Re: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)

Vinny,
I'm not very experienced with press releases, but this seems to me to do a
good job of communicating the whole picture without being unnecessarily
long. (The "s" on adoptions in item #1 is probably not needed.)
Since I think Elizabeth said that Coo had about 250 birds, that might be
where the numbers are coming from. I'll see if I can run down the sources.
Michelle
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 6:34 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat
This is my first press release so fire away. I am not sure if the next to the last paragraph should stay in it. Also, I have seen people saying that we have over 600 birds in our system. A query showed me more like 400, so I used that. If someone can verify the 600 figure for me I will use it. Other than that I think that this is solid.
I do not have Kim’s words from last night so was unable to include them. I am thinking that the press release is long enough and that Kim’s words might be better on our blog and/or Facebook page. But if someone sends them to me and if we want to use them in this press release I will take a stab at it.
I would like to get this out by morning if possible. Once approved, it will take me a couple of minutes to post this in our public wiki and, subsequently, in our Reading Room. From there, Matt’s team can tweet and wall post on Twitter and Facebook and we can announce to discuss list, etc. And, of course, mail it to whichever media contacts we have like Gary Bogue and Eileen Mitchell.
Please let me know what you think; I will especially appreciate hearing from Tammy, Michelle and Pam. Thanks.
Vincent J. Hrovat

Thanks Michelle. The plural "adoptions" in the description of item 1 was
taken verbatim from AWC's minutes, but I removed the 's' because it is an
apparent typo. I made a few other minor changes to clarify or provide better
word variety. See attached R2 document.
Elizabeth's 250 should be included in the 400 count, assuming that they are
entered into ASM with proper animal counts. However, I see that we again
have a few dozen animals with zero counts, dating from 04/18 to a few days
ago. Nowhere near 200 though. I would prefer to wait to hear Elizabeth's
and/or Matt's thoughts about the count before changing it to 600.
Thanks.
--VH
From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Yesney
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:19 PM
To: Vincent J. Hrovat
Cc: Mickaboo media advisor team; Lee,Pamela A
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)
Vinny,
I'm not very experienced with press releases, but this seems to me to do a
good job of communicating the whole picture without being unnecessarily
long. (The "s" on adoptions in item #1 is probably not needed.)
Since I think Elizabeth said that Coo had about 250 birds, that might be
where the numbers are coming from. I'll see if I can run down the sources.
Michelle
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 6:34 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat

Sorry, I sent the original last time. R2 is attached to this email.
Vincent J. Hrovat
From: Vincent J. Hrovat [mailto:1217@vhrovat.org]
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 9:13 PM
To: 'Mickaboo media advisor team'; 'Vincent J. Hrovat'
Cc: 'Lee,Pamela A'
Subject: RE: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)
Thanks Michelle. The plural "adoptions" in the description of item 1 was
taken verbatim from AWC's minutes, but I removed the 's' because it is an
apparent typo. I made a few other minor changes to clarify or provide better
word variety. See attached R2 document.
Elizabeth's 250 should be included in the 400 count, assuming that they are
entered into ASM with proper animal counts. However, I see that we again
have a few dozen animals with zero counts, dating from 04/18 to a few days
ago. Nowhere near 200 though. I would prefer to wait to hear Elizabeth's
and/or Matt's thoughts about the count before changing it to 600.
Thanks.
--VH
From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Yesney
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:19 PM
To: Vincent J. Hrovat
Cc: Mickaboo media advisor team; Lee,Pamela A
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)
Vinny,
I'm not very experienced with press releases, but this seems to me to do a
good job of communicating the whole picture without being unnecessarily
long. (The "s" on adoptions in item #1 is probably not needed.)
Since I think Elizabeth said that Coo had about 250 birds, that might be
where the numbers are coming from. I'll see if I can run down the sources.
Michelle
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 6:34 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat

