City no-kill shelter plan gets panel's OK; another group readies its no-kill workshop; and other tales...

Greetings, dear Readers. We’re a little late out of the chute today at Readlarrypowell.com. But we’ll start with the big no-kill issue (and TWO such projects) and move on to an actress and a lost dog.
More on the day’s challenges in our Contemplations section but for now we’ll address some animal situations:
THE FORMAL APPROVAL: Word reaches us that the Dallas Companion Animal Project Plan – the no-kill plan introduced at the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission meeting a couple of weeks ago – has now been approved by the Quality of Life and Government Services Committee of the Dallas City Council. Normally this would lead to approval by the City Council. More to come on that no doubt.
Once approved and if executed according to the theory of the Companion Animal Project, the plan will make Dallas a no-kill city within 5 years, according to the CAP folks.
Read more about the Project at the CAP website HERE or its Facebook page.
The plan has six initiatives that will be explained more completely at a later date, perhaps on one of CAP’s websites or a City of Dallas site.  In general the six areas are (1) Public awareness and education, (2) Strengthening the partnerships in the feral cats/community cats groups (3) Increase high-volume, free and low-cost spay/neuter programs; (4) Pet Owner Outreach to reduce the number of surrendered and dumped animals; (5) Pet Placement Support through adoption and rescue; and (6) Fundraising to support these efforts.
According to a statement from CAP, “The next steps for the task force are to develop a detailed one-year business plan and a multi-year strategic plan; finish prioritizing initiatives; begin implementing programs; and identify the costs and funding options. In years two through four, Dallas CAP will continue to implement, expand and build momentum. And in year five, if all of the major initiatives have been successfully implemented, the City of Dallas will be one of the largest no-kill communities in the country and will have stopped the killing of shelter dogs and cats.”
Stay tuned. Oh, that dog? That’s Stewie. The CAP  note included a photo of a current resident of the Dallas Animal Services Shelter & Adoption Center. This dog, Stewie “was left in the night cages at Dallas Animal Services—most likely by his owner—on Nov. 22.  After being at the city’s shelter for two months, he now faces euthanasia.” To see how to save Stewie’s life, visit www.dallasanimalservices.org.  
THE NO-KILL CONFERENCE IN MARCH: Coming up March 10 in Addison there is a Dallas/Fort Worth No Kill Workshop hosted by Pawsitively Texas and it has no connection to the Dallas Companion Animal Project though both the city group and this workshop apparently have the same goal. The difference lies in the approach to solving the problem of killing so many unwanted animals in Dallas and North Texas.
At this conference the featured speaker will be attorney/author Nathan Winograd whose theory of achieving no-kill takes more of a “stop-it-now” approach to ending euthanasia. He is famously known for his assertions that pet overpopulation is a myth. And he has demonstrated that his philosophies are effective, though, if memory serves, not in as large or somewhat uncaring a city as Dallas.
A number of local rescue groups have been forwarding e-mails about this conference though none of the e-mails that have come to Readlarrypowell.com explain who has organized the conference or who is sponsoring it.
You can get details about times, speakers, and attendance fees by going to the Dallas/Fort Worth No Kill Workshop website HERE   and you can read about Pawsatively Texas by going HERE.
SOAPBOX MOMENT: While the city’s task force and the Pawsitively Texas gathering may have different philosophies, it is good to know that the issue of ending the killing of the animals is taken so seriously in Dallas that it has inspired the development of actual “factions.” From the list of supporters of both efforts, I know that there are extremely nice people involved from both angles and I hope, for the sake of saving the animals, that the “niceness” will become bonded and end this lousy philosophy of “Got an animal problem? Let’s kill it.” What we don’t need is a big mouthy sniping festival that draws more attention than the saving of the animals.
BE ON THE LOOKOUT: We learn from rescuer Patty Sprong that Lilac the dog has vanished.
She writes, “Lilac was adopted from Mazie's Mission this weekend, and has already escaped from her owner and is running scared.”
The theory is Lilac is a Plott Hound/perhaps Greyhound mix. She’s 3, brindle with a white blaze on her chest, weighs 45 pounds and runs like the wind.
The escaped from her home on Jan. 22 in the Heights at Westridge in McKinney near Cooling Drive and Independence Parkway. She’s been spotted now and then “hanging out around parks and schools but running each time someone tries to get her,” the note says.
She slipped her collar, so she has no tags, but she is microchipped.  And she’s wary of strangers – and when a dog’s on the run, nearly everybody is a stranger. If you’ve seen her or know her whereabouts, call 214-934-8935 or 214-563-2985.
THE STAR’S ART FOR ART’S SAKE: Cari Weinberg, who fosters and volunteers with Animal Rescue of Texas reminds us that ART will benefit from actress/artist Jane Seymour’s appearance Thursday evening.
Yep, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and the “Bond Girl,” will be helping animals with the sale of her paintings. The event is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Wisby Smith Art Gallery, Suite 146 at The Crescent Hotel in Downtown Dallas.
CONTEMPLATIONS: I’ve been in Texarkana several nights now and last night was a stormy one – having been away from my hometown since the late 1960s one thing I have discovered is that rain among the pine trees sounds different than rain on the North Texas prairie. One sounds like poetry and the other sounds like the old “cow and a flat rock” saying. … This time last year, if memory serves, we were thinking that winter in Texas meant sub-30 temps and snow. Hah. We knew better. … Today, as I attend Mom in a relatively inactive fashion (I type and she reads in her hospital bed), I decided to go to the hospital cafeteria and buy coffee. The first cup, I picked up wrong (by the lid) and the full cup fell to the floor, splashing hot java into my  right loafer. The cafeteria let me by a second cup – hah. The nice lady helped me put the vigorously sealed cup and a bottle of cranberry juice into a paper bag and I proudly, like a little boy holding his school lunch, walked through the maze of hallways, took an elevator ride, got out and was within mere yards of Mom’s room when the coffee-soaked bottom of the bag (I wasn’t paying attention) gave way and exploded all over the hallway. I summoned a cleaning person, apologized and gave up on the coffee. When I walked into Mom’s room, one of the medical professionals kindly took me to the hallway break room and got me a free cup of coffee.  She smiled and stepped away (perhaps in caution) as I gently picked it up and walked carefully to the room. My sock is now dry, I’ve drunk one out of three cups of coffee and finished this report from Texarkana. God save the animals and keep us all sane.
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