This Week in Animal Protection

News and headlines for the weeks of May 31, June 7, and June 14, 2021

A dog went nearly blind, shortly after being purchased from a pet store in Illinois. The state is now poised to become the fifth to ban the retail sale of commercially-bred dogs and cats in pet stores to prevent exploitation and abuse and to encourage adoptions. If they want to offer animals, pet stores will be required to work with rescue groups or animal shelters if the Governor signs the measure into law.

Illinois is poised to become the fifth state to ban the retail sale of commercially-bred dogs and cats in pet stores. In fact, the effort to ban the retail sale of commercially-bred dogs, cats, and rabbits in pet stores is gaining momentum across the country. Pit bull bans are nearly a thing of the past in Colorado. The animal shelter in Austin, TX, was forced to comply with federal law and remove an unconstitutional policy that violated the First Amendment rights of rescuers. Many home insurance companies have breed discriminatory policies, but that may soon be illegal in New York if the Governor signs a bill prohibiting it. A new book makes the dangerous and racist claim that medical care, affection, and treating animals as family are “middle class” and “white” values. Tragically, it is not the only one. Marshfield, WI, has “adopted... trap-neuter-release (TNR) to help reduce the amount of feral cats in its community.” By contrast, the Plum, PA, city council recently passed a local law making it illegal to feed or care for community cats. A shelter claiming to have achieved No Kill before having done so almost took the life of a scared cat named Paco. Legislation has been introduced in California to put an end to an archaic system of providing blood for dogs who need transfusions. Highway engineers have built a series of crossings over and under freeways that reduced the number of animals hit by cars by 90%. The No Kill Advocacy Center is calling for legislation to make it illegal to kill a healthy or treatable dog, cat, rabbit, or other animal companion, regardless of whether the animal is at a shelter or taken to a veterinarian. A little dog’s life is changed for the better by assuming the best in a person. And 20 years ago, No Kill went from the theoretical to the real.

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

• Illinois will become the fifth state to ban the retail sale of commercially-bred dogs and cats in pet stores if a bill, which passed the legislature, is signed by the Governor.

• In fact, the effort to ban the retail sale of commercially-bred dogs, cats, and rabbits in pet stores is gaining momentum across the country. The Pew Charitable Trusts notes that it may be reaching a tipping point.

• Out of the shadows and into the sun. After 15 years, dogs identified as "pit bulls" are welcome again in Lone Tree, CO.

• Indeed, pit bull bans are nearly a thing of the past in Colorado. There is only one city with a ban still on the books: Louisville.

• The animal shelter in Austin, TX, was forced to comply with federal law and remove an unconstitutional provision in its “Transfer Agreement for Placement Partners” that violated the First Amendment rights of rescuers.

• Many home insurance companies have breed discriminatory policies. Depending on the insurance company, the most frequently banned breeds include, but are not limited to, pitties, rotties, chows, akitas, dobies, bulldogs, shar-peis, weimaraners, and many others. But that may soon be illegal in New York if the Governor signs a bill mandating that “no insurer shall refuse to issue or renew, cancel, or charge or impose an increased premium or rate for such policy or contract based solely upon harboring or owning any dog of a specific breed or mixture of breeds.”

• A new book makes the dangerous and racist claim that medical care, affection, and treating animals as family are “middle class” and “white” values, rather than objectively better because they reduce suffering and maximize happiness for those animals.

• Tragically, it is not the only one to make such a claim.

• Marshfield, WI, has “adopted... trap-neuter-release (TNR) to help reduce the amount of feral cats in its community.” The shelter will not only trap and sterilize cats themselves, but those who come “into the shelter will be get fixed and then released back to the area they were taken from.”

• By contrast, the Plum, PA, city council recently passed a local law making it illegal to feed or care for community cats. Those in violation of the ordinance could be fined upwards of $1,000 and face jail time. It is a cruel ordinance that punishes compassion.

• Claiming to have achieved No Kill in the face of continued killing is not just dishonest, it can lead to animals losing their lives when people mistakenly believe that it is now safe to surrender an animal. That is what almost happened to Paco.

• Legislation has been introduced in California to put an end to an archaic system of providing blood for dogs who need transfusions. Currently, California is the only state that bans “voluntary” blood donations, relying instead on “closed colony” blood businesses. In it, these businesses “house hundreds of dogs, mostly greyhounds, for the sole purpose of draining their blood.”

• What happens when highway engineers built a series of crossings over and under freeways? Animals use them, and as a result, the number of them hit by cars has dropped by roughly 90%.

• The No Kill Advocacy Center is calling for legislation to make it illegal to kill a healthy or treatable dog, cat, rabbit, or other animal companion, regardless of whether the animal is at a shelter or taken to a veterinarian, noting that “over one-third (36.9%) of dogs originally brought in by their owners for euthanasia could, upon further evaluation by staff and discussion with owners, be made available for adoption…”

• A little dog’s life is changed for the better by assuming the best in a person and giving them the opportunity to prove it.

And finally, 20 years ago, No Kill went from the theoretical to the real, with the creation of the first No Kill community in the U.S. having a lifesaving guarantee not only for dogs and cats, but for rabbits, mice, gerbils, hamsters, and given that we were an urban/rural shelter, chickens, pigs, horses, and cows.