How shelter philosophies affect their lives

By Christie Keith, Special to SF Gate


Falling real-estate prices and a worsening economy have added up to foreclosure for more than a million American families. Many of them aren't sure how to keep the kids in school, their marriage together, or their dignity. And if they're one of the 60 percent of U.S. households with pets, they may well find themselves unable to muster up the emotional energy to know what to do about their animals, either.

People whose lives are coming apart often make the terrible decision to leave their pets behind in an empty home, where they're often not discovered until they've starved to death. Although a law was recently passed in California making it easier for lenders and animal-control officers to remove pets from empty homes, the sad problem of "foreclosure pets" persists.

Reasonably, pet owners who don't want to abandon their pets to an uncertain fate seek help at their local shelter. But rather than being offered assistance, they sometimes are lectured about their "irresponsibility." Some are simply told that their pets will be put down. This harsh scenario exposes a weakness in this country's reigning animal-shelter philosophy, which may not be serving the unwitting animal victims of the foreclosure crisis well. But luckily, as in most crises, there are also signs of emerging strength and compassion.

The sheltering philosophy that has dominated animal control policy in this country since at least the 1970s is one that lays the blame for every pet problem, including large numbers of animals being killed in shelters every day, squarely at the feet of irresponsible pet owners.

Proponents of this approach believe that high kill rates in shelters are simply their best attempt at cleaning up after an uncaring and careless public. Their efforts to change people's behavior come in the form of policies such as mandatory spay/neuter legislation, strict limit and licensing laws, restrictions or outright bans on breeding, and compulsory microchipping. They also rely on their own version of "shock and awe" to punish the public for bad behavior, as when the former director of the Peninsula Humane Society, Kim Sturla, allowed the killing of four kittens, a cat and three dogs to be seen on the evening news back in 1990. She justified her shock tactics by saying that if bad pet owners wouldn't shape up, "It's time to take a 2-by-4 and hit them over the head."

They may have been trying to hit the pet owners, but it should be noted that it was the animals who died. And it's no different now as they're using the same tactics on the human and animal victims of the foreclosure crisis.

In a February Associated Press article about how the foreclosure crisis was affecting pets, reporter Evelyn Nieves said that many homeowners had tried to find help in re-homing their pets and been turned down by animal-rescue groups, sometimes repeatedly. When they turned to their local shelter as a last resort, they were met not with compassion or options, but yet another bitter choice in a life suddenly full of them.

"They're usually breaking down on the phone," Kathy Potter, a shelter dispatcher at the San Joaquin Animal Shelter was quoted as saying. "I'm quite direct with them that there's a 50-50 chance the animals might be put down."

Nieves also spoke to Traci Jennings, director of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County, who said ""Their best shot is for the owners to plan ahead some. But they didn't plan when they bought their house. I don't see that happening anytime soon." I made contact with her to find out if her view had changed in the six months since the article was published; it hadn't.

"The problem is not housing, it's the owners," she said. "I know it sounds a bit harsh, but people signed the loan papers, bought the houses, took the equity, and now paint themselves as victims."

Since she'd been critical of people for their failure to plan ahead, I asked her what her organization had done to help people and animals in need in the months that had passed since she'd originally made those comments. The answer was, not much.

"We maintain a pet-friendly housing list, but by the time these people call us they have already made the decision to dump their animals," she said in email. "Sadly, most of these pet owners wait until the last-minute and don't bother seeking pet-friendly housing. I get calls every day from people trying to dump off their animals; some call as they are walking out the door."

When I pressed her as to whether nor not the shelter could make an effort to reach out to people before they'd gotten to that point, she was dismissive. "When they call me they usually say something like, 'If you don't take Fluffy, I will be forced to take her to the pound.' Nobody is forcing them except themselves," she wrote. "Responsible pet owners will search for pet-friendly housing. By the time [people] call us the bond is broken and they are just looking for a dumping ground."

