new attitudes and partnerships and an awakening of a dull and unresponsive public – no offense to anyone dull and unresponsive.  ... People in the rescue community do noble work – it is often unnoticed by the willingly blind populace. Be interesting to see how the task force gets the blind to see. ... There is a lovely irony to the thought that Dallas, where an elected official once gave a Key to the City to a convicted dog-killing, dog-fighting quarterback may become known nationally as a no-kill city.
WORLD SERIES CONTEMPLATION: Can't let the morning go without praising the Texas Rangers. How about that game last night. And now the Texas Rangers are one victory away from a World Series title. Just 5 words: Go Rangers, win ONE. game.
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