"Now I do some consulting, I'm going off to Delaware right after today." Mitch Scheider, Animal Wise Radio 8-12-12
Since there have been reports on a couple Facebook pages that one of the new animal control officers for Kent County arrived in shorts and flip flops to capture a dog, I hope Mr. Schneider advises them that this isn't a recommended uniform. Setting aside the lack of professionalism, Kent County residents really don't want to our county's liability rates to increase because our commission was foolish enough to hand our dog control over to the flip flop brigade. I wouldn't want Kent County residents to pay the price when a few of those little piggies are bit off, or for that matter a foot.
And I certainly hope Mr. Schneider wasn't consulting for Safe Haven when the following post was occurring. If he was, then I certainly see why Washoe County residents are having concerns over the recent audit report concerning past issues at WCRAS.
The above discussion was disturbing by any standard. If Safe Haven intends to ask residents to foster animals, they should not place them in a position where they have to spend "4 figures" on behalf of an animal the resident doesn't own. Later in the day, the foster later commented on the FB page that dog was treated at the vet that the shelter arranged in Ocean City, and that can still be found on their FB page, but I wanted to include the earlier part of the conversation that was eventually deleted. And that doesn't negate the fact that this foster has spent a great deal of money in the last 6 months on a dog that is still under the care of the shelter, or that they have to resort to using Facebook to get into contact with the shelter.
I also wonder if this is the same dog named Brady from an earlier post that was the result of a mistaken pregnancy, that resulted when the shelter placed two unaltered animals of the opposite sex into the same foster home. If this is the same dog, then the shelter should be ashamed of placing the financial responsibility onto the foster caregiver for an animal that wouldn't have even been born were it not for the shelter's carelessness.
As we're now past the mid-August point and there is still no word of a grand opening, I have to imagine it will be pretty difficult to get dogs adopted out on an appointment basis only.
"The Safe Haven shelter is slated to open mid-August in Georgetown, but for now residents can make appointments to adopt animals" - Cape Gazette 7-18-12
That may explain why the Safe Haven posted a call-out for more foster caregivers Friday. So if residents become reluctant to foster dogs for fear that they will have to bear the financial costs themselves, then what happens next? If the shelter is filling with dogs under the contract, and not going out, will the shelter stop picking up under the contract, or will the shelter become overcrowded? I certainly hope our Kent County Levy Court is monitoring the situation, because they bear just as much responsibility for these animals by choosing to switch dog control to a shelter that wasn't even open for business yet.
Delaware Animal Welfare Task Force
The task force met for their first meeting this week. Although there is chatter among several Facebook pages about who has been appointed to the task force, they have yet to update the task force page on the State of Delaware website to confirm.
It is curious that the task force meeting wasn't posted to the state site until 8/10/12, which was only 5 days prior to the meeting. And it's certainly ironic that state officials would violate their own FOIA law which requires public meetings to be posted 7 days prior. Especially since one of the Senators that is reported to be leading the task force is the same one that had requested 2 FOIA opinions against the KCSPCA.
So a non-profit KCSPCA is supposed to follow their FOIA law, but the state task force doesn't. That certainly is the "Delaware Way". Of course I'm sure the hate pages will say the state had a reason to circumvent their own law, and I'm sure it couldn't be because the senator leading the way on this task didn't want the public there. They would neeeever do that ;)
