An available cat lounges on a cat tree in condo-style housing at Animal Ark. Providing a home-like environment puts available pets and prospective adopters at ease, and can actually be less expensive that the traditional steel cages. No Kill communities are committed to innovations that make life better for pets and people while watching the bottom line (which includes both lives and money saved).

In a No Kill community, the shelter is a temporary way station on a dog’s quest for a new life. Here Crosby, an American Shelter Dog (otherwise known as a pit bull-type dog) gets a treat before heading out to join a play group.

In No Kill communities, tiny kittens receive loving care.

Don’t miss your chance to learn about what No Kill communities are, the history of the movement, and how you can help to create one this Thursday August 21 at 7pm at Midtown Art Cinema in Atlanta.  This is a HUGE deal.  It is the Atlanta premiere, the only screening in Georgia this year (there is a possibility that it will be in a Georgia film festival within the next year–I don’t know), and the $5 ticket cost includes a presentation by the filmmaker, author, and No Kill leader Nathan Winograd.  First 100 people in the door get a copy of the companion book too.  It is well worth the effort to get there.  If you have any of Nathan’s other books, bring them along to be signed.

The film will not be out on DVD until after the film festivals–sometime in July 2015, I believe.

Not anywhere near Atlanta this Thursday?  Other screenings listed here.

I got the idea for this because I was so struck by the difference in attitude and atmosphere at shelters in No Kill communities vs. ones which still kill as a means of controlling the animal population (and a means of exerting psychological control  over rescuers and volunteers.)  At every shelter I have ever visited in a No Kill community, I was welcomed and invited to photograph whatever I wanted to, whereas at places that kill,  I have experienced hostility in some form or other, sometimes very overt, and sometimes even before I even got in the door or said a word.  I’d also like to show people what No Kill communities really look like.  They are positive places where the lives of all lost and homeless pets are valued–truly valued, and where the contributions of shelter staff, volunteers and rescuers and community members, are also valued.  They are places where people are treated like human beings, and that makes a huge difference.  No Kill communities are nothing like what the fear mongers (yes there are fear mongers about this issue, for example PETA, hence the “Crazy” in my blog’s title)  would have you believe.

In the time leading up to SlowE, I’ll post occasional pictures from this project, which is very much a work in progress (as in–I still have a lot of photos yet to process).

An American Shelter Dog awaits his turn to join the dog play group at Animal Ark in Hastings, MN. Play groups, advocated by trainer Aimee Sadler, are a great way to keep dogs physically and mentally healthy in the shelter environment.

Reflections | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

Magnolia 2 | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

“To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.”
~Charles Darwin

Lotus Bud 1

Annie-Momma Shadows and light 2wm | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

Daffodils 1, processed in Lightroom to resemble a photo taken with Kodak Tech Pan

Daffodils 1–Tech Pan-1 | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

I have been experimenting with processing the same image several different ways in Lightroom.  Above, an image of daffodils has been processed to look as though it were taken with Kodak Tech Pan film, a very fine-grain, low-ASA film.  The mood and look are quite different than when the same image is processed to look as though it were taken with some other type of film.  The details are different; the tones are different; the emphasis is different.

Daffodils 1--processed in Lightroom to resemble a cyanotype

Daffodils 1--PH

Plum Blossom 1–Selenium-1 | Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

Photographed in color and processed in Lightroom to resemble a selenium print.

“Biophilia, if it exists, and I believe it exists, is the innately emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms.”

~E.O. Wilson, from ‘Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic”, an essay in The Biophilia Hypothesis, Stephen Kellert, Ed.

E.O. Wilson is easily one of the greatest biologists of our time, the father of sociobiology, and the originator of the biophilia hypothesis.

Scaredy Cat, a feral cat neutered and ear-tipped by Project Cat Snip. When the building near where he lived in Atlanta was demolished, `Project Cat Snip relocated him to a farm outside of Atlanta.

Today is Alley Cat Allies’s 10th annual National Feral Cat Day.

Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), advocated by ACA is the most humane way of managing feral cat populations–everybody wins with TNR.  The cats are healthier; they are vaccinated against diseases like rabies at the time of neutering, which makes things safer for everyone in the area; the cat population shrinks, which is good for wildlife, TNR keeps feral cats out of ‘shelters’ where they would otherwise be killed and is an essential part of the No Kill Equation.

In the Atlanta Metro area, contact Lifeline Animal Project (they have two clinic locations and their Catlanta program is specifically for feral cats) or Project CatSnip (which is cats-only and has a mobile clinic) for spay-neuter services for your local feral cats, or to donate to their lifesaving work.  Both organizations also offer affordable spay-neuter services and vaccines for pet cats.  nationwide, contact Alley Cat Allies for more information about TNR.

How are you celebrating?