From No Kill Advocacy Center director Nathan Winograd: Florida just passed The Shelter Transparency Act requiring shelters to release monthly reports about the number of animals adopted, transferred to rescue groups, reclaimed, killed, died and more. It will shine the cleansing light of public scrutiny on shelter death: “Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.” The new law also confirms that TNR is legal in Florida… Using the data from the new law, we’ll be back with bills that require shelters to actually do their jobs and save lives.
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Hats off to Jack Cory of www.paconsultants.com who spearheaded and ushered the bill through the legislature. Jack will teach a workshop on lobbying and legislation at No Kill Conference 2013.
Register today: www.nokillconference.org
In the last 11 years, 29,426 animals have died at PETA’s hands including those they themselves described as “healthy,” “adorable,” and “perfect.” In some cases, this includes animals they promised to find homes for, only to put them to death within minutes in the back of a van—a donor-funded mobile death squad on wheels. It includes kittens and puppies. According to Ingrid Newkirk, PETA is “not in the home finding business.” Its mission is to put animals to death. PETA has no adoption hours, it does not keep animals alive long enough to find homes, and it does no adoption promotion. How is this legal? PETA is registered in Virginia as an “animal shelter.”
Since employees of “animal shelters” are the only non-veterinarians authorized by Virginia law to kill animals, removing PETA’s designation as a shelter will put the brakes on PETA killing. Here is the petition filed with the Virginia Department of Agriculture (VDACS) on behalf of the No Kill Advocacy Center to do so: http://bit.ly/ZK4kjj
Please take a moment to email VDACS Commissioner Matt Lohr and Animal Shelter Inspector Dr. Dan Kovich and POLITELY ask that they grant the NKAC petition to remove PETA’s designation as an animal shelter:
Commissioner Lohr: matt.lohr@vdacs.virginia.gov
Dr. Kovich: dan.kovich@vdacs.virginia.gov
From No Kill Advocacy Center director Nathan Winograd:
One morning after Tompkins County, NY became a No Kill community, a woman brought in a stray cat she had found. She explained to me how this was the first time she had ever brought an animal to the shelter. In the past, whenever she found an animal in need, she took the animal home. She explained how she often felt overwhelmed by the amount of animals she had to care for, but she didn’t have a choice because the shelter would have killed any cats she found and brought in, something she would never allow them to happen. She then expressed relief and gratitude that Tompkins County was now No Kill, and had a shelter she could turn to for help.
How would you like to live in that kind of community? How would you like your bathroom to be your bathroom again, instead of a kennel for injured animals you’ve found? How would you like to wake up and drink a cup of coffee, rather than first spending an hour medicating sick animals you have found? Of course you can always still do those things, but it doesn’t have to all fall on you. Join me and dozens of other speakers at No Kill Conference 2013 as we show you how to build a No Kill community.
We have new workshops and new speakers, including increasing adoptions, harnessing community compassion, raising the money to pay for it all, keeping your rescue/shelter animals healthy, and so much more including a track on advocacy and activism to reform your local shelter.
Workshops: http://nokillconference.org/workshops/
Speakers: http://nokillconference.org/speakers/
Check out photos from 2012: http://nokillconference.org/2012-2/
MONDAY is the last day to get an early registration discount. If you are with a shelter or rescue group or are a student, there are additional discounts. If you are a municipal shelter director, you can get in free. But only if you register by Monday. (Professional education certificate and continuing legal education credits are available).
No Kill Conference 2013
Washington, D.C.
July 13-14, 2013
www.nokillconference.org
From No Kill Advocacy Center Director Nathan Winograd: “A rescuer or volunteer not only has the First Amendment right to speak out against inhumane practices committed by a governmental entity, he or she also has a constitutionally protected right to demand that the government correct the wrongs identified.”
Williamson County enacts retaliatory policy: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130407/WILLIAMSON01/304070060/Shelter-adopts-new-volunteer-policy?nclick_check=1
Read my letter on behalf of the No Kill Advocacy Center to the Mayor: http://bit.ly/10exPNJ
Have you been subjected to similar retaliation? Read “Section 1983 to the Rescue”: http://bit.ly/STBP0B
What is a dog worth? Not much, says the Texas Supreme Court in its ruling today.
The Court rejected the No Kill Advocacy Center’s contention that families whose animals are negligently killed are entitled to compensation beyond their economic value. At issue was whether Avery, a dog who was wrongly killed by a Texas pound, had value beyond the replacement cost of another dog. We had filed an amicus brief arguing that the Court of Appeals correctly ruled that dogs are worth more than market value for a replacement. In other words, while the family can get another dog, they cannot get another Avery. Tragically, the Texas Supreme Court ruled against Avery’s family, effectively shutting the doors of justice to people whose companion animals get killed.
