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No More Homeless Pets Forum
February 23, 2004 Animal Diplomacy |
Diplomacy for the grassroots animal advocate. Rebecca Guinn of Best Friends and Jane Hoffman of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals offer their insights and advice. Would you like to work with government officials but don't know where to start? Have you tried and failed? Is legislation the answer? How can you negotiate with public officials and make a difference for the animals in your community?
Introduction from Rebecca Guinn:
In some communities, the road to No More Homeless Pets may be a minefield. Too often, emotions run high in grassroots animal welfare organizations. Conflict is inevitable when our passion for saving the animals is met with a different agenda or with simple indifference from a public official.In dealing with local government leaders, animal control directors, and other public officials, there is no one method for success. Yet, there is one constant prerequisite: know the material. It is important to have a firm grasp of the animal welfare situation in your community and to be able to articulate that knowledge in a coherent and non-threatening manner. Public officials are bound by state laws, local ordinances, and contractual obligations. Needed changes that may seem simple and obvious from an animal welfare perspective may appear impossible to a public official entrenched in the status quo. To make changes in our communities, we must gain a clear and accurate understanding of the current situation to be able to provide workable solutions to our public officials.
In the coming week, we will be looking at methods for implementing change. Generally, but not always, developing allies in the system and learning to be patient with the process are keys to success.
Introduction from Jane Hoffman:
The Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals (which is now a coalition of over 60 NYC animal rescue groups and shelters) was started in October 2002 as a way to bring the shelters and rescue groups of New York City together and to start working effectively with the city to find ways to reduce the killing and improve conditions for the animals at New York City animal control shelters. Please go to our website at www.animalalliancenyc.org and check out "Links" to find a list of our participating organizations.New York City government officials were very aware of the problems at the city shelters, since they had been laid out in a city council hearing and report in 1998, as well as a 2002 New York City comptrollers report. But, because of the dire economic crisis the city found itself in after 9/11, the city was planning to ask the city council to delay the (legally mandated) building and opening of full-service shelters in two of the five city boroughs that did not have shelters. So the time was ripe for forging alliances and public/private partnerships to find solutions to improve animal control in New York City and for the animal rescue community to present creative solutions to a more receptive new city administration.
I would be happy to share my experiences in how (and how not) to approach city officials, how to frame proposals that government officials can understand, how important it is to understand your own governmental entity's structure, how governmental policy is made, and generally how (in my experience) "things work at city hall."
Questions
Overcoming county ordinances to do a pilot program
Introducing animal friendly laws
Do groups need to share basic beliefs on issues to work together?
Finding a first project everyone can agree to work on
Working with a pest control company that normally kills to try TNR
Building partnerships when the large shelter won't work with you
Lobbying county Commissioners for change when there is resistance
Making suggestions to improve a website without hurting feelings
But don't we need laws to make people comply?
Handling special favor requests from high donors and Board members?
Taking over an animal control contract
Pet limit laws affecting foster homes
Overcoming county ordinances to do a pilot program
Question from Carla:
I generally have a good working relationship with our county's Animal Services Director, County Administration, and the Commissioners. I am a strong proponent of TNR, but our Director has some real misgivings about it. Also at least one of our county Commissioners stated that his "green" constituents oppose TNR. We are looking into Trap, Neuter, and Contain but with the level of development going on in Florida and the FFWCC policy on feral cats, it doesn't look good. Our county ordinance also says that anyone feeding, caring for, etc. an animal for 10 consecutive days becomes that animal's owner and is subject to licensing the animal. I've also offered to oversee and participate in any prototype programs, coordinate/screen caregivers, etc., to no avail. Where can we go from here?Response from Jane:
First of all a big congratulations on having developed a good working relationship with your Animal Services' Director, County Administration and the Commissioners. You are already ahead of the game!If you have not already done so, I think it is time for you to try bring in the folks from Alley Cat Allies in Washington, D.C. Alley Cat Allies produces some amazing materials with supporting data including the fact that TNR makes sense economically which always appeals to government officials. Alley Cat Allies can also bring you up to date on what is happening in Florida and with the FFWCC - which is not all bad.
Does you county require the licensing of cats? I assume so if you are asking about it. If so while I understand this is an extra expense for the caregiver it also makes the cats a source of revenue, which may ironically help them get some protection.
Perhaps it might also be helpful to contact the ASPCA, which is very supportive of TNR here in NYC. They have a national reputation, which might also help persuade your government officials to give this a second look.
Response from Rebecca:
You have made a great start by initiating relationships with your County Animal Services Director, County Administrator, and Commissioners. With respect to TNR, I am not sure what you are asking from your public officials. Generally, TNR is best left unregulated by government. I am not familiar with any publicly-managed trap, neuter, and contain program, but I fear that the future of any cats in a government containment program would be uncertain, given the shifting priorities of public spending. In dealing with public officials, I try to avoid confronting essentially anecdotal evidence with even more anecdotal evidence. You mention that one of your Commissioners has "green" constituents who oppose TNR. What are the concerns specifically? There are resources available, which definitively show, for example, that feral cats have little impact on songbird populations. As Jane mentions, Alley Cat Allies has a wealth of TNR resources available on their website.When advocating for any program, it always helps to give examples of where the program is already in progress. One TNR program you may want to look at is Operation FELIX, run by Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. You can get the specifics on this program. Try to present your officials with the detailed mechanics of other programs - how they are structured, who does the work, and how they are funded. Also be prepared to list the results achieved and the potential benefits for your community. There are also some good suggestions for this in the No More Homeless Pets forum for February 2-6, 2004 on "Feral Cats: How Can You Get the Word Out and People On Board?" The Cat Coalition of Florida also may be able to help in gathering information specific to your community. You can contact them from their website.
