BEST PHOTOS EVER!

Today, Clifford from Clifford's Army Rescue Extravaganza took the first whack at the now-removed gas chamber from the animal shelter in Cleveland County, NC!

We cannot thank the Cleveland County Animal Control enough, particularly County Commissioner Susan Allen, for listening to the outcries from concerned people, including many City Dogs Rescue and C.A.R.E. supporters, about ending this horrific practice. We are seeing real changes across the country, particularly in counties in North Carolina, where many of these horrific contraptions are being destroyed. 

Thanks also to the amazing work of Take Action - Help Ban Animal Gas Chambers. for their ongoing advocacy on this issue. We also want to acknowledge the many CDR supporters who donated $3,000 in vaccinations to the Cleveland County Animal Shelter as a thank-you for making this happen. 

Further, we thank our own CDR volunteer Patricia Kennedy for drafting a wonderful presentation to the Cleveland County Commission about needed changes at the shelter and for her ongoing work in helping to get animals from CCAC to DC through City Dogs Rescue. 

We also want to give a special shout out and thank you to CCAC's rescue/adoption coordinator, Jennifer Coalson. Hiring Jennifer has been key to the success at CCAC. She is responsive and has pushed for new policies, such as longer hold times on animals and vaccinating puppies upon intake. 

And, more importantly, to all of the communities still using this practice, let this serve as an inspiration as to how this can be accomplished. No more excuses. The eyes of the world are watching...

Cleveland County Animal Control is blowing us away with their recent updates!  Here are some highlights:

1. The shelter is extending its hours!  They're now open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., giving the local community a better chance to come pick out a furry little companion!

2. A new low-cost spay and neuter program! Cleveland County is partnering with the Humane Society of Charlotte to offer low-cost spay and neuter services for both dogs and cats along with rabies shots and microchip installation!

3. Vaccination train keeps a-rollin'!  The Cleveland County Rescue/Adoption Coordinator is vaccinating all incoming puppies and kittens with a 5-n-1 and a dewormer. 

4. No more drop-off pens! Would you drop your child off in a parking lot or a dirt road? Of course not, so why would you do it for an animal? Pet owners who need to surrender their pets are required to visit the shelter to do so or they risk being charged with abandonment. 

5. And the big one: the gas chamber is gone! Cleveland County's gas chamber is no longer used a means of euthanasia, only injections. 

We're so grateful to the changes Cleveland County has made and we look forward to working with them in the future. 

In April, City Dogs Rescue made a $3000 donation toward a vaccination program at Cleveland County Animal Shelter. This is their response:

CDR supporters raised $3,000 for vaccinations for Cleveland County shelter animals. A huge thank you to all of our supporters!

Last Summer, City Dogs Rescue, joined with several other organizations to encourage Cleveland County Animal Control to drastically change its adoption policies and practices and to end the gassing of unwanted pets.  City Dogs Rescue experienced a number of difficulties with working with CCAC at the time, including one particular incident involving CDR's unsuccessful attempts to rescue a sweet dog named Luna.  After this incident, CDR submitted a presentation to the County Commissioners outlining our concerns and suggested actions (see Blog Post).  After reviewing the presentation, County Commissioner Susan Allen reached out to us and has been very responsive to our concerns.  Based upon Commissioner Allen's review of the situation with Luna and similar situations involving other rescues, the Commissioners determined that changes were needed at the shelter.  Commissioner Allen expressed a sincere interest in having the shelter be more accessible to rescue and in reducing the shelter's euthanasia rate. 

A number of changes were implemented immediately:

1.  CCAC hired an internal rescue coordinator.  

2.  CCAC implemented several safeguards to try to prevent breakdowns in communication from occurring.

As a result of these changes, CDR continued to rescue dogs from CCAC but at an increased rate.  Since May 2013, CDR rescued over 80 dogs from CCAC, including the sweet Dixie pictured above (who is still available for adoption at http://www.citydogsrescuedc.org/dogs.html#.U0sdPcdqnv4). Many other rescues worked to get dogs as well.   (Since CCAC is a rural county, it must rely on rescues rather than internal adoptions for the bulk of its animals to be saved). 

CCAC just released its euthanasia statistics, and boy what a change one year makes!

Animal shelter statistics in 2012 vs. 2013
Animals adopted: 6%, 8%
Animals rescued: 8%, 46%
Total cats saved: 3.5%, 37.5%
Total dogs saved: 31%, 80%
Total animals saved: 18%, 59%
Total animals euthanized: 79%, 37% (a 42% decrease)
Animals euthanized by carbon monoxide: 64%, 36%
Animals euthanized by injection: 36%, 64%

Now, with even more exciting news, CCAC has agreed to remove the gas chamber by June 30, 2014 and increase adoption hours!  This is absolutely huge and we could not be more thrilled to see the end to this inhumane method of killing unwanted animals.  See Shelby Star Article and the video below.

But CCAC has not stopped there!   It also wants to adopt a program to vaccinate dogs and cats upon intake.  By doing so, it can potentially eliminate the unnecessary suffering and death of animals from Parvo, Distempter, and other easily preventable diseases.  CCAC estimates that the cost to provide these vaccinations is $44,970.26 on an annual basis (see breakdown of costs under "Photos Section"), but it does not have these expenses in its budget.  As a THANK YOU to CCAC for implementing these wonderful changes and to prevent unnecessary suffering and death, CDR wants to raise at least $2500 so we can to help these animals get vaccinated.   Vaccinations for Rabies, Parvo, and Distemper that are administered at the shelter can prevent unnecessary suffering and death. Sadly, City Dogs Rescue has had several of our dogs, including Jett, Sunshine, Octavio, Shotgun, Woodstock, and Vince, succumb to diseases that could have been prevented if vaccinations were available at the shelter.