The “Asilomar Accords” — sounds like a peace treaty, doesn’t it? In a way, it is. In 2004, a group of people from various national and very large humane societies met for the purposed of “building bridges across varying philosophies, developing relationships and creating goals focused on significantly reducing the euthanasia of healthy and treatable companion animals in the United States.” As stated in these Accords, it’s a common vision of the future.

Nowhere in the 14 pages of the Accords does it mention no-kill, high-kill or low-kill shelters or their definitions. We can only guess the reason, but I think it’s because one of the purposes of the Accords is to stop putting labels on organizations and to work together to achieve success.

The Accords weren’t as successful as these organizations hoped they would be. One person said that some organizations had to redefine some of the goals and purposes to fit their organization.

When you change it to fit, it’s not the same. But I see why they did it. And, while it could work, as written, for what I call the “mega-shelters,” rarely would it work for smaller shelters. Small shelters don’t have the financial resources to provide the same amount of care that large shelters have.

ARF is trying to work toward some of the goals put forth by the Asilomar Accords.

ARF has changed and grown in its philosophy. ARF is a humane society and we have a shelter. One of our purposes is to take in and find homes for unwanted animals. How do we measure our success? Is it by the number of animals we take in? Or the number of animals that have been adopted? There are many variations for statistics.

ARF was at Deep Roots Festival, and it was financially successful for us. We had people coming to see us, and we were very busy. We talked with a lot of people. One couple told me that ARF has made a difference because there aren’t as many stray animals around as there used to be. That’s education and our strict adoption policies at work.

Spaying and neutering and keeping your pet at home and not letting them roam are good things. Those are key elements to success. It’s a win-win for everyone — happy animals make for happy pet owners. But the win must be for the animals. It’s for them we do what we do.

All of our animals we place for adoption are spayed and neutered. Not one animal leaves our shelter that is not fixed. To us, that would be unthinkable and irresponsible on our part. Technically, yes, we could let an animal go without it being spayed or neutered, but then we’d be responsible for insuring the surgery is done at the appropriate time according to Georgia Law.

We already know, from our past that no matter how well-meaning a person, is that timeframe to spay or neuter goes past. We have great veterinary clinics that work with us and believe in early spay and neuter so there is no reason why we would ever let any animal leave our shelter unaltered.

Back to the Festival. I heard someone walking past describe ARF as kind of like the pound. No, we’re nothing like the pound. Actually, even Animal Control has a shelter. Pound is one of those derogatory words that make you think of a dirty place with sick animals. Baldwin County Animal Control Shelter is clean and rarely has sick animals.

ARF has a great shelter. I invite anyone to come for a tour. Just say you’re taking me up on visiting the shelter for a tour. You can come in any time we are open.

Back to the Asilomar Accords. It says that we should respect the organizations that are different from us. We should not speak negatively about other organizations.

We hear positive and negative opinions about many organizations, including ARF. One of my first questions is: have you ever been there? Most times, when it’s a negative comment, the person has not visited or even talked with anyone at that organization. It’s just something they heard — and that’s unfair.

Being part of a humane society or animal control is difficult. No one is perfect. All we can do is be true to ourselves and the organization we serve. We should do what is in the best interest of the animals, the organization and the community.

ARF wants to partner with other organizations that can help accomplish the goal of finding good homes for the animals. We know there are other organizations that feel the same way.