D.A.W.N. "About Us" Page

You'll have to take our word that we are non-profit, since there'll never be a government document declaring it. In order to become an official non-profit organization, you have to give up many rights to political activity. There doesn't seem to be a way to improve the lives of all homeless animals other than to be POLITICALLY ACTIVE, so no officially-approved non-profit status for us, thank you.

Collecting donations isn't even on our radar at this time.
An organization that doesn't want you to send us any of your money -- is that cool or what? What DO we want? We want you to read our website and to become familiar with the "Animal Control" empire, and to join us in promoting positive change.

If you do send us any money, it is not tax deductible. You would not be making a donation, you would be giving us a gift upon which we would pay taxes. We could use that money for anything we wanted to -- help finance our activism, donate it to help an animal welfare group for one of those "something special" problems that are always popping up, or spend it on a cruise to The Azores. So don't ever send us any money unless you understand that it's a personal gift, not a charitable donation.

THE FOUNDERS
D.A.W.N. is a retired couple, getting by on a modest pension and Social Security. We've been active in community organizations at times, but we've never been involved in anything this political. We might take on some associates at some point, but we plan to remain small and lean. A great sprawl of committees and task forces is not our style.

Some friends got involved in the shortcomings of government in dealing with animal welfare, and we volunteered to help them with some technical assistance and small donations. As we became familiar with the animal welfare landscape, our attention was drawn to aspects that seemed to be begging for attention and action. We engaged a trusted attorney and set to work.

You can catch the details by visiting our webpages as they develop and change as we acquire new knowledge.

WHAT'S WITH THE "NETWORK" IN YOUR NAME ?
One of the things that seems to be missing in the animal welfare community is a really effective political coalition involving animal welfare organizations and concerned individuals. The landscape is awash with groups and individual efforts; but in general each one has a particular piece of turf staked out and stays focused there, which is probably a very good thing. A lot is being done for needy animals by caring people taking action in their local communities one-by-one and day-by-day.

Our sense of the big picture is that sometime soon, "Animal Control" has to make a statewide (if not national) transition from the mid- 20th century to the 21st century. For over 90 years, the State of Michigan has approached "Animal Control" in essentially the same manner; it seems obvious to us that if you have been trying to solve a problem using the same strategies for 90 years and you still have the same problem and worse, you're probably on the wrong track.

One of the things we'd like to see, but don't have the time and skills to put together, is an effective and powerful NETWORK of citizens and citizen groups that DEMANDS NEW, EFFECTIVE, INSPIRED LEGISLATION that will solve the problem instead of perpetuating it. A few animal welfare groups are so locked into their present political and economic status that they are unlikely to be effective members of an animal welfare network, but that's ok. The network would be effective without every single player being a participant.

We have developed models of excellent legislation and posted them for people to examine and think about. But we still haven't found the magic keys that would ensure an end to the need for the gruesome "catch and kill" tradition that governs Michigan's Animal Control empire. Every time we think that we have the solution that we've been looking for, a new pest pops out of the woodwork and we're challenged with a new layer of problems.

Oh, by the way, "Animal Control" is big business; tens of millions of Michigan public dollars are being spent each year to keep "the way we've always done it" in place.

D.A.W.N.'s Webmaster is Larry@eaton-dawn.org -- Thank you for reporting technical problems that you find here.

Our cute Puppy-Kitten Logo might mislead you into thinking that we are another animal welfare charity. We aren't. We are political activists. We are very serious about what we do, very persistent and very stubborn.

We have no respect for the concept of "we've always done it this way" as an excuse for bad policy, for ineffective strategy, and for avoiding the challenge of change.

We have no patience for agencies which put organizational, personal or political interests ahead of the best interests of the helpless homeless animals that they are supposed to be serving.

D.A.W.N. is based in Eaton County, Michigan. D.A.W.N. is not really an organization; it's just the name of our website. We thought it sounded like a better name for a website than "A Couple Of Senior Citizens Are Very Much Concerned About The Way Homeless Animals Are Being Mistreated".