Anger Won't Keep the Dogs From Dying
Okay, the first thing I need you to do before you read this post is park your anger somewhere. You’ll need to set it aside and listen with an open mind and heart. And remember that anger won’t solve this problem. Hate won’t help you either.When we finally exited off the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway and followed the interstate towards Jackson, I was already bracing myself. As we drove past the municipal facilities and a steel factory and finally pulled into the driveway of MARL (Mississippi Animal Rescue League), I had convinced myself I needed to go in with an open mind, leave my judgment at the door and listen well so I could hear the situation from the shelter’s point of view, or more specifically, the shelter director Debra.The building looked relatively new but tired, with faded paint and plenty of worn places. The high ceilings in the lobby, bright paintings, and window-walled puppy and cat rooms had a welcoming feel. This is a busy place; the phone rang constantly as we waited to meet with Debra. MARL handles ten thousand animals a year. A sign in the lobby displayed their numbers for 2019.
Debra acknowledged that plenty of people hate them and she receives all manner of bashing on social media, but she doesn’t believe in hiding what they do. I have to respect that. As she said, “Hiding it won’t help fix the problem.”
She is frustrated with people who don’t value their animals and other local shelters and rescues who operate with limited intake, leaving MARL to take what they won’t. She is certain that considering how many sterilization surgeries they have done their intake number should be closer to 7,000 by now if it weren’t for the trend of shelters switching to limited intake.I suggested that perhaps northern rescues could help. She shared with us one terrible experience she had with a rescue that agreed to take seven dogs and then returned them shortly after because of a transport problem. MARL had already moved seven other dogs into their adoption runs and had to decide which dogs to kill—the ones who had been sent to the rescue or seven of the dogs who had gotten an opportunity to move to adoption?I encouraged her to consider other rescues and tried to assure her that there are some that might be a better fit. A foster program could also help but she said they have tried that with little success.Debra has been the director at MARL for 42 years. She has seen a lot. She oversees a staff of 15 full and part-time employees. When she started at MARL, the annual budget was $35,000; now it is 1.1 million. The building they are in is almost 13 years old and this year MARL will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. There is a lot of history here.Many of the local animal advocates, rescues and shelters do not like MARL. Debra doesn’t let that get to her and she is not opposed to working with them. In fact, with the recent floods last month, MARL partnered with another rescue, CARA (Community Animal Rescue and Adoption) to share resources and space to house displaced pets. CARA had room for more big dogs and MARL took in the small dogs, cats, and assorted smaller critters, and then both housed and then returned all the displaced pets.As the flooding began, there was a report of a pit bull tied to fire hydrant in the flood plain, so Debra and her team went out and found the frightened dog, freed it, and took it to CARA.Debra tells us about another recent adoption of a dog surrendered by someone being deployed by the military. She struggled with tears as she told us the dog’s time was nearly up when finally another military family stepped in and adopted the dog.Debra started in this business when she attended a public meeting after the shelter was destroyed by a fire back in 1978. She began volunteering and then was asked to serve on the board and from there stepped in as the acting director even though she wasn’t sure she could do it and had to bring her kids with her to work. She is devoted to MARL and has sacrificed a lot, including her own paycheck during a few lean years.It’s easy to judge this woman for doing a job very few ever could, but she is carrying out what MARL’s board has deemed to be the mission and the practices of this shelter.As we wrapped up our time with Debra, I suggested that there might be some rescues that could help and hoped she would give rescue another chance. As we drove away, I was already envisioning a foster program that could hold the dogs headed to rescues until their transport could take them. MARL would need a rescue coordinator because it is more than clear that Debra doesn’t have enough hands or time to add another program.The numbers though, they were eating at me as we headed north up the hallway. 80% is too many. That’s the bottom line. Even if you are open-admission. Open-admission isn’t an excuse for that much killing. There are other solutions.Mississippi is a very different world in terms of not just iced tea, but also dog sheltering. People need to value their dogs and not permit them to be sold at flea markets. They need to give heartworm preventatives so that entire shelter populations aren’t heartworm positive. Obviously, they need to spay and neuter their pets.And here, I know I’m drifting into Yankee-who-came-down-here-to-judge territory, but I have met enough good and resourceful and dog-loving people here to know that Mississippi can do better. I’m certain of it. I believe in them. They can fix this, but first they have to own it.I think that’s where Debra comes in. She is honest about what is happening at MARL. She is not trying to hide what they do. Dogs are being killed—by the thousands, but as she said, “There are worse things than a humane euthanasia.”There are. Accepting those deaths as necessary and the situation as impossible to change is much worse.Okay, now you can pick up your anger again and use the energy behind it not to hate, but to help. Simply bashing the shelter and its leadership won't save these dogs; MARL has heard it before.Until every cage is empty,CaraPlease help us by subscribing (button on right side) to and sharing this blog. You can also keep track of us on Facebook and Instagram.Who Will Let the Dogs Out (we call it Waldo for short) is an initiative of Operation Paws for Homes. If you’d like to contribute to our work, we encourage you to click on the how to help link above and give directly to a shelter. You can also donate to our work via OPH’s donation page by designating Who Will Let the Dogs Out in your comments.My upcoming book, One Hundred Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues (Pegasus Books, July 7, 2020) tells the story of not only our foster experience but how Who Will Let the Dogs Out began. It is available for preorder now and a portion of proceeds of every book sold will go to help unwanted animals in the south.
