Good afternoon friends! It has been 4 whole days since new leadership took over at GCAC. Here is what we have observed: • Visitors to the shelter have reported being greeted warmly by the new Director and Deputy Director. • People dropping off donations have been thanked, helped with the unloading and asked for more! Our new leadership wants donations for the animals! • One volunteer overheard Director Wallace asking a ton of questions about how to get the “court case dogs”, some of which have been held in the shelter for MONTHS, released so that they can be adopted or transferred. He is very concerned about the ones that have been confined for so long. • We also observed the new leadership working with the Vet to make arrangements to vaccinate animals on INTAKE. This is a best practice that keeps illness minimized. • All of the cats have been tested for FIV and FeLv. For the first time ever, adopters and people wanting to rescue our cats can have confidence that they will not be dealing with one of these horrible diseases. • Instead of being left in a general population cage to suffer and spread illness and eventually be killed, three under-the-weather cats were moved to an isolation ward so that they could receive medical treatment, keep their germs contained, and get better in a quieter area of the shelter. • There were two dogs in the shelter that Deputy Director Karen Dombrowski was anxious to get out. One was an extremely underweight and lethargic husky that has been held in the locked wards for weeks. He definitely came in to the shelter looking very rough, and likely has health issues contributing to his condition. Why Lazar wouldn’t have immediately asked volunteers to find a rescue organization willing to take him on is beyond frustrating. Instead, she allowed him to languish there with minimal veterinary attention, no fresh air, no exercise, etc. Director Paul Wallace provided volunteers with a picture of the dog yesterday morning (he was apparently working in the shelter on a Saturday), and by the end of the day, a fantastic rescue group agreed to take the husky and get him any medical attention he needs. He will be living in a foster home with a retired nurse, where he will be given every opportunity to recover in comfort. Further, Deputy Director Dombrowski offered to facilitate the transfer TODAY. On a SUNDAY. She was planning on working in the shelter anyway and was very happy to get this guy on his way as quickly as possible. When we talk about leadership, and every small decision contributing to the conditions and the outcomes of the animals, this is a prime example. Had Lazar provided a picture of this dog to volunteers and asked for help getting him out of the shelter, this transfer would have happened weeks ago. Instead, the County has been paying to feed and house this dog for all this time. • The second dog Deputy Dombrowski identified as a priority to transfer out is a lovely little puggle mix that found herself in the family way. Dombrowski reached out to volunteers for assistance with this one, and again, a rescue was found very quickly. This little mama will be headed to her foster home this afternoon too. We know there are a ton of questions out there about what policy and procedure changes there will be and how quickly changes will take place. We know everyone is very anxious and it is hard to be patient. We ask that you try to relax and remember that changes take a little bit of time. The good news is that the new leadership is Compassionate, and that Compassion will be a factor in all future decisions and directions. You literally get to low kill/no kill by solving problems for one animal at a time, which is exactly what is FINALLY happening. What a fantastic feeling!
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 16:42:22 +0000