Without the force of law, animals remain at mortal risk in Austin, TX. Tucker was killed by Austin Animal Center despite a rescue group offer to save him, his former owner begging for custody, and department policy which permitted placement (but was ignored). In April of last year, for the first time since the Austin City Council passed the 2010 No Kill law, the placement rate for cats fell below 90%. Dozens of cats were…
The New York City pound killed Austin, an emaciated and blind dog, who bit someone’s hand that he could not see approaching. No effort was made to rehabilitate him. Imagine what a dog pound is like for a scared dog. Imagine being caught on the street (often with a “catch-pole” or “control pole,” a hard-wired noose that is supposed to go around your upper torso, but is almost always misused to grab by the neck),…
The shelter in Pueblo, CO, is in turmoil after 14 dogs died and the state took over operations. Adding insult to injury, anti-No Kill zealots are trying to exploit it to repeal a new law that mandates a 90% placement rate. The head of the Denver Dumb Friends League (DDFL), an organization that has long fought progressive sheltering policies and operates in a city that still kills dogs because of the way they look —…
On behalf of the No Kill Advocacy Center, I wrote Governor Gavin Newsom asking him to help dogs, cats, and other animal companions by abolishing killing in California’s animal shelters. I told him that California kills more animals than any other U.S. state and we don’t have to. It’s uncivilized, it wastes taxpayer dollars, provides no public safety benefit or value, and it is absolute, irreversible, and irreparable. Moreover, everyone on death row in our…
The ASPCA is lobbying for animals to die. The ink is not yet dry on New York State shelter reform legislation, the bill doesn’t even have a number yet, and Matt Bershadker, the ASPCA’s CEO, is already spending donor funds to kill it, saying it isn’t needed because the New York City pound is a model of compassionate sheltering. Not only does this ignore the care of animals in other shelters throughout the state, but…
If HB 1095/SB 1202 become law, tens of thousands of animals will be saved instead of being killed every year in Florida pounds, all at no cost to taxpayers. The Florida Companion Animal Public-Private Partnership Act — written by the No Kill Advocacy Center, my organization and sponsored by Representative Barbara Watson and Senator Kevin Rader — would make it illegal for municipal pounds to kill animals when qualified non-profit rescue organizations are ready, willing,…
New York City’s Health Department signed a 34-year contract with its own subsidiary, Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC). The contract was pushed through with minimal input from the public, and was signed despite the fact that it will affect hundreds of thousands of animals, the Department is paying itself $1.4 billion of the public’s money, and serious animal care deficits at the pound, including vivisection-like abuse activists have dubbed “spay, neuter, kill.” On average,…
Part II of a series of 2018 animal news in review. Early in the new year, I’ll be doing a radio interview highlighting the biggest shelter animal stories and trends of 2018 and what the future holds for 2019. I’ll be talking about community cat programs and pitty parties, and a whole lot more. Details coming soon: Earlier, I posted that 2018 marked a tipping point when it comes to dogs we classify as “pit…
Delaware Gov. John Carney signs the cat bill into law. The State of Delaware has taken another step forward by protecting community cats and making community cat sterilization the preferred method of “animal control” throughout the state. This week, the Governor signed HB235 which mandates that “visibly healthy cats admitted to a shelter, not placed for adoption, and lacking discernible owner identification, are sterilized, vaccinated against rabies, ear-tipped, and returned to a safe location where…
A dog available for adoption at the Humane Society of Fremont County, one of the brightest spots in Colorado’s constellation of progressive sheltering communities. Colorado is stuck. Don’t get me wrong. The state has the second largest number of communities with placement rates above 90%. Fremont County is continuing to help redefine the rehabilitation of dogs with behavior challenges, finding homes for 99% and limiting “aggression”-related killing to 1/4th of 1%. The City Council in…