In other news: The No Kill movement loses a friend. No Kill Sheltering. Hijacking the Animal Movement. After scandal and backlash, Austin walks back from the brink. Vaccine skepticism is taking its toll on dogs. EU votes to protect animal agriculture from humane competition. More cats die from raw pet food. Another week, two new tainted pet foods. Group calls for regulation of plastic pet toys. Another city bans the sale of milled puppies and kittens. Communities are looking for someone to run or help run their animal shelters.
These are some of the stories making headlines in animal protection:
The No Kill movement loses a friend
The No Kill movement lost a friend with the passing of Alan Rosenberg. Alan was a passionate advocate for shelter animals and a devoted supporter of the No Kill Equation. To him, the numbers — intakes, reclaims, adoptions, and adoption potential — made the case for No Kill self-evident, and his articles were filled with the math to prove it.
I once received an email from someone who told me they first heard about me after seeing some over-the-top, irate posts from people who either killed animals or defended the killing of animals. He said that because of the extreme nature of the backlash, he knew I was onto something.
The same could be said of Alan.
His unassailable arguments to end killing and hold abusers accountable often provoked the wrath of status quo proponents, many of whom lost what little circumspection they had to begin with in response to his work.
In 2021, for example, Alan wrote an exposé about Aurora Velazquez, then director of the Philadelphia pound. Under her watch, a staff member savagely beat a dog named Saint, who was left in a kennel “with a jaw broken so badly that [he] couldn’t close his mouth.” Instead of providing veterinary care or ordering an investigation, Velazquez covered up the crime by instructing staff to kill Saint before the end of operating hours that day. After Saint was killed, his body was quickly disposed of, and Velazquez refused to return it to his family.
A series of articles by Alan, me, and others ultimately led to her resignation under a cloud of ethical and criminal misconduct.
In response to Alan’s reporting, Kristen Hassen, an ardent defender of regressive pound directors, chastised him by saying his work was “not okay,” claiming it was “really disheartening this is how you are spending your time,” and called his work to hold people accountable for Saint’s abuse, killing, and coverup “one of the darkest days in the movement — the likes of which we haven’t really seen.” When someone draws the ire of animal-abuse apologists and killing-enablers, you know they’re making an impact.
Unfortunately, Velazquez was later hired by Best Friends Animal Society. But that didn’t deter Alan, who turned his pen toward Best Friends as well. While most No Kill advocates also started out standing up to corrupt organizations like Best Friends and the ASPCA, many were eventually bought off by the wealth and “prestige” of these large, national groups. Not Alan, who remained steadfast. Contrary to what Hassen claimed, Alan’s work was a worthwhile and noble way to spend his time — indeed, it was a noble way to spend his life.
As his colleague Aubrie Kavanaugh wrote:
“Alan lived in New Jersey, but like many people active in the No Kill movement, the effects of his advocacy were felt across the nation… He was an unapologetic proponent of the No Kill Equation as the solution to end the killing of healthy and treatable animals in our nation’s shelters and did not hesitate to help anyone who sought his counsel.”
He will be missed.
No Kill Sheltering
The No Kill Advocacy Center published the Autumn 2025 issue of No Kill Sheltering.
The current issue covers:
A new federal task force to tackle animal abuse;
The pets of the homeless are suffering;
How the American humane movement lost its way;
A former beacon of hope becomes a cautionary tale;
TNR protects cats, caretakers, and birds;
And more.
Hijacking the Animal Movement
Some of the most prominent vegan and animal-rights activists are undermining the movement by injecting it with irrelevant and divisive political agendas; specifically, they are calling for a boycott of Jewish-owned vegan restaurants over Israel. In doing so, they are betraying animals by weakening the infrastructure — vegan restaurants — needed to reduce animal suffering.
After scandal and backlash, Austin walks back from the brink
