This current fiasco with the Town of Cochrane and the Cochrane & Area Human Society is enough to make a mother dog bite her pups.

Who wants to take credit for this dubiously brilliant but badly thought out administrative brainchild?

How much money was raised last year in taxes (license fees) for dogs? Where now is the money going from the sale of dog licenses? And make no mistake, a license is another term for tax.

When something is working (very well, I might add), why is there a need to do anything? Make change? Is it a strategy to ‘make work’ for an overstaffed administration?

Are Cochrane residents so complacent that town staff believe they can make these kind of changes with no consequences? Are any members of council prepared to make amends?

According to a report in The Eagle “Municipal enforcement was advised to separate out the town services and put, as per legal requirement the kenneling out to bid.”

If that is the case then, all town services should receive the same care and attention. That includes fire, ambulance, garbage and bylaw enforcement.

In animal care circles, Cochrane’s provision of humane care for animals has received high acclaim and has been a model for other municipalities in Canada. Stop the presses. This is no longer the case. Cochrane’s priorities have changed, instead of animal welfare we are now primarily concerned with saving taxpayer’s dollars. For shame, for shame.

If saving taxpayers money is the object of this exercise, then someone should step up and recommend a drastic cut in town administration staff.

Nora Schmidt

Let’s start off by stating our strong bias in support of the Cochrane and Area Humane Society (CAHS).

We know from experience that they do a tremendous job, and are totally responsible to their clients, both of the animal and human kingdoms.

We speak from experience. As residents of northwest Calgary, we find the CAHS more accessible than the Calgary Humane Society, which we had dealt with for many years.

A number of years ago when the Calgary Humane Society relocated, we needed a feline or two. We turned to the CAHS and were totally impressed — you could say blown away — by their professionalism, experience, kindness and deep concern not only their animals, but for the homes they were going to.

Our favourite cat ‘CC’ (Cochrane Cat), who is sitting on the computer as we send this, makes our days joyful.

However, our admiration for the CAHS was tremendously enhanced a couple of years ago when we decided our two American Eskimo dogs — which we had had since puppies — were too much for old folks like us. We were faced with a conscience-twisting dilemma of finding a good new home for one of them.

We talked to the folks at the CAHS and through their earnest endeavours found a top notch new owner, who we are sure to this day enjoys the one she has, as much as we enjoy with the one that remains with us.

To us that was performance well above and beyond the norm.

In closing, we can tell you that we have made charitable contributions to the CAHS and there is little doubt that we would not even consider making donations to a city or town owned facility, supposedly charged with the same responsibilities as a humane society.

We are sure that there are many others in northwest Calgary who deal with the humane facility in Cochrane because of its ease of access. We make this comment as residents of Calgary with the consideration that it is almost a bedroom community in reverse for animals.

Jerry and Jan Joynt,

Calgary

We are writing in response to news of the Town of Cochrane taking over the responsibility of looking after stray animals. How does this make sense?

We don’t understand, when everything is going up — taxes included — why the town is cutting its funding of such a successful operation and taking over a part of it.

The Cochrane & Area Humane Society has been running successfully for many years. Why fix something that isn’t broke?

We think this is a big mistake on the Town of Cochrane part. Hopefully council will review their decision and leave the Cochrane & Area Humane Society to do what they have obviously been doing very well for years.

Come on Cochrane speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, and let the town officials know that we are not happy with this decision.

Joan and Mark Chalaturnyk and Ruby Relf

With the upcoming vote for the PC candidate for the Cochrane/Banff riding I would like to put my support firmly behind Rob Seeley.

Rob has an understanding of the political system with his work as Janis Tarchuk’s director for the past nine years. More importantly, though, is Rob’s connection to the community. His volunteer contributions are too extensive to list here, but were recognized in 2005 when he received the Alberta Centennial Medal for outstanding service to the people and province of Alberta. When choosing a candidate it is my belief we need someone with life experience. Rob knows the hard work, long hours, and drive it takes to run a small business and how to persevere through the ups and downs.

If you are looking for someone with integrity, passion, experience and sincerity please consider voting for Rob Seeley on Jan. 28.

Jeff Toews,

councillor

Town of Cochrane

The Cochrane and Area Humane Society (CAHS) has been receiving many calls and has had people attending the shelter to express concerns about what will be happening to animals found as strays in Cochrane as a result of the Town of Cochrane discontinuing its service agreement with CAHS.

Animal welfare is an important issue and we want to ensure residents have accurate information about what is happening.

Cochrane and Area Humane Society is an open-door facility. Annually, we welcome more than 1,000 homeless dogs and cats into our facility. We believe that all pets deserve a chance at a new life — where they come from should not impact whether or not they get rescued.

Of the animals entering our facility, 28 per cent are from Cochrane, 23 per cent are from Morley and the remainder are from the surrounding areas. We are very proud of our animal placement success rate of 90 per-cent-plus and we do not know any other open door shelter in North America that can claim the same.