Introducing animal friendly laws
Question from Norma:
The City Council has asked our rescue group, which runs the city shelter, to come up with ideas to re-write the city's animal ordinances. This is a chance to introduce some animal-friendly laws, but we must also be mindful of the needs of the citizens and their reactions to our ideas. We also want to make sure that we don't create any laws that can be misinterpreted or misused to end up hurting feral cats or include breed bans. What would you consider absolutely necessary to include in animal ordinances and do you feel legislation is a good way to go to make improvements for animals?Response from Jane:
I think education of the public is often as important as legislation. Even good laws do not accomplish a lot if there is ineffective enforcement and unfortunately that is often the case with animal laws. Getting the community to be part of the solution by embracing spaying and neutering and adoption from shelters is equally important.That being said... What a wonderful opportunity you have been handed by your City Council, although it is also a very daunting task! If this happened in NYC I think we would all fall over in amazement!
First of all, I would ask if you have a Bar Association where you live that has an animal law committee? NYC is lucky to have an animal law committee, the first in the country, at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY), which is a wonderful source of legal expertise. The ABCNY website has several of the brochures that committee has written on various topics. Look under Reports and Publications and then under Brochures. Scroll down until you see the brochures relating to animal law. It is pretty obvious which ones they are since they have titles like "Keeping Spot and Fluffy Home". You definitely should try to get a lawyer to help you with this process. Legal drafting is a tricky thing, as you so wisely point out. You do not want anything you suggest to have unintended consequences.
I would also suggest you try to contact the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF). The ALDF is a nationwide network of layers that practice or have an interest in animal law. They may be able to point you at a member lawyer in your area. If there is a law school near you, ALDF would also be able to tell you if there is a Law Student ALDF at that school.
Does your City Council have a lawyer on staff who has worked on these laws in the past who could work with you? It is often useful in deciding how to change a law to know why the law is the way it is now.
Finally, there are so many laws that cover animals it is hard to know where to start in an email-licensing laws, spay/neuter laws, cruelty laws, etc.
If you are coming to the Best Friends Las Vegas Conference in April, please come look for Rebecca and I. We can discuss this further, at least in general terms, especially if you can bring copies of your current local and state laws that pertain to animals. However, it will be best for you if you can find and work with a local lawyer.
Response from Rebecca:
Without knowing the specifics of your community, I hesitate to recommend specific ordinances. Generally, I tend to agree with the views expressed by Merritt Clifton, editor of Animal People. As Merritt states, "I find that laws saying ‘Thou Shalt Not,' addressing acts of commission, work quite well, and get a lot of public support. Hardly anyone approves of any kind of overt cruelty. Proscriptive laws, on the other hand, which try to mandate good behavior as opposed to prohibiting specific bad behavior, invariably fail. It is much easier to sell good behavior than to mandate it." In other words, our energy is better spent educating the public on animal welfare and encouraging private non-profit animal welfare services rather than attempting to legislate responsible pet guardianship.Except for those who are already law-abiding, laws are meaningless without adequate enforcement measures. For example, a particularly reprehensible practice, in my opinion, is chaining dogs. I know of a proposed animal control ordinance that will prohibit chaining a dog between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. If followed, this ordinance could very well end the practice of keeping dogs on chains as the primary method of containment. The problem with the proposed ordinance is that between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am, there are no animal control officers on duty. Thus, not a single citation will issue to anyone violating the ordinance because there are no officers to witness the violation. A citation can only be issued if a neighbor not only reports the violation, but also is willing to sign a sworn affidavit as a witness. Such a scenario seems unlikely in most cases.
Another pitfall of legislation is the possibility of selective enforcement. For this reason, TNR advocates are migrating to the view that no legislation is good legislation. Clearly, regulations specifically prohibiting TNR should be targeted for change. But if TNR is not mentioned, feral cat friends should prefer to stay out of the law books. Attempts to regulate feral colony caregivers are likely to be akin to, well, attempts to herd cats. If regulations expressly permit TNR programs within certain parameters, those same regulations can be selectively enforced to prohibit TNR and even bring harm to the cats given circumstances that may well be beyond the control of even the most experienced colony caregiver.
You can access Merritt Clifton's research on various legislative and regulatory initiatives related to companion animals.
You can also search animal laws and proposed legislation on the International Institute for Animal Law's web site.
Do groups need to share basic beliefs on issues to work together?
Question from a member:
It seems that both of your programs involve working with a lot of different groups. What we have faced here is that the groups don't agree on the basics like adoption policies and pediatric spay/neuter. So they get caught up arguing about those issues and we reach an impasse, never even deciding on a joint project or getting to the planning stages. Do you think the best approach is trying to give all the groups a voice in the process working together to develop a project, or is it more effective to have one group take the lead, decide what project to focus on that will benefit the groups, and just do it. I am beginning to think we would have a lot more progress if our group just took charge. Then the other groups would see progress and be more likely to get over the petty bickering.Response from Jane:
I am all for trying to involve as many people as possible at the outset. Invite everyone to join in the vision. And if you make the vision as narrowly drawn as possible (reduce the killing of shelter animals by increasing spay/neuter surgeries and increasing adoptions for instance) you can usually get the majority of the groups to buy in. I guess my question to you would be why does everyone have to agree on adoption policies and pediatric spay/neuter to work together???In NYC we do not determine or direct the internal policies of our member groups. We have certain basics Terms of Participation which you can see on our website at www.animallliancenyc.org under Join. We ask the groups to adhere to the spirit of the Terms. As long as they are taking good care of the animals and obeying the rules for participating in adoption events, they are good to go as far as we are concerned.