Betsy Saul, president of PetFinder.com, one of the largest national organizations dedicated to helping shelters and rescue groups find new homes for pets, isn't surprised to hear stories like that. Pet owners, she told me, usually don't come into the shelter until they've passed a point of no return. "They're saying, 'No, that's it, this is the end. I'm giving it up. I'm not going to try any of these solutions,'" she said. "Well, sure this shelter worker proceeds to be a jerk, because they're faced with someone who's not willing to try anything."

The key, Saul says, is finding ways to get help to people long before they walk into the shelter to surrender their pet. "I think the secret is getting people talking about it a lot sooner, like how do we catch pet parents in that first stage of, 'Oh, what have I gotten into?' as opposed to, 'This has gone too far and now I just have to shirk all of this because I can't take anymore,'" she said.

Far from being discouraged that people are seeking help from their local humane society, shelters should be glad they're trying to do right by their pets. "For 20 years we've been saying, 'Don't abandon your pet. Don't just let it out. Take it to the shelter, be responsible,'" Saul said. "And so now when people take it to the shelter, we want to act holier than thou? I mean, they've heard our message; they're doing what we told them. They getting into trouble, and they're taking their pet to the shelter. That's the best-case scenario, don't you think? "

In fact, some experts say it's not just the best-case scenario, it's the whole purpose of animal shelters. "If people have lost everything and they turn to the shelter for support in finding their animals a new home, that is the shelter's job," said no-kill crusader Nathan Winograd, former director of operations of the San Francisco SPCA and past director of the Tompkins County SPCA in upstate New York. "To blame the people, when they have lost everything -- their jobs, their homes, their dignity, their ability to provide the basics for their families -- seems to me to be adding a great insult to injury."

Fortunately for pets and their owners, there are those who view this crisis as an opportunity to help people in trouble, not shame or berate them. They're part of a new wave of progressive shelter workers and reformers who insist that outmoded and ineffective policies and management are responsible for most shelter killings, not bad pet owners. While they realize there will always be a certain number of irresponsible people, they feel the community can, by working together in a positive manner, provide homes and services for animals in need, even during a disaster.

Their focus is on improving shelter policies to maximize adoptions, volunteers, and donations. It's a community-based approach that has arisen out of the no-kill movement as championed by groups such as Maddie's Fund and the No-Kill Advocacy Center, both national organizations headquartered in the Bay Area.

Those who believe in a non-punitive approach tend to develop and maintain programs and policies that are more proactive, working to head problems off at the pass more than just react to them. They also say they have something more to offer people caught in the housing crisis -- real, practical assistance and compassion.

That all sounds great on paper, but how does this renegade philosophy play out in real life, in communities facing economic challenges?

The Nevada Humane Society is located in Reno, Nevada, a city hit hard by the housing crisis. The NHS director, Bonney Brown, is part of that new generation of shelter directors who have adopted the goals and policies of the no-kill movement, and under her guidance, the NHS has made itself a resource for the community, not another source of stress and anxiety for people who need help with pet problems.

After taking over the shelter in 2006, Brown partnered with her county's animal control agency to implement a range of programs that resulted in unbelievable success. More than 90 percent of dogs and 78 percent of cats that came into the system county-wide were adopted; the national rates are around 50 percent for dogs and 40 percent for cats. And they did that with shelter intake rates more than three times of those in Los Angeles, more than four times those in San Francisco, and more than double the national average. They even expanded their volunteer base from 30 to more than 1,200 individuals in less than a year.

I spoke with Brown about how her shelter has responded to the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn in the Reno area. She said NHS works with local press and real-estate agents to make sure pet owners facing foreclosure are aware of the resources available to them. They offer a free animal help desk, a pet food bank, and have a list of more than 500 foster homes, as well as a creative adoption program to find new permanent homes for pets who need them.

"People should feel comfortable reaching out to the humane organizations," she told me. "What does it feel like when they call you and ask for help, and get some grumpy person who says, 'What? You didn't plan? You didn't do this or that?' How does that help animals or people?"

That positive, can-do attitude is also behind another national organization dedicated to helping people and pets facing foreclosure. Florida property manager Cheryl Lang became concerned at how many pets she was discovering in foreclosed homes, and founded No Paws Left Behind to educate real-estate professionals about the problem, and get help to pet owners who need it.

