February 17, 2009Comments are closed.council pound, No Kill, resistance
Nathan’s all feisty today. And very relevant given we’re all watching Victoria realise that it’s going to be impossible to reunite bushfire pets with their families within current deadlines and start lobbying government to have the state’s nonsensical, pet-killing legislation changed.
Well, there is good legislation that could overnight, overhaul Victoria’s crippled animal welfare system. And it’s not about curbing ‘irresponsible owners’ or punishing ‘an uncaring public’, but simply legislation that says pounds can’t kill animals when there is an alternative to killing them.
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While we have animal cruelty laws giving shelters the power to protect animals from abusive people, we don’t have good laws protecting animals from shelters. As a result, shelter directors often enjoy unfettered discretion to kill, to refuse putting in place programs that prevent killing, and to continue to demonstrate so little regard for animal life that they can take the lives of animals even when No Kill shelters and rescue groups are willing and able to save them.
While shelters who kill in the face of alternatives are acting unethically, their actions should also be illegal as they are in California, where state law forbids shelters from killing an animal if a No Kill shelter or rescue group is willing to save that animal’s life. If rescue groups come forward and say they will save them, there should be no choice in the matter.
We must make it illegal for shelter directors to kill any savable animals until they have shown that:
(1) there are no empty cages, kennels, or other living environments in the shelter;
(2) the animal cannot share a cage or kennel with another animal;
(3) a foster home is not available;
(4) rescue organizations have been notified and are not willing to accept the animal;
(5) the animal is not a feral cat subject to sterilization and release;
(6) the director of the agency certifies in writing, and under penalty of perjury, that he or she has no other alternative.
But legislation of that sort is only a start. At the very least, we must also require shelter directors to comprehensively implement all the programs of the No Kill Equation including medical and behavior rehabilitation, foster care, and more. And the reality is that if they do comprehensively implement the programs, and if they do certify the preceding, there will be no savable animals facing death, as No Kill will be achieved.
For more information on shelter reform legislation, click here.
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Why would anyone be against this kind of legislation? If there is a rescue group willing to take an animal, pay for its care and rehabilitation and rehome it, it’s criminal that a pound can decide to ignore their pleas and kill it instead. Why shouldn’t they be made to use the resources of the community, to contacting breed rescue and other private shelters? Why should they be allowed to choose to kill pets rather than put in the effort required to save them?
Worse, without this legislation pounds are holding animals hostage. If a rescue group speaks out about neglect, mistreatment or policies that cost animals their lives; then the pound can retailate by black-banning them, meaning they are unable to rescue from that pound in the future.
Around the country animals are dying, not because there aren’t rescuers to take them, but because pounds aren’t releasing them. And it must stop now.
