Reuniting Lost Dogs With Their Families – How Shelters Can Help

Patty, an Animal control Officer at Winnebago County Animal Services in Rockford, Illinois checks the kennels for dogs matching the descriptions in the Lost Dog reports.

There are more lost dogs now than there have ever been.  Pet ownership is up and we, as a nation,  are saving more dogs, with many more people choosing adoption as their option. This is a great thing but it comes with its challenges. For many people, this is their first experience owning a shy, rescued dog. These dogs are often high flight risks and can quickly escape through a door or wiggle out of an ill-fitting collar, harness or slip lead.

Searching for a shy lost dog is expensive and time-consuming. Most shelters and rescues are obliged to help search for a dog that has gone missing from a newly adopted home, a foster home, their transport or their facility. Publicly funded shelters and stray-holding facilities are also obligated to proactively return lost pets to their owners, because they are taking taxpayer money to do it. Please read our series "Harnessing the Energy" on how rescues and shelters can organize teams of volunteers to help capture a lost dog.

But unfortunately, many shelters do not proactively help reunite lost pets. The average national Return to Owner (RTO) rate for dogs is 20%, for cats - a dismal 2%.  You only have to walk down the aisle of a shelter and read the kennel cards and see how many of the animals are listed as "stray" to realize the enormity of the problem.  If shelters could get more lost pets home, it would reduce shelter deaths and save taxpayer money.

Shelters that are introducing proactive programs (often entirely volunteer-run) are seeing their Return to Owner rates rise.  Some shelters are reporting RTO rates higher than 70% for dogs.

What can a shelter do to improve their Return to Owner rate and why would they want to?

Goodwill, positive press and donations are generated when an animal control agency or shelter takes a proactive approach to reuniting lost pets with their families. Heartwarming stories and photos (easily posted on Facebook) elevate the reputation of the facility from "dog catcher" to compassionate life-savers.

A shelter typically has two windows of opportunity to help people find their lost pet.

1. When a person who has lost a pet comes in or calls to file a report.

2. When "stray" dogs and cats are picked up and impounded at the facility.

There are different levels of staff and volunteer participation that can be utilized to help facilitate more reunions. Starting with just a few simple changes can make a difference!  Animal control officers should be encouraged to do field redemptions whenever possible.  Equip animal control officers with microchip scanners and laptops or smartphones. Getting lost pets home before they even enter the shelter system lessens the workload on the kennel staff, decreases overcrowding and illness,  and reduces euthanasia.

Volunteers and staff can be trained to implement many parts of an RTO program. Here are some ideas that have been successful:

Reuniting "Owned Strays" with their owner:

• Scan every animal that is brought to your shelter for a microchip using "Best Microchip Procedures".
• Keep detailed records about where and when an animal was picked up and make this information available to the public.
• Use a dedicated email address for lost and found reports. This will help keep these reports separate and out of the general email stream.  example: lostpets@abcanimalshelter.com

• Keep detailed records of calls your facility receives from people who have lost a pet. Use an online reporting system also, so they can fill it out after hours. Request that they email or fax a picture and show the photo to your staff members and volunteers immediately after you receive them.
• Have volunteers or staff members compare lost pet reports with the animals your facility is holding to see if any match. Store the reports and photos in a binder that is easily accessible to staff and volunteers.
• Depending on volume, either set up a dedicated Facebook page or use albums on your  regular Facebook page to post pictures of lost pets that were brought to your facility. Allow the public to post as well.  Facebook allows other people to share the posts and many times reunions happen because a neighbor or friend recognizes the dog.  Websites are usually only viewed by the owner.  It is easy to train volunteers to maintain and moderate a Facebook page.
• Post the same pictures on your website for those people that don't have a Facebook account. Use a system that provides "shareable" links to the photos.
• Use a volunteer "greeter" that can help people that enter the facility looking for their pet.  This will lessen the workload of the front office staff. This volunteer should know what the requirements are and be able to easily communicate this with an owner (eg. proof of ownership, vaccination records). Have these printed out in both English and Spanish to give to the owners so lost pets can be reclaimed as quickly as possible.  Many pets are "abandoned at the shelter" because the reclaim fees are too high.  You always want to facilitate fast reunions to reduce this abandonment.
• Negotiate and lower fees to reduce abandonment at the shelter. Authorize front desk staff members to negotiate fees. Many owners are embarrassed to ask or don't know that the shelter will negotiate. Make it easy to reclaim a lost pet.
• Have volunteers monitor other internet and community lost pets listings including Craigslist, community newspapers, Facebook pages and websites.
• Trained volunteers can track down the owners of impounded pets with disconnected phone numbers or lacking current microchip information.
• Mention whether a dog that is adoptable or impounded was brought to your shelter as a surrender or a stray.
• Scan every animal in your shelter one last time before allowing him or her to be adopted or euthanized.

