Dog Rescue Flight: Puerto Rico

[sandgrubber]

A plane fills with pets devastated by Puerto Rico’s hurricane. Sad and funny all at once.
http://wapo.st/2DwRlBP

[Little Gifts]

What a brilliant story! I have a  friend in Washington DC and he and his sister foster homeless dogs that have been brought over from Europe by a local rescue group. They are mainly large breed mutts. Obviously their quarantine enables this kind of thing more than ours. Good to see.

[talking dog]

20 minutes ago, Little Gifts said:

What a brilliant story! I have a  friend in Washington DC and he and his sister foster homeless dogs that have been brought over from Europe by a local rescue group. They are mainly large breed mutts. Obviously their quarantine enables this kind of thing more than ours. Good to see.

yeah, good to see. Keep the refugees out but let the dogs in. Means more food, amenities and recourses for the dogs in the US, and consequently more food, amenities and recourses for refugees in Europe and the rest of the world. Good to see that America is really becoming great again and getting their priorities right.

Edited January 23, 2018 by talking dog

[_PL_]

Great story!  

[Little Gifts]

Where is the f*** off button when you need it?

[talking dog]

A friend of mine in LA had to pay US$ 2,000 till now in fines because he refused to neuter his 2 dogs - LA County thought neutering is the silver bullet regarding overpopulation. He just loves those stories and is, naturally, a great supporter when it comes to flying dogs from other countries (the further the better) into the USA.

 

Eta: I forgot to mention that the fines came also with 200 hours of community service (piled up over time). As a dog lover, naturally he spent all the time in the local shelters. He loved the dogs and working there. And the staff love those "volunteers". Once they found out why he was here, they let him clean out the kennels from the dogs they had to euthanize (not enough takers) - pretty boring job if you have to do it for nearly 200 hours. 

 

Edited January 23, 2018 by talking dog
spelling

[Boronia]

7 hours ago, talking dog said:

yeah, good to see. Keep the refugees out but let the dogs in. Means more food, amenities and recourses for the dogs in the US, and consequently more food, amenities and recourses for refugees in Europe and the rest of the world. Good to see that America is really becoming great again and getting their priorities right.

 

I can't get my head around your post, are you an anti-refugee-white-supremacist-type-person or just being sarcastic/cynical?

[talking dog]

4 hours ago, Boronia said:

 

I can't get my head around your post, are you an anti-refugee-white-supremacist-type-person or just being sarcastic/cynical?

Does it really matter? isn't the most important thing that we all, including myself and my friend in LA, cheering those stories and supporting those activities for the sake of dogs?

In 2011, 2.7 million dogs (that's more than half of Australian's dog population) had to be euthanized in the USA - surely not enough takers. The number is now down to approx. 670,000 dogs euthanized per year. Still a huge number. The main reason: not enough takers. So what happens with dogs "rescued" from other countries without importing takers, or increasing the numbers of takers in the USA at the same time? If one of the dogs rescued from a foreign country will find a taker in the USA, that's just the death penalty for another dog in the shelters. If you "import" e.g. 1,000 dogs, you can add 1,000 dogs straight to the 670,000 that have to be euthanized as the numbers of takers won't increase automatically. That's simple math and doesn't make a good story, so let's call it rescue - sounds so much better, although it is just spending money for increasing the death toll.

   

Edited January 23, 2018 by talking dog

[talking dog]

http://www.thedogplace.org/SHELTERS/Shelter-Imports_Witouski-102.asp

[sandgrubber]

16 hours ago, talking dog said:

Does it really matter? isn't the most important thing that we all, including myself and my friend in LA, cheering those stories and supporting those activities for the sake of dogs?

In 2011, 2.7 million dogs (that's more than half of Australian's dog population) had to be euthanized in the USA - surely not enough takers. The number is now down to approx. 670,000 dogs euthanized per year. Still a huge number. The main reason: not enough takers. So what happens with dogs "rescued" from other countries without importing takers, or increasing the numbers of takers in the USA at the same time? If one of the dogs rescued from a foreign country will find a taker in the USA, that's just the death penalty for another dog in the shelters. If you "import" e.g. 1,000 dogs, you can add 1,000 dogs straight to the 670,000 that have to be euthanized as the numbers of takers won't increase automatically. That's simple math and doesn't make a good story, so let's call it rescue - sounds so much better, although it is just spending money for increasing the death toll.

   

It's not that simple.  A large fraction of the rescues PTS in the USA are pit bull types no one wants... often for good reason.  The PR dogs are pets from families in extreme distress.  Imagine Ash Wednesday Fires.  Multiply by five and add a thoroughly dysfunctional government.  That's what it's like in PR.  I have no enthusiasm for importing dogs for rehoming.  Puerto Rico is a US territory and has gotten shabby treatment after an extreme hurricane.  People are giving up family pets because they are barely able to care for themselves. 

[talking dog]

more stories to cheer for: 

 

...bound for California: https://cwob.org/rescue.html  

 

...and then the ones "saved" from California: http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/yvr-airport-rescue-dogs-november-2016 

• These dogs were hand-picked from high-kill shelters in the Los Angeles area, where overpopulation means facilities are overwhelmed by homeless canines, and — unfortunately – hundreds are euthanized each week.

it's trafficking, it's business under the disguise of animal welfare.

