The Second Chance Center for Animals in Flagstaff closes today. Officials cite funding issues as the reason. The shelter has played a critical role in animal rescue for years, not just in Flagstaff, but also on the Navajo Nation and across the Southwest. It was known as a "rescue for the rescues", taking overflow from dozens of other shelters, and operating with a "no kill" philosophy. KNAU had been working on a story involving Second Chance when the closure was announced. It was a profile of photographer Nanette Martin, who specializes in shelter pet portraits. Second Chance was the first stop on her year-long tour across the country, teaching photography and social media workshops as a way to boost adoption rates. Though Second Chance is now shuttered, we decided to run the piece anyway as it speaks to the tremendous need for animal shelters in our communities.
Shutter speed and aperture aren't the first things you learn in Nanette Martin's workshop. First, you learn to speak a little "dog". Martin is showing the Second Chance staff how to get the attention of a large, fuzzy dog named Riley. She barks and whines and has the staff do the same. Riley needs to look straight at the camera for the shot Martin wants. "The dog might not know that the picture you take could save his life, but you know", Martin says.
She has strict rules about photographing shelter animals. No cages, no leashes, no costumes. Martin believes capturing their essence - not their desperation - gives them a better chance at adoption. "I won't photograph an animal behind bars", Martin says, "I will not photograph an animal in any way that indicates they're in a shelter. I don't want anybody to adopt a dog I photograph because they pity it. I don't want anybody to feel sorry. I want them to connect, to feel something, hopefully it's hope. Hopefully it's joy, potential".
Nanette Martin didn't start her career as a shelter pet photographer. But, she's always taken pictures of tragedy. She covered 9/11, and the deadly Cedar and Los Alamos Fires. Her work has appeared in Life and People magazines. It was while Martin was covering Hurricane Katrina that her work shifted to animal rescue. "That was my introduction to this world of people who had so much incredible strength", Margin says. "They gave up their lives, their homes, their families, and they put everything on the line to save other people's pets. There's this place that rescuers get to where you can't go on, but you can't quit because if you quit, animals die"
About seven million animals enter shelters in the U.S. each year. Nearly half are euthanized, not because of illness or behavior, but because of overcrowded, underfunded facilities. Second Chance kept thousands of animals out of "kill shelters” by collaborating with a network of rescue groups. It took the overflow of animals who may otherwise have been transferred or put down. Here's adoption manager Alyssa Wolmer just a few weeks ago…before Second Chance announced it would close.
"In 2016 we were right around a thousand intakes and adoptions", Wolmer says, "we pushed about a thousand animals through the shelter. We have 38 different rescue partners that we work with - we're what's called a limited admission shelter so we don't take any animals from the public, specifically, we just take from other rescues and shelters. Our save rate you know we’ve done the numbers. Our save rate is 99.3%. It’s really high, but what’s more important is that we’re putting healthy, adoptable animals into the community and putting our resources towards that".
That's why Nanette Martin thought it was significant to start her tour at Second Chance. She saw it was animal rescue work at its most strategic. "The dogs and cats in your local shelter could easily have come from another shelter the day before," Martin says. "It's connected. It's all connected. If they open up a spot then that means they can take one from a kill shelter. You cannot have an adoption in one shelter and not affect the whole system."
Second Chance will retain its Board of Directors. They hope to develop a different business plan that may, eventually, help them reopen. This weekend, the shelter held its final adoption event. The animals that weren’t adopted will be transferred to the Sedona Humane Society. What remains to be seen is how the loss of this resource will affect other rescues, and of course, countless animals in need of help.