October 29, 2007
Nathan Winograd, with No Kill Advocacy Center, wowed an attentive crowd
representing many animal groups in a three hour seminar Thursday evening,
October 25th, in San Antonio, Texas. At least one city councilman was in
the audience. Winograd has written a new book "Redemption, the Myth of Pet
Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America" which is a must read
for everyone involved with animals.

To date Responsible Pet Owners Alliance appears to be the only animal group
in San Antonio supporting the No Kill Philosophy and opposing certain
objectionable sections of the Chapter 5 Animal Ordinance Revisions. All
city officials, city staff, Animal Care Services Advisory Board members,
Animal Care Services, all animal shelters and animal groups (including
Citizens for Pound Reform) appear to be supporting Mandatory Pet
Spay/Neuter, Intact Dog Permits, and high fees and permits to own almost any
animal in the city which Winograd claims will lead to more animals killed at
animal controls.

RPOA appreciates San Antonio Area Foundation's sponsorship of this
enlightening seminar. Please thank Laura Jesse, the reporter, for this
great interview below with Winograd!
_______________________________________

http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/pets/stories/MYSA102507.State.No-KillGuru.30e
e174.html

Tiny URL:
http://tinyurl.com/293sla

No-kill expert to speak on ways to make new shelter policy work

Web Posted: 10/25/2007 12:14 AM CDT

Laura E. Jesse
Express-News

San Antonio will have better success at becoming a "no-kill" community for
stray and unwanted animals with innovative programs and public education -
not with get-tough rules and regulations that are hard to enforce, a
national no-kill advocate said.

Such programs could be as simple as how animals are placed in an adoption
center, creating convenient pet adoption programs and helping pets and their
owners get through behavioral issues so adoptions last, said Nathan J.
Winograd, director of the No Kill Advocacy Center.
As the City Council prepares to take up revisions to the city's pet and
livestock codes later this year - part of Animal Care Services' strategic
plan to become no-kill by 2012 - Winograd is bringing to San Antonio the
no-kill equation that has helped communities as small as Tompkins County,
N.Y., and as large as San Francisco drastically reduce animal kill rates.

His lecture today, sponsored by the San Antonio Area Foundation, is free to
the public.

Winograd's stop in San Antonio also includes a visit with Animal Defense
League and ACS employees, which he said shows the city's commitment to
becoming no-kill.

The movement among animal advocates generally means that stray and unwanted
animals will not be killed simply because there isn't room in shelters or in
foster care. Even feral cats are spared in no-kill communities through trap,
neuter and return programs - an idea that is likely to be included in the
city's code revisions.

Another proposed code revision would increase permit fees for unsterilized
dogs, but Winograd said such get-tough legislation can be counterproductive.

"If you look at the communities that have been successful with death rate
declines, they have done it through key model programs and services," he
said. "The problem with legislation is you have to make a trade. If you put
resources behind enforcement, you will divert resources from programs that
have immediate payout."

The no-kill equation is made up of 10 programs or services, including trap,
neuter and return programs, or TNR, for feral cats; high volume and low-cost
sterilizations; adoption incentives; and a comprehensive foster care
network.

In rural Tompkins County, where Winograd took the urban no-kill model in
2001, the adoption program eventually included incentives such as free dog
behavior advice for the animal's life, discounts on grooming, pet massages
and even lattes at the local coffee shop. By securing the support of local
businesses, the shelter helped move animals into homes without paying extra
for the incentives.

The adoption program, combined with TNR and other key programs, helped the
county reduce the death rate by 75 percent in three years.

Building a no-kill community starts with an adjustment to what the community
finds acceptable, Winograd said; it can no longer be acceptable to think a
humane death is the best thing for a stray or unwanted animal.

"My hope is that people move past any idea about controversy or whether this
is doable or not doable in San Antonio," Winograd said. "Everywhere this
approach has been implemented has had a substantial death rate decline.

"I can't believe that there is something so peculiar about San Antonio that
will prevent this from working."

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ljesse@express-news.net

Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
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Phone: (210) 822-6763
Website: www.responsiblepetowners.org
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