Comments we’ve received from an AWLA volunteer on our last two posts suggest that maybe we’ve been too optimistic about the rate at which AWLA is improving its efforts on behalf of homeless animals. A culture of stonewalling and inertia is hard to change, especially when most of the management team responsible for it remains in place.
How will we know when AWLA shifts its raison d’etre to saving as many homeless animals as it can from whatever its top priority is now (fundraising?)
1. AWLA will actively recruit foster homes for its long-tenured cats and dogs, not just its kittens and puppies.
2. AWLA will use its ample resources to pull more dogs from high-kill shelters, and then involve its dogs in community events on a regular basis.
3. Dogs like Leo won’t be stashed in off-view kennels for weeks on end, where adopters can’t meet them and volunteers are prohibited from walking them.
4. AWLA will implement Oreo’s Law.
5. And AWLA will commit itself to outcomes transparency for its homeless animals.
Here’s what transparency looks like at the Humane Society of Berks County in Reading, PA.
HSBC has fewer resources than AWLA, but it handles more cats and dogs and works much harder on behalf of those animals. And it encourages feedback and suggestions from its volunteers and constituents. If you spend 15 or 20 minutes comparing the AWLA and HSBC websites, you’ll realize that the motivations of the two organizations are fundamentally different.
AWLA could learn a lot from peers like this. Let’s hope its next Executive Director agrees.