She is frustrated with people who don’t value their animals and other local shelters and rescues who operate with limited intake, leaving MARL to take what they won’t. She is certain that considering how many sterilization surgeries they have done their intake number should be closer to 7,000 by now if it weren’t for the trend of shelters switching to limited intake.I suggested that perhaps northern rescues could help. She shared with us one terrible experience she had with a rescue that agreed to take seven dogs and then returned them shortly after because of a transport problem. MARL had already moved seven other dogs into their adoption runs and had to decide which dogs to kill—the ones who had been sent to the rescue or seven of the dogs who had gotten an opportunity to move to adoption?I encouraged her to consider other rescues and tried to assure her that there are some that might be a better fit. A foster program could also help but she said they have tried that with little success.Debra has been the director at MARL for 42 years. She has seen a lot. She oversees a staff of 15 full and part-time employees. When she started at MARL, the annual budget was $35,000; now it is 1.1 million. The building they are in is almost 13 years old and this year MARL will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. There is a lot of history here.Many of the local animal advocates, rescues and shelters do not like MARL. Debra doesn’t let that get to her and she is not opposed to working with them. In fact, with the recent floods last month, MARL partnered with another rescue, CARA (Community Animal Rescue and Adoption) to share resources and space to house displaced pets. CARA had room for more big dogs and MARL took in the small dogs, cats, and assorted smaller critters, and then both housed and then returned all the displaced pets.As the flooding began, there was a report of a pit bull tied to fire hydrant in the flood plain, so Debra and her team went out and found the frightened dog, freed it, and took it to CARA.Debra tells us about another recent adoption of a dog surrendered by someone being deployed by the military. She struggled with tears as she told us the dog’s time was nearly up when finally another military family stepped in and adopted the dog.Debra started in this business when she attended a public meeting after the shelter was destroyed by a fire back in 1978. She began volunteering and then was asked to serve on the board and from there stepped in as the acting director even though she wasn’t sure she could do it and had to bring her kids with her to work. She is devoted to MARL and has sacrificed a lot, including her own paycheck during a few lean years.It’s easy to judge this woman for doing a job very few ever could, but she is carrying out what MARL’s board has deemed to be the mission and the practices of this shelter.As we wrapped up our time with Debra, I suggested that there might be some rescues that could help and hoped she would give rescue another chance. As we drove away, I was already envisioning a foster program that could hold the dogs headed to rescues until their transport could take them. MARL would need a rescue coordinator because it is more than clear that Debra doesn’t have enough hands or time to add another program.The numbers though, they were eating at me as we headed north up the hallway. 80% is too many. That’s the bottom line. Even if you are open-admission. Open-admission isn’t an excuse for that much killing. There are other solutions.Mississippi is a very different world in terms of not just iced tea, but also dog sheltering. People need to value their dogs and not permit them to be sold at flea markets. They need to give heartworm preventatives so that entire shelter populations aren’t heartworm positive. Obviously, they need to spay and neuter their pets.And here, I know I’m drifting into Yankee-who-came-down-here-to-judge territory, but I have met enough good and resourceful and dog-loving people here to know that Mississippi can do better. I’m certain of it. I believe in them. They can fix this, but first they have to own it.I think that’s where Debra comes in. She is honest about what is happening at MARL. She is not trying to hide what they do. Dogs are being killed—by the thousands, but as she said, “There are worse things than a humane euthanasia.”There are. Accepting those deaths as necessary and the situation as impossible to change is much worse.Okay, now you can pick up your anger again and use the energy behind it not to hate, but to help. Simply bashing the shelter and its leadership won't save these dogs; MARL has heard it before.Until every cage is empty,CaraPlease help us by subscribing (button on right side) to and sharing this blog. You can also keep track of us on Facebook and Instagram.Who Will Let the Dogs Out (we call it Waldo for short) is an initiative of Operation Paws for Homes. If you’d like to contribute to our work, we encourage you to click on the how to help link above and give directly to a shelter. You can also donate to our work via OPH’s donation page by designating Who Will Let the Dogs Out in your comments.My upcoming book, One Hundred Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues (Pegasus Books, July 7, 2020) tells the story of not only our foster experience but how Who Will Let the Dogs Out began. It is available for preorder now and a portion of proceeds of every book sold will go to help unwanted animals in the south.
