animalwelfare¶

Lost Dogs Home Cry Poor

[Update] The ABC have acknowledged that the Lost Dogs Home does actually get funding from government.

Lost Dogs Home Receive Millions from Government

You're possibly already funding The Lost Dogs Home through your Council rates. As a provider of pound services to Victorian Councils they receive government money to impound the majority of animals coming into their "care". Of the animals not reclaimed by their owners in time last year, most were killed (13,594 in total).

They are also contracted to provide Animal Control Officers to Councils. They have the power to hand out fines and seize people's pets.

Yet They Claim to Receive No Government Funding?

The Lost Dogs Home repeated claims to receive no government funding despite the fact that local government pays them to impound the majority of the animals.

The home, founded by a group of animal lovers in 1911, gets no government funding. However, Dr Smith revealed that in the past year - apart from Mr Samways's gift - it had received more than $6 million in bequests and donations.

"$3m benefactor Frank Samways is a dog's - and the Lost Dogs Home's - best friend" - The Age, 29 July 2011

Here Graeme Smith is reported to have made the claim personally,

The Lost Dogs Home's Graeme Smith said the organisation did not receive any government funding, unlike the RSPCA. ''Tenders are judged on many factors. These include financial, ability to deliver, customer service, management, quality, etc,'' Mr Smith said.

• "Pound kill rate sparks concern" The Age 1 May, 2011

This week Graeme Smith stood by and made no effort to correct a television reporter who claimed his company "relies solely on the public's generosity to get by financially". The ABC have since issued a correction to the story after a viewer complaint. Why does it take a concerned member of the public to notify them when Graeme Smith was standing right beside the reporter?

LDH get $3 mil donation from Goodfordogs on Vimeo.

The Public are Being Misled

If you live in Melbourne there's a reasonable chance you're already paying The Lost Dogs Home to impound cats and dogs through your Council rates. The majority of animals not claimed by owners are being killed.

It appears the media are being told a very different story and are not checking the facts. Members of the public deserve to know the truth about where their money is going.

The same message applies to the Cat Protection Society of Victoria.

An Elaborate Hoax

Do you like mysteries? Want to help solve one?

[UPDATE] The identity of the anonymous sender has been revealed! He trusted someone he shouldn't have. Still deliberating on the best thing to do with this info.

A Very Strange Email

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from an anonymous sender making some pretty outrageous claims about The Lost Dogs Home. He wrote that they had hired someone with slaughterhouse experience to be their new operations manager. The "evidence" provided was a LinkedIn profile that looked potentially fake.

A Very Strange Profile

Someone obviously spent a lot of time creating the profile but as was pointed out to me by a Linkedin user, it's quite possibly a fake.

• it doesn't link to The Lost Dogs' Home's real Linkedin profile.
• Anyone can say they worked anywhere on Linkedin!

This Linkedin profile could be a fake

Linkedin Is Not Reliable Evidence!

Anyone can say they work at LDH. It took me all of 2 minutes to update my profile to say I was a 'Voice of Reason' at LDH. It's simply not credible evidence is it?

Linkedin is not "reliable evidence"

So What's The Big Deal?

Truth is important! Serious claims like the ones sent to me should not be made (or accepted) without evidence. Ideally the authenticity of that evidence is available to be verified by anyone. That's not possible with the Linkedin profile I was sent. Sometimes evidence consists of the testimonial of a trusted person. My anonymous emailer did not meet that criteria.

What's Really Going On Here?

The person who sent me the original email was annoyed when I didn't write about it. I don't know why he was going to so much trouble to get me to spread the story. It was suggested that someone may be attempting to discredit some animal welfare advocates. There are now a small number of Facebook accounts who are spreading the Linkedin profile by posting it on other people's walls (68 since Thursday).

This post is intended as a reminder that we should not believe everything we read on the Internet. We only serve to discredit ourselves when we succumb to intellectual laziness or worse yet, the arrogance of willful ignorance.

Lost Dogs Home Can't Justify Their Killing

[Update] Kate Hoelter is not among the more than 550 people who have Like'd this post on Facebook! We're still waiting for her to come back with a figure for the number of animals they fostered out last year.

An animal pound contractor in Australia has discovered that selling themselves as a loving protector of animals can bring millions in donations. The problem is, their business model is based around adopting out a few of the unclaimed animals and killing the rest.

Management at The Lost Dogs Home must be fans of the TV series Mad Men, which featured 50's ad men trying to sell people on cigarettes in the wake of a Reader's Digest report that smoking will lead to various health issues including lung cancer.

The following comment was made by Lost Dogs' Home fundraising staffer Kate Hoelter on the public Facebook Page of one of their 'Ambassadors', comedian Claire Hooper. I doubt Claire was ever told the organisation using her face killed 13,594 cats and dogs while reporting a $2.7 mil profit in 2010. Kate's comment was posted in response to me pointing this fact out to Claire.

LDH comment on Claire Hooper's FB Page

Let's Break It Down Shall We?

The Lost Dogs' Home does a lot of good work for dogs and cats.

You kill most of them Kate.

LDH killed 13,594 cats and dogs in 2009-2010

We work hard to reunite lost pets with their owners

You refuse to put photos of lost pets on the Internet to make it easier for owners to find them. and find loving new homes for those who are not claimed. You killed 6 out of 10 unclaimed dogs last year without ever making them available for adoption.

