The all caps headline read, "MATTIE WILL BE EUTHANIZED (sic) IF WE CANNOT FIND HER A HOME!" It appeared above a lengthy text filled with equally disturbing quotes about dogs in animal shelters, like this doozie: "....pacing like a caged zoo animal from the 70's..." All of this appeared above a photo of the sweet-looking Mattie - the dog the shelter was threatening to kill - in a post on the Huntsville Animal Services Facebook page. The response was fast and predictable. Nearl

On January 23, 2918, Mike Fry from No Kill Learning debuted his new mini documentary series Boots on the Ground, in which he is touring the country to tell the stories of how successful No Kill communities achieved their No Kill status. The first episode is The Lake County, Florida No Kill Story.. It is inspiring, uplifting, heart-felt and something everyone interested in animal sheltering should watch, whether they are a volunteer, staff person or an elected official who ove

147 shelter animals are dead. The person responsible framed her boss for the deeds, resulting in the boss's wrongful termination. Yet, the perpetrator is keeping her job at the Lake County Sheriff's Office and remains in charge of the County's animal control officers. Photo: Jennifer Ferguson holds a litter of kittens at the Lake County Animal Shelter. Ferguson served as the shelter supervisor prior to the County's transition to No Kill. She now serves as the lead Animal Cont

As we previously reported, Best Friends Animal Society recently announced its plan for a No Kill USA by 2025. It is a great idea. It is achievable. In most places, it is achievable much sooner than that. We also know, because of the long track record of these plans failing, that they almost never work. Even worse than the plans failing, they inhibit progress that could happen today, because they make it look like progress is being made where it isn't. They also let elected of

Fort Lauderdale, Florida - A formal investigation is underway after Local 10 News exposed the likelihood that animal control has been falsifying documents at the County animal shelter in order to hide killing. Documented in the report are multiple instances where Animal Control Director, Thomas Adair, changed animal records in the computer, changing the outcomes to "Owner Requested Euthanasia" when, in fact, owners had not requested euthanasia of their pets. Watch the report

Photo: Missy, a little Sheltie who suffers from pancreatic insufficiency and requires digestive enzymes in order to digest food, appears to have been neglected to death at the Humane Society of Carroll County. A story that we have been following since February took a tragic turn yesterday when Missy's owner was contacted by the Humane Society of Carroll County, asking her permission to euthanize her dog. Missy's owner wrote on Facebook, "Yesterday, I was called to the shelter

We hear from a lot of advocates that their efforts to encourage shelter reform in their communities are viewed as “attacks,” as if the subject of animal shelter reform is personal and not about accountability. We realize that there are some communities in which a change in shelter leadership is likely the best way to reform a poorly performing shelter. We also realize that any form of constructive criticism, no matter how diplomatic, can be viewed as a personal attack. Fo

How many days should a homeless pet stay at an animal shelter before killing them? Earlier this year I was approached by a person who worked for a state lobbying organization and told (not even asked) “you would rather see a dog suffer in a kennel forever.” I replied by saying, killing and suffering in a kennel are not the only two choices for homeless pets in shelters. But I should have asked, “Which day is it OK to kill a homeless pet?” Which day is the day that killing a h

A complaint filed with the New York State Supreme Court on Monday, July 31, 2017 exposes a long list of complaints against the Central New York SPCA adding another scandal to a long list of other scandals that have plagued the organization which provides animal control services for Onondaga County, the City of Syracuse and several surrounding cities and towns. The issues include large-scale embezzlement by multiple employees, needless killing of animals, nepotism on the part

There is a common misconception about No Kill that is being spread by some of the larger animal welfare organizations: "It takes YEARS to get to No Kill in a community." Fortunately, time and again, we have seen that it does not take years to get to No Kill. Instead of taking years, it happens as if by magic seemingly overnight. Tompkins County, NY was a perfect example. As the Tompkins story goes, Nathan Winograd walked through the door of the Tompkins County SPCA on June 11

A couple of weeks ago, No Kill advocates picked up on and shared a video of a dog being "trained" at Animal Ark. When we say "trained" we mean "pinned, choked and held to the ground on his back while he kicks and vocalizes in distress." That original report included some other damning information about Animal Ark under its new leadership, like the fact that in order to get and hold control of the organization, the new Board canceled Lifetime Memberships (Animal Ark's best don

Gomer, the dog being choked and pinned in the images above was simply over-stimulated after being neglected in a kennel for more than a year. Rather than providing him exercise and needed socialization the "leadership" at the shelter decided that Gomer was "aggressive" and needed "training." For years, Animal Ark in Hastings was considered an industry leader in the world of animal sheltering. They not only focused their attention on saving the animals that were most at-risk,

Note: The muzzle on the puppy in the above photo was added digitally. We would never do that to a puppy. As No Kill efforts around the USA continue gaining momentum, the old, regressive establishment is sinking lower in their efforts to muzzle No Kill advocates. In some cases their actions are simply disturbing and arguably Un-American. In other cases, they are violations of federal law. Before we get into the details we will say that it is clear that some people are so afrai

Nearly every No Kill advocate shares at least one common experience: the moment they discovered their "friendly community animal shelter" wasn't so friendly. It is a lesson most people react to in very similar ways, generally following, nearly to the letter, the five stages of grief: First comes Denial, then Anger, then Bargaining, then Depression and, finally, Acceptance. To be clear, when we say "acceptance" we do not mean to suggest that when shelters kill healthy or treat