MickaCoo has 256 birds in foster care. Not all are in ASM, I'm sorry to say but the majority should be. The large intake of 216 Persian High Flyers should now be showing at about 176 remaining in foster care (and I believe the count is correct) because of adoptions to date. Per your request for feedback, I think the press release is exceptionally well written and adroitly tackles a complicated subject with which the Commission itself has many unresolved questions and contradictions (i.e. birds aren't being euthanized, SF stores don't sell dogs but shelters full of them, etc.) Because I think this topic is very fraught, I would recommend a couple of changes. I'd suggest changing the detailed explanation of what exactly the Commission is going to recommend to the Board. There were lots of amendments and ideas flying around and they themselves are not yet sure what their specific recommendations would be and I think spelling them out opens us to unwelcome parsing. It's not our recommendation to define (nor defend). Instead of being too exacting in detailing what their recommendation will be, I'd recommend identifying only the concept in broad terms (humane pet acquisition with an emphasis on adoption instead of pet sales) and go from there into the following. The second thing I'd suggest changing is that the small SF pet stores pride themselves on their careful education and placement of pets into only the best of hands and will trot out customers to back this up. Rather than address what they may or may not be doing, I'd shift the focus to an irrefutable fact- no matter what they are doing, rescues are overwhelmed with high numbers of pets needing homes, so many in fact Mickaboo & 'Coo are having to turn birds away and maintain waiting lists. So- even if they are doing an absolutely perfect job- the homeless pet crisis exists and adoption of existing homeless pets rather than continuously adding to the population is, as Kim puts it, the right and responsible thing to do. The pet stores don't have to be wrong for this to be right. Thank you for doing this and for inviting our feedback, Vinny. e On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 9:13 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat <1217@vhrovat.org> wrote:
Thanks Michelle. The plural “adoptions” in the description of item 1 was taken verbatim from AWC’s minutes, but I removed the ‘s’ because it is an apparent typo. I made a few other minor changes to clarify or provide better word variety. See attached R2 document.
Elizabeth’s 250 should be included in the 400 count, assuming that they are entered into ASM with proper animal counts. However, I see that we again have a few dozen animals with zero counts, dating from 04/18 to a few days ago. Nowhere near 200 though. I would prefer to wait to hear Elizabeth’s and/or Matt’s thoughts about the count before changing it to 600.
Thanks.
--VH
*From:* media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org [mailto: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] *On Behalf Of *Michelle Yesney *Sent:* Friday, June 10, 2011 8:19 PM *To:* Vincent J. Hrovat *Cc:* Mickaboo media advisor team; Lee,Pamela A *Subject:* Re: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)
Vinny,
I'm not very experienced with press releases, but this seems to me to do a good job of communicating the whole picture without being unnecessarily long. (The "s" on adoptions in item #1 is probably not needed.)
Since I think Elizabeth said that Coo had about 250 birds, that might be where the numbers are coming from. I'll see if I can run down the sources.
Michelle
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 6:34 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat
wrote: This is my first press release so fire away. I am not sure if the next to the last paragraph should stay in it. Also, I have seen people saying that we have over 600 birds in our system. A query showed me more like 400, so I used that. If someone can verify the 600 figure for me I will use it. Other than that I think that this is solid.
I do not have Kim’s words from last night so was unable to include them. I am thinking that the press release is long enough and that Kim’s words might be better on our blog and/or Facebook page. But if someone sends them to me and if we want to use them in this press release I will take a stab at it.
I would like to get this out by morning if possible. Once approved, it will take me a couple of minutes to post this in our public wiki and, subsequently, in our Reading Room. From there, Matt’s team can tweet and wall post on Twitter and Facebook and we can announce to discuss list, etc. And, of course, mail it to whichever media contacts we have like Gary Bogue and Eileen Mitchell.
Please let me know what you think; I will especially appreciate hearing from Tammy, Michelle and Pam. Thanks.
Vincent J. Hrovat
-- Elizabeth * * *PLEASE HELP MICKACOO WIN $25K BY VOTING EVERYDAY IN JUNE AT* *http://www.refresheverything.com/mickacoopigeonanddoverescue AND TEXTING 106711 TO 73774!* * * Until they all have homes, don't buy, don't breed- adopt. www.RescueReport.org www.MickaCoo.org http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGjyooh3Yo0

