GARD’s no-kill philosophy

GARD Inc. represents itself as a no-kill shelter. In the interest of clarity and transparency, we thought it would be helpful to elucidate this designation as to what it entails and what it does not entail.

There are numerous no-kill philosophies in existence and we have always subscribed to the one that is most in concert with the realities which daily confront us. There are some who equate no-kill with never-kill and, although never-kill shelters do exist, they are very rare and are always blessed with unlimited resources, both monetary and human. Far more common is the philosophy that no-kill refers to adoptable dogs and this is GARD’s standard operating practice. The licensing requirements imposed by the state of Georgia dictate that we cannot keep an aggressive dog. This alone excludes us from the never-kill mentality as it is not uncommon to find aggressive dogs dropped off here in the wee hours of the morning (we have installed infared security cameras to discourage this practice). Much more common is the stark reality that dogs have to be adopted to make room for new arrivals who otherwise would be placed in the county landfills instead. If we were to fill the shelter to capacity with unadoptable dogs, it would doom hundreds of adoptable dogs to euthanasia at the hands of county animal control units and we would be nothing more than glorified hoarders. Being animal lovers, it is a heartbreaking and often tearful experience to make the hard decisions that must be made to promote the greater good but the reality is that no-kill shelters do, from time to time, have to euthanize animals. Our goal is to use what limited resources that are available to us to accomplish the greatest beneficial effect.

That being said, in practice we go far beyond our self-imposed restrictions and also operate, within our capability, as a sanctuary for scores of unadoptable dogs. As long as this practice does not impair our ability to operate our shelter at 100% capacity it is justifiable and certainly much easier than the alternative. Visitors here will meet many dogs that live here but are not, for one reason or another, adoptable. Many are older dogs who have lived a life of deprivation and misery and live out their few remaining weeks or months finally experiencing what it is like to have a family and be valued. Others have behavioral quirks that render them unfit to offer to the general public. We have a houseful of them and they’re good as gold for us but not anywhere else. They too will live out their days here as valued family members.

Given our own personal sensibilities, we would much prefer to be a never-kill shelter but GARD is totally reliant on public support and can only operate within the constraints of the resources available to us. Your contributions to our efforts will help to ensure that more companion animals are given an opportunity to have a “life worth living”. We have here, at the facility, approximately 16 more acres of undeveloped land which could be utilized but lies, at the moment, unused for lack of resources. You, the reader, have the opportunity to help bring GARD closer to the never-kill ideology through your contributions to our mission. Our website delineates numerous ways to help and you are always welcome to call or email to offer your assistance.

 

Mandy

Mandy died today.  Mandy was an old Jack Russell mix who, until today, lived out the last days of a mostly miserable life here at GARD.  She arrived here with her last litter of puppies, one litter too many as far as her body as well as her welcome in her former abode was concerned.  After the puppies were gone, she took up refuge in my dad’s office which is generally a little quieter and calmer that the rest of the house.  Lil and I have shared, albeit grudgingly sometimes, this space with numerous other dogs who, for whatever reason, need a bit more security or solitude and we’ve shared many a bowl of popcorn with Miss Mandy.  It’s sad to see her go and sadder still to know that this last year was probably the only happy year in her life but at least we could give her that much.
I wanted to tell you about Mandy because, first of all, it is a way of remembering her but mostly because her sad story is one we see far too often, a used-up dog abandoned after a life of neglect and/or exploitation.  There are two major groups that fit this profile, a breeder dog who is no longer of any value to her keeper and is thus discarded and an old dawg that just keeps having litter upon litter until her people have had enough and decide to get rid of her in whichever manner they find convenient.  They come here to spend their last days, weeks or months and at least get to sample life with a family that cares about them.  Too little too late but better late than never.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why her people did not just get her spayed if they didn’t want her to have any more puppies.  Could it possibly be that they begrudged her this small expense in return for the joy and laughter that she was capable of infusing into their family?  What about the breeder?  I don’t begrudge anyone breeding a dog for the puppies as long as they do it in a responsible manner in spite of the fact that we have way more dogs than we have homes for them.  This is, after all, a free country but the key word here is responsible and to just discard this dog when she is of no further use is anything but responsible.  At the risk of offending some readers, I’ll be very frank here.  How, in a part of the country where people are very open and proud of their Christian beliefs and values, can people be so callous and cold-hearted to another living creature?  I’m no bible scholar (heck, I can’t even read) but I’m positive that when God gave man dominion over all the animals both domestic and wild, he also charged man with the responsibility of exercising good stewardship over them as well.  Even though I cannot understand how people can harbour attitudes that lead to such callous treatment, I’m not condemning them for it.  I believe that mostly people do things the way they do because that’s the way mom and dad did it and that’s the way granny and grandpa did it and it fits in well with the existing social norm.
There is, however, a better way.  Times have changed and so have attitudes toward this stewardship.  To a large degree, this starts with spaying/neutering your pet.  This fosters an attitude of caring and responsibility.  If everyone did it, it would be the social norm and your neighbor wouldn’t look at you like some sort of “bunny hugger” for taking care of your pet in a responsible manner.  This doesn’t happen overnight though or without a great deal of effort.  Prior to founding GARD, my mom, dad and grandma had a lot of experience with Green Mountain Animal Defenders (http://www.greenmountainanimaldefenders.org/ ) in Vermont and were acutely aware of the changes that they were able to facilitate in that part of the country.  Dad says it took literally decades for peoples attitudes to change but they did change.  Nowadays, it’s a completely different and better world there as far as animals are concerned and nobody thinks you’re an oddball for taking your dog or cat to the vet for shots or to be spayed or neutered.  The great part of this is that it’s also cost-effective.  “Round here, we support our county animal control agencies with taxpayer-supplied budgets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to round up, shoot, trap and kill animals that are the product of irresponsible management.  It would make far better fiscal and, more importantly, moral sense to spend the money doing the right thing. 
If you’re reading this, you’re probably an animal lover so I would challenge you to look into what could be a reality here in Georgia.  The link I included is a good place to start but GMAD is not unique and a simple search will lead you to many many others who have learned that practicing good stewardship is not only the right thing to do but it is a better use of their tax dollars.  Contact your legislators and give them a little push.  Georgia just finally did away with gassing but not without being pushed.  Twenty years from now our kids will look back and wonder how we could possibly have maintained that brutal practice for a long as we did.  Doing the right thing will have become the social norm.  Mandy’s gone and we’ll miss her and her antics but we sure would love never to have another dog have to come here at the end of his or her life to finally experience for a few brief weeks or months what it was to have a life worth living.