A job worth doing is worth doing together.
That's the basic idea of a groundbreaking new document designed to impact communities and animals around the country. The Asilomar Accords symbolizes the end of suspicion and distrust between animal care and control organizations and sets forth a new agenda--one of collaboration.
These feelings of resentment began in, and continue to affect, communities where shelters, rescue groups, animal control agencies and other animal welfare organizations disagree on issues--such as approach, operations and language--and fail to work together.
Much of the discord has boiled down to the difficult subject of euthanasia. It is estimated that 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter shelters every year, and 3 to 4 million are euthanized. While all shelters are concerned that healthy and treatable animals are being euthanized instead of being adopted, different shelters use different approaches to deal with the problem.
Some shelters limit the type and number of animals they will take in, reducing the need for euthanasia. Other shelters accept all animals, regardless of temperament and age, but struggle with the reality that there is not enough space and money to accommodate all of the animals and, therefore, must euthanize.
The idea behind the Asilomar Accords is that, regardless of their differences, organizations can reduce tension by creating alliances that work toward resolving the animal homelessness issues in their community. The accords set forth statements of common beliefs and principles designed to encourage and facilitate development of these alliances. The document gives communities a starting point for forming their own local coalitionone that shares ideas, information and objectives.
"We all have the same goal--to help animals--and we always have. But in the past we focused on minor differences instead of focusing on what we could accomplish if we worked together. Hopefully, the Asilomar Accords will change that way of thinking," says Bob Rohde, president of the Dumb Friends League, a non-profit shelter in Denver, Colorado.
The vision for this revolutionary new document began to take shape in November 2002 when a small group of animal welfare advocates came together to discuss how they could encourage all animal-related groups to put aside their differences and come together in a collaborative spirit. During the initial meetings, participants came to the realization that, although they had different approaches, their objective was ultimately the same--to save the lives of all healthy and treatable dogs and cats.
"The assembled groups hold a variety of viewpoints on how best to help the animals, yet we all agreed that the most effective way to save lives is to work together," says Richard Avanzino, president of Maddie's Fund, a California-based animal welfare charity.
Almost two years after that initial meeting, in August 2004, the Asilomar Accords were born. The group had expanded to include animal welfare industry leaders from across the nation, and had convened at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California where participants produced a series of statements of common beliefs and principles to help bring animal welfare organizations together to create coalitions within their communities.
"By pooling resources, brain power and energy, each community that adopts the goals of the Asilomar Accords and agrees to work in a strategic alliance will see their efforts reach more animals and save more lives," says Martha Armstrong, senior vice president for Domestic Animal Programs at The HSUS.
There is no magic formula for creating a coalition since every community is different. Using the guidelines from the Asilomar Accords, each coalition will decide how they will advance their goals based on their community's individual needs and resources. But the first step is to sit down at the table with representatives from each of the community's animal welfare organizations in the spirit of collaboration and with a desire to reach the same goalsaving the lives of all healthy and treatable dogs and cats.
If the Asilomar Accords can help inspire communities to do that, the long journey to end animal homelessness and neglect will become a much closer, and more realistic, goal.