We do try to help all our groups get better and more efficient at what they are already doing, but that is by offering training sessions and educational seminars not imposing rules. Ultimately if you cannot get consensus on a narrow mission, letting the groups do things their own way, then perhaps you do need to just move forward. Let your success attract those that would not join at the beginning. But bear in mind you are moving forward, but not leaving anyone behind. Be prepared to welcome all comers doing good rescue work at any stage of the journey.
Response from Rebecca:
You raise an issue that I believe is critical to the success of any collaborative effort. Trying to force groups into a common operational plan really does nothing to further the goal of no more homeless pets. In some communities, groups may share enough of a common vision to move forward together. But it is rare to find any organization that is not more invested in its individual programs than in the common goal. In Atlanta, rather than forming a true coalition, we opted to create programs that offer opportunities for collaboration. In effect, we created a lead organization with the primary objective of promoting and managing programs in which other organizations are invited to participate. Requirements for participation vary depending on the program. For example, Georgia requires that all rescue groups and shelters be licensed by the Department of Agriculture. We created a website, in which we invite all licensed Atlanta area rescue groups and shelters to list their adoptable animals on our site. Because of the state regulatory scheme, the only requirement we have for participation on our site is that the groups be licensed. We do not even attempt to dictate spay/neuter policies, euthanasia policies, adoption fees, or even specific wording for the description of animals appearing on the site. On the other end of the spectrum, we operate a canine Boarding facility exclusively for rescue groups. Dogs Boarded at the facility must be spayed or neutered and vaccinated. Also, because we have employees who care for the animals, we Board only for no-kill groups. If a group ever threatens to kill an animal in their care because they have no room unless we provide room at our facility, the group is not welcomed back. But they are not excluded from participating in our less restrictive programs.By offering services to the groups like the website, Boarding facility, and adoption events, we have been able to gain their trust and loyalty. When we fundraise for our Boarding facility, for example, the groups often participate and promote the events for us. Because our goal is always to enhance their programs and efforts, they are not threatened by our work toward achieving the no more homeless pets goal.
Some organizations may be more advanced in their ability to work together. Still, good leadership is vital to the process. In assuming a leadership role, we have found that it is far more effective to promote the successes of other organizations rather than to dwell on their limitations. We try not to engage in negative dialogue that serves only to highlight the shortcomings of others.
Planning certainly has its role, but cooperative planning is not always possible when groups have widely varied agenda. Create opportunities for collaboration, do what you say you are going to do, and the groups will follow. They may never agree on the best home for a certain dog, the reasonable adoption fee, or whether cats should be allowed outdoors. In the end, such agreements are really unnecessary to success.
Finding a first project everyone can agree to work on
Question from Ann:
Since both of you started your own groups to help existing groups in your areas, I would like to know how you decided where to focus your efforts. There are so many issues in my area that need attention. Every shelter and foster group is doing the best they can, but there are still so many lacking resources like spay/neuter clinics, feral cat programs, humane education, and lost and found. I'm just one person and I am new to the area. I don't want to go in to the existing groups that have been doing this for a long time and be perceived as telling them how to do things. How do you know where to begin without stepping on toes and also without overwhelming yourself?Response from Rebecca:
I started as a complete newcomer. I had a vague idea that some people fostered animals in their homes and that these animals were eventually adopted. I knew there was a big humane society in town. I recall seeing a breed rescue at PETsMART one day. I had seen animal control trucks. That was it. One day, I had to call animal control about a dog caught in a fence behind my house. When they picked up the dog, I asked what would happen to him. The officers told me that if no one claimed the dog in five days, it would likely be killed. Clearly, that's not what I had in mind when I called them. I got directions to the county shelter and when the five days were up, I went to get the dog at the shelter. I was overwhelmed by what I found there - hundreds of dogs, sometimes five and six dogs in a run, all of them destined to die. I had walked into one of the worst kill shelters in Georgia. I decided that something was very, very wrong and that I needed to change it. I had no idea what to do next.I started doing some initial research on the Internet and found Maddie's Fund. The answer looked pretty simple to me and here was the money to make it happen. All you needed was a coalition to get this big grant. Then all the shelter animals get adopted and everyone's pet gets spayed or neutered. Piece of cake, I thought. I figured someone in town must have been working on it, so I set out to find them. I spent my Saturdays going to adoptions at PETsMART and asking questions about the groups there. I helped out while I was there, walked dogs, gave them water, cleaned cages. It took awhile, but I eventually met someone who was pretty familiar with the whole animal welfare community. Because I knew of Maddie's coalition requirement, I figured most groups would be involved somehow in an effort to get the grant. They weren't. Recognizing that I genuinely wanted to help, this woman at PETsMART handed me the leash of a homeless, rowdy Dalmatian and then was kind enough to tell me the truth: the groups didn't work together, they didn't like each other, and the one person in town who had tried to get a coalition together was crazy.