Our animals receive medical care, tons of TLC, behaviour rehabilitation, training and exercise and can spend months in our care until they find that perfect home.

We are able to provide world class animal welfare advocacy thanks to our donors, volunteers and well-trained employees including our licensed veterinarian, animal health technician, certified dog trainers, licensed groomer and behavior staff. To attract and retain our dedicated employees, we are committed to paying competitively within the industry. Our compensation practices are based on independent salary survey data for the market sector and professional practices are applied to establish the rates paid.

Cochrane and Area Humane Society has had a strong and positive working relationship with the Town of Cochrane Animal Control for almost 14 years. We provided bylaw support/animal sheltering services, which included allowing officers access to our facility 24/7, having kennel space reserved for them at all times and re-homing unclaimed pets.

Our facility allows us to quarantine animals upon entry and we were able to provide medical consultation as needed.

The town has provided a grant to CAHS in recognition of the programs we provide to the community, such as humane education and pet safekeeping as well as for the bylaw support services we provided to the town. From 2008-2011, this grant amount remained static at $70,000 annually.

In September 2011, town funding processes changed and we were asked to separate the community programs and bylaw support services funding requests. We applied for a grant to support our programs and are very grateful for the $20,000 we will receive, which will go towards humane education, pet safekeeping and animal behavior services.

The town requested CAHS present them with a contract for bylaw support/animal sheltering services. At our cost we worked with our lawyer to create a legal document reflecting the real costs for caring for town animals. The amount was based on four years of animal statistics. We were also advised that the town would be changing their process and animals would be surrendered after three days versus the traditional 10 day period. Cochrane and Area Humane Society factored this additional cost into the proposal amount when the contract was presented to the town in October.

On a historical annual average basis, CAHS provided shelter, care and re-homing support for 77 dogs and 60 cats on behalf of the Town of Cochrane Bylaw Services, of which 57 per cent of cats and 11 per cent of dogs required re-homing. It took from 16 days to several months for these animals to find new homes. The funds we requested in the contract were based on these statistics and included guaranteed space, 24 hour access for bylaw officers and forecasted costs for the animals from entry to exit.

As a non-profit organization, CAHS could not financially or ethically present a contract to the town that would result in financial loss and increased pressure on our donors to pay costs for bylaw support that traditionally were the responsibility of the town.

We therefore requested $60,000 for bylaw support services in 2012 which was declined. We re-submitted our proposal in December during the town’s formal RFP process and were advised that the contract had been awarded to another service provider effective Jan. 1, 2012. At this time we do not know who the other service provider is, only that the animals in Cochrane are being temporarily housed in the firehall.

Cochrane and Area Humane Society is certainly disappointed in the outcome but respects the town’s decision. At this time we are concerned about the stray animals being cared for in facilities that appear to not be designed to provide transitional housing and that there may not be access to onsite professional medical care or behaviour support by persons certified in animal welfare practices. These are services that CAHS has a proven track record of providing in our great community for the past 14 years and provisions which we would have expected were included as requirements for the successful RFP recipient to provide.

This is an unfortunate situation which has politicized and commoditized the care and welfare of stray animals in our community. Cochrane and Area Humane Society has met with the mayor’s office to ensure he has a complete understanding of our position. We are hopeful this will help to ensure the best interest of the animals is at the forefront of any future decisions.

Thank you, Cochrane and area residents, for your continued support of CAHS and the animals we are so fortunate to advocate for.

Colin Merrick,

board chair

Cochrane and Area Humane Society

I am so disappointed to hear of the decision to transfer care of lost and stray animals from the CAHS to the protective services.

The CAHS are trained, well equiped and well staffed to handle and care for these animals properly. There is no way that the town will be able to provide the care these animals need and deserve. They require quarantine to protect them and other animals, along with behaviour assessments to help and understand their reactions and also constant care and attention. With all protective services do for us and our community this is not something that should be placed on their shoulders.

A lost or stray pet is not a disposable commodity whose care should be auctioned to the lowest bidder.

I love my dogs, as do so many of us and this is a HUGE step backwards from the care and respect that they deserve. I whole heartedly hope that the town council will listen to the outpouring of discontent to this situation and make the right decision.

Leslie Fehr

Thank you, Jack Tennant, for bringing these honest facts to our attention with regards to the Town of Cochrane discontinuing utilizing the services and payment for such to the Cochrane & Area Humane Society.

I have been a volunteer at this Humane Society for over 10 years. The CAHS has dealt with lost and found pets since its inception in 1998.

They are equipped with the necessary medical facility and professional staff to meet all the requirements. I would suggest that the people of Cochrane, who pay taxes to the town, should demand answers from the Town of Cochrane as to why they have decided to discontinue this very satisfactory service and what is going to happen to the animals ending up at Animal Services.

