Volunteers of the Friends of the Bisbee Animal Shelter held a rally in Grassy Park in Bisbee at 3pm. Susan first told me about this as it was advertised on Facebook. I took Zeke, who I adopted from that shelter in 2011, to attend with me. This rally was to show the city mayor, David Smith (who was not in attendance) that citizens in the area oppose his defunding the animal shelter after November 30, 2020 and firing most of the employees at the shelter. After November 30, the shelter will turn into a pound where all animals have 72 hours to be adopted or rescued or else they are killed.
How could this happen to Bisbee, the town with the reputation of being a caring town? When I volunteered at the shelter back in 2011 (has it been that long ago?) we ran a no-kill shelter. There was one Animal Control Officer, Hector, main volunteer Judy, then Ken and I. I put a lot of time and money into caring for those animals, often at the cost of my own animal's welfare. The non-profit Friends of the Bisbee Animal Shelter, or FBAS, was formed after I left and worked with the City Council for budgeting and funding.
Mayor Smith claims that Bisbee can no longer afford an animal shelter. Its budget can no longer afford it. Since the Bisbee shelter is not a county shelter and receives no defunding from the county, it must rely on private donations through the FBAS and fundraisers. The closing of many restaurants and thus the loss of tourist dollars means the town has been hurting financially this year. The covid pandemic has not been easy on the town.
Turn-out was minimal, but the few hundred people who did show up were dressed up, held signs, chanted "SOS-Save our Shelter!" and many people brought their dogs along. The costumes and signs were the interesting part. I met Isabella and Denise, two women I met during my shelter volunteer days, but generally stayed by myself thanks to covid. I wore my mask when near people. A local artist handed out home-made signs with "No Kill Shelter" that he made using plain construction paper and yard signs. I even chatted with an freelance reporter from Cool FM Online, which posts its news via Facebook, but in the end I did not go on record to chat with him as he was busy with other people.
Zeke did not loook happy. He was shaking when we sat on the steps of the old mining museum. Was he shaking out of fear, or from the cold shade? Normally his thick fur protects him. He never left my side.
The rally didn't last long. Two locals, Christine Levine from the Friends of the Bisbee Animal Shelter and comedian Doug Stanhope, got on stage separately and ranted about the mayor. I didn't find either of them very funny, but their passion for the shelter was obvious. When the second man finished talking, we all walked around Old Bisbee for three blocks, chanting "SOS, Save our Shelter" and held up traffic on the main street. When the group returned to the grassy park, people lingered for a bit, but I now left to put Zeke at ease.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLoxGJgdCwA&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0Smm5TLW0e8aBYjLJwQZTzYn_Y9_ezCrTbD0UNyKvQe7s_usX126QfZA8
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Judy ran me off with her bi-polar mood swings after only six months and shortly after leaving the Bisbee shelter I began volunteering at the Huachuca City shelter where I lasted over a year before buring out. Volunteering at any shelter is emotionally draining as it pains me to see healthy animals killed off because too many people want pure breds but then don't spend the money on training them or keeping them healthy.
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