We Don't All Want the Same Thing

In a conversation with an aide to an Austin City Council member today, we were told again that we should all get along--- because we and the shelter manager who has presided over the unnecessary deaths of over 100,000 homeless dogs and cats "all want the same thing."

How do we say this nicely? Um... No. You are wrong. We do not all want the same thing.

We want our community to become a No Kill city by implementing the proven, cost-effective policies and programs that have led to dramatic reductions in shelter killing in communities all over the country. They want to continue the status quo policies and hope (against all rational thought) that continuing to do the same thing, over and over again, will effect a different outcome.

We want an off-site adoption program that will bring the wonderful, healthy and happy impounded dogs and cats to the people of Austin. They think that there is no point to having off-site adoptions because no one wants the dogs and cats that don't get adopted at the shelter anyway.

We want a foster program that will expand the capacity of the shelter by saving young kittens, young puppies, and dogs needing a little extra TLC to get adopted. They want to rely on old excuses and to blame the public for the deaths of all animals at the shelter.

And, perhaps most importantly, we want a shelter manager who embraces proven, cost-effective life-saving methods and rejects long-disproven myths to justify killing dozens of dogs and cats every single day. They... well... do not.

So can we please stop saying that we all want the same thing? We do not, and saying so doesn't make our disagreements go away. Worse yet, saying so fails to recognize that there are different paths from which to choose. The path of respect for every life and the path of bureaucratic resistance. Those are different paths, and they lead to different places.

So please stop saying it: We don't all want the same thing.