For example, where do the animals go after the 3 day holding period; do they receive the required medical attention if they are found injured or sick; are they vaccinated, dewormed, tattooed and then found suitable homes from the “privately owned kennel”; are the potential adopters screened?

How long are these scared, innocent animals given before being euthanized?

With this new line of direction, the lost animals will suffer, and many animals will be condemned to possible premature euthanasia.

At the CAHS, they are given a good chance of finding excellent homes. It just doesn’t make sense for the animals to go into a temporary holding facility (fire hall), then into a “privately owned kennel”. What will this cost be? Who is going to care for the animals at the fire hall?

None of this new proposal makes sense!! It is the most logical thing that the CAHS deal with these situations as they always have dealt with in a compassionate and professional way.

The staff and volunteers at the CAHS are the most caring, dedicated people and their priorities have always been the animals.

The Town of Cochrane should be proud of the CAHS, and should appreciate that it draws a lot of people from Calgary to the town.

Let us get back to basics and support this very positive, caring, necessary, non-profit organization that has saved thousands of innocent animals’ lives.

The most important thing here is the well-being of the animals!

Whose “brainwave” was this anyway?

Thank you,

Eileen Easton

As a long time volunteer, supporter, and former president of the Cochrane and Area Humane Society, I was surprised to hear of the town’s decision to end their partnership with them.

My surprise turned to disgust upon learning that the town took this action without having made proper arrangements to take over the care of these animals. It’s no wonder that the town refused the Eagle access to the fire station where the animals are being kept — it’s clearly an unsuitable location and the town is doing whatever it can to conceal this from the public.

It’s hard for me to comprehend the utter lack of foresight shown by the town administration in creating such a fiasco. Some may view the town’s actions as no more than bureaucratic bungling, but the animals are the ones paying the price — maybe your own lost pet.

Now that council is aware of their administration’s conduct, it’s up to them to act. I hope that the mayor and council will exhibit the leadership needed to set matters right.

To the staff and volunteers at the humane society, hold your heads up high, and don’t let the town’s shameful conduct diminish your enthusiasm.

Brian Younger

Shame on you Town of Cochrane.

In regards to article “Town no longer taking strays to Cochrane and Area Humane Society,” why is it Laurie Drukier cannot confirm why this decision was made by the town, nor could this person confirm a no-kill policy?

Hey people of Cochrane who own and love their pets that just may get lost or misplaced — think about it. Your beloved animal may now just have three days to live if it ends up in the hands of the Town of Cochrane Animal Services. Please, for the sake of these innocent creatures, stand up and make a real loud noise about this and show your support for our local humane society.

Thank you, Jack Tennant, for your informative editorial “Town barking up wrong tree” and I hope to see more honesty made public as to the politics, game playing, greed and power tripping that is going on behind the green door.

The Town of Cochrane should be proud and totally supportive of our local humane society which has saved thousands of lives and provided care above and beyond the call of duty for each and every homeless and/or lost animal entering its doors.

I suggest the town also check the stats of the number of people from Calgary and outlying areas who visit Cochrane as a result of making the drive to check out the deserving Cochrane and Area Humane Society and its many guests waiting for forever homes. Duh! These are “visitors” that are talked about so often that the town and Cochrane Tourism are always trying to entice in other ways.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” — Gandhi.

I would recommend the Town of Cochrane, its mayor and council, animal services and Drukier have a good, hard look at their decision to put our blameless pets at risk. Is this the reputation you desire for Cochrane?

Gloria Wilson,

former employee and current Volunteer for CAHS

I fail to see the Town of Cochrane’s logic in not continuing to use what is a first class shelter (Cochrane and Area Humane Society) for stray animals caught within the town, which has certainly expanded in size and spread in the last few years.

To cut their budget from $50,000 to $20,000 is absolutely ludicrous. To refuse to allow the temporary shelter at Cochrane Protective Services to be photographed feels shady and underhanded, and certainly leaves a feeling it pales in comparison to our wonderful CAHS.

With a 90-95 per cent success rate of reunions and adoptions, why? Why would we, the townspeople, the pet owners, not want our animals to be able to have the chance to be housed at CAHS in the event they escape? What kind of facilities have been scraped together for these poor animals, who only have three days before they are shipped off to a yet unnamed shelter, which may or may not have a no kill policy?

Were taxpayers complaining about the services or the cost? If so, how many? Let’s have some transparency about why the sudden request for proposals.

I don’t care whether or not the town had anything formally in place or not. The CAHS did a fabulous job running out of a terrible, cramped, falling apart building. I know, because our family used their services and were very impressed with their level of compassion and caring, not only for the animals but for the people either adopting or surrendering them, professionalism and sheer determination to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Now they have a fantastic facility that can actually adequately house all the strays and runaways, not to mention care for their health like never before.

This is not about money, Mr. Mayor and council. This is about what’s right.

Shona Paterson