One Woman Animal Advocate Army in Kirby, TX

Photo Credit KSAT

Christie Banduch is the sole employee at the animal shelter in Kirby, TX.  Since she was hired a year ago, she has been virtually singlehandedly responsible for the180 degree turnaround in saving these animals lives. Prior to Christie's arrival the live release rate was a heartbreaking 4% and under Christie's tenure it's at 83%!

How does Christie do it? She's not only the sole animal control officer, she does EVERY JOB at that shelter because she is the only employee. This shelter is open admission and it also takes owner surrenders. The average intake is 100 dogs and cats each month, which is a LOT for one person to handle. But she is doing it!

This gal could dig up the same worn out excuses that shelter directors and board members have been using for decades, but she doesn't. She's obviously in it FOR THE ANIMALS.

She is living proof that NO KILL works! And yes, she CHANGED it overnight. By not settling for anything less, she is saving many lives. And isn't that what this is all about?

If just one person made this much difference in only the time it took her to come onboard and get to work, just think what an ARMY of Volunteers could do working together FOR THE ANIMALS! Read all about Christie here.  (And she's even got a very informative website here....an ARMY of ONE was all it took!)

And did I mention they do mobile adoption events EVERY Saturday? YES!!!

Thank you Christie Banduch for caring enough for these animals to find the better (and the ONLY) way!  The city of Kirby is hoping to hire a full-time technician for Christie next year. For now, she can always use more volunteers. (210) 661-8515 (You'll have to leave a message because there are no employees to answer the phone, but Christie WILL call you back!)  :)

The SERVICES and PROGRAMS this shelter provides:

Pet Adoption
Stray Animal Pick-up
Low-Cost Dog Training
Foster Care Program
Animal Cruelty Investigations
Humane Education Programs
Volunteer Program
Low-Cost Pet Vaccinations
SNAP Mobile Spay / Neuter

So, animal advocates of Gregg County, Texas......what are we waiting for? NO MORE EXCUSES! Let's do this FOR THE ANIMALS!

CITY COUNCIL MEETING - JULY 26 - MAKE A STAND FOR THE ANIMALS!

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER 

Advocates, volunteers, fosters, rescues....anyone who works with or advocates for the animals of Longview TX shelter.....ANYONE who wants the insane amount of killing to stop!

BE AT THE LONGVIEW CITY COUNCIL MEETING THURSDAY JULY 26th AND MAKE A STAND FOR THESE ANIMALS!

MEETING BEGINS AT 5:30 PM AT 300 COTTON ST IN LONGVIEW. PLEASE DON'T BE LATE AS DOORS WILL CLOSE PROMPTLY AT 5:30 PM.

 IF YOU'D LIKE, MEET AT THE LONGVIEW PUBLIC LIBRARY NOT LATER THAN 5:10 PM AND WALK OVER WITH THE GROUP AS A SHOW OF NUMBERS!

There are SO MANY of you that live there that are sick of the killing, but please know YOU ARE NOT ALONE! You people have the power to change things for the animals. You can work together to educate the public and show them how it's done, how they can also help the animals!

Voters are powerful people! Let city council know enough is enough......these archaic outdated methods of animal control are shameful! 

And be armed with knowledge.....

1.  The Longview shelter is a privately owned business since 1972. (40 years doing it and it still isn't working.....time for a change!!!)

 

 

2.   The Longview shelter is called the Humane Society of North East Texas, but it IS NOT a part of the National Humane Society. Many shelters just use that terminology in their name, but this shelter abides by their own rules.

 

 

3.  The shelter building is also privately owned, which is NOT a good thing for the animals. It gives way too much control to the shelter board and shelter director. For instance, even though the shelter operates primarily on taxpayer funds...since the building is privately owned...the shelter management could decide to block volunteers or even the public from coming in to take pictures of the URGENT animals.

 

 

4.   Apparently, the shelter director, Cathy Sells, resigned from her position a week ago. We don't know if she is still "working" at the shelter or gave a notice or what...but someone is still giving the KILL ORDERS. :(

 

 

5.  Please read the Longview city council minutes of last Aug 2011, there is a lot of information regarding the shelter contract with the city of Longview (including contractural figures) for anyone who is interested in changing things for the animals. It's all publicly available online at this link: http://administration.longviewtexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/city-gov/minutes-2011/8-25-11%20RS%20Minutes.pdf  pay particular attention to pages 2, 3, 5 and 6

 

 

6.  In the past two weeks despite apparently greater increases in intakes, the shelter instilled these policy changes we are aware of: no more long term fosters, no more free adoptions to military personnel, they raised the adoption fee of cats from $50 to $75........all this just makes it all the more difficult to get an animal out of that shelter alive.