If the owner's lost pet is not at the shelter, compassionate, customer-service oriented volunteers can be trained to assist the owner by doing the following things.  Extra assistance may be needed for elderly owners; owners without internet, computers or transportation; and those owners for whom English is a second language. 

• Assist the owner in filling out a lost pet report form. Explain to them how to "red flag" their missing pet with the microchip company and/or update information if it isn't already done.
• Provide them with our 5 Things Flyer in either English or Spanish. The 5 Things Flyers is good for both dogs and cats.
• Provide them with an Lost Dogs of Wisconsin business card if it is a dog. Our website has a lot of valuable information that can help them find their dog.  If it is a cat – provide them with the link to any Lost Cats or Lost Pets Facebook pages in your area as well as the catsinthebag.org and missingpetpartnership.org websites.
• If they already have a flyer made – post it on the shelter bulletin board. Volunteers should keep the bulletin board tidy and up to date.  Date each flyer and then call owners after a certain number of days to do follow up and provide more support and assistance.
• Develop a "pet detective" team, similar to our LDOW caseworkers that can help owners  develop a strategic plan for finding their lost pets based on the circumstances regarding their disappearance, their breed, location, etc.

Shelters should be willing to dedicate a portion of their website to helpful advice for missing pets. May people lose their pets late at night and frantically look for information on the internet to help them with their search. Providing links to good information on your website will work for you even when your staff is busy or the office is closed. You will appear to be a "helpful" resource in the community even if people only accessed the information via your website.

At Lost Dogs of Wisconsin, we are committed to helping reunite people with their lost dogs. Together with the help of shelters and stray-holding facilities we can make a difference. Please contact us at lostdogswi@gmail.com if we can be of assistance to offer training to shelter staff and/or volunteers. We have numerous powerpoints for all components of our volunteer training that we would be happy to present.We would love to hear from you!

MADACC Board Meeting - April 16, 2013

Sorry for the delay with these notes. I intended to have them out last week - but life got crazy busy! 

April 16 was the monthly meeting of the MADACC operations committee as well as the bi-annual meeting of the entire board of MADACC. The meeting was held at West Allis City Hall, a nice change with more seating and a bigger room. Below are some of the highlights of the meeting, but I really encourage you to attend for yourself.

I have been attending these meetings for a year, and I have to say that this is the first meeting where  positive energy from the committee seemed to resonate through the room.  As a colleague of mine said: in the past they could have been talking about nuts and bolts instead of animals.


I'll cover the highlights of the bi-annual meeting first. The board of directors of MADACC is governed by one representative of each of the nineteen municipalities that MADACC serves. There is also an alternate board member for each municipality The following communities were NOT represented at the meeting.  If you live in one of these communities I suggest that you contact your local municipality and ask why neither the board member nor the alternate board member cared enough to attend.  MADACC is run by your tax dollars and your municipality should show an interest in how your money is being spent.

Cudahy
Oak Creek
Franklin
Glendale
South Milwaukee
Bayside
Brown Deer

Elections were also held for the operating committee and except for the addition of Chris Swartz from Shorewood, the remaining members of the operating committee either held their position or played musical chairs.  Wauwatosa, West Allis and Milwaukee have permanent slots on the operating committee because of their size.

The new operating committee is as follows:

Ron Hayward, President (West Milwaukee, formerly the President)
Don Schaewe, Vice President (Milwaukee, formerly the Secretary)
Derek Summerfield, Secretary (Wauwatosa, formerly a member of the Operating committee)
Paul Ziehler, Treasurer (West Allis, formerly the Treasurer)

Mike Weber, Hales Corner
Chris Swartz, Shorewood
Eric Pearson, Milwaukee

At the regular monthly Operations Committee four members of the public spoke:

• David Mangold, Save Milwaukee's Court Case Dogs.  David asked for an update on the Court Case Dogs and offered to work with MADACC regarding any fundraising or public support that might be needed.
• Kelly Herbold, Milwaukee Animal Alliance. Kelly had positive comments about the new Homestretch foster  program; a collaboration between MADACC and Wisconsin Humane Society
• Marissa Kraft, Milwaukee Animal Alliance. Marissa had positive comments about the daily emails that Karen sends to AWARE highlighting animals in need of placement
• Pam Hoderman, Pam asked about Tim Carpenter's visit to MADACC and any thoughts or input on Senator Carpenter's new anti-cruelty bill that is being introduced.