Lang's first and strongest advice for people facing foreclosure is to call their lender immediately. Falling real-estate values mean they'll have a hard time selling your place if it's foreclosed on, so it's in the lender's best interest to try and find a way to keep you in your home. "I want nothing more than to keep people in their houses and with their pets and with their family," she said.

If efforts to work with your lender don't resolve the situation, realize that the earlier you start looking for a solution for your family pets, the more options you'll have. Last-minute requests for help can't always be acted on, but given enough time - preferably at least a month -- you'll probably be able to use the resources that are out there to find a good solution for your family pets -- and hopefully, a way to keep them.

Lang herself first saw the problem through different eyes, thinking that all these people who abandoned their pets were simply uncaring and irresponsible. But as she worked with some of them, she realized that wasn't the case at all. Most of them had never faced foreclosure or any kind of financial disaster before, and literally didn't know what to do or what was going to happen to them.

"So many people panic, and just leave," she told me. "They don't know where they're going to go with their families, let alone their pets. So they leave their pets behind, hoping that either the Realtor or the lender will take care of them. There were two dogs that were left in Las Vegas, and the owner left a note saying, 'Please keep us together.' These people, they just have no place to go."

Real Help for Pet Owners Facing Foreclosure

While the housing crisis is real and getting worse, there is help available. Progressive voices in the shelter world have joined with those of animal advocates, pet lovers, and real-estate groups to begin building a safety net of resources for people trying to hold families together, including pets. And if that's not possible, they'll also help pet owners find safe temporary or permanent homes for their animals.

Your local shelter may be part of that safety net, or they may be invested in playing the blame game. Test the waters by giving them a call as soon as you know that your housing is in jeopardy, and ask if they have programs designed to help keep pets with their families in situations like yours. Those might include things like lists of pet-friendly housing, free pet food, temporary low-cost or free boarding, or a network of pet foster homes.

If they can't or won't help, it's time to reach out to one of the many national organizations that will. While they may not be headquartered right in your own backyard, most of them are no further away than your computer or telephone.

No Paws Left Behind offers a number of resources for pet owners as well as industry professionals -- including a locator service for shelters and rescue groups, searchable by zip code -- at http://nopawsleftbehind.org/. You can create a "Paws Alert" if you're in need of assistance with your pets, and also connect with local sources of help. They also indicate if shelters and rescue groups are no-kill or not, valuable information for people who want to give their pet the best chance at a new life.

The American Humane Association offers tips for homeowners as well as grants to shelters to help them "care for and find solutions for animal victims of this national crisis." These resources are available on their Web site or by calling (703) 836-7387.

Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a national organization based in Utah, runs an animal help desk that fields hundreds of calls and emails each week from all over the country. The sanctuary offers a packet of information on how to find your pet a new home, if that's what is needed, including tips on how rescue groups and shelters weed out the bad homes from the good. You can find these and other resources, or contact them directly, at their No More Homeless Pets web site. The sanctuary can also be reached by phone at (435) 644-2001, Ext. 4800.

United Animal Nations, headquartered in Sacramento, offers emergency grants of as much as $400 for the cost of boarding pets affected by foreclosure. The application must be made before the cost is incurred.

Although its primary mission is to serve the needs of local pets and their owners, the Nevada Humane Society will do their best to offer assistance and advice to anyone who needs it. They can be reached at (775) 856-2000, ext. 200, or by email at animalhelp@nevadahumanesociety.org.

One last piece of advice: no matter how hard it is to cope with the situation, no matter how overwhelmed you are, don't just leave your pets in your house when you move out. While many people believe that the lender or local animal control will find their pets quickly, it can be weeks before anyone even knows a pet is slowly starving inside. If faced with the choice, it's better to bring your pet to even an unsympathetic animal control agency than to leave it behind.

Links to Christie Keith's complete interviews with Bonney Brown, Cheryl Lang, Betsy Saul and Nathan Winograd, as well as her communication with Traci Jennings, can be found at www.petconnection.com/blog/foreclosure/.

Christie Keith is a contributing editor for Universal Press Syndicate's Pet Connection and past director of the Pet Care Forum on America Online. She lives in San Francisco.