During December of 2013 and now in January of 2014, I continue to view almost daily, and sometimes more than once a day, TV appeals for money from an organization named the ASPCA, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The appeals show photos of dogs and cats purported to have been treated cruelly while an emotionally pitying female voice explains the variety of abuse these animals have undergone; she pleads with the audience to contribute $18 per month, within the next 10 minutes, so that these animals can be treated and cared for until adoption by people who love animals.
In 2004 the No kill Advocacy Center was founded in Oakland California to draft and support state and national legislation to promote animal protection in the various shelters around the United States; in addition to promoting legislation the Center has been responsible for developing communities of shelters that have accepted animal protection legislation.
The problem has been that many of the so-called agencies like ASPCA have supported the killing of dogs and cats in some shelters as soon as they have come into a so-called animal shelter so that people coming to such shelters to find their missing cat or dog have found their pet had been killed.
In September of last year the Center issued a position paper in response to a California Sheltering Report, written by the ASPAC and other shelter organizations; in the paper the Center expressed the dangers associated with some recommendations contained in the California Sheltering Report.
One of the recommendations in this report is to leave the decision about employment of policy to either:
a) kill animals as soon as they enter the shelter or
b) allow holding periods before killing so at to provide time
for recovery of lost animals and adoption
up to the shelter itself as the shelter decides what is best for their community surrounding the shelter.
According to the Center, leaving such a decision to kill or not kill up to the shelter itself does not follow the currently recommended Center policy for all shelters: to allow for at least a holding period of several days to allow for dog and cat owners to recover their animal or to allow for adoption of an animal.
In fact new legislation proposed by the Center is: to dispose of holding periods since the animals could be transferred either immediately or after a few days to rescue shelters; such shelters do not have a policy of immediate killing and do their utmost to either find out the original owners of the lost animal or if not, to put the animal up for adoption.
Frankly, I would rather give my monthly $18 a month to The No Kill Advocacy Center knowing that my money would help animal shelters having a no kill policy as well as help support no kill legislation.
As far as these TV appeals of ASPCA are concerned, I will suggest to all who see these appeals to carefully decide whether or not to give money to an organization which uses at best half truths in their appeals.
Sources:
1) The Truth About ASPCA: http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?cat=8;
2) Founding of Center: http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/about/
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