We were opposed by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American Kennel Club, the American Pet Products Association and other industry groups who, in effect, argued that the “human-animal bond” only applies when people are writing checks to them. And, not surprisingly, the large national groups like the Humane Society of the United States remained silent because their friends at shelters will also be held accountable for wrongly harming and killing people’s animals.
For a copy of the No Kill Advocacy Center brief: http://bit.ly/W3uATI
To read an article about the case: http://bit.ly/UnKnyT
To read the Court’s ruling: http://bit.ly/10CcTyO
Cat lovers: PETA says Florida’s feral cats are better DEAD than FED. As shelters and health departments nationwide embrace trap-neuter-release programs, PETA remains a stalwart opponent of this humane alternative to killing, arguing that healthy feral cats should continue to be killed.
Now, PETA is fighting legislation that would clarify that TNR is not illegal in Florida. According to PETA, “Senate Bill 1320 (S.B. 1320)—and its companion bill in the House (H.B. 1121)—would essentially strip cats of existing legal protections by allowing humans who starve, neglect, and harm them to avoid criminal prosecution for cruelty to animals.” This is fear mongering at its worst. Today, feral cats are slaughtered in shelters. SB 1320/HB 1121 will allow them to be neutered and released to their habitats. Here’s the bill: http://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2013/1320/BillText/Filed/PDF
Send polite emails asking for a YES vote on SB 1320 scheduled for April 1:
bullard.larcenia.web@flsenate.gov, flores.anitere.web@flsenate.gov, galvano.bill.web@flsenate.gov, garcia.rene.web@flsenate.gov, montford.bill.web@flsenate.gov, sachs.maria.web@flsenate.gov
Please also call the committee’s main line at 850-487-5133 to express your SUPPORT for S.B. 1320.
The No Kill Advocacy Center has model shelter reform legislation, the Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA), which ends convenience killing (killing when there are empty cages or other readily available lifesaving alternatives) and requires shelters to implement alternatives to killing such as foster care and medical rehabilitation, all proven lifesaving programs of the No Kill Equation:http://bit.ly/Z7VnDX.
So far this year, versions of CAPA have been introduced in Rhode Island, West Virginia, Texas, Illinois, Florida, New York, and Minnesota, with more states to be announced shortly.
Given the powerful opposition these laws face from entrenched shelter directors and the large national groups like HSUS, the ASPCA and PETA which have successfully derailed these efforts in the past, we are looking to the grassroots of the No Kill movement in the states where these laws were introduced to help get them passed. Alerts are posted regularly on Rescue50.
Educate yourself as to why groups like HSUS oppose these laws when they should be championing them: http://bit.ly/105Re5Z
And if you live in a state where CAPA has not yet been introduced, lead such an effort. No experience necessary. Our tools will show you how: http://bit.ly/U4dsMS
Attention Florida animal lovers: SB 872 Bill, the “Transparency in Animal Shelters Act,” would require animal shelters to compile a monthly and annual report of how many animals they take in, adopt out, reclaim, kill, transfer to rescue, die in kennel, and go missing/lost. The information must also be posted on their website. Transparency is the key to reform.
THE BILL IS SCHEDULED FOR A HEARING THIS MONDAY. NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD.
Please contact the Senate Ag Committee and urge a “Yes” vote: montford.bill.web@flsenate.gov, bullard.dwight.web@flsenate.gov, brandes.jeff.web@flsenate.gov, galvano.bill.web@flsenate.gov, garcia.rene.web@flsenate.gov, grimsley.denise.web@flsenate.gov, sachs.maria.web@flsenate.gov.
More info: www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=50001
The newest tool from the No Kill Advocacy Center: What’s in a Name? As No Kill advocates seek to pass progressive shelter reform legislation in communities and states throughout the country, time and again their fiercest opponents are organizations with names that allow them to masquerade as something they are not. What’s in a Name? from the No Kill Advocacy Center will allow legislators and policy makers to understand why groups like HSUS and the ASPCA oppose badly needed shelter reform legislation. To print or download it for FREE, click here.
For our shelter reform guides, including How Does Your Community’s Shelter Measure Up?, No Kill 101, Dollars & Sense, and more, visit our No Kill Advocate’s Toolkit by clicking here.
Twelve years ago, there were none. Today, 94 communities representing about 300 cities and towns across America have save rates between 90% and 99% and the numbers continue to grow. In fact, in 2012, over one new community per week achieved a save rate above 90%. The No Kill revolution is on the march.
Please join over 30 other speakers at the No Kill Conference in Washington, D.C. this summer as we celebrate those achievements and teach you how to do the same in your community.
Register this month to get the early registration discount, to get the rescue group discount, to get the shelter discount, to get the student discount and to get the municipal shelter director discount.
Learn more: www.nokillconference.org