Court rules that dogs are family
This and other news for the week ending July 4, 2025
In other news: Independence from traditional fireworks. San Francisco officials blame others for their own failures. Another state bans declawing. Another country begins the mass killing of street dogs. A dog lies in state for the first time. Readers respond to my questioning whether homeless people can properly care for pets.
These are some of the stories making headlines in animal protection:
Independence from traditional fireworks
Happy Independence Day to you and yours — arguably the most important celebration of the year, as promoting human and animal flourishing requires the embrace of Enlightenment values, starting with those indelible words of the Declaration of Independence, the unalienable rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Unfortunately, the 4th of July is a difficult holiday for animal shelters — and definitely for dogs, wildlife, and other animals. The sound of fireworks scares animals, and scared animals bolt. For dogs who then end up in shelters that have not embraced a culture of lifesaving, that can amount to a death sentence.
Thankfully, there is growing awareness that loud fireworks lead to animal trauma, and a growing number of communities are replacing them with silent ones or drone light shows. These alternatives “provide a safe alternative that is still a beautiful spectacle.” This should become the national norm. Quiet fireworks and drone light shows allow for all of the celebration without harming wild animals or killing dogs.
San Francisco officials blame others for their own failures
San Francisco Animal Care and Control has seen a steep rise in killing dogs, its highest rate since 2013. Like other failing institutions, SFACC leadership blames the public for the increasing number of stray and surrendered dogs. They also claim that puppies, in particular, are overwhelming the system, with a 40% increase in intake since the pandemic began. Finally, officials blame the San Francisco SPCA for taking fewer than 200 dogs annually from the city pound.
It’s dishonest, as other communities have achieved No Kill communities on a fraction of SFACC’s budget, without its “state of the art” facility, and despite taking in more dogs — in some cases ten times more per capita.
SFACC has more money than other “shelters”: To suggest that SFACC has sufficient resources to care for all the animals it takes in is an understatement. It’s $11 million budget — roughly $13.30 per capita — is twice the national average and five times what other large cities spend, about $2.49 per capita. I created a No Kill community spending less than $1 per capita of taxpayer funding. Others have likewise placed more dogs with less money than San Francisco.
SFACC doubled the size of its facility: SFACC spent nearly $80 million to renovate and reopen a new shelter, which features a modern veterinary suite, an emergency medical laboratory, and an X-ray facility. The facility now stands at 65,000 square feet. So why is it killing more dogs? Because pound officials have never prioritized animals. While the facility itself nearly doubled in size, the number of dog kennels (although larger) was intentionally reduced, resulting in 23 fewer dog kennels than before. Instead, officials chose to significantly expand space for themselves — at the expense of saving dogs — with more and larger offices, conference rooms, and staff break rooms.
SFACC takes in fewer animals than others: While it is true that the San Francisco SPCA has turned its back on San Francisco animals on death row at the city pound (when I worked at the SF/SPCA, we took in over 2,000 animals a year from them), SFACC takes in significantly fewer dogs than other cities. In 2024, it impounded 2,500 dogs. That’s only 2.9 dogs per 1,000 residents, which is about 30% of the national average. Even if that is an increase over the pandemic (itself a misleading comparison, since the pound was largely closed to intakes), it took in 2,411 the year before the pandemic and still managed a 93% placement rate, according to its own data. That’s an actual increase of less than 4%. If most of them are puppies, as it claims, their failures are their own, as puppies are always in high demand.
Another state bans declawing
