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Sunday, May 18, 2014

Nathan Winograd and the myth of his "success," Redemption, no kill solutions

I just read this article linked here about Nathan Winograd in Tompkins County. Nathan Winograd claims he made that shelter "NoKill." This blog post includes two articles in the main newspaper for the area which tell a completely different story. I tried to share the article here but couldn't so I'm copy/pasting it with a link to the original article. I have known Nathan Winograd for many years. I'll comment after the article. This is a must read which shows Nathan Winograd's true nature.

http://www.workingtohelpanimalstodaytomorrow.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-tompkins-county-no-kill-miracle.html


"THE TOMPKINS COUNTY 'NO KILL' MIRACLE EXPOSED

Recently a couple of articles were purchased from the archives of the Ithaca Journal. These articles tell the tale of Nathan Winograd at the Tompkins County SPCA, a tale of deceit that continues to this very day. The publicly available abstracts are presented for both articles.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/ithacajournal/doc/377865287.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Feb+22%2C+2003&author=LaMattina%2C+Diana&pub=The+Ithaca+Journal&edition=&startpage=&desc=SPCA+hounds+Groton+breeder%2C+kennel

Nathan Winograd, nokill fraud, lie, Tompkins County animal shelter

The first of these two tales is that of the protection of a puppy mill by Winograd while in Tompkins.
The Ithaca Journal - Ithaca, N.Y.
Author: LaMattina, Diana
Date: Feb 22, 2003
Abstract (Document Summary)

"According to Winograd, the investigator informed him there were numerous complaints with the kennel and the dogs' care. According to Winograd, he has been aware of what he termed "unfit conditions" at the Groton kennel since he began working at the SPCA a year and a half ago."

A year and a half these dogs were left in these conditions. The reason is that Winograd wanted to save his numbers. Imagine the amount of suffering that occurred during that time.

"Many of them were so filthy that your hands turned black from touching them. The conditions were pretty shocking and horrifying, and she wouldn't allow us to go back to the kennel cages," said Christine Thomas. "Some of them had mammary tumors from being bred and bred. They were all filthy with urine and feces. Their coats were so matted, we had to shave several of them."

"My goal was to reduce the number gradually over time, so it's manageable," Winograd said.

You don't wait to reduce numbers gradually when the animals are in these conditions. Many, if not most, of the dogs were old and not the adoptable types. They needed extensive medical, lots of money for a private shelter whose director never raised the contract amounts of the contract cities. HE LEFT THEM THERE !!

This blogger is familiar with this story personally. I spoke with Patricia Sipman. Patricia Sipman described the incident. She also took the time to relay this incident to the Rancho Cucamonga City Council who was considering hiring Winograd at the time. Sipman is a native of San Dimas, next door to Rancho.

Sipman had just moved to Ithaca from California. She had been a paralegal in Pasadena. She went to the Tompkins County SPCA to adopt that day. While sitting in the lobby, a Cornell student brought in a pitiful Pit Bull. The student was the owner. Sipman said the dog was extremely ill, emaciated, mange ridden to the point of little hair left, stunk with blood coming from sores. She petted the dog in sympathy. Sipman has wondered what happened to that poor dog.

The counter people went to get Winograd. He came out, look at the dog from the distance, and said "We don't take dogs like that" and walked back into his office. Sipman was mortified at this and wrote a letter to the Ithaca Journal.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/ithacajournal/doc/377820477.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jan+28%2C+2004&author=&pub=The+Ithaca+Journal&edition=&startpage=&desc=Shifting+animals+for+better+statistics%3F

Nathan Winograd, nokill fraud, lie, scam, Tompkins County animal shelter

Jan. 28, 2004

"I visited the shelter often last fall and saw a dog turned away. It was not vicious; indeed I petted it. It was underfed, neglected, had advanced contagious mange and perhaps other health problems.

When I asked, I was told that the SPCA routinely rejects such animals, but conveniently no statistics reflect this. The dog could and should have been quickly, humanely euthanized."

Patricia also went on in her letter to speak of the deceit of the stats provided by the TC SPCA.

"Tompkins County SPCA Executive Director Nathan Winograd has said ".....a no-kill shelter was a fantasy. In five years, we have reached that goal." If the director is referring to his facility as no kill when in fact 2,012 animals were killed since 1999, he's still fantasizing. Likely the "no-kill" facilities he transferred 882 animals to are, like Tompkins County, euthanizing animals."

Patricia told me also that Winograd sent 3-4 nasty emails to her afterwards. Most rational people would try to explain their actions, especially to a taxpayer/concerned citizen, but not Winograd. He called her names, childish behavior as Patricia said.

So here are two documented cases of the true nature of Nathan Winograd. His dedication to his program at the expense and suffering of animals is unconscionable. Ask him to provide any documentation of his accusations of others."


What Nathan Winograd did was inexcusable. He knowingly allowed animals to be treated inhumanely. Some probably died of illness during this time. That is truly shameful behavior. In an October 1, 2004 letter to colleagues Nathan Winograd stated he could not legally refuse any animal. So not only does he refuse a dog that needed help but he violated the county animal control contract. Here is the letter as a pdf. http://www.animaladvocates.us/Letter%20from%20Nathan.pdf Below is part of the letter as text.


