I heard from a dear friend Marsha this morning. Marsha, her husband Stephen and her “new guy” Monk have been busy in NYC.
I had to share with you the accomplishments of Marsha's shelter work through Wally's World. This past week was “Wally's Week” in NYC. In co-operation with the NY ASPCA they have drawn attention to and given incentive to potential adopters to get dogs homes.
Here is a link to the article in the New York Post.
According to Marsha, she and Stephen hooked up with the Mayor's Alliance for NY Animals and gave out 200 adoption bags to the ASPCA, Animal Care and Control, Bideawee and Animal Haven – all shelters that are either no-kill or have that goal. Sponsors for the adoption bags included PetValu stores and Wellness/Old Mother Hubbard foods and treats.
Marsha thinks what they have done so far in NY is fantastic. They have low-cost spay-neuter vans, feral cat programs to trap spay and release, socialization programs for shelter dogs etc. She is quite impressed.
In educating the people of NYC about the in's and out's of the situation here in Ontario, it woke them up. Now the ASPCA nationally wants to partner with Marsha and take Wally's Weeks to their strategic cities – starting with Tampa on Nov. 15.
Marsha described the tour of the facility:
The tour of the ASPCA facility was worth the price of admission. What a joint. No animal smell at all. Well-lit, pens for animals to socialize, great vet unit, just amazing. They are no-kill and take animals whose time is up from the government-run Animal Care and Control. All of the shelters affiliated with the Mayor's Allicance work with rescue groups and it seems much less “competitive” than I think it was before. One reason is that Maddie's Fund has kicked in $27 million to help New York City achieve the no-kill goal - nothing like a whack of dough to start people playing nicely. The thing is that it works. The majority of the dogs available for adoption at the ASPCA were “pit bulls” – and all of them were destined to find a good home. It broke my heart to know that in Ontario those same dogs would have been summarily killed unless they were smuggled out of the province.
