Life in a shelter, from a dog’s point of view

A shelter is about the worst place for a dog, and Philadelphia’s was once one of the worst of the worst.

Thanks to the help of staffers — confidential sources who shared information and photos with me — almost exactly 20 years ago, I was able to write an expose that the Philadelphia Daily News headlined on Page One as “The Cruel Cages.”

The story, once vigorously denied by some city officials, led to City Council hearings, and to the dismantling of the shelter, then known as Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association (PACCA), and replacing it with ACCT Philly, set up after instituting various reforms.

I am an animal lover, especially dogs, and blowing up the city’s animal shelter was one of the proudest accomplishments in my 60-year career. And since October 2004, I have repeatedly checked in, and reported on, ACCT Philly, through its many ups and downs. More on that later.

I have known every executive director who ran ACCT Philly — it is a thankless job —  one of them being S.J. Russell, who I know as Sue. She was imported from Chicago in October 2018 to run the shelter, and lasted about a year, a little less than the average.

Why the short run?

The city shelter was chronically under-financed then, and the leaders were and are subjected to endless back-biting from notoriously cranky “activist” ideologues given to chasing and believing wild internet rumors about what was happening in the shelter.

Don’t misunderstand. Some criticism was deserved, and I published more than my share.

That brings us to the present, and a present (pun intended) from Russell and artist Anne Koszalka, a graphic novel, “Midnight ‘Don’t Judge Me’ Ruiz” ($18.99, Archimedes Printing Shoppe & Sundry Goodes).

The title is kind of a mysterious mouthful.The back cover is much more clear: “I am Midnight. This is my story.”

Midnight was an abandoned pit bull brought to ACCT Philly, where he languished for many months before eventually finding a home. There is a great deal more to it, which is the narrative of the 120-page soft cover book.

The story can be a little hard to follow at first, and not because Midnight is the narrator, speaking in the, um, patois of Philadelphia.

No, the difficulty comes from the use of concepts and terms that are familiar to those who know what I called the shelter industry, but not to outsiders. Terms such as “eval,” “rescue only,” “bite quarantine,” “time stamped.”

But that’s minor. There are two themes, and they are presented with subtlety: Finding homes for shelter animals, and the bias against the dogs known as pit bulls, which have an undeserved bad reputation. That explains the “Don’t judge me,” line in the book’s title. 

As a so-called open-access shelter, ACCT Philly must accept every animal surrendered to it. It is not a “no kill” shelter, but that is not a matter of choice.

There are a limited number of kennels, yet an unlimited number of owners who turn in their pets, sometimes because of finances, sometimes because of ignorance and hardness of heart. If all the kennels are filled, and a new dog is surrendered, a dog in a kennel must be euthanized, if it is not pulled from the shelter by a rescue group, or a foster.

Rescues are groups of volunteers who rescue and hold a dog until it can be placed in a home.

“Midnight” is touching and sometimes tearful, but is surprisingly  unsentimental, perhaps because the narrator is a male dog. It would have been easy for author Russell to pluck heartstrings, but she shows calculated, creative restraint.

The story is largely factual. Spoiler alert: Midnight is a real dog, now enjoying a forever home in New York.