Thanks Elizabeth. See R3, attached. I knocked the pet stores less, told more
about the sorry state that some rescued birds are in, and included a piece
from Kim's great presentation in paragraph 3. I also increased the number
from 400 to 600. If we have 256 pigeons, it's gotta be at least that. (I
will worry about why the query was off later.)
I did NOT mention Mickaboo's moratorium, first in the interest of keeping
this focused on the AWC topic and second because it could lead people to
take that fact out of context and say, Mickaboo's not taking in any birds at
all so screw them. If anybody disagrees with this approach and REALLY thinks
that the moratorium should be mentioned, feel free to make your case and I
will listen.
Thanks.
--VH
From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Young
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 9:46 PM
To: Mickaboo media advisor team
Cc: Vincent J. Hrovat; Lee,Pamela A
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)
MickaCoo has 256 birds in foster care. Not all are in ASM, I'm sorry to say
but the majority should be. The large intake of 216 Persian High Flyers
should now be showing at about 176 remaining in foster care (and I believe
the count is correct) because of adoptions to date.
Per your request for feedback, I think the press release is exceptionally
well written and adroitly tackles a complicated subject with which the
Commission itself has many unresolved questions and contradictions (i.e.
birds aren't being euthanized, SF stores don't sell dogs but shelters full
of them, etc.)
Because I think this topic is very fraught, I would recommend a couple of
changes.
I'd suggest changing the detailed explanation of what exactly the Commission
is going to recommend to the Board. There were lots of amendments and ideas
flying around and they themselves are not yet sure what their specific
recommendations would be and I think spelling them out opens us to unwelcome
parsing. It's not our recommendation to define (nor defend). Instead of
being too exacting in detailing what their recommendation will be, I'd
recommend identifying only the concept in broad terms (humane pet
acquisition with an emphasis on adoption instead of pet sales) and go from
there into the following.
The second thing I'd suggest changing is that the small SF pet stores pride
themselves on their careful education and placement of pets into only the
best of hands and will trot out customers to back this up. Rather than
address what they may or may not be doing, I'd shift the focus to an
irrefutable fact- no matter what they are doing, rescues are overwhelmed
with high numbers of pets needing homes, so many in fact Mickaboo & 'Coo are
having to turn birds away and maintain waiting lists. So- even if they are
doing an absolutely perfect job- the homeless pet crisis exists and adoption
of existing homeless pets rather than continuously adding to the population
is, as Kim puts it, the right and responsible thing to do. The pet stores
don't have to be wrong for this to be right.
Thank you for doing this and for inviting our feedback, Vinny.
e
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 9:13 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat <1217@vhrovat.org> wrote:
Thanks Michelle. The plural "adoptions" in the description of item 1 was
taken verbatim from AWC's minutes, but I removed the 's' because it is an
apparent typo. I made a few other minor changes to clarify or provide better
word variety. See attached R2 document.
Elizabeth's 250 should be included in the 400 count, assuming that they are
entered into ASM with proper animal counts. However, I see that we again
have a few dozen animals with zero counts, dating from 04/18 to a few days
ago. Nowhere near 200 though. I would prefer to wait to hear Elizabeth's
and/or Matt's thoughts about the count before changing it to 600.
Thanks.
--VH
From: media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org
[mailto:media-advisors-bounces@mickaboo.org] On Behalf Of Michelle Yesney
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:19 PM
To: Vincent J. Hrovat
Cc: Mickaboo media advisor team; Lee,Pamela A
Subject: Re: [Media-advisors] Press release for SF ACW proposal (attached)
Vinny,
I'm not very experienced with press releases, but this seems to me to do a
good job of communicating the whole picture without being unnecessarily
long. (The "s" on adoptions in item #1 is probably not needed.)
Since I think Elizabeth said that Coo had about 250 birds, that might be
where the numbers are coming from. I'll see if I can run down the sources.
Michelle
On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 6:34 PM, Vincent J. Hrovat

Per your request for feedback, I think the press release is exceptionally well written and adroitly tackles a complicated subject with which the Commission itself has many unresolved questions and contradictions (i.e. birds aren't being euthanized, SF stores don't sell dogs but shelters full of them, etc.)
Just because SF stores aren't selling dogs doesn't mean they aren't being brought in from, oh I don't know, South San Francisco? Daly City? And all those non-shelter dogs are certainly set on "breed", I'm sure. In response to those who say just this (that people will just go somewhere else to get their animals): Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/1372.html (Gandhi) Change has to start somewhere. And I can't help this one too: "The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!" (Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek: First Contact) :)
participants (5)
-
Elizabeth Young
-
Martha Kudlacik
-
Michelle Yesney
-
Vincent J. Hrovat
-
Vincent J. Hrovat