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by talking dog

[talking dog]

36 minutes ago, sandgrubber said:

It's not that simple.  A large fraction of the rescues PTS in the USA are pit bull types no one wants... often for good reason.  The PR dogs are pets from families in extreme distress.  Imagine Ash Wednesday Fires.  Multiply by five and add a thoroughly dysfunctional government.  That's what it's like in PR.  I have no enthusiasm for importing dogs for rehoming.  Puerto Rico is a US territory and has gotten shabby treatment after an extreme hurricane.  People are giving up family pets because they are barely able to care for themselves. 

670,000 pit bull type dogs? from where they are coming from?

 

No matter how bad the situation is in PR - regarding the statistics no dog's life is saved by rescuing it into the USA. Those crises are just used to address the emotional state of people to keep the business going. You don't safe life from fire by dragging someone into a burning house.  

 

Eta: and of course the ones that are euthanized are the ones no one wants - today it might be a higher fraction of pit bulls, tomorrow it is another type. People have a choice, here he mutt rescued from Europe, there the terrier rescued from PR. It won't change anything wrt that over 600,000 have to be euthanized in the end.

 

Edited January 24, 2018 by talking dog

[sandgrubber]

2 hours ago, talking dog said:

670,000 pit bull type dogs? from where they are coming from?

 

No matter how bad the situation is in PR - regarding the statistics no dog's life is saved by rescuing it into the USA. Those crises are just used to address the emotional state of people to keep the business going. You don't safe life from fire by dragging someone into a burning house.  

 

Eta: and of course the ones that are euthanized are the ones no one wants - today it might be a higher fraction of pit bulls, tomorrow it is another type. People have a choice, here he mutt rescued from Europe, there the terrier rescued from PR. It won't change anything wrt that over 600,000 have to be euthanized in the end.

 

PR is in the USA.  There is already massive transfer of dogs from dog surplus regions to dog deficit regions.

I said a large fraction... here are some numbers.

"Each year, 1.2 million dogs are euthanized, approximately 40% of whom are Pit Bulls. This means that nearly half a million Pit Bull-type dogs are killed in shelters annually. Of all the common dog types to appear in shelters, Pit Bulls are by far the most likely to be euthanized, while they’re only the third most likely to be adopted. " 2015 US data. From https://barkpost.com/pit-bulls-shelters-question/

euthanasia rates have not dropped as fast for pitties as for other types because not many people want them...they are not the dogs that get cherry picked from high-kill shelters.

As to where they come from: Pitties are very common in some places Mostly the South, some Western States).  Spay rates are low.  They tend to have large litters.  Where I lived in Florida, Craigslist (US equivalent of Gumtree) is loaded with people asking $100 for pit pups.

Edited January 24, 2018 by sandgrubber

[talking dog]

18 minutes ago, sandgrubber said:

PR is in the USA.  There is already massive transfer of dogs from dog surplus regions to dog deficit regions.

 

"Each year, 1.2 million dogs are euthanized, approximately 40% of whom are Pit Bulls. This means that nearly half a million Pit Bull-type dogs are killed in shelters annually. Of all the common dog types to appear in shelters, Pit Bulls are by far the most likely to be euthanized, while they’re only the third most likely to be adopted. " 2015 US data. From https://barkpost.com/pit-bulls-shelters-question/

euthanasia rates have not dropped as fast for pitties as for other types.

As to where they come from: Pitties are very common in some places Mostly the South, some Western States).  Spay rates are low.  They tend to have large litters.  Where I lived in Florida, Craigslist (US equivalent of Gumtree) is loaded with people asking $100 for pit pups.

the blog must be a few years old as he refers to 1.2 M dogs euthanized. Recent ASPCA figures show 670,000 - the link in the blog actually still works and gives the right figure (670,000). I would expect that coming from 2.6 m down to 670,000 would have balanced the figures wrt certain breeds. Thus, if a breed is not popular and doesn't get picked up, the overall population number of this breed would degrease (eradication via euthanasia). In the blog the author highlights the popularity of the breed as the reason why they are found in such high numbers in shelters - that's IMO contradictive, either they are popular and get picked from the shelters, or they are not popular and then the population numbers would have declined over the last 4 years.

 

The blog states:

 

Then again, if Labs rank number one in popularity and number three in shelter intake – and Pits rank number one in shelter intake and somewhere lower than number one in popularity – there has to be more at work here than mere demand.

 

and than he argues that BSLs are the reason why they end up in shelters and get euthanized? It is all a little bit too inconclusive for me - it all might have some merits, but I can't recognize them. The most cited reasons for surrendering a dog in all sources I screened so far have been personal problems, no time and allergies. Couldn't find a source till now that listed breed specific reasons as the big issue.

[sandgrubber]

I noted the data we're from 2015.  The ASPCA source you use notes that good data are lacking and their figures are estimates.  As the numbers are being used for fund raising, you might expect them to make it look like rescues are making great progress.

As for pitties...pit bull enthusiasts often don't make sense, but lament of the preponderance of Pitties in the euthanasia column is widespread.

I don't endorse the blog.  Try another source with a different take http://saveabullmn.org/pit-bulls-and-euthanasia-rates/

2 hours ago, talking dog said:

the blog must be a few years old as he refers to 1.2 M dogs euthanized. Recent ASPCA figures show 670,000 - the link in the blog actually still works and gives the right figure (670,000). I would expect that coming from 2.6 m down to 670,000 would have balanced the figures wrt certain breeds.