Saturday, October 26, 2013

ASPCA In To Cleanup Safe Haven Mess. Where's Nathan?

Once again we have an opportunity to see who makes the mess, and who cleans it up.  As I've stated before, we all know it was unlikely that Safe Haven would have ever gotten the contract for dog control in Kent County, had it not been for the political games and drama created under Nathan Winograd's CAPA. What an embarrassment to the Delaware legislature and our governor that the ASPCA is now in here to bail out the the faltering "No-Kill" shelter, after our state leaders foolishly took us down the yellow brick road by passing "No-Kill's" CAPA.
"To ensure the health of the dogs, Safe Haven has requested that the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals provide assistance. ASPCA spokeswoman Emily Schneider said the organization has deployed a team of five sheltering professionals to assist in the daily care of the dogs currently housed at the shelter.
“Additionally, the ASPCA is providing supplies to care for the animals at Safe Haven Animal Sanctuary. Any animal with medical concerns will receive veterinary care,” she said." - Cape Gazette, 10/25/13
It remains to be seen whether the State of Delaware will ever pass real standards and inspections for shelters, rather than the snake oil version sold to them by Mr. Winograd.  And we wait in anticipation to see if the new Animal Welfare Office and it's new Executive Director Hetti Brown will do that, or just bring us more of the same as a lab rat for her former employer HSUS, since HSUS is also now advocating for leaving all cats on the streets and turning away owner surrenders in the California Sheltering Report that they are stakeholders in. Delaware's small size unfortunately makes us the guinea pigs for lobbyists in all sectors, and it appears the animal welfare sector is no different.

HSUS can obviously provide a great deal of funding to a state of our size and try to create the fantasy outlook that we are the example, just as Mr. Winograd attempted.  But we all know that the level of funding needed for a state the size of California would be beyond even HSUS's means, let alone the other 48 states. . And even in Delaware, manpower to deal with all the cats and owner surrendered dogs turned away will still be a restrictive barrier to dealing with the mess that has been made.  So it will be interesting to see what transpires over the next year.  Whether there will be any improvement, or just more of the same.  Considering the new Executive Director has been closely aligned with the same animal welfare leadership that brought us CAPA, and in her Animal Welfare Task Force role sat silently like the rest of the Task Force as Safe Haven horror stories were provided at the Task Force Public Hearing. Sadly not what I would expect from HSUS, nor from the person that is supposed to lead us to change.

That being said, we should all give Ms. Brown an opportunity to make the right choices before deciding whether she is up to the task, and see how she deals with the many issues that have gotten so out of hand. I'm sure she already knows that the whole state is watching. But we should also watch every piece of legislation to ensure that we don't end up with more drama than we already have. I will be curious to see what kind of "Delaware Way politics" occurs to ramrod through more legislative craziness in our state.

But for now I say kudos to the ASPCA for coming in to mop up Nathan Winograd's mess. The care and conditions for animals should be part of any "equation".  And we surely haven't seen that here in Delaware.

So Nathan, why haven't you provided Safe Haven with that list of millions of adopters that you seem to think are wandering around our country aimlessly not able to find a pet?  And why aren't you in here cleaning up your own mess, instead of spending your time griping about other groups like ASPCA, who did step up to the plate to clean your litter box?

UPDATE
This was just posted on the Safe Haven Facebook page.  What a shame that so many have been harmed by Safe Haven along the way.  The animals, the kennels and vets that they never paid, and now the employees who will not get their final paycheck. So any community that considers going down the same road beware.  Alot of victims lay in the wake of "No-Kill".