Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Seattle Humane Society Ain't What It Used To Be

If you've read my blog for a while, you may recall I've said really great things about the Humane Society for Seattle/King County (located in Bellevue).

What you may not know is that there has been a lot of changes over the last few years. Some of those changes led to my wife's departure, but she still has friends that work there so we have heard a lot of distressing stories.

I don't want to go into all the details, but it seems like this organization that once boasted an adoption rate of 80+% has changed its policies so drastically that they've turned themselves into a no-kill shelter.

You know what evil can lurk below that heart-warming-SOUNDING label (read my post on what no-kill really means here). Lest there is any confusion on this claim, click here and search the page for 'humane' to see that the new CEO is on the Coalition For No-Kill King County's board! Based on what we're hearing from the inside, the behind-the-scenes bad things that can happen at a no-kill shelter are happening now at the Humane Society for Seattle/King County.

The folks in Operations are incredibly devoted to the well-being of the animals and their care. But they must abide by the decisions made by the new CEO and the board that supports her.

There are still a lot of great animals there that need homes and I wouldn't want to dissuade anyone from adopting a shelter animal from them or anywhere else. However, you might want to consider sending your animal-shelter charitable donations to a shelter that appreciates its staff and whose decision-makers care about animal welfare.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I wonder if they are feeling the pressure to be the first no-kill county in the country. You-re right, no kill sounds good but just isn't practical or humane.