Highlights of Karen Sparapani's (MADACC Executive Director) Operational Report:

Intake is down but transfers are also down.  (I am waiting on the statistics to be put on the website. I will post them when they are available).

The Homestretch Foster Program is underway. Wisconsin Humane Society is subsidizing all of the costs of the program.  Donations of food and cat litter are appreciated.  This program will help save lives because it will give the animals a short term foster home to overcome any illness while they are waiting for a spot on the adoption floor at WHS.

The MADACC volunteer program is being revamped to include more hands-on volunteer positions. Watch for the updates on the website in the near future.

The first public listening session will be held on May 1 at 6 p.m. at the Wauwatosa Library in the Firefly room.  This is your chance to meet Karen and the Wauwatosa board member, as well as to have any questions you may have about MADACC answered.  Please submit your questions in advance to  askmadacc@madacc.org so that Karen has time to research the answer. Karen hopes to host one of these listening sessions in each of the 19 municipalities that MADACC serves.  This will also generate more awareness about MADACC within these communities.

Lorraine Sweeny, previously from Elmbrook Humane Society, has been hired as the Shelter Supervisor (replacing Kevin Wilkens).  One of her first priorities will be to change some of the cleaning protocols so that more animals remain healthy during their stay at MADACC.  Karen hopes to implement a "Day 8 mentality",  whereby as many animals as possible have a plan for transfer or foster as soon as their stray hold is up. The first priority, of course, will be to reunite lost pets with their owners. MADACC was never designed to be a long term holding facility, and by transferring more animals out sooner; many lives can be saved.  Lorraine's other duties will include behavior evaluations and developing relationships with placement partners.

The outdoor kenneling will be used for events this summer on Saturday morning. Watch for more details on this.

Karen gave a brief update on the Court Case dogs.  There is a new District Attorney on the case and there is still hope that charges will be pressed against the owners so they do not reclaim their dogs.  Karen has been in touch with Dr. Reid of the ASPCA who is willing to lend a hand when the time is right.

Senator Carpenter's is still hoping for bi-partisan support of his bill to change the process by which seized dogs are handled. Currently, all of the co-sponsors have been Democrats.

These are only a few brief highlights of the meeting.  Again, I would encourage you all to take the time to attend the meetings and the listening sessions to show your support for Karen and Milwaukee County's animals.

The Jigsaw Puzzle

One of our 1000 piece creations.  The missing piece in the middle? The dog ate it. Seriously.

It was a long, cold winter here in Wisconsin.  My husband and I spent many evening hours working on various jigsaw puzzles on our dining room table.

We have very different methods of working on the puzzles. He, being an engineer; is very methodical. He studies each piece and when he finally tries it in a spot - it usually fits.  I am much more haphazard; trying this and that, until I find the piece's spot. We probably each have a similar success rate. One way isn't better than the other. They're just different!

Sometimes we argued (imagine that); but most of the time we just sat in companionable silence; the only sound being the satisfying snap as the pieces fell into place. And of course, as usual; my mind often drifted away to the problems of animal welfare in America.

Animal welfare is kind of like a jigsaw puzzle; some animal lovers are working on the sky, the big blue boring part. These are the advocates working on changing laws and policies that kill companion animals in America. Some animal lovers are doing the more exciting bits, with more immediate satisfaction: rescuing, reuniting lost pets, adoptions.

At the end of it all, the parts will all fit together; like a jigsaw puzzle, to make a perfect picture of a No Kill nation.

But in the meantime, I think we're often holding onto each other's pieces. We might be doing it on purpose to satisfy our own agenda. Or it may be inadvertent. We're sitting on the pieces, or they're under our elbows or drink glasses.

