If you already though that Animal Care and Control was a joke--get ready for a shocker- It just got worse!The city cut funding for AC&C from 7 million to 5.5 million. Night and weekend hours are being eliminated for animal control officers who look for strays (maybe this will give them a better chance of avoiding being caught and put to death in a week, but it also means more dogs coming in looking like this---).
With $ 7 million in funding, the ACC still didn't do well enough to stop using Bullsh*t rating systems to claim that dogs have "Moderate Behavior" (what they use to excuse euthanasia if the dog is not yet ill from the shelter). What gets you slapped with "moderate" you ask?
Well, eating to quickly, not paying enough attention, paying too much attention, being lethargic, being hyper, enjoying toys too much, not enjoying toys enough, making no eye contact, making too much eye contact, being territorial over the crate... Sadly, I'm sure my amazing puppy Winnie would fail these behavior test if she was scared and alone for even a day.
Here is an example behavior test for an 8 year old dog (Lexus) that was put to sleep. She was "geriatric" and her behavior memo was "moderate." Are you as shocked as I am by this? This old girl is just scared because she was abandoned by her family of 8 years!
10/26/2010 BEHAVIOR EVALUATION - MODERATE
Exam Type BEHAVIOR
Look 2 :Eyes averted with stiff body ,tucked tail and ears backSensitivity 2 :Dog stands still while stiff in body with tucked tail,closed mouth and ears back
Squeeze 1 :Gently pulls paw away
Squeeze 2 1 :Gently pulls paw away
Food 1 :No interest
Exam Type BEHAVIOR
Look 2 :Eyes averted with stiff body ,tucked tail and ears backSensitivity 2 :Dog stands still while stiff in body with tucked tail,closed mouth and ears back
Squeeze 1 :Gently pulls paw away
Squeeze 2 1 :Gently pulls paw away
Food 1 :No interest
Toy 1 :No interest
Rawhide 1 :No interest
Dog to dog 2 :Does not approach the helper dog ,body is stiff with low
tail,then turns to side in relation to the other dog
Rawhide 1 :No interest
Dog to dog 2 :Does not approach the helper dog ,body is stiff with low
tail,then turns to side in relation to the other dog
Also, if a house pet who is abandoned in perfect healthy shape can be put down 5 days later for developing kennel cough. Surprised?
I'm only surprised that they can't do any better than this and are going to get even worse. Signs are already showing of the Budget cuts that took effect Nov. 1st. The phone lines are officially down 99% of the time, making it nearly impossible to rescue an animal on death row.
For more infomation, read this article.
It's unfortunate this is happening now when even more animals are being turned in to shelters. Miss M was at the Chicago ACC and she had a date to be euthanized the next day. The one "positive" thing is any dog who makes it through this type of rigorous evaluation must be amazing and resilient.
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