"So when the opportunity presented itself, I packed my bags and moved to the rolling countryside of upstate New York to head the Tompkins County SPCA. I wanted to bring the urban no kill message—and its success—to rural America. At the time, the Tompkins County SPCA was typical of rural shelters. It was small, it was under funded, it was running a significant deficit and it was killing a lot of animals. But I believed in no kill and the programs and services necessary to make it happen.

As Executive Director of the Tompkins County SPCA, I managed the full range of animal control and adoption shelter services. Despite animal control contracts which required that we accept all dogs and cats, in my three years there:

• We reduced the death rate by 75% to 1.8 animals for every 1,000 human residents, over eight times less than the national average and the lowest of any community in the United States;
• Tompkins County became the safest community for homeless dogs and cats in the U.S. for two years in a row (source: Animal People); and,
• We became the nation’s only no kill community saving 100% of healthy and treatable dogs and cats, and 100% of feral cats (93% of the animals overall).

At the same time, I more than doubled the average gift, closed a budget deficit, created a major donor category for the first time in the organization’s history leading to consecutive years of surplus funding, and built a state-of-the-art Pet Adoption and Surgery Center. In a year and a half, while the death rate declined by 75%, the Tompkins County SPCA went from a $100,000-plus annual deficit to a $23,000 operational surplus.

The success in Tompkins County—both in terms of the lives saved and the dollars earned—proved the naysayers wrong. We proved that no kill is possible and that it does not matter whether you live in a major metropolitan city or in rural America. We proved that while no kill costs money, it is ultimately cost-effective. In fact, it is the policy of impounding, holding and then killing animals—losing both adoption revenue and public support—that has kept shelters from raising the money they
need to save lives. Money is a by-product of no kill success, not its cause. But perhaps more importantly, we proved that people do care and want to help build a better life for animals.
By 2003, the Tompkins County SPCA had become a beacon of hope for the 5 million dogs and cats who face certain death in U.S. animal shelters every year. And for good reason—if every community in the United States did what we did, 41⁄2 million of those dogs and cats would find in their shelter a new beginning, instead of the end of the line."

Nathan Winograd posted something recently on Facebook. This is Nathan Winograd.

Nathan Winograd, no kill
"When I was in law school, I convinced my roommate that we could respond humanely to an ant infestation by putting cucumber slices all over the kitchen. Ants, I told him, don’t like cucumbers. Unfortunately, it failed. I then talked him into buying plastic ants which we put out. My argument was that if the real ants saw the fake ants, they would think a rival colony took over and they’d leave. I said all this with a straight face. Naturally, that failed, too. But it did buy the ants enough time that they eventually went away on their own (cleaning the kitchen helped!). Given that my roommate was incredibly smart and had higher grades than me (and went on to become a partner at a ginormous law firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions), I realized then and there I’d make a pretty decent lawyer. Now, go be the best person you can be..."

His kitchen was dirty so it attracted ants. He decides to suggest some things to his roommate which make no sense. He of course fails.  He ultimately cleans the kitchen and of course the ants leave. He admits he has the power to make people believe bullshit, like the myth of no kill.

I wrote about Nathan Winograd a couple of years ago here.

http://animaladvocateswildliferehabilitation.blogspot.com/2012/04/nathan-winograd-false-no-kill-guru-no.html

I wrote about Nathan Winograd and the Center for Consumer Freedom here

http://animaladvocateswildliferehabilitation.blogspot.com/2013/12/center-for-consumer-freedomhumane-watch.html

Nathan Winograd likes to state "when I ran the SFSPCA..." Nathan Winograd was the operations manager for only nine days. Nathan Winograd does not play well with others. He always attacks, attacks, attacks then gets fired or quits. From Animal People News,

"November 2000 brought the abrupt resignations of Law and Advocacy Department chief Nathan Winograd. Sayres then named Winograd operations director on November 1, assigned to fix the problems. On November 10, however, Winograd again resigned. He worked on special projects from his home until November 29, when Sayres terminated him under an agreement which precluded talking to news media."

Again Nathan Winograd blabs about all the dirty little secrets in an organization. And he wonders why he failed as a consultant and GM of animal shelters.

Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


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Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates is a wildlife rehabilitator licensed by the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDA. Mary Cummins is also a licensed real estate appraiser in Los Angeles, California.


Google+ Mary Cummins, Mary K. Cummins, Mary Katherine Cummins, Mary Cummins-Cobb, Mary, Cummins, Cobb, wildlife, wild, animal, rescue, wildlife rehabilitation, wildlife rehabilitator, fish, game, los angeles, california, united states, squirrel, raccoon, fox, skunk, opossum, coyote, bobcat, manual, instructor, speaker, humane, nuisance, control, pest, trap, exclude, deter, green, non-profit, nonprofit, non, profit, ill, injured, orphaned, exhibit, exhibitor, usda, united states department of agriculture, hsus, humane society, peta, ndart, humane academy, humane officer, animal legal defense fund, animal cruelty, investigation, peace officer, animal, cruelty, abuse, neglect #marycummins #animaladvocates #losangeles #california #wildlife #wildliferehabilitation #wildliferehabilitator #realestate #realestateappraiser #realestateappraisal #lawsuit

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