 

 

7.  The shelter itself admits there is only a 30% chance of an animal getting out alive. The odds are heavily against the animal. 700 to 800 perfectly healthy animals are KILLED in Longview every month! (They aren't "sleeping"......THEY ARE DEAD!)

8.  The shelter's one-year contract with the city of Longview is coming up for renewal very very shortly! It is important that advocates keep the ball rolling FOR THE ANIMALS!

Since the meeting nearly a year ago, there has been some activity with those working to push a NO KILL, but those folks need YOU! Those ANIMALS NEED YOU! Don't let another year pass, don't let another month pass (that's 700 more animals killed per month and MORE)....make the change NOW!

 

 

9. PLEASE get yourself educated about what NO KILL is really about. I had to educate myself on NO KILL. For example, NO KILL is NOT 100% survival. But it IS 90% or more survival. Here's Nathan Winograd's definition of NO KILL.

And NO KILL is being done in communities with OPEN ADMISSIONS (like Longview)....So don't let shelter reps pull that old falsehood on you!

 

 

10.  The current contract with the city of Longview was for $162,500 per year PLUS the shelter receives free water, sewer and trash collection which adds considerable more value to the contract. Add to this the other communities served by the shelter....those individual cities pay their own $ to the shelter management. Finally, add to this the $ recieved by the shelter in adoption fees, donations of monies and supplies...it all adds up.

Did you know IT IS CHEAPER TO GO NO KILL THAN IT IS TO CONTINUE TO KILL? (Yes, a fact and yet the shelters continue their needless killings). :(

For all the current volunteers of the shelter in Longview and the EMPLOYEES of that shelter....we are NOT pointing fingers at ANYONE except for the MANAGEMENT of that shelter. Let this be your guide.

But no matter how new or shiny or large a shelter is, if the management doesn't accept the NO KILL equation, those poor animals will continue to suffer daily. And it will be OUR FAULT for allowing it to happen!

 

 

WE should all be on the ANIMALS SIDE.....THERE IS NO OTHER!

Good Luck at the meeting. Stand strong FOR THE ANIMALS! Remember these faces and names.....these are a tiny tiny fraction of the healthy adoptable animals KILLED at Longview in the past month. Just a very tiny portion...... :(  

DO IT FOR THEM! DO IT IN MEMORY OF A BELOVED ANIMAL! JUST PLEASE DO IT!

TAG TEAM ADVOCACY - It Works!

Since I began posting animals to Pet Pardons.....I have "met" online some of the absolute sweetest, kindest, most passionate people in the world. These people would give you one of their own kidneys I think...or at least they'd give one to their dog or cat if needed. These persons are literally bursting with the kind of passion that is needed in this world.

The DANGER though in this very passionate "business" of saving animals lives...is burnout. And it's very, very real. The emotional highs and lows daily, even hourly can wreck havoc upon the most stable of temperments.

Prevent burnout by teaming up with a pair of like minded advocates. Form a tag team. When one team member is beat up emotionally and can't continue on, another advocate refreshed from a different time zone perhaps can jump right in and take your place.

Go rest while you can, because we need YOU in this fight. The killing shelters are operating and slaughtering thousands of animals.....so it's imperative we WORK TOGETHER FOR THE ANIMALS!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These 4 innocent animals were among those I posted last week to Pet Pardons from the Longview TX "shelter".....I found out today these four didn't make it out of that hell hole. Don't really know how long they've been dead because the shelter is very secretive about how they kill, when they kill. In all honesty, they were probably dead by Saturday evening. :( You see, the "shelter" is closed on Sunday and Monday and the animals photos are not updated daily on the Facebook page run by the volunteers. 

All 4 perfectly healthy, adoptable animals KILLED FOR SPACE!!!  Shame on the old school board of directors and owners of that privately-owned shelter for refusing to throw out the archaic methods...Karma IS A BITCH!!! Remember that!

RIP DOLLAR

RIP DELL

RIP MOCHA

RIP YEARN