In a recent article, I wrote about the science of keeping animals happy and healthy in shelters. In it, I provided the findings of over a dozen peer-reviewed studies showing how shelters are stressful places for animals. Specifically, I explained why temperament testing doesn't work, how shelters set animals up to fail, why animals get sick there, and what they should be doing instead. Unfortunately, instead of trying to help the animals, shelter staff often label them “unadoptable” and kill them.
Dear Mr. Winograd, I have been following you for a long time. I have been involved in rescuing street dogs since 1984. I used to work for a research scientist as her secretary, but once i realized what was happening in the laboratory, I left and made a vow to spend the rest of my life helping animals. That's when I began rescuing street dogs. Also, for 6 years now (I wish I'd done this sooner), I am a vegan once I realized the horrors of killing living beings whether it's done in the hellish slaughterhouse or on a farm. I am now totally against all of it.
Mr. Winograd, you inspire me. Knowing that you are still fighting the good fight. It is heartbreaking how most humans are simply not listening. I'm not sure anything will change. It feels like we're 'blowin' in the wind', like Bob Dylan said so many years ago...However, I will never stop speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves and I know you shall continue as well. I just wanted to say thank you...
Thank you for your kind words, the rescue you do, and your veganism. And take heart. As rescuers, we know firsthand that while trying to make the world a better place for companion animals is gratifying, being immersed in the cause to combat animal abuse means that we are also reminded of it constantly. As a result, it is easy to believe that most people don’t care about animals or their suffering. Living in the trenches, we often focus on the bad things people do to animals and become blind to the good. Most regrettably, we can lose the ability to perceive how most people feel about animals and the vast compassion that exists to make the world a better, kinder, and safer place for them.
Humanity is far from hopeless, as our moral evolution (in the West) demonstrates. In just a few generations, we ended monarchies and replaced them with democracies. In a short time historically, we went from the Pony Express to the Internet and from a slave-based society to one that elected an African American as our President. We outlawed child labor and segregation; we prohibited gender discrimination and granted marriage equality. Once the path to a more compassionate future was cleared for them, most people who did not have a vested interest in the status quo pursued it willingly because they saw it as better, and that kinder, more enlightened view became the new norm.
When it comes to animals, we see the same remarkable shifts. Dogs and cats have gone from the fringes of society to our backyards and from the backyard into our hearts and homes. Today, dogs and cats are members of our families. More to the point, in communities that have ended the killing of animals in shelters, the public brought it to an end through adoptions, volunteerism, donations, foster care, and other community support. These communities have proved that there is enough love and compassion to overcome the irresponsibility of the few. So we need to put to bed, once and for all, the idea that dogs and cats — animals most Americans now consider cherished members of their family — need to die in U.S. shelters because people are irresponsible and don’t care enough about them. It’s not true. Most people, the vast majority, love them as we do.
And while it is true that the raising and killing animals for food is the single greatest cause of suffering on the planet, there is hope there, too. As I reported last week, “Residents of post-industrialized countries are reducing the number of their fellow earthlings they eat.. In addition to the investment in cultured meat, which promises to replace factory farming with bio-reactors and precision fermentation, sales of plant-based meats have doubled in those countries and will more than triple by 2030.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be setbacks, and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stay vigilant. I do not believe in the inevitability of certain outcomes. Instead, we have to want something to happen and fight for it. But I also believe in the remarkable capacity of my fellow humans for change and compassion. That can get obscured on social media as the loudest and most vitriolic voices drown everyone else out. But research clearly shows that if you put people in a room, give them the facts, the best arguments from all sides, and the opportunity to deliberate issues together, they find common ground: Democrats, Republicans, and independents can even agree on healthcare, immigration, economic, foreign, and environmental policy.
They aren’t wedded to a “liberal” or “conservative” agenda. They just want policies that, regardless of the party that proposes them, are responsive to their needs and the needs of their communities.
Just as importantly, the process of deliberating also shows them what the “we are polarized” narrative obscures: that “the country is not as divided as the media make it seem;” that we are still one people.