So I began with the idea that, somehow, I needed to help form a coalition. I'd like to tell you that I made a calculated plan and created this wonderful coalition. I didn't. I actually acted out of pure arrogance. I was working a bit with clicker training at the time, and I decided that I could use the same model to get the groups to work together. I would offer them treats. I came up with idea of creating a service organization for the rescue groups. I could fundraise to help offset some of their vet expenses, create and promote a website where they could show their adoptable animals, maybe create a foster home network. Soon after that, I attended the No More Homeless Pets conference in Seattle. I was overwhelmed by all the information presented. I left the conference with one idea for my cantankerous animal welfare community: create opportunities for collaboration. Treats.
The next steps for my organization were dictated by whatever resources became available. I found a programmer who could develop an adoptable animals database for a website, so that's what we did next. Volunteers were willing to go into the kill shelters and take photos of the endangered animals for the website. One shelter reported that they had more adoptions in their first month of participating on our website than they had in the previous year. The more we promoted the website, the more groups asked to participate.
In our two years of operation, I have never, ever found it necessary to tell another group how they should do something. Instead, we try to come up with ideas for how we can help the most organizations, and consequently, the most animals. Then, we ask the groups if it is a service they want. If it is, we try to find a way to do it. If they ask for our help, we try to give it.
This is probably an unnecessarily long answer to your question. The short answer is: Pick something and do it. Take the time to get to know your new community, and ask the groups what they would like to see next. Maybe you will get a lot of the same answers. Maybe you will find a group of people you really like, and you will want to join their efforts rather than starting your own program. I think the trick is not to be too afraid of making a mistake.
Oh. And there is no way not to feel overwhelmed in animal welfare. Sorry.
Response from Jane:
Good question.I was one of the Founding Members of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Animal Law Committee. In that capacity I was a known quantity to the groups in this area. Since I had been doing pro bono work for the groups and moderating many of the Committee's evening programs and annual conferences. Actually it was one of the Committee's annual conferences about animal sheltering that kind of got me into this endeavor.
Also to be exact, the Founding Members started the Alliance after they had met with the Mayor's Office and decided a coalition very well might work with some government support. The Alliance is in existence to unite everyone's efforts and to provide resources to the groups who are doing the hard work saving lives.
By the way... the Alliance does not try to control the internal policies and practices of its groups. Our only firm rule is no trash talking about another member in public.
You might want to think about first working at finding and bringing resources to the table for the existing groups, both to get to know them and for them to see you as a resource and an ally. Everyone likes help and free stuff!
The Alliance chose to use the Maddie's Fund mission as a starting point to reduce the killing of adoptable shelter animals by increasing spay/neuter surgeries and increasing adoptions since that was something all the groups could agree was a good goal to strive for. The Alliance has branched out as time went on to include other goals such as the creation of a feral cat council. This group is a sub-coalition within the Alliance of groups that can provide resources to the TNR groups and individual caregivers. Everyone brings what he/she can to the table to share resources and become more efficient. It creates a team attitude which is very important as rescuers and rescue groups often feel they are battling uphill all alone. Even if it does not actually increase the resources the camaraderie and feeling that you have allies is incalculable.
You may wish to position yourself as a neutral party in the sense that you do not have "history" with any of the groups and are not in competition with any of the groups. You are there merely to try to help them do what they are already doing better by putting resources they need at their disposal.
Working with a pest control company that normally kills to try TNR
Question from a member:
I'm having a moral dilemma. We have an opportunity to work with a "pest removal" control group that currently traps and kills cats on public request (along with lots of other wildlife!). Our group is very opposed to their practices, because they never use education to talk to people about TNR, how to keep cats out of people's yards, or any other humane alternatives. They are recently undergoing some bad PR, because they trapped and killed an owned cat. The owner is trying to stop their practices.They have approached our rescue group and offered to work with us where we would take the cats they catch and place them. We don't want to get into this situation because we feel like we are just letting them off the hook. But because they are actually now open to partnerships, we have considered working with them, allowing that they can offer TNR to people and get paid to do the trapping and transporting and bring the cats to our clinic to get fixed for free.
However, some people in our group feel like we should have nothing to do with this group on principle. I am torn. I feel like we could make some good inroads here and at least get the door open for more communication. However, I also don't want to let this group off the hook, allowing them to feel like they have made amends for killing an owned cat and allow them to go back to their ways. Do you think we should work with them?
Response from Rebecca:
It is certainly an interesting question. I must admit, I have never heard of a commercial TNR program, so I am intrigued by the possibilities. Also, I am still not so cynical that I can't believe people may have a change of heart and want to do the right thing. Under the right conditions, I wouldn't be concerned about giving positive PR to a company genuinely wanting to change its ways and save the animals. My primary concern in this situation is that you could be contemplating a deal with the devil.First, you would have to be sure that no cats trapped by this company would be killed. TNR could not be just one service they offer in array of services that still include killing as an option. Frankly, I can't see a pest control company ever being willing to take responsibility for re-homing stray cats, setting up managed colonies, relocating cats to other managed colonies when necessary, taming kittens, etc. Unless the company or your group can ensure the safety of all the trapped cats, I think a partnership would be unwise.
Also, the company's written and published policies would have to ensure the live release of all the animals it traps. It seems inconsistent with an animal welfare mission to work with an organization that saves cats, but continues to trap and kill squirrels, raccoons, and other wildlife. To be sure, there may be a huge market for a humane trap and release pest control service. If this company is willing to commit to such a plan, you may not mind having your name linked with theirs.
