Yesterday, Jen Cole sent me a link to an article that I found confusing and disturbing. Apparently, the Fayetteville Animal Shelter has revamped their fostering policies to include a time limit of two weeks for healthy animals. After two weeks, the foster animals must be surrendered back to the shelter. If there is room, the animals will be put back onto the floor but if not, they will be euthanized.
This policy is misguided, to be gentle. It will likely significantly decrease the numbers of people willing to foster. Not to mention, two weeks is simply not enough time to make progress with animals who have issues. Plus, the policy seems ill explained and the reasoning behind it hard to comprehend. To me, it sounds like they had people abusing the fostering program, keeping animals long term but never adopting and never being willing to surrender them either. But having to guess at the reasoning behind a policy that could affect the lives of thousands of animals is never acceptable.
If you are a Fayetteville resident and you are opposed to this new time limit or simply have questions about it, I strongly encourage you to call Justine Middleton, Superintendent of the Fayetteville Animal Shelter at (479) 444-3456. If that doesn't work, take your concerns to Mayor Jordan - you can contact him here or you can even try his Facebook page. Have your voice heard on this issue! If you aren't a Fayetteville resident, get the word out to your friends who are!
I'm including the article below, but you can also read the original article here. Please note, you will have to have a subscription to nwaonline.com to read the article in it's entirety. (Subscription run about $5.95 a month if I remember correctly)
VOLUNTEERS SAY SHELTER’S FOSTERING PROGRAM ‘TOO STRICT’
By Kate Ward
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Fayetteville Animal Shelter’s fostering program, in which volunteers temporarily take in homeless animals in hope of finding them new homes, is facing criticism from some of those very volunteers.
A new fostering policy went into effect April 1. It allows volunteers to foster healthy pets for a maximum of two weeks. After that, the animals must be returned to the shelter, where they are placed on the adoption floor if space permits.
If there’s no room, the animals are killed.
Unfortunately, we only have so much space,” said Justine Middleton, the shelter’s superintendent.
Middleton said the animal shelter has always allowed volunteers to foster sick or newborn animals, as well as cats and dogs with behavioral issues, for an unlimited time or until an adoptive home is secured. The shelter’s new policy, she said, aims at providing an opportunity for healthy animals to be fostered, especially given space limitations at the shelter.
“With this new policy, we hope to give people an extra chance to advocate for these animals,” Middleton said.
Marcia Donley, a member of the Fayetteville Animal Services Advisory Board, said she and several other foster volunteers view the new policy as too strict. Those volunteers often promote the adoption of their foster animals by placing pictures on pet websites or taking the animals to local events where potential adopters might see them.
“By the time we take their pictures and put them on the website, a week has already gone by,” Donley said. “I can’t imagine the pressure people would feel by giving them a two-week time limit. It just doesn’t seem right.”
In years past, Middleton said, foster volunteers were allowed to keep healthy animals until an adoptive home could be found, but that policy was dropped about a year and a half ago.
After talking with staff, we found a new option that would work for us and give people the opportunity to foster for space if they wanted to,” Middleton said. “So far, everyone at the shelter seems to be on board.”
Donley, who’s previously fostered a cat and several dogs, said she doesn’t think the policy reflects the goals of the city or its residents.
“I think the Fayetteville Animal Services Advisory Board’s duty is to facilitate communication between citizens, the City Council and the animal shelter,” she said. “This is a classic example where the actions of the animal shelter aren’t consistent with the goals of the community. One reason I feel so strongly is because the goal of every shelter, I think, should be no kill. One of the main components of that is having a strong foster program.”
According to the city’s website, the Fayetteville Animal Shelter is an “open admission” shelter, meaning it takes in all animals, regardless of age, health or temperament. “No kill” shelters selectively accept animals, knowing they can be placed up for adoption.
Middleton said cats and dogs are put on the shelter’s adoption floor for a minimum of two weeks, depending on space. If an animal hasn’t been adopted by then and if the shelter is at capacity, the animals will be euthanized, she said.
