Richard:

It's critically important to remember that the Central Missouri Humane Society (CMHS) faces a dilemma that may be unique: It functions as BOTH a privately-funded humane society; and a publicly-funded -- make that grossly under-funded -- animal control facility.

Through contracts with both the Boone County Commission and the City of Columbia, CMHS takes in several thousand animals a year on behalf of the city, county, and even the Missouri Department of Agriculture, while receiving comparatively little compensation from those agencies for this valuable service.

Most cities and/or counties have their own municipal animal control facility, or "dog pound." Not Columbia and Boone County.

Instead, these local governments have chosen a comparatively cheap route to get the same service: an annual contract with CMHS that pays about 10% of their costs while demanding nearly half their capabilities.

I've personally witnessed the good people at CMHS literally beg and plead with members of the Boone County Commission -- Karen Miller, Skip Elkin, and Ken Pearson -- as well as Columbia City Manager Bill Watkins and City-County Health Department Director Stephanie Browning -- to change this terrible situation and get CMHS the money and resources it needs.

In return, these public servants do nothing but hem and haw. (I believe CMHS has a slightly better situation than it did last year, but "slightly" isn't nearly good enough).

This problem has been an ongoing source of angst and debate in Columbia and Boone County, with politicians making promises -- and hogging the ZooToo limelight -- without following through.

What's particularly galling is that both the City and County have undertaken massive, multimillion dollar makeover/expansions of their own office space, while essentially telling CMHS to shut up and go away (except, of course, when the ZooToo cameras are rolling).

My point is simple: Don't limit your "call to arms" to private citizens and businesses. Get on these public agencies to pay their fair share. Make fulling funding the Central Missouri Humane Society a political priority -- we have a mayoral race coming up in April 2010, and several council/commission races besides.

Write Governor Jay Nixon and every other city/county leader (and their are several) that uses CMHS without compensation to pay up -- or start their own animal control facility.

Use your momentum to get these elected officials to start doing the right thing -- something they've neglected for far, far too long.

This is, after all, what we pay taxes for -- not fancy offices for bureaucrats, but
public services that work for the needy and the helpless in our midst.

Only when public agencies start paying their fair share will Columbia and Boone County have a humane society that works well for everyone -- animals most especially included.

this is sure good news. shame you can't come to lcr so we could meet you. you could drive here. stay safe in the air

i second that and in the next few days i have some cute g pig pics to post for you. i will let you know when they are up

thanks, daryl!

Great---keep up the good work.
Rt

Well------
Makeover I is done from zootoo's stand point----they are doing a much larger project and we gave them our part as a piece to their larger project. We wish them luck and they are doing great things there !!
Makeover I I I we are thinking about it and how we can improve it going forward--any thoughts??
Rt

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Whoa...what is this all about with Tina? I read her journal that she is leaving the zoo as people have harassed her. As for deception and no money payouts, I believe that may be primarily shelter makeover 1 winer's problem, Stray Rescue. We really don't need to hash that out again as a settlement was reached. Stray Rescue may still be unhappy, but I don't know how many of the makeover 2 winners are dissatisfied. Have not read any posts from the top 20 shelters in makeover 2 that money/donations have not been received.
I keep reading this rumor that the zootoo site is for sale. I do wonder if that is true.

when the first 2 were going on i kept thinking so much work for us but now i am doing the same things so go fw and good luck to z2. we love it. makeover or not. thank you for being here

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Thanks for the note-----
I will see if we can get more info out there for you to read about the 8 areas we look over for improvements.
Rt

thank you and i hope the improvements make it better for their animals