When my head explodes in a good way

The last time I read a book that blew my head open was 1986, when I read Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats and started caring for my animals in an entirely different way. I suspect that the changes that began the day I read that book are the reason at least half of you are reading this.

But a couple of weeks ago, I read Nathan Winograd's Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America, and it's turned some of the most basic assumptions I've held for most of my adult life upside down.

I did a long interview with him for another piece, but I used parts of it in a discussion and review of Redemption on the website of the San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate.com:

Winograd's not just talking about something that could happen, but something that has already happened many times in a number of American communities — including San Francisco, which in 1994 became the first city in the United States to end the killing of healthy dogs and cats.

[....]

The story of how Tompkins County stopped killing for population control and started sending more than 90 percent of the animals that come into its animal control system out alive may be one of the greatest success stories of the humane movement. It's certainly one of the most compelling parts of the argument laid out in "Redemption."

Because, although it wasn't always easy, these programs worked, and not only in San Francisco or Tompkins County. "In Tompkins County, we reduced the death rate 75 percent in two years. In Charlottesville, Va., they reduced it by over 50 percent in one year. And Reno, Nev. ... has reduced the death rate by over 50 percent," Winograd said.

"If all shelters not only have the desire and embrace the No Kill philosophy, but comprehensively put into play all those programs and services that ... I ... collectively call the no-kill equation, then we would achieve success."

The full thing is here. I hope you'll check it out, but even more than that, I hope you read the book and buy ten copies for all your friends.

Comments

[Cate]

Guess you knew when you wrote your SFGate article that it would open a can of worms. Although I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, the Richmond (Virginia) SPCA is No Kill and works closely with our city Animal Control.