No Kill advocates in Pueblo are concerned that their hopes of a No Kill Pueblo are in jeopardy as Colorado State inspectors announced they are investigating Community Animal Services of Pueblo (CASP). CASP is run by Paws for Life, a No Kill organization that took over operations of animal control for the City and County of Pueblo beginning January 1, 2019. Click the image to watch a video statement from the PAWS Board President about the investigation. The investigations and

Proactive Redemption is one of 11 components for reaching No Kill. It is all about making it easy to reunite lost pets with their families. Why would a poorly performing animal shelter, therefore, take in stray animals that were found in a community that is more than 40 minutes away, particularly when that community is No Kill? That is what No Kill advocates from Pueblo, Colorado are asking of the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR), an organization that has been

No Kill advocates in Pueblo, Colorado, (who organize together at a Facebook Page called Reform Pueblo Animal Services) believed their years-long struggle for their municipal animal shelter to become No Kill was almost over when, on Monday, February 26, 2018, Pueblo City Council passed the Pueblo Animal Protection Act (PAPA). The law has been successfully implemented under slightly different names in other communities. It will require the shelter to maintain a Live Release Rat

Monday, February 26, 2018 is a day animal advocates in Pueblo, Colorado will remember for a long time. During a City Council meeting that ran late into the evening, the Council voted to approve the Pueblo Animal Protection Act (PAPA) in a 4 to 3 vote, concluding a months-long campaign run by Reform Pueblo Animal Services (RPAS) to get the ordinance passed. PAPA was a proposed law that was based on similar laws enacted elsewhere, known as the Companion Animal Protection Act (C

Photo: Screen Capture of Pueblo Animal Services web site shows only 4 dogs available for adoption, even as they claim their relatively high kill rate is because of "pet overpopulation." As 2017 comes to a close there is a lot of exciting news going on in the world of animal sheltering. No Kill Learning did a nice recap, so we will not repeat all of that. One thing they mentioned, however, deserves some detailed attention, because doing so proves not only that overpopulation i

We recently reported that the Humane Society of Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR), which runs Pueblo Animal Services (PAS) under a contract they have with the City of Pueblo, Colorado, appears to have been using PAS resources in order to lobby citizens in what seems to be an overt conflict of interest, to continue killing and avoid oversight. The basic issue is that a proposed new ordinance, the Pueblo Animal Protection Act (PAPA), would require the Pueblo animal shelter to do more t

Image: The top portion of a letter mailed to members and donors to Pueblo Animal Services (PAS), and signed by the CEO of the Humane Society of Pikes Peak Region, attacking a proposed life-saving ordinance that would regulate the agency she over-sees, under a contract with the City of Pueblo, represents an overt conflict of interests that the City should address. Most people have heard the term "conflicts of interest," but a lot of people don't fully understand what it means,

Since we last reported on the Pueblo Animal Protection Act (PAPA), support for this proposed ordinance, introduced by City Council member, Chris Nicoll, has been getting much support, and from some influential sources. Particularly interesting is the fact that Randy Thurston, former Pueblo City Council President and highly respected Pueblo resident, published an op-ed in the local paper, the "Chieftain," in which he officially endorsed the proposal. He also systematically, us

No Kill advocates have heard it ad nauseam. "No Kill is divisive," they are told. "No Kill advocates are mean," shelters claim, while pushing away offers of help for the animals they are killing. The most recent case in point is Pueblo Animal Services (PAS), which is operated by the Humane Society of Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR) under a contract with the City of Pueblo, Colorado. According to State records, HSPPR and PAS are two of the poorest performing animal shelters in the

Pueblo City, Colorado Councilman Chris Nicoll has distributed a press release condemning the termination of a volunteer at Pueblo Animal Services (PAS). The volunteer's alleged offense? Writing a thoughtful, well-written and processional letter to the editor that was published in the Pueblo Chieftain, the City's local paper. The volunteer in question is Shanna Farmer and her termination by PAS raises several legal questions, and are likely a violation of federal law, because

Last week we wrote about how the killing of savable pets in animal shelters disrupts and divides communities. As if on cue, and to prove our point, Pueblo, Colorado Animal Services killed a dog named Charlie who was, by all accounts, social, friendly, playful and who had rescue groups wanting him. In spite of all of that PAS killed Charlie. Understandably, people in Pueblo are P.O.'ed and are taking action. First, a new Facebook page, Reform Pueblo Animal Services, has been s

We recently wrote about Charlie, a dog that was killed at Pueblo Animal Services (PAS), in spite of offers by others to save him. Since then, a lot has happened, some of it leading people to begin questioning the neutrality of their local newspaper, The Pueblo Chieftain. One of the first things that happened was The Pueblo Chieftain came out very publicly supporting the shelter and the killing of Charlie. The paper wrote a heavy-handed and ill-informed editorial in which it s