Thank you Mr. Winograd. It's not that I haven't seen kindness in humans. Just not enough. Even the land we live in was taken illegally and aggressively from the Indigenous people and still we have not made amends for that. And the same for our treatment of non humans. I want to see your point; I want to see your wisdom. And yes, I have seen some changes. But the numbers of beings tortured and slaughtered daily all over the world (and even in India!!), 200 million plus every day just in the U.S.! In 2020, number of slaughtered cattle and buffaloes for meat for India was 35,800 thousand heads. Number of slaughtered cattle and buffaloes for meat of India increased from 1,647 thousand heads in 1971 to 35,800 thousand heads in 2020 growing at an average annual rate of 8.67%. And on and on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I just cannot see a way forward...So sorry..But I will continue to speak up for them....
That shelter employees laugh and joke about killing dogs is not surprising. How could anyone who has a conscience and feels empathy for other living beings work at a job that involves killing animals daily? It takes a very unusual person who will get up and go to work everyday to kill animals. And that kind of person is not one that I would want to be a neighbor of mine. Nor should the kind of shelter staff described in your article be allowed to work in a shelter. It turns my stomach to read about the depraved cruelty that goes on behind shelter doors by humans. I will see those dogs every time I close my eyes and never forget their suffering.
Thank you, Nathan -- will share this message to continue to fight for NO-KILL throughout the country -- - we MUST make NO-KILL the norm & not stop until every last shelter in every city does so.
Nathan, Please. Please help. Please read. Animals are dying. I am a RVT wjo was hired as the clinical manager for a local humane society. I was terminated after 10 days for exposing illegal, unethical, immoral and horrendous things transpiring there. Another puppy just died this morning after being given no medical
Carr despite having parvo. I have witnesses, pictures, videos, staff and everyone ready to talk. I have pictures videos and text messages of animal cruelty. Many have been posted in the comments of a now viral fb post.. There are still gravely sick and injured animals in their care. I have witnesseses, volunteers, and employees ready to talk. I have text messages , videos, staff emails. I have it all.
The Humane Society Of Northeast Georgia has shamefully lied and denied animal cruelty and care for many years while terminating the employees invested to change it. Profiting substantially and immorally off the sale of puppies, instead of adopting them in the best interest of the community, is the reason why you are in being held accountable. This is now a legal matter.
Employing unethical veterinarians who perform surgical procedures without proper veterinary protocols goes against every code of ethics you pretend to stand for.
Dear Mr. Winograd, I have been following you for a long time. I have been involved in rescuing street dogs since 1984. I used to work for a research scientist as her secretary, but once i realized what was happening in the laboratory, I left and made a vow to spend the rest of my life helping animals. That's when I began rescuing street dogs. Also, for 6 years now (I wish I'd done this sooner), I am a vegan once I realized the horrors of killing living beings whether it's done in the hellish slaughterhouse or on a farm. I am now totally against all of it.
Mr. Winograd, you inspire me. Knowing that you are still fighting the good fight. It is heartbreaking how most humans are simply not listening. I'm not sure anything will change. It feels like we're 'blowin' in the wind', like Bob Dylan said so many years ago...However, I will never stop speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves and I know you shall continue as well. I just wanted to say thank you...
Thank you for your kind words, the rescue you do, and your veganism. And take heart. As rescuers, we know firsthand that while trying to make the world a better place for companion animals is gratifying, being immersed in the cause to combat animal abuse means that we are also reminded of it constantly. As a result, it is easy to believe that most people don’t care about animals or their suffering. Living in the trenches, we often focus on the bad things people do to animals and become blind to the good. Most regrettably, we can lose the ability to perceive how most people feel about animals and the vast compassion that exists to make the world a better, kinder, and safer place for them.
Humanity is far from hopeless, as our moral evolution (in the West) demonstrates. In just a few generations, we ended monarchies and replaced them with democracies. In a short time historically, we went from the Pony Express to the Internet and from a slave-based society to one that elected an African American as our President. We outlawed child labor and segregation; we prohibited gender discrimination and granted marriage equality. Once the path to a more compassionate future was cleared for them, most people who did not have a vested interest in the status quo pursued it willingly because they saw it as better, and that kinder, more enlightened view became the new norm.
