[Important reminder first:  EBRPD's Board of Directors will be meeting tomorrow, January 12th.  Ms. Barial Knight has confirmed the meeting will not start at 1pm as they usually do, but will start at 1:30pm Pacific Time instead.]

On 5 January, when I started the series of posts about the previous Board meeting, my plan was to look at a couple of speakers' comments each day.  I hoped to go through each in detail, partly because I think we can learn from one another and because each speaker could spark interesting discussions, but I had another reason in mind as well.  I wanted to encourage people to send (or continue to send, in many cases!) emails to the Board members. I even had part of that post already written.  Here is what I had planned to post once all the speakers had been discussed:

Many people have asked what else they can do to support this cause, and I think one of the most powerful tools in almost everyone's toolkit is a simple email. At the 15 December meeting, the Clerk of the Board, Yolande Barial Knight, announced that 300 emails had been received before the deadline closed the previous day. 291 called for an end to EBRPD's policy of shooting cats, while only 9 were written in support of the policy! I would love to see emails condemning the shooting of cats continue to pour in before every meeting. EBRPD's stated plan is to delay putting this policy on the General Board's agenda until at least March; let's do everything we can to let them know that we are still watching; we are still waiting, and we are still demanding that they commit to a path of humane treatment of free-roaming cats, and of cooperation with local shelters and animal welfare organizations going forward.

Writing an email is more time-consuming, and potentially more daunting or intimidating a prospect than signing a petition. However, I think it's possible to make this task very simple and yet effective and honest. I thought that one way to approach this would be to come up with a very basic, brief, simple template, something like, "I am writing to voice my support for a permanent ban to EBRPD's decades-long policy of shooting free-ranging cats." If people wanted to simply send that sentence alone, of course they could do just that. However, if they wanted to increase the impact of their message, they could add a reason (or several reasons) why this issue matters to them personally.

Undoubtedly, some people would have immediately known what else they wanted to say.  I can't tell you how much I wish I were one of those people.  However, I think that some people might be a bit more like I am, and would know immediately that writing a personalized message was going to take them a lot more time than it probably should. For those people, I was going to encourage them to look back at the series of posts about 15 December, and to look for something that really resonated with them (or something that really angered them, if they preferred).  For example, when I look back at Carla Din's comments, I immediately know that I want to tell the Board that I am not comfortable with their proposed "internal investigation", and that, in the interests of both objectivity and transparency, I fully support Ms. Din's suggestion of some sort of neutral 3rd party arbitrator.  If I look back at Nara Dahlbacka's comments, I immediately know that I very much want to know the answers to all of her questions, both the ones she was given time to ask aloud, and those she was asked to submit via email.  

I don't know if this suggestion would have been useful for others and made it easier for them to write to the Board.  At least it couldn't have hurt.  I honestly believe that one of the most effective things that each of us can do is to write to the Board, over and over again if necessary, until they put this issue on the agenda; until they promise to commit to a path of humane treatment and respect for all animals, including free-roaming cats; until they create a protocol for contacting shelters, rescue groups and animal welfare organizations when faced with any situation involving a domestic animal; until they ban the use of "lethal removal" forever.

I want to apologize for failing to discuss all ten speakers, and also failing to encourage people who might be hesitant to send personalized emails to use those speakers' comments for ideas or inspiration.  It is an understatement to say that the events of January 6th really shook me.  I just wasn't capable of writing posts for several days, and then I was unable to "catch up" in time for this Board meeting.