Some examples:

• Rescues and shelters with restrictive adoption policies, driving the pet-shopping public to commercial breeders and pet stores.  Requiring potential adopters to do a bunch of hoop-jumping will send them elsewhere and delay our progress. 
• Well-meaning but misguided advocates that jump on the Mandatory Spay/Neuter or Pet Limit law bandwagon without researching the deadly implications of these laws.
• A rush by shelters and rescues to rehome lost pets without making a decent attempt to try to locate the owner. Most shelter animals already have a home and shelters that are improving return to owner rates are freeing up space and resources for needier animals.
• Cat lovers who preach that every cat, everywhere should live inside without realizing that this message is undermining the work of the community cat and barn cat advocates who are desperately trying to save the lives of unsocialized cats or those cats with litterbox problems.

There are a lot more. I bet you you can think of a few.

So please, in the big jigsaw of a No Kill nation,  make sure you aren't holding back the completion of the puzzle. You might have somebody's missing piece!

Wisconsin Humane Society Brings Positive Change to Racine

My first blog entry was on June 9, 2010.  It was entitled "Would Somebody at Countryside Humane Society Please Stand Up"?  Countryside Humane Society was the animal shelter in Racine, Wisconsin. Six hundred animals had been given outdated vaccinations at Countryside and nobody from the management or board of directors would accept responsibility.  In fact, the shelter employee that had blown the whistle, was fired.  The whole incident was a prime example of what is so wrong with much of the animal sheltering industry in America.  There is no accountability, no transparency, no oversight  and no repercussions when things go wrong.

I wrote about Countryside again a couple of months later: "Circling the Wagon Rarely Works" when the  whole fiasco still refused to go away and instead of coming clean; the board and management of Countryside tried to bury their heads in the sand, hoping that it would all just go away.


Today, almost three years later, there is good news to report. Wisconsin Humane Society took over the operations at Countryside in January 2013. It is now called Wisconsin Humane Society - Racine Campus.

From an update that appeared over the weekend in South Milwaukee Now, an online newspaper, the following accomplishments have been achieved in just two short months of the acquisition. You can read the whole update by clicking here:

• The Racine Campus has found home for 171 animals in just the first two months of operation.  In 2012, records indicate that there were 88 adoptions during the same time period at Countryside.
• Low cost vaccinations were provided to 298 animals and 76 spay-neuter surgeries have been completed for low-income families.
• The  "Adoptable Dogs" page of the website had 70,803 page views in January and 85,477 page views in February. 
• Donations received from January 1 through February 28 totaled $45,576.  Last year, only $24,000 was received by Countryside for the entire calendar year.

I am also pleased to say that the Racine Campus is making a big effort to successfully reunite lost pets with their families by posting pictures on line on the Stray Animals of Racine Facebook page.

Hats off to Wisconsin Humane Society - Racine Campus for making a big difference in the lives of the people and pets in Racine County. 

MADACC Operations Committee Meeting - February 21, 2013

Yesterday was the monthly Operations Committee meeting of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC). Here's my notes and observations.

Despite the fact that the meeting is usually held on the third Tuesday of the month and this meeting was abruptly changed to Thursday, there was still a very large turnout. The crowd spilled out into the hallway. There were at least sixty people present, not including the management and board members.  Since the building's fire code only permits fifty people in the room, I hope that future meetings will be scheduled for a larger venue.  It was very disturbing to see concerned citizens who had taken time out of their busy schedule in the middle of a workday unable to hear or see the proceedings. Many people had also driven a considerable distance - partially thanks to the WISN 12 news story last week that highlighted the plight of the court case dogs that have been held at MADACC for almost two years.  I have written twice about these dogs in the past.  Here are the links:

Milwaukee's Forgotten Dogs

One Year "Anniversary" and No End in Sight for Milwaukee's Forgotten Dogs

The first speaker, Ray Prondzinski, from West Allis, summed up a lot of good points and the main concern of the past six months. "Who is listening to our problems and when might we expect answers?" He pointed out the disrespectful manner in which the board has handled the public and asked if some attentiveness and eye contact when the public were speaking was too much to ask.  Instead of the heads-down, paper shuffling that has been all too apparent.

The other speakers were also excellent and included: Amanda Wenzel, Laurie Hoffman, David Mangold, Lynn Mitchell, Kelly Herbold, Pam Hodermann and Susan Taney.

Susan Taney, one of the founding members of Lost Dogs of Wisconsin (an organization near and dear to my heart) made her fourth attempt to offer the free services of Lost Dogs of Wisconsin to improve the return to owner (RTO) rate which currently is 26%.  Other cities across North America are achieving RTO rates of over 50% and some as high as 75%. These figures are being achieved because progressive management is utilizing volunteers to help in matching, posting pictures and descriptions on the internet and giving resources out to the public on how to find their lost dogs.

