Every time I’ve visited or volunteered at one of my favorite shelters/rescues, I leave feeling sorry for the dogs, sitting in their cold concrete runs behind steel bars. Looking at you, waiting to be taken out for a walk or to be patted. Dogs and cats kept in cages, barking and whining to get your attention and a little affection.
If you have ever visited a shelter or kennel facility you know what I mean. I have seen some ugly stuff and heard some ugly stories, but it always touches me; even I pretend to be tough. Most of the visits are heartbreaking. Visits to L.A. shelters are even worse knowing that most of these dogs and cats will get killed if they’re not adopted. I remember my first visit exactly, when one of the volunteer staff said: “After a few months, you get used to it.” I never got used to it.
Thomas Cole reached out to us a couple of weeks ago and wanted to share his new and innovative model of a communal open living area for dogs and cats. A new adoption center concept – no cages, no isolated cats and dogs, no runs, no stressed dogs and cats. Sounds great, right? That’s what every animal lover wants to see. A peaceful environment where dogs and cats live together until they get adopted. When we heard about this new model and visited the shelter revolution’s website, my grandparents’ farm came to mind. We wanted to learn more about it.
We had the great pleasure of talking to Thomas Cole of Shelter Revolution, an expert, an animal advocate, a person who is dedicated to educating and changing the current sheltering model of homeless pets in the U.S. We talked about the pros and cons, we learned how shelters operate and how easy it is to implement this new innovative model.
Shelter Revolution by PackPeople NEW: We’ve made it even easier to listen to our audio interviews! This audio is 31.16 minutes of highly interesting and educational content. Use the little flags in the blue bar in the SoundCloud Player to navigate through the questions and content. Get this interview as a Podcast here.
About the interviewee: ” I’m not trying to “reform” our nation’s animal shelters. I leave that to others. I believe a whole new model, a paradigm shift, is needed. Where laws and reform efforts focus on the bad guys, my Adoption Center model will appeal to the good guys. This new model will make far more impact than any laws ever can.”
Thomas Cole is the Executive Director at Shelter Revolution and a Dog Rehabilitation Specialist at Dr Doolittle’s Safe Haven. He ran a large shelter & sanctuary with animal control contract and worked with farm, domestic and wild animals. As a visionary he is working hard to improve the animal shelter industry. Introducing new Adoption Center model to replace antiquated and failed shelter models. He is also dedicated to bring rescue groups and shelter togethers to end shelter killing through the rehabilitation of sheltered animals with behavior issues.
Thomas’s recommendations:
Websites:
• Cat House On The Kings (California)
• Spirit Animal Sanctuary (New York)
• Olympic Animal Sanctuary (Washington)
Shelter Revolution Videos:
• Our Adoption Center model
• Shelters as prisons
• Progress? Where are we today?
• “Boutique” shelters
• “Big Four” Video
• Austin’s “State of The Art” $12mm prison facility
Shelter Revolution
Web: http://www.shelterrevolution.org
Facebook: Shelter Revolution
Thomas Cole’s Blog: http://www.arc-na.org
Spreading the word can help save lives! If you liked the interview please share it with your community or feel free to leave a comment. Thank you for making an impact!
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