Helping dogs in hot cars

News and headlines for June 15 - 21, 2024

A new study adds to a growing body of literature about the importance of enrichment for dogs in shelters. Specifically, the study determined that dogs co-housed with other well-matched dogs are less stressed and adopted faster than those housed alone. Despite this, single-dog housing remains the norm, which is not surprising. Because of rampant dysfunction and uncaring in pounds, what dogs need is not resulting in “evidence-based changes in industry practice.” 

In other news: It is hot, and dogs may need help. No Kill Sheltering Summer 2024. Paying people to sterilize, foster, and adopt. Do you have what it takes to save lives? Seattle Humane has an opportunity to get back to its roots. Arizona sheriff’s policy is to shoot hungry dogs. Bird flu spreads to cats. Falsely blaming No Kill for the failures of an abusive kill pound. 

These are some of the stories making headlines in animal protection:

It is hot, and dogs may need help

As a heat dome grips much of the U.S., dogs left in cars are in danger. Thankfully, 31 states allow using “reasonable force” (e.g., breaking a window) to rescue them. (I would argue that despite the consequences, ethics allow — and if death or serious injury is imminent, compel — it in all 50 states.)

While the 31 state laws tend to be very similar, they have specific requirements. Florida, for example, provides that “A person who enters a motor vehicle, by force or otherwise, for the purpose of removing a vulnerable person or domestic animal is immune from civil liability for damage to the motor vehicle” if the car is locked, the person has “a good faith and reasonable belief” that breaking in is necessary because the dog is in imminent danger, the person contacts law enforcement immediately before or after doing so, and then remains onsite until law enforcement or medical help arrives. In other states, the law only authorizes animal control officers and law enforcement to break in.

Here is a list of state laws that protect animals in cars.

Know your rights and obligations so you can intervene if necessary.

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No Kill Sheltering Summer 2024

The No Kill Advocacy Center published the Summer 2024 issue of No Kill Sheltering.

The current issue covers:

• What dogs in shelters need to thrive;

• What cats in shelters need to thrive;

• Model legislation to protect animals and the people who love them;

• How to protect your animal companion from tainted pet food;

• Los Angeles runs a medieval pound where abuse and neglect are the norms;

• Meet the humane movement’s founders and the lessons they offered;

And more.

If you are a patron-level subscriber, you can download it here.

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Paying people to sterilize, foster, and adopt

When I was at The San Francisco SPCA in the 1990s, we paid people to allow us to spay/neuter their cats. Not only did we offer the surgery for free, no appointment necessary, but we gave them $5 cash back.

The program helped increase spay/neuter to about 10,000 surgeries annually, the vast majority free. It also helped spearhead a decline in intakes. Such an approach not only works to encourage sterilization, it also works to promote fostering and adoption. Fast-forward nearly 30 years, and others are finally catching on.