You close at lunchtime on Sundays even though weekends are the busiest time for adoption.

LDH killed 6 out of 10 unclaimed dogs in 2009-2010

We run an extensive foster care program

I asked you how many animals were fostered in 2010 and you had no idea. I've offered to donate $100 if you disclose the figure within the week. We're still waiting.

Mike Bailey bets $100 LDH won't reveal number of animals cared for by their 'extensive foster care program' in 2010..

and a behaviour modification program for dogs so they can be rehomed.

How many dogs that failed your temperament test passed after being placed in this program in 2010?

The surplus income was spent on building new facilities

You ended the 2010 financial year with $9.3 mil cash and cash equivalents. In that same year you killed 13,594 cats and dogs while adopting out just 3101 animals.

such as The Lost Cats' Home,

This is a warehouse next door that doesn't even have an adoption section.

Sick and Injured Shelter

Indoor kennels...

and Training and Education Centre.

you mean to say you've been killing pets to save money to build a classroom?

Plans are under way to further improve facilities that will increase our ability to care for and rehome more pets.

What is the point of improving facilities when you close at lunchtime on Sundays and public holidays? These are some of the busiest days for adoption and pet stores are certainly open to take advantage of it.

Questions are being asked about why you are pursuing more pound contracts when you already have such a high kill rate.

The Home runs many proactive services such as the National Pet Register which is responsible for reuniting over 19,000 lost dogs and cats with their owners every year through their microchip and free tag service.

Central Animal Records also run a microchip registry, as do Australasian Animal Registry. How does running an entirely separate business change that fact that you provide high kill pound services to Councils?

Online pet Licence helps educate new pet owners.

Once again, this has nothing to do with your decision to kill so many of the animals entrusted to your care.

The Home is run by a team of compassionate and dedicated people.

Motherhood statements like this mean nothing. Claiming to care does not equate to caring.

The Lost Dogs Home has a business model built around killing. The current leadership have been in control for more than two decades and refuse to make meaningful changes.

Statistics taken from The Lost Dogs Home Annual Report 2010

See also:

Pound Kill Rate Sparks Concern, The Sunday Age [May 1, 2011]

Saving Pets, Risking Lives

[UPDATE] In response to feedback from friends I'm referring to the blogger as Rainbow Bear (Bo).

A week ago I wrote to the author of one of my favourite blogs with concerns about an image they had posted with the caption "A pit bull boxer cross'. This was just days after the Victorian Govt. announced it was setting up their 'Dob in a Dangerous Dog' hotline in preparation for a search and destroy mission for pit bulls and pit bull crosses based purely on appearance. The dog in the picture did not look like an American Pit Bull Terrier.  I asked that he remove the photo from his  blog because it may endanger similar looking dogs.

Hi Bo,

as you know, innocent family pets risk being seized and killed in Victoria due to their appearance. Dog without any 'pit bull' in them are already suffering because Authorized Officers think they resemble a pitbull cross.

You have published a photo with the caption "A pit bull boxer cross".

• How do you know the genetic origins of that dog?

• Given many dogs without 'pit bull' in may have a similar appearance to that dog, how can you justify putting them at risk by allowing it to remain on your site?

Please do not post pictures claiming to be 'pit bull crosses' as this may end up hurting dogs. Please also remove the one you've got up there.

I'm happy to discuss if you disagree but please don't continue to ignore my request for you to remove this image.

Mike Bailey

PO Box 2016 Fitzroy VIC 3065 mike@goodfordogs.org www.goodfordogs.org

A Week Later Rainbow Bear Responded, By Blog Post

A week passed without a response from Bo. Today I noticed he had put together a blog post on his blog defending their refusal to remove the image.

[caption id="attachment_408" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Picture changed for privacy reasons"][/caption]

"I chose the image of a smiley, bright eyed, well-behaved dog, BECAUSE it was a smiley, bright eyed, well-behaved dog. We need to have more of these images to call upon, not less if we’re ever to overcome the ignorant, misguided aspersions generated by media hype and demonisation."

He then went on to put words in my mouth,

"Much better, they feel, that we hide all references to pit bulls for fear of making the situation worse."

Promoting Positive Images of Actual Pit Bulls

Posting positive images of American Pit Bull Terriers is a great idea. The difference is that sites promoting positive images of Pit Bulls tend to use dogs who at least look like APBTs.

The Victorian Govt is gearing up Council Officers to seize and destroy family pets based on appearance. They're saying they will declare dogs who fit the new id standard even if they're obviously not purebred APBTs. Don't put dogs without any pit bull in them in the firing line by posting photos claiming to be Pit Bull crosses.

Weigh Up The Risks and Benefits

It's naive to think you can change public perception when an issue is as hot as this. The media and government responded swiftly and in unison following the tragic death of Ayen Chol.

Conversely, posting images of cross bred dogs and saying "there's one" may well lead to people worrying about their own dog or dobbing in their neighbours. We're gearing up for the witch hunts over here.

Don't Give Council Workers More Ammo

Regardless of the genetic history of that dog, I don't believe posting photos of alleged Pit Bull crosses is responsible. It's not possible to determine the genetic history of a mixed breed dog by visual examination but this is what our Government is telling Council Officers to do. Don't give them more ammo.