My guess is that they want to make TNR available just to save face and have no intention of changing their entire business. In that case, you don't have to align your group with them, but you can still offer advice. You can send them to the Alley Cat Allies website at for information on TNR that they can distribute to their customers. If you already spay and neuter feral cats at your clinic for free, there is no reason to turn away cats that they might bring into you. I would not offer them a free service, however, if you otherwise charge spay/neuter fees. Nor would I advise promoting their purported TNR services if they continue to kill as a method of "pest" control.
Response from Jane:
This is a very hard question.However, I have found that unless you work with people it is hard to change their minds or their behavior. That being said while you do not want to be the "whitewash" for this company you have an opening to do some good.
It sounds like you have an opportunity due to the tragic death of that cat to make some progress on establishing TNR as the humane way to control the feral cat population, perhaps get the wildlife humanely relocated or released to wildlife rehabbers, and owner cats returned to their guardians... in other words everyone comes out of the traps alive and stays that way.
A question: you talk about placing the cats they trap. Is this is re-homing the cats that can be placed??? What about the truly feral cats? Do you have TNR groups or colony caregivers who can be responsible for the maintenance of the cats that are trapped and neutered/spayed, vaccinated??? Is there a safe space for them to be maintained? You may wish to contact Alley Cat Allies to get some information and materials about how successful TNR is from a humane and an economic point of view.
You may also wish to consider involving the owner in your negotiations with the company to keep the pressure on them and not be seen as abandoning your principles. A question: is there any realistic opportune way to stop what they are doing or put them out of business? If not, reforming their practices sounds like your best bet.
It seems to me that not working with them merely results in the loss of an opportunity to do some education, get some good results and save some animals lives. But being a lawyer I would want something in writing from the company about your relationship going forward and their commitment to stopping the killing as a first alternative.
And if they welch on the deal, you are the one left on the moral high ground of having made a good faith effort to work with them to improve things. They are the ones who were not operating in good faith, which in the long run will be even more damaging to that company. Just keep the light on them.
Comment from Susan:
Concerning the question about working with a pest control company. I own a wildlife control company that does TNR, although as a community service and not for a fee. I am aware of several pest control companies that offer some TNR services, because their customers have requested it of them.One of these companies works for a large well-known university TNR program. If the writer wishes to contact me, I can give them some insight into pest control. If the pest control operator (PCO) is reaching out for help, they should be encouraged!
The humane group definitely should not allow themselves to be made into a dumping ground for feral cats the business catches for profit, but the PCO should be educated on how they can offer TNR for landowners who have problems with feral cats.
When low-cost spay/neuter became available in my area, I started asking callers "Would you keep the cats if they were fixed?" I was amazed how many said "Sure". Previously, I just assumed the only option was removing the adults for euthanasia, and taming and adopting out kittens.
Pest control companies get lots of customers who also say "I don't want the wildlife killed". Smart pest control companies are learning to add non-lethal options like one-way doors for squirrels, flood control devices for beaver, when customers don't want animals killed. They need to know there is a similar option for feral cats.
Thanks so much for bringing this up. If anyone wishes more dialogue on this, they should feel free to contact me wildrun2@yahoo.com.
Building partnerships when the large shelter won't work with you
Question from Michelle:
I have worked with a lot of our different rescues and shelters in the area and have a good working relationship with all of them, but am not tied into one particular group. I am working to put together a coalition but the humane society, which is the largest group in town, sees the other groups as small time players and doesn't take them seriously even though they have accomplished a lot. The Director has convinced his Board that the other groups aren't worth partnering with either, so there is no one pushing the humane society come on Board.All of the other groups are willing to work together and open up dialogue and have some great ideas. The humane society is holding out though. If the Board doesn't have any communication with anyone other than the Director and is out of step with animal welfare issues, and the Director doesn't want to work with the smaller groups, do we continue to try to convince them, or do we just go on without them and get the other groups working together and hope they come on Board eventually or we succeed without them?
Response from Jane:
Congratulations on what you have accomplished so far. All the groups willing to work together but the one (no matter how large they are) is a tremendous victory! It often takes someone who is knowledgeable about the groups and caring, but not affiliated with any one group, to pull the groups together.When we started the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals we defined our mission and invited all members of the NYC animal care community doing good work to join the Alliance. We also had one large hold out at the beginning. While we were disappointed that they did not choose to join us, we left the door open and moved forward. As the months went by more and more groups came on Board. Success is very attractive, and it quickly became apparent that we are stronger and better when we work together for a common goal.
Two months ago the hold out joined us, at least in part, because it began to look a little strange to be the odd man out when virtually all the other groups were working together. We started with the six Founding Members and now have over 60 Participating Organizations.
Start your coalition. Let the mountain come to you!
Response from Rebecca:
I really have very little to add to Jane's response. By getting all the other groups on Board, you already have achieved a great success. I think Jane's experience in New York is mirrored in other communities as well. If you concentrate on your mission, others will follow when it is in their best interest to do so. Try to leave the door open and get to work!Lobbying county Commissioners for change when there is resistance
Question from a member:
A group of us was successful in lobbying our local officials on the truly tragic euthanasia rates: how other communities are changing this and to recommend the formation of a task force to look into ways of improving our Government's Animal Services. We met with the County Manager who oversees Animal Services. We had discussed having the Commissioners each appoint or recommend a member. They strongly recommended that we not go that route as it could become political and that we would be better off using people pulled from the Community and not in Government.We pulled in professionals from different walks of life. We are preparing our presentation to the County Commissioners for next month.