Many of the dogs at MADACC have a home and do not need to be rehomed or killed. They just need help to find their owners.  Lost Dogs of Wisconsin and Lost Dogs Illinois have a combined audience of over 40,000 Facebook fans and have helped reunite over 5600 dogs since their inception. Susan has never received a response from the MADACC management or board about her offer.

Kelly Herbold of Milwaukee Animal Alliance spoke and I am including her words here so that they are  "on the record" because I think they are very important and summed up what most of the audience were thinking:
"First off to Karen, our group welcomes you and is very excited to have a qualified and compassionate Executive Director at the helm of MADACC. We hope that you will do right by the animals, and begin to correct the wrongs of the past that you are inheriting…..particularly the ones of the past 4 months.

To the Operations Committee, we want to thank Don Schaewe, Michael Weber, and Derik Summerfield for taking the time to meet with us. Paul Ziehler declined meeting with us. Eric Pearson accepted but was then a no show on the day of the meeting. Ron, I am still waiting to nail down a date with you, I hope we can do that very soon.

I would like to ask each of you to think about the cause you care a lot about. Maybe its kids, or environmental issues, or the homeless. Whatever that thing is that just ‘gets you’, that hits your heart and soul, that is how we feel about the animals. So please as human to human, try to have some empathy and put yourselves in our shoes. Animals may not be important to you, but they are to us. We support MADACC because without you, our animals would have no place to go. We are definitely not here because we have nothing better to do. Nor are we engaged in a ‘smear campaign’ to take MADACC down.  We take time out of our busy lives to come here because we are truly concerned, and our concerns are valid. I can understand your seeming sense of denial but frankly…..where there’s smoke there’s fire. Doing right by each and every animal that comes through here, has not been happening for a long time now. Hopefully Karen can fix that.

There is an apparent sense of apathy in the room…almost as if you tune out when each one of us speaks. Intentional or not, that is the clear impression you are giving off. It’s a shame, because like it or not, our opinions do matter. Mainly, because as taxpayers we FUND this place. But also, because as citizens we either elected you to your job or we elected your bosses, who appointed you to this Board. So we do have a voice, and the right to use it. That is the great thing about this country. We hope that is a new day and a new era for MADACC. And that the entire Board and MADACC staff come together to do right by our animals.

My sweet foster dog is from here and now has a second chance at a good life.  We want each animal inside these walls to get that same shot. They deserve no less, and we will settle for no less.  We hope that in the VERY near future we are all attending these meetings to praise and thank you for doing right by our animals at last.  Thank you."  - Kelly Herbold, Milwaukee Animal Alliance

The highlight of the meeting was the commitment from the board and Karen, the new ED, to support a fair and positive outcome for  the court case dogs.  Here is the link to the WISN Channel 12 news story: 

Dogs Locked Up as Evidence May Get Released

This is a major step forward to getting these dogs fairly evaluated and a chance for a new home. A huge thank you to Colleen Henry, Susan Roberts and the rest of the WISN News Team that took an interest in this story and gave it the coverage that inspired some action.  It is very sad and disturbing that it took news media coverage of the story for the board and management at MADACC to finally take action for these dogs. As I have stressed before, the American Bar Association and the National Animal Control Association have written guidelines for the care and treatment of Court Case Dogs but apparently nobody at MADACC felt it necessary to follow them or advocate for these dogs. David Mangold of Save Milwaukee's Court Case Dogs has tirelessly advocated for them and reached out on numerous occasions to the board and management of MADACC. He never received the courtesy of a response.

One of my personal frustrations is the resistance of the board to educate themselves on progressive animal welfare practices that are currently saving the lives of over 90% of the animals that enter municipal animal shelters in cities such as Austin, Reno, Jacksonville, and Kansas City.  Even Los Angeles achieved a notable 84% live release rate for the month of December 2012.

Milwaukee is not different from any of these cities. But Milwaukee lags far behind.  It's time to stop making the lame excuses that are currently causing the deaths of over 5000 animals per year in Milwaukee at the hands of MADACC. 

We have the passion, the commitment, the knowledge, and thanks to the hiring of Karen Sparapani, we now have the leadership to make a difference. Let's do it.

" Those who say it can't be done are usually interrupted by others doing it." - James Arthur Baldwin

A New Day Dawns...