When it comes to animals, we see the same remarkable shifts. Dogs and cats have gone from the fringes of society to our backyards and from the backyard into our hearts and homes. Today, dogs and cats are members of our families. More to the point, in communities that have ended the killing of animals in shelters, the public brought it to an end through adoptions, volunteerism, donations, foster care, and other community support. These communities have proved that there is enough love and compassion to overcome the irresponsibility of the few. So we need to put to bed, once and for all, the idea that dogs and cats — animals most Americans now consider cherished members of their family — need to die in U.S. shelters because people are irresponsible and don’t care enough about them. It’s not true. Most people, the vast majority, love them as we do.
And while it is true that the raising and killing animals for food is the single greatest cause of suffering on the planet, there is hope there, too. As I reported last week, “Residents of post-industrialized countries are reducing the number of their fellow earthlings they eat.. In addition to the investment in cultured meat, which promises to replace factory farming with bio-reactors and precision fermentation, sales of plant-based meats have doubled in those countries and will more than triple by 2030.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be setbacks, and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stay vigilant. I do not believe in the inevitability of certain outcomes. Instead, we have to want something to happen and fight for it. But I also believe in the remarkable capacity of my fellow humans for change and compassion. That can get obscured on social media as the loudest and most vitriolic voices drown everyone else out. But research clearly shows that if you put people in a room, give them the facts, the best arguments from all sides, and the opportunity to deliberate issues together, they find common ground: Democrats, Republicans, and independents can even agree on healthcare, immigration, economic, foreign, and environmental policy.
They aren’t wedded to a “liberal” or “conservative” agenda. They just want policies that, regardless of the party that proposes them, are responsive to their needs and the needs of their communities.
Just as importantly, the process of deliberating also shows them what the “we are polarized” narrative obscures: that “the country is not as divided as the media make it seem;” that we are still one people.
Onward and upward…
Thank you Mr. Winograd. It's not that I haven't seen kindness in humans. Just not enough. Even the land we live in was taken illegally and aggressively from the Indigenous people and still we have not made amends for that. And the same for our treatment of non humans. I want to see your point; I want to see your wisdom. And yes, I have seen some changes. But the numbers of beings tortured and slaughtered daily all over the world (and even in India!!), 200 million plus every day just in the U.S.! In 2020, number of slaughtered cattle and buffaloes for meat for India was 35,800 thousand heads. Number of slaughtered cattle and buffaloes for meat of India increased from 1,647 thousand heads in 1971 to 35,800 thousand heads in 2020 growing at an average annual rate of 8.67%. And on and on, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. I just cannot see a way forward...So sorry..But I will continue to speak up for them....
That shelter employees laugh and joke about killing dogs is not surprising. How could anyone who has a conscience and feels empathy for other living beings work at a job that involves killing animals daily? It takes a very unusual person who will get up and go to work everyday to kill animals. And that kind of person is not one that I would want to be a neighbor of mine. Nor should the kind of shelter staff described in your article be allowed to work in a shelter. It turns my stomach to read about the depraved cruelty that goes on behind shelter doors by humans. I will see those dogs every time I close my eyes and never forget their suffering.
Thank you, Nathan -- will share this message to continue to fight for NO-KILL throughout the country -- - we MUST make NO-KILL the norm & not stop until every last shelter in every city does so.
Nathan, Please. Please help. Please read. Animals are dying. I am a RVT wjo was hired as the clinical manager for a local humane society. I was terminated after 10 days for exposing illegal, unethical, immoral and horrendous things transpiring there. Another puppy just died this morning after being given no medical
Carr despite having parvo. I have witnesses, pictures, videos, staff and everyone ready to talk. I have pictures videos and text messages of animal cruelty. Many have been posted in the comments of a now viral fb post.. There are still gravely sick and injured animals in their care. I have witnesseses, volunteers, and employees ready to talk. I have text messages , videos, staff emails. I have it all.
The Humane Society Of Northeast Georgia has shamefully lied and denied animal cruelty and care for many years while terminating the employees invested to change it. Profiting substantially and immorally off the sale of puppies, instead of adopting them in the best interest of the community, is the reason why you are in being held accountable. This is now a legal matter.
Employing unethical veterinarians who perform surgical procedures without proper veterinary protocols goes against every code of ethics you pretend to stand for.
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