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432 of 496 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Redemption Ignores The Biggest Issue, May 13, 2008
A no-kill shelter was recently built on 13 wooded acres outside a city near me. The facility has space for 250 animals. A huge budget. Slick marketing. A partnership with a major pet food manufacturer. A variety of innovative programs. 1300 volunteers, 130 foster families and thousands of extremely generous supporters. Last year, 2100 of their animals found new homes. It's the kind of operation Nathan Winograd would call a no-kill success story. And yet the organization admits they cannot accommodate the more than 300 requests they receive weekly from people trying to relinquish their pets to them.
Within 15 miles of this beautiful facility are 2 open admission shelters that have to euthanize for space. They have implemented most if not all of the programs Mr. Winograd claims is necessary to achieve no-kill status. But, unlike their no-kill neighbor up the road, these shelters do not turn any animals away. Last year, they took in 21,000 animals! Anyone out there willing to build, staff, operate and fund a no-kill shelter for 21,000 animals?
Which brings me to what I found most irritating about Redemption. Nathan Winograd never discusses what I believe is the biggest issue separating the two kinds of shelters- what to do with the staggering number of animals no-kill shelters turn away. He only briefly mentions the necessity of no-kill shelters to "occasionally" limit incoming animals. Where I live, however, no-kill shelters only occasionally accept animals! In fact, I don't know anyone who has been successful getting a stray or their own animal into a no-kill shelter. My point is this: EVERY NO-KILL SHELTER IN THE COUNTRY HAS TO FIRST ACCEPT EVERY ANIMAL BROUGHT TO ITS FACILITY BEFORE WE CAN HAVE ANY HOPE OF ACHIEVING A TRUE NO-KILL NATION.
They shouldn't be setting standards for open admission shelters when their very way of operating directly contributes to these shelters having to euthanize for space.
The author crows about his success leading an open admission no-kill in a sparsely populated rural part of New York. Note that, last year, Tompkins County SPCA took in less than 3000 animals. His urban success story - the San Francisco SPCA- did not even take animals from the public if I correctly understand their relationship with the SF Animal Care and Control. Last year, the San Francisco SPCA took in less than 4000 animals. When Nathan Winograd can take over an open admission shelter accepting 21,000 animals annually and still make it no-kill, then and only then will I be impressed enough to jump on the Redemption bandwagon.
I also did not like that Redemption is full of inflammatory, anonymous and dated remarks that cannot be verified easily because the author does not include footnotes and references you usually see in a piece of nonfiction. Fact checking is limited to a 12 page bibliography.
It is a myth that we can somehow save every homeless or unwanted animal without having to first address the disparity between no-kill and 'kill' shelter admission policies and intake numbers. Redemption only gives one side of the story and, unfortunately, the author is promoting it as the whole & balanced picture it isn't. I'm just a little surprised that readers are swallowing his half-truths with such gusto. Dig a little deeper, animal lovers! You can start by asking you favorite no-kill shelter how many animals they turned away this week.
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32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You have to read this book, September 29, 2007
Winograd is passionate, articulate and astute as he describes the total failure of our country's humane agencies to protect animals. However, "Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America" is so much more than a tell-all critique from someone who has worked inside the "humane" industry. It is also a road map to a new, more humane world. At once gripping and infuriating, "Redemption" takes the reader on a real life roller coaster ride as it traces the history of the animal welfare movement in America - a movement that was born of compassion, and then lost its way. Why do our country's wealthiest animal shelters continue to amass millions of dollars in reserves, while -at the same time - failing to implement programs that are proven to end the unnecessary killing of pets in their very own shelters? You will need to read this book to find out. Warning: you will not be able to put it down once you start reading.
Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Kill is inevitable. Read this book and get on the bus., May 13, 2010
This review is from: Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America (Paperback)
What do I say about a book that completely changed my entire way of thinking about animal sheltering? So many things that we have all been taught for decades is completely wrong and it is shocking to discover this. We have been allowing the deaths of millions of animals every year, not knowing that there are alternatives that would save them. I read this book on a flight to and from Minnesota. I spent most of the flight with my mouth hanging open in utter amazement.... amazement that someone figured out how to stop killing all healthy and treatable pets in animal shelters 15 YEARS ago yet US shelters are still killing millions every year; amazement that I, as an animal lover and rescuer, didn't know anything about it; amazement that all the programs and services that save lives are SO common sense that it is absurd that every shelter isn't doing them; and amazement that the largest, wealthiest animal "welfare" organizations have been fighting against these life saving methods and fighting against everything I believe in. I had been donating monthly to 2 of these organizations but immediately stopped as soon as I got off the plane. I encourage everyone to read this book. I've read it several times now and everytime I do, I see again that everything Winograd writes is absolutely true. Now that I'm trying to bring these life saving methods to Houston's 5 kill shelters, unfortunately I see everything he talks about over and over and over... I see shelter directors that fight these life saving methods. I see bureaucrats who say they are working towards No Kill but refuse to follow the model that actually works, so they keep trying the same failed catch and kill methods. It is disgusting and disturbing to find out what is really going on in America's shelters and at the largest animal welfare organizations. But, now that we know, it is equally as inspiring to know that many compassionate people are working hard to change the landscape. After reading this book, I am no longer satisified to be just the "foster mom" and weekend volunteer, who saves as many as I can and cries about those that I can't bring home. I am now determined to spread this life saving message to everyone in Houston. No Kill is inevitable. Everyone needs to read this book and get on the bus.
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