Unfortunately, and without cause or merit, our group and our members personally came under awful slander, lies, and anything else the Manager of Animal Services and his followers could conjure up to disrupt our task force. One member, a vet, who had agreed to be on the task force, had her contract with Animal Services threatened. She resigned from the task force. Others left because they were concerned they would suffer similar consequences with their rescue organizations in working with Animal Services.
While we have corrected as many lies as we could, especially those told to the County Commissioners, there has been much damage done. What had started out as excellent support from the Commissioners now seems to be met with coolness. Politicians run from conflict, especially if the issue is not high on their list anyway. We never did anything to create this conflict and were always professional and publicly kept above the nastiness, but the result is the same.
So how do we overcome this at the final stretch? The task force has worked really hard and has excellent recommendations to present.
Response from Rebecca:
Wow. This is a tough situation. What is most important here is that you have done most of the work. You've done all your homework and you have acted in a professional manner, despite significant opposition. Often, the first hurdle, and one that seems insurmountable, is getting the official blessing for a task force. You have already overcome what is usually the most significant obstacle. Regardless of the changed political climate, finish your work and make your recommendations.Of course, I certainly understand your concern about the county's receptivity to your efforts, given all that has transpired. I hesitate to make specific suggestions, because I don't know all of the details of your situation. There is a range of possible future actions, and only your group really can know what is best for you. Here are some of the possibilities:
- Engage in your own positive public relations campaign. Make a big deal out of presenting the task force recommendations. Do a press release and follow up with local media. If the shelter evaluation identified real problems with the shelter and the evaluation is part of your report, try to emphasize the hope you bring to the community. Also, accentuate the positive aspects of the current situation, if there are any. Congratulate the current regime on what they have done right. If they haven't done anything right, at least acknowledge their valiant effort in dealing with a difficult situation. Ignore the hostility.
- Find a friend on the county commission. Unless there are rules prohibiting your contact with the Commissioners prior to your presentation, try to lobby one of them to be your voice in the commission. If you do not yet have a working relationship with any commissioner, pick the one who you believe will be most sympathetic to your cause and start a dialogue. It may be easier to start with the commissioner's staff. Sometimes, I believe one of my greatest talents as a trial attorney was my ability to make friends with the judges' clerks and administrative assistants. If you have no contacts at all with any of the Commissioners, call the sympathetic commissioner's office and start a conversation with whoever answers the phone. I am not kidding about this.
- I hesitate to even mention this option, but in the most extreme situation, it can be the only course. If your recommendations are met with complete indifference and you have no chance of success, make your plight known to the entire animal welfare community and ask for help. Someone not part of your group may be interested in waging an email campaign or even a protest. But beware... the fallout from this course of action could be extremely detrimental if you do not ultimately succeed!!! Further, your relationship with the current Manager of Animal Services will be severed forever if you take this course of action. Really, I believe that a negative campaign is only appropriate if you have nothing to lose. If you have any chance of a future relationship with the Animal Services Manager or his supporters, don't take this path.
Most of all, be proud of what you have accomplished so far. You may find that the powers that be are well aware of the Animal Services Manager's tactics. They may not take him as seriously as you think. You have done well to take the high road. Just keep up the good work.
Response from Jane:
Congratulations on all your hard work and progress on behalf of the animals.I think you said it yourself... you have excellent recommendations to make, and you are in the final stretch... Finish the race. Present your recommendations in as public a forum as possible and be sure to present them as solutions to problems both perceived and actual.
The reason our government was open to our approach was because we came offering solutions. They were very well aware of the problems. People had been screaming about them for years. You just need to continue to work on a positive professional manner and move forward. And you have already done so much work. If your recommendations have merit and as many people know about them as possible it would seem to be hard for your Animal Services Manager will be able to counter them without seeming obstructionist for no good reason. And now, you are forewarned about his tactics...
I would point out to your county officials that the public private partnership model has been embraced in Richmond VA and NYC with success, that the Governor of NJ created a NJ Animal Welfare Task Force. Explain that they are being progressive and inclusive of the community in an area that they may not care about themselves but that many of their constituents are passionate about.
Making suggestions to improve a website without hurting feelings
Question from Barbara:
For the past few months, I have been volunteering for a local animal rescue organization. I am in charge of writing proposals to get grants. One of the projects (if it gets funded) will attract a lot of people on our website. However, the website is terrible! I am a librarian and Webmaster in my day job, and I know that the site is very badly designed; too many pop-up windows, too many useless graphics, missing important information, etc.I know that people who visit the site are overwhelmed and will rather use another source (i.e. another local animal rescue organization) than navigate thought this site. If I look at other local animal rescue organizations websites, they [the web sites] are simple and concise. I am afraid that our efforts to publicize our organization will amount to nothing if we refer them to our website to see photos of our animals.
The problem is another volunteer created and maintains the web site, and she has been doing it for a long time. I don't know her and never seen her. I only correspond with the president of the organization. How can I tell them about their web site without hurting anyone's feelings? I even created a sample web page of how the site should look. How can I show it to them without insulting anyone?
Response from Jane:
What a wonderful resource you have to offer to your group! Please do not hold back. In my mind the most important thing here is to get those animals adopted and a website is the way of the future with respect to marketing and distribution (pardon the business terms) for our animals.So with that in mind I would set up a meeting with the President of the group and show the "new improved" website. It will be the President's decision, and frankly her duty, to do the right thing by the animals that may be going with the new website. You can also bring in examples of what other websites, after an upgrade, did for their organizations.
