The Ed Boks Show?

All the way from Broadway, now appearing in Los Angeles, The Ed Boks Show. A few local critics have expressed offense at what they perceive as the Boks “ego” taking credit for the significant drop in euthanasia over the past three months.

Being human and invested in this goal, I suppose I’d like to get some credit for the substantial decline in the killing, but it would be disingenuous for me to say this decline was because of me. These results could never be the work of any one man or woman. These kinds of results come from a community effort.

The credit goes to the incredible supporting cast of the LAAS Team, the 392 employees and growing number of volunteers, partners, and donors who believe that achieving no-kill doesn’t have to take a long time. I am proud to be a member of this cast.

Actually. the remarkable progress of the past three months is simply a continuation of a five-year trend. Over the past five years the dedicated employees, volunteers, partners, and donors of LAAS reduced the killing nearly 50%. And they did this as they bravely weathered an onslaught of personal criticism and threats that few of us would have endured for even a week.

Often we at LAAS hear people say, “I could never do your job.” Our response is, “How could you not?” Everyday the employees and volunteers of LAAS come into our Animal Care Centers to do what few others in our community are willing to do. They care for, feed, treat, and shelter the 120 or more lost, homeless, abused, neglected, sick, and injured animals they rescue from the streets of LA everyday. Thank God they continue to come!

The successes of Arizona and New York City were not designed to feed anyone’s ego. They were designed to help the thousands of animals in need in those communities. Ultimately those successes serve to demonstrate that ANYONE can do this if given a chance and the support of the community!

Any community with the heart and will to end the killing can achieve this goal, and I’m happy to report the heart and will to do this is thriving in Los Angeles. This community is fortunate that this determination existed in the employees, volunteers, partners, and donors of LAAS long before I got here. Thank God it still exists and is growing!

Let me tell you the secret to achieving no-kill: If you really want to stop the killing in any community, you have to support the agency where the killing occurs. This may sound counter intuitive, but if you think about it, it actually makes a great deal of sense. Does anyone really think LAAS wants to be a kill agency? No agency charged with helping innocent creatures and serving the community wants this. This is true in Maricopa County, New York City, Chicago, Miami, St. Louis, Albuquerque, anywhere.

If you want to stop the killing in LA, you have to support LAAS. There are many indirect ways you can help LA achieve no-kill, but there is only one direct way, and that is to help LAAS. We need the help of all the dedicated, creative and committed individuals who call this community their home. We invite your help and ideas. This is a collaborative effort and those who stand to gain are the very animals we all want so badly to help!

If you are waiting for LAAS to be perfect before you help, then we’ll never get there. LAAS readily admits we need the community’s help and we need it now. I am thankful that the community is stepping up in an unprecedented way to help as the excitement to end the killing grows! The killing must end. We all agree. Never has anyone in LAAS ever tried to defend this horrible practice as our critics suggest. We want to end it, and we want to end it in the shortest possible time frame!

Our success depends on you! LAAS is under funded and under staffed. What government agency isn’t? We cannot do this by ourselves. We attempt to do the miraculous everyday with inadequate resources. How much faster can we achieve this goal with your help?

LA City is facing a couple of very difficult fiscal years. Nonetheless, the City is extraordinarily committed to LAAS achieving no-kill, from the Mayor to the City Council to the Commission. LAAS will see an increase in its budget despite a looming City deficit. But I can tell you right now it won’t be enough to achieve no-kill without your help. The only way we will achieve no-kill in LA is if we as an entire community all pitch in to help.

How can you help? You can volunteer an hour or two a week, you can foster orphaned neonates or sick or injured animals and nurse them back to health, you can participate in our many off site adoption events, you can make a donation to any one of our many life saving programs, or help raise the money to fund these programs. If you own a business you can provide in-kind donations in the way of services or products to help the animals.

If you can’t do any of these things, you can still help. Just support the employees and volunteers of LAAS. We are in a war to end euthanasia. LAAS is the front line in this war. Some will criticize the troops when they think a war isn’t going well. But the good news is the war against euthanasia is going well! 2006 could end with the biggest decline in the killing in LA’s history. Fewer animals died in the first quarter of 2006 than in any preceding first quarter on record!

Did Ed Boks do this? No, I did not. This was done through the commitment and compassion of the employees, volunteers, partners, and donors of LAAS. All I’m doing is asking you to support the troops of LAAS as they win this war for all of us and our animals!

Quite frankly, I am far less concerned with who gets the credit so long as the goal is ultimately achieved. I am concerned that our critics who focus so heavily on the issue of credit are wasting valuable time and distracting us from appreciating the fact that fewer animals are dying. The goal is more achievable today then ever before.

In this war, every day, week and month is a battle to save more lives. In January 06 we experienced a 25% decrease in euthanasia compared to January 05, in February 06 we experienced a 33% decrease compared to February 05, and in March we anticipate nearly a 40% decrease compared to March 05.

Can we all just pause for a moment to rejoice for the animals that benefited from all the hard work of all the heroes in this community who are making a positive difference? Can we use the days ahead to better mobilize our forces to help the remaining animals that still need our help?

Only by working together will we make LA the safest City in the US for our pets!