Another Missing Ingredient

What, our hosts asked us, could they do to make it easier for the rescue groups to receive cats from FCAS during periods when the shelter was taking in more cats than it could handle? How could they help the participating groups stage adoption events? Would any of them be interested in using the FCAS classroom on weekends to showcase their cats? (Absolutely.)

What DC-area clinics were currently providing the most competent and cost-effective spay/neuter services? How many cats did the different rescue groups receive per year, and where did they get them from? Who (in addition to FCAS) was participating in local TNR (trap-neuter-return) programs? And much more.

The meeting lasted for two hours and could easily have run longer, since it provided a forum for the rescue groups to parameterize FCAS, for FCAS to learn from the groups, and for the groups to learn from each other. It’s the kind of event that should happen at least twice a year.

When was the last time a comparable exchange of information was sponsored by the AWLs of Arlington or Alexandria? How about “never.”

I’m actually not sure it’s never happened, but when I asked veteran volunteers at Homeward Trails and A Forever Home, no one could remember a comparable outreach to local rescue groups.

A few rescue groups have been prodding AWL of Arlington for years to collaborate, but most have dismissed the organization as insular and intransigent, and gone on to work closely with rural high-kill shelters that are overflowing with animals and greatly appreciate the opportunity to transfer some of them to DC-area organizations.

So why do the two AWLAs have no meaningful collaboration with local rescue groups that on a combined basis adopt out several times as many cats and dogs per year as they do?

I think the root of the problem is that the AWLAs have evolved over decades (both were founded in the 1940s) into organizations with well-developed donor networks and significant endowments. Despite their mission statements, it’s hard not to conclude that the true mission of these organizations is to nurture and develop their endowments. Anecdotes about successful adoptions are used to pursue that goal. At best, rescue organizations are a distraction, at worst they’re potential competitors for charitable contributions.

On the AWL of Arlington website the spotlight is currently on the upcoming Walk for the Animals 2010, the organization’s biggest fundraising event of the year. AWLA staffers spend months preparing for the Walk — when it’s done, the focus turns to Catsino Night, the second-biggest fundraising event of the year.

The current issue of AWLA’s quarterly Pawpourri newsletter is all about the Walk, donations, bequests, and (you guessed it) Catsino Night.

How many articles in Pawpourri or on the website about upcoming adoption events or promotions? Zero.

How many about working with rescue groups? Zero.

On recruiting new foster families for dogs and cats that spend week after week growing depressed (and less adoptable) at the shelter? Zero.

Trap-neuter-return efforts? Zero.

None of the programs that progressive shelters have implemented to achieve better animal outcomes get any attention in AWLA’s communications efforts. The results speak for themselves.

Unlike the shelters run by the AWLs of Arlington and Alexandria, the Fairfax shelter is a municipal facility that doesn’t benefit from substantial private donations and a significant endowment. It has only one focus — juggling the thousands of animals it receives every year and trying to save as many as it can. Who deserves your contributions more?