01-09-2017, 06:13 AM
We made the mistake of turning in a lost dog to the Keaau Humane Society last year. He was in bad shape with a torn ear, some odd scars, and was badly underweight, but had a wonderful disposition. We almost adopted him, but already have three dogs due to similar scenarios. And, of course, there was the chance that his owners were looking for him, and that he might need immediate medical attention.
A pleasant young man showed up the next morning and took him away, assuring us that he would almost certainly be adopted. I repeatedly told him that WE would adopt him if no one else would and he kept assuring us that we would be allowed to adopt him IF HE WAS FOUND SUITABLE FOR ADOPTION (that should have been my clue), and that they would call to let us know. Three days passed, no call. So, I called, and "their computers were down". Growing suspicious after a couple of more such calls, I visited the shelter. The front desk was immediately evasive and said they "could not comment about the fate of found dogs". Uh-oh. Sure enough, he was "gone" according to the guy clean up the cages, as soon as I started to describe is injuries and condition. I felt terrible, mostly because I coxed him in off the street. He trusted me, now he's dead. I talked the situation over with the front desk, and asked them why they didn't contact me when I had said I would adopt him. They got very defensive and had more computer problems, but assured me they would call when the computers were up (they didn't, of course). I told them that in the future, I would not bring a found dog into them. They told me the it was against the law to do that. Nice.
If I had done a little research, I would have known he never had a chance... http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...-last-year
Doing the math from that article, they put down around 2500 dogs a year.
Most mainland shelters now get nearly 100% of dogs adopted, often by trucking them from areas with oversupply (mostly rural areas) to cities where people adopt lots of dogs from shelters. Obviously, that is not an option here. I don't fault the shelters here for doing what they have to do; the numbers of strays they have to deal with are appalling. Little wonder they don't act very "humane" there.
Anyway, as always, please get your dogs and cats neutered. And if you like a dog you find, don't let the Humane Society get their mitts on him.
A pleasant young man showed up the next morning and took him away, assuring us that he would almost certainly be adopted. I repeatedly told him that WE would adopt him if no one else would and he kept assuring us that we would be allowed to adopt him IF HE WAS FOUND SUITABLE FOR ADOPTION (that should have been my clue), and that they would call to let us know. Three days passed, no call. So, I called, and "their computers were down". Growing suspicious after a couple of more such calls, I visited the shelter. The front desk was immediately evasive and said they "could not comment about the fate of found dogs". Uh-oh. Sure enough, he was "gone" according to the guy clean up the cages, as soon as I started to describe is injuries and condition. I felt terrible, mostly because I coxed him in off the street. He trusted me, now he's dead. I talked the situation over with the front desk, and asked them why they didn't contact me when I had said I would adopt him. They got very defensive and had more computer problems, but assured me they would call when the computers were up (they didn't, of course). I told them that in the future, I would not bring a found dog into them. They told me the it was against the law to do that. Nice.
If I had done a little research, I would have known he never had a chance... http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/news/loc...-last-year
Doing the math from that article, they put down around 2500 dogs a year.
Most mainland shelters now get nearly 100% of dogs adopted, often by trucking them from areas with oversupply (mostly rural areas) to cities where people adopt lots of dogs from shelters. Obviously, that is not an option here. I don't fault the shelters here for doing what they have to do; the numbers of strays they have to deal with are appalling. Little wonder they don't act very "humane" there.
Anyway, as always, please get your dogs and cats neutered. And if you like a dog you find, don't let the Humane Society get their mitts on him.