Domestic Animal Welfare Network

WHAT'S A "DOMESTIC ANIMAL" ?

Domestic animals are animals typically kept as pets.

Our focus is strictly on DOGS and CATS, since they are definitely the majority of the domestic animal population today. They also are the animals that cost state and local taxpayers the most in terms of the law enforcement activity called Animal Control.

ANIMALS ARE SPECIAL PROPERTY

Fortunately, politicians have agreed that even though domestic animals don't have the same rights as people, they do deserve special legal status that forbids flagrant cruelty and abuse.

Unfortunately, even though the laws prohibit the worst kinds of mistreatment, there are still some questionable practices that are
permitted. Nor is there any kind of coordinated enforcement program to monitor whether or not the laws are being followed.

Even more unfortunately, there are subtle forms of cruelty and abuse that have escaped the attention (or at least the effective action) of our current law enforcement system. Animals whose
owners permit them to run at large and breed indiscriminately, or who abandon them, are guilty of pernicious forms of abuse that are not adequately addressed by our present system.

ABOUT THIS WEBSITE
This collection of webpages is foremost POLITICAL. We have a political agenda, which is getting changes and improvements made in the way that our society deals with Domestic Animals. We believe that the way the legal system deals with Domestic Animal ownership needs to be literally turned upside-down.

We are also sure that you will find this website INFORMATIONAL if you stick with it. While we start out casually on this Home Page, the information becomes pretty technical and legal as we move along. It has to be that way, because the only way to solve the problems that we are looking at is to change the laws, and to change the laws you have to know the laws.

SO WHAT'S THE BIG PROBLEM ?
The big problem is HOMELESSNESS! Being homeless is a terrible experience for a person, but for a domestic animal being homeless is treated as a criminal act. At this writing, the focus of most "Animal Control" laws and agencies is to punish the homeless and the helpless with imprisonment and a possible death sentence.

Laws and ordinances identify homeless animals as "strays" and "public nuisances", and demand that they be captured by Animal Control Officers and other law officers, and be transported to facilities to be dealt with. Also, people who have pets that they no longer can (or choose to) care for can abandon them at Animal Control facilities.

Animal Control facility conditions vary, depending largely upon the attitudes of the people who work at the facilities and the sensitivity of the officials who supervise them.

There are several ways that an Animal Control animal might leave its captivity.

If they have an owner who comes looking for them and is willing to pay a small price, they will instantly go from public nuisance to reunited pet.

If they catch the eye of someone looking for a pet, they may leave as an adopted pet.

If they catch the eye of an animal welfare agency, they may leave as a foster-care pet until the
agency can match them up with an adopter.

If an animal has not left custody through one of the "happy ending" scenarios after a brief time,
they are killed by a lethal injection or some other fatal end. This is called humane euthanization,
to avoid more indelicate words such as "executed" and "destroyed".

WHAT DOES D.A.W.N. WANT TO DO ABOUT THIS ?
D.A.W.N. wants to see fundamental changes in the legal system to deal with the problem of homeless domestic animals at its roots. A comprehensive state law to deal with this problem is needed; and until that can be accomplished, county and municipal ordinances need to be made more humane and effective.

For example, the simple act of incorporating and encouraging the participation of citizen volunteers in the operation of Animal Control shelters has made a vast positive difference wherever it's been done! It's not some radical theory. It's happening in a significant number of communities and the data is solid. Adoptions increase dramatically, euthanizations decrease dramatically!

We hope that you will continue reading our website for more information. If you care about your community and state, or if you care about animals, we believe that you will find your visit to the D.A.W.N. website valuable.

HEY, YOUR WEBSITE KEEPS CHANGING !!!
The longer we study the problems of animal welfare, the more people we talk with, the more animal shelters we become familiar with, the more experience we have in dealing with government agencies, the more we learn about the problems and their possible solutions. Providing for animal welfare is immensely more complex than we realized when we began, and the problems that seem obvious are caused by other problems which are caused by other problems, etc. Every week we learn something new; occasionally we have to give up a preconception that turns out to have been untrue! Unlike the "we've always done it this way" crowd, our knowledge continually grows and our views change in response to new facts.

LET'S FINISH THIS WEBPAGE WITH A FAIRY TAIL !!!
Everybody likes a good old-fashioned story about fearsome dragons and valiant knights, and this one may help you understand why Animal Control in Michigan has been failing.

Once upon a time, long ago, a pair of fierce dragons showed up in a faraway land. The King and his ministers immediately created a large and enthusiastic anti-dragon squad to go after the monsters. The dragons' heads proved both difficult and unpleasant to get to, and their fearsome roars alone was enough to make generals and ministers withdraw their troops. It made so much more sense to dispatch the beast by starting at the tail and working forward from there. So the great battle began!

On and on the warriors labored, killing and hauling away pieces of the dragons' tails, when a terrible discovery was made. The tails grew back every year! Not only did they grow back, but they grew back a bit bigger each time. The King and his ministers calculated that if they just killed more of the tails, and faster, soon they would stop growing back and they would be on their way to destroying the great dragons. So they spent decades, and they spent tens of millions and hundreds of millions of dollars, and to this day they continue to fight their dragons with the immense tails "the way we've always done it", because to attack the dragon any other way seems too difficult and unpleasant, and still the fearsome roars keeps the ministers and their generals and their troops safely away from great heads.