The sun looks a little brighter this morning. Not because we are getting closer to spring but because today is the day that Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission (MADACC) has a new Executive Director.  Karen Sparapani, formerly the Director of Elmbrook Humane Society in Brookfield has taken over the reins of MADACC.

Although Elmbrook is a much smaller shelter, Karen managed to attain an outstanding live release rate for dogs of 97% and 95% for cats. Karen has a strong commitment to judging each animal as an individual and doing the right thing for each and every animal in her care.

A strong, compassionate leader is an important part of the No Kill Equation and we are lucky that we now have Karen looking out for Milwaukee County's animals.

So, is the work of Milwaukee Animal Alliance over? Far from it. In fact, it is just beginning. The goal of MAA is to create a framework of protection for Milwaukee County's animals so that no matter if Karen is in the position for one year, five years or ten; that the reign of terror that is currently MADACC is never able to be repeated. MADACC will never again regress to a place where an animal that enters the building has only a 50/50 chance of exiting alive.

Kelly Herbold, of MAA states " We are very optimistic that operations at MADACC will vastly improve with the hiring of Karan Sparapani as its new Executive Director.  Her experience running a great shelter like Elmbrook Humane Society will aid her in improving MADACC.  We hope the Board of Directors and the entire MADACC staff will stand behind Karen, as MAA plans to do. We look forward to working with Karen as we strive to fulfill our vision for Milwaukee County's animals."

I intended to write ten blogs about shortcomings at MADACC. I did seven (eight if you include the original one about banning volunteers).  I have a stack of complaint and issues left that I can write on.  Thank you to all of the volunteers, rescues and public that came forward with documentation and complaints. My unwritten pile of complaints include: sickness and poor cleaning protocols; poor customer service; poor communications; stray intake procedures; late term abortions; and poor veterinary care.

But at this time, we feel that Karen needs support from the Board of Directors, the public and the present staff and management more than anything.

The Board of Directors is made up of one representative from each of the nineteen municipalities that MADACC serves.  Six of these board members make up the Operating Committee.

Some of the board members have no interest in MADACC. This is very apparent by their lack of communication, their attitudes and their lack of knowledge of animal welfare. One has such little interest, that he hasn't attended a board meeting in three years.

Dozens of citizens have voiced legitimate complaints in the past few months. What would a well-functioning board do? I would think they would say something along the lines of:

"Thank you, Mr. Taxpayer for your concerns. We will set up a sub-committee to look into them and we will keep an open line of communication with you regarding our findings and progress."

But MADACC doesn't have a well-functioning board. They have a heads down, paper-shuffling bunch of bureaucrats who don't acknowledge correspondence, concerns or problems. They have not replied to the public's concerns. EVER.  In my opinion, Ron Hayward, president of the MADACC board has failed to run the board in a manner where taxpayers and voters have reasonable input about how their tax dollars are being spent.

He  has failed to hold the board and staff accountable to MADACC's mission: "to use euthanasia as the last resort."  MAA has reached out to Ron Hayward and still hopes to have a productive and meaningful dialogue with him.

This following is taken directly from the MAA vision statement:

"We want commitment on the part of MADACC's Executive Director and Board of Directors to move forward with progressive reforms - published quantifiable goals and timelines; transparency, accountability; and a formation of a Citizen's Advocacy Board."

So, no.  Our work isn't done.  And we ask you to be a part of it.  ****Please join us on Thursday, February 21 to welcome Karen and show your support for her in her new position at the MADACC Operations Committee meeting at 1:30 p.m. in the conference room at MADACC - 3839 W Burnham Street.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead


****Meeting date and time has been changed. It was originally Tuesday at 1. It is now Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Will You "Raise a Paw"?

The Great Lakes Pet Expo was held on Saturday, February 2, at State Fair Park in West Allis. This is the largest event of it's kind in Wisconsin, with thousands of attendees and more than two hundred exhibitors. 

Milwaukee Animal Alliance, a new organization, had what was perhaps the most eye catching booth of the expo.

Their agenda was to ask people to "raise a paw" for the animals of Milwaukee County that can't raise theirs. They had 5357 paw stickers, one for every animal that was killed at Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control (MADACC) in 2012.  They asked people to express their desire for change by placing a sticker on their wall. When you see the before and after picture, it would seem that Milwaukee has spoken. 

Check out the Milwaukee Animal Alliance's  newly unveiled website www.milwaukeeanimalalliance.org for more pictures and their  vision of a brighter tomorrow for Milwaukee County's animals. 

Will you join us and "raise your paw"?