A newly designed website will no doubt improve adoptions, as well as visibility, and hopefully even fundraising. Nothing turns people off quicker than a "clunky" website. They will simply move on and the animals lose.
I really do not think it is being disrespectful or insulting to the volunteer who is already doing the website. She may in fact welcome a respite from her duty. Perhaps she is afraid to mention that she would like to be relieved, especially if she thinks she is the only one who can handle the website.
I think the virtual marketing of our animals is crucial to increasing adoptions. Many of our shelters in NYC are in less than convenient neighborhoods. In addition, many people do not want to go to shelters for a variety of reasons. But if you can put that one fuzzy face in front of them on a website you just might give them the incentive to get out to that shelter or adoption event to met the companion animal of their dreams in the flesh (of the fur as the case may be).
In NYC, the Alliance groups now have another way to get their animals out to the public via the Internet. In addition to having their own websites and/or utilizing Petfinder, we now have another website www.bigapplepets.com. The exciting kicker to this website is that the information and animals loaded on to the website by the Alliance group is also available via the Pet-Ark kiosks (or adoption ATMs as I call them). You can search for all the animals up for adoption at any Alliance member group and get a printed receipt with the animal of your dreams name, location and even directions and a map to the shelter or group location! Right now we have kiosks in the Founding Members shelters: the ASPCA, the Humane Society of New York, BARC Animal Shelter and Animal Haven as well as the three shelters of the NYC Animal Care and Control. We are hoping to secure corporate funding to put kiosks all over the city.
Barbara, build that group a better website!
Response from Rebecca:
There is a difference between being diplomatic and not hurting anyone's feelings. You already have what it takes to diplomatically make your point. If you are a newcomer to the organization, start with the least confrontational approach and then move forward as necessary. First, you have professional experience with creating and managing a website. You can offer your expertise without ever criticizing the current product. Indeed, you really are working in the dark if you have never approached the subject with your organization's president. The president may be well aware of the current difficulty but may have no other resources to correct the problem. You are the resource.Similarly, if the volunteer has been doing the site for a long time, she may welcome the help. If offering to help does not get results, then go to the next level. Show them what you have done and explain the benefits. You can sell your own product without being critical of what they already have. Keep in mind that they don't want to hurt your feelings either. If all else fails, then let them know how their current site detracts from their overall mission and go ahead with a comparison to what you propose. Try to make your case without appearing judgmental.
In the end, someone may get their feelings hurt or they may get insulted. You may want to ask yourself which is worse: hurting someone's feelings or letting the whole program suffer because you didn't take action.
Comments from a member:
We faced the exact same situation in our organization. A volunteer worked on our website and she was very proud of what she had created but unfortunately it did not meet our needs.We had to take the bold step of hurting her feelings, but it was for the better of the organization. I was the one who went to the Director about the website and demonstrated my ideas for her. Up until this point, she had not realized what was possible and our meeting was very enlightening for her.
You might find a lot of support if you can show them how good things can be! We made the change and helped ease the feelings of the volunteer by making it a part of an overall "image" campaign that included rules about the use of our logo and the inclusion of our shelter's "colors" and logo on all materials.
The change has been dramatic and the website is now an essential tool in our operation. The volunteer's feelings WERE hurt and she had a lot of anger towards me specifically, BUT our adoptions are higher, our public image is better and the compliments from users make it all worthwhile. The first $1000 online donation was the absolute BEST reward for our efforts!
We all reminded ourselves that we are here for the animals and the changes we made were for their benefit. In time, the volunteer got over some of her hurt but she is not very active in the organization. On the other hand, our website has attracted many more volunteers including skilled website designers! Our website is if you want to take a look. Good Luck!
But don't we need laws to make people comply?
Question from a member:
You touched on legislation in an earlier answer and suggested that education is very important and legislation can be difficult to enforce. I wonder if it is possible to have selected legislation targeting specific areas like spay/neuter legislation for backyard breeding, animals from pet stores and shelters, Pitbulls... or legislation that would fund programs like license surcharges.Even though education is important some people will never comply unless it is a law or the animals are already fixed before they even bring them home. I'd like to know if there is successful legislation out there, and if so what can be done to get more similar laws passed?
Response from Jane:
I do think that laws are important both to protect animals and to educate the public, and yes some people will only do something if it is the law. But animal related laws must be drafted carefully or they might have unintended consequences. It is very difficult to talk about laws in a general way. But that being said, I think that laws that raise revenues for the organizations that care for animals and/or provide animals with additional protections are needed.Examples of such laws:
- licensing laws for dogs where the revenues go back to the animal shelters are good as a source of revenue and as a way to get lost dogs home.
- laws that provide some standards of care for animals sold in pet shops that are based on animal welfare and not just human health or business licensing concerns are needed.
- animal cruelty laws that provide for stiff sentences and fines backed up with enforcement capability are good for both animals and people. The link between animal cruelty (often called "gateway crimes") and further violence against humans is well documented.
- laws that give people the right to have companion animals in their homes are key to increasing adoptions and decreasing the number of animals killed in shelters simply because there is no home for them.
- and while I want to see anything that moves spayed or neutered such laws need to be carefully thought through and backed up with sufficient spay/neuter resources. In general however, I would like to see shelters spay/neuter all animals before they are released to the public.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) is an excellent source for animal related laws. You may wish to look at ALDF's website and contact them.
