Differences Aside: Animal Welfare Groups Come Together for the Good of Animals
December 7, 2004
©2003 Hilary Schwab
A job worth doing is worth doing together.
That's the basic idea of a groundbreaking new document designed to
impact communities and animals around the country. The Asilomar
Accords symbolizes the end of suspicion and distrust between animal
care and control organizations and sets forth a new agenda--one of
collaboration.
These feelings of resentment began in, and continue to affect,
communities where shelters, rescue groups, animal control agencies
and other animal welfare organizations disagree on issues--such as
approach, operations and language--and fail to work together.
Much of the discord has boiled down to the difficult subject of
euthanasia. It is estimated that 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter
shelters every year, and 3 to 4 million are euthanized. While all
shelters are concerned that healthy and treatable animals are being
euthanized instead of being adopted, different shelters use different
approaches to deal with the problem.
Some shelters limit the type and number of animals they will take in,
reducing the need for euthanasia. Other shelters accept all animals,
regardless of temperament and age, but struggle with the reality that
there is not enough space and money to accommodate all of the animals
and, therefore, must euthanize.
The idea behind the Asilomar Accords is that, regardless of their
differences, organizations can reduce tension by creating alliances
that work toward resolving the animal homelessness issues in their
community. The accords set forth statements of common beliefs and
principles designed to encourage and facilitate development of these
alliances. The document gives communities a starting point for
forming their own local coalitionone that shares ideas, information
and objectives.
"We all have the same goal--to help animals--and we always have. But
in the past we focused on minor differences instead of focusing on
what we could accomplish if we worked together. Hopefully, the
Asilomar Accords will change that way of thinking," says Bob Rohde,
president of the Dumb Friends League, a non-profit shelter in Denver,
Colorado.
The vision for this revolutionary new document began to take shape in
November 2002 when a small group of animal welfare advocates came
together to discuss how they could encourage all animal-related
groups to put aside their differences and come together in a
collaborative spirit. During the initial meetings, participants came
to the realization that, although they had different approaches,
their objective was ultimately the same--to save the lives of all
healthy and treatable dogs and cats.
"The assembled groups hold a variety of viewpoints on how best to
help the animals, yet we all agreed that the most effective way to
save lives is to work together," says Richard Avanzino, president of
Maddie's Fund, a California-based animal welfare charity.
Almost two years after that initial meeting, in August 2004, the
Asilomar Accords were born. The group had expanded to include animal
welfare industry leaders from across the nation, and had convened at
the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California where
participants produced a series of statements of common beliefs and
principles to help bring animal welfare organizations together to
create coalitions within their communities.
"By pooling resources, brain power and energy, each community that
adopts the goals of the Asilomar Accords and agrees to work in a
strategic alliance will see their efforts reach more animals and save
more lives," says Martha Armstrong, senior vice president for
Domestic Animal Programs at The HSUS.
There is no magic formula for creating a coalition since every
community is different. Using the guidelines from the Asilomar
Accords, each coalition will decide how they will advance their goals
based on their community's individual needs and resources. But the
first step is to sit down at the table with representatives from each
of the community's animal welfare organizations in the spirit of
collaboration and with a desire to reach the same goalsaving the
lives of all healthy and treatable dogs and cats.
If the Asilomar Accords can help inspire communities to do that, the
long journey to end animal homelessness and neglect will become a
much closer, and more realistic, goal.
Copyright © 2004 The Humane Society of the United States. All rights
reserved.
Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Dec. 11, 2004