The Fayetteville Animal Shelter in 2009 took in 4,910 cats and dogs, nearly half of which were euthanized.
Like at all shelter animals, Middleton said pictures of foster animals are placed on pet adoption websites like Petfinder.com. Foster volunteers, she said, are encouraged to seek out adoptive homes by bringing their pets to public events, like the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market and PetSmart adoption drives.
“We try to get them to do what they can by bringing that cat or dog into public view,” she said. “We’re also working on coming up with some creative ways by featuring pictures of foster pets in the front office of the shelter.”
Middleton said giving foster volunteers a two-week time frame helps prevent the volunteers becoming too attached to the animals.
“There have been issues in the past where we’ve let them keep an animal for too long,” she said. “Sometimes they don’t want to bring the animal back or formally adopt. In the end, the responsibility falls on us.”
Judy McCollough, animal technician for the Springdale Animal Shelter, said she has yet to see the same issue with foster volunteers in Springdale.
“We expect our fosters to keep the animals until they find a home,” she said. “Whenever we have one that’s sick, we have people foster them until they take all their medication or until the problem is resolved and they get adopted. We’ve only been doing this for about a year, but so far it’s worked out well.”
Rogers Animal Shelter Manager Bud Norman said he’s in the midst of setting up a foster program, though he has yet to decide on any official policies.
Fayetteville resident Meghan Gallo, who’s fostered both cats and dogs, has her own suggestions toward forming a foster policy.
“In my personal fostering experience, it can take months for an animal to be adopted, but it seems that it eventually does happen,” she said. “We just have to wait for the right family to come along. For many of these animals, all they need it time. I worry what will happen to them if that time is taken away.”
Gallo said foster volunteers help the shelter reach a greater pool of potential adopters and cut down on administrative costs of off-site adoption programs. In addition to expanding the shelter’s capacity at no cost to taxpayers, pet fosters increase the chance for adoption by providing animals with more socialization and attention than dogs kept in a shelter, she said.
"Imposing a time limitation on fostering that culminates in the animal’s return and possible immediate demise may alienate foster volunteers,” she said. “Many foster parents are against the idea of unequivocally agreeing to let their foster animal be killed if the shelter doesn’t have room for it when the two-week period is up, but are more than willing to let them stay in their home for an extended period of time.”
Though some may be opposed to the policy, others say a two-week time limit is better than no time at all.
University of Arkansas student Peyton Thompson has been fostering shelter cats for the past few months. She currently cares for three kittens, all less than 30 days old. Thompson said the shelter’s new policy doesn’t take away from the rewarding experience she gets from fostering a homeless pet.
"I grew up with pets my whole life and I’d been thinking about adopting a dog, but my apartment complex wouldn’t allow it,” she said. “Fostering is a good short-term solution and an easy way for people to get more involved if you don’t have the option to completely adopt an animal.”
Though she struggles from becoming attached to her foster animals, Thompson said she knows she’s prolonging their chances of finding a good home.
Fayetteville resident Jeffery West has more than a year of pet fostering experience under his belt. So far, he’s helped find homes for five dogs and one cat.
“In my opinion, almost every dog at the shelter has behavioral issues,” he said. “If your intent is to turn the animal into an adoptable pet, rather than a hyper, wild dog — which is why most dogs end up at shelters in the first place — then I think it takes at least six weeks for someone to do permanent good.”
West said his feelings are mixed about the new foster policy, but that he trusts the intentions of the animal shelter.
“It’s subject to interpretation, but I’m sure they put this policy into effect for a good reason,” he said. “They work with these animals on a regular basis and see what goes in and what goes out.”
For more information about pet adoption, volunteer opportunities or to make a donation, contact the animal shelter at 444-3456 or visit www.accessfayetteville.org/government/animal_services/index.cfm
By The Numbers
2009 Fayetteville Animal Shelter Statistics
Cat And Dog Intakes — 4,910
Adoptions — 1,699
Animals Reclaimed— 713
Animals Euthanized — 2,301
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