Wondering about your community's laws regarding companion canines? You may find everything you need at the Animal Legal and Historical Center, a searchable online reference library that's earned kudos from the attorneys at the ASPCA, one of the Founding Members of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals.
Finally, if you are lucky enough to have an animal law committee at your local bar association work with them to develop and then get good locally appropriate animal friendly laws passed.
And keep those laws off pit bulls... deeds not breed. Regulate irresponsible people.
The preceding however is my personal opinion.
The Alliance does not take positions on legislation nor does it lobby for animal friendly laws. The Founding Members of the Alliance decided that to keep the Alliance together and focused on its mission (to increase adoptions and increase spay/neuter and thereby reduce the killing of adoptable cats and dogs in shelters) the Alliance would not lobby or work on legislation. Everyone felt that the Alliance was going to have its plate more than full with that narrow but daunting mission.
While there were many laws that would impact on the Alliance's mission, such as pets in housing laws in NYC, we could not do everything. It was left up to the individual member groups to work on animal friendly legislation if they wished to do so and had the resources. Fortunately, two of our Founding Member organizations, the ASPCA and the Humane Society of New York, do an outstanding job on lobbying for animal friendly laws.
Response from Rebecca:
I have to stand by my original answer on this one. The animal welfare movement has finite resources. In forming a plan of action, we have to consider the best use we can make of what we have. Given the problems of non-enforcement, selective enforcement, and unfunded mandates, I believe limited resources will go further if spent on promoting homeless pet adoptions and spay/neuter rather than lobbying for legislation. The status of pet licensing persuaded me that legislation was of limited utility. I was surprised to learn that compliance with pet licensing is so low - less than 30% nationally for dogs, according to the March 2002 edition of Animal People. I just assumed that the "rabies tag" was nearly universal. It isn't. Yet, while licensing compliance is astonishingly low, rabies in the dog population is virtually eradicated. For whatever reason, many people are doing the right thing while still ignoring the regulatory component. Accordingly, I have a sense that differential licensing does less to encourage spay/neuter and more to discourage licensing altogether.I don't want to leave the impression that I believe all legislation is bad. I don't. Anti-cruelty laws are absolutely necessary. I don't think a ban on commercial breeding would pass constitutional muster, but I would love to see an enforced regulatory scheme that sets a decent standard of care for animals bred and sold for profit. I am very supportive of initiatives to generate pubic funding for spay/neuter, for example. Even so, I think these programs need to be tailored to fit the needs of specific communities. Likewise, requiring spay/neuter before adoption is certainly desirable. But I would hate to see a public official come to the decision that it is cheaper, and therefore better, to kill an animal rather than have it neutered and held for adoption.
In Georgia, all shelters and rescue groups must be licensed by the Department of Agriculture, and all pets adopted from a licensed rescue group or shelter must be spayed or neutered within six months after adoption. There is a $500 fine for non-compliance. It's a great law. There is no mechanism for enforcement. None. Some agencies do follow-up calls on compliance, some don't. There is also differential licensing in most counties to encourage spay/neuter. Yet annually, in the metro Atlanta area alone, more than 90,000 animals will die in the county shelters - more than in New York City, Chicago, or Washington, D.C. I have a small animal welfare group in Atlanta. Do I lobby for legislation mandating enforcement of the spay/neuter requirement by the Department of Agriculture, whose inspectors have not been given a raise in two years because of budgetary constraints? Or do I raise funds for a non-profit spay/neuter clinic that will work in partnership with the county to spay or neuter all animals before adoption?
Comment from Celeste:
The good news is that when low cost spay/neuter is widely available to those most in need, THEN lower licensing fees for neutered animals is a success. For example, the Oregon Neutermobile visited an area with staggered licensing fees, set up to penalize those with intact pets. Since there were no widespread spay/neuter resources targeted to low income guardians before the Neutermobile, there was a high noncompliance rate for licensing.The Animal Control reports that since our visit, during which almost 900 surgeries were performed on the Neutermobile, licensing has increased noticeably. That's because guardians could afford our prices for spay/neuter, which freed them up to be able to afford the lowered licensing fees for their newly spay/neutered pets. During our visit, we did absolutely no campaigning for people to license their pets. It had obviously already been on their minds. This shows me that, when the opportunity knocks, people really want to "do the right thing" of their own volition.
Handling special favor requests from high donors and Board members?
Question from Liz:
I'd like to hear your opinions on whether you think there should be special considerations for influential people. What I mean by that is, should Board Members or high donors be allowed to bring in stray animals to your shelter even if you don't' accept strays? Should you allow City Council members to bring in animals to be fixed for free at your clinic, because they are animal friendly and have supported animal legislation? I realize that we sometimes need to do special favors for people who help us, but I often feel like we cater to certain groups of people and not others. Why don't we accept the stray from the really nice person who rescued the cat from sure death on a highway, but isn't on our Board? Or the person who gives us $20 instead of $500?Is there a way to diplomatically bring up to our Director that some of the staff feels this is unfair? How do we diplomatically tell these people who have come to expect favors that we can try to help but can't always without losing their support?
Response from Jane:
With respect to how to diplomatically approach your Director, I would defer to a master in this area and previous speaker on the Forum, Bert Troughton, of the ASPCA. Perhaps you could refer back to her week for some ideas about how to handle what is really a much larger issue than just this one situation regarding donors and supporters and your Director.I think one also has to keep the animals in mind. Have any of these favors ever hurt an animal? If not, the net result is a good thing happened in some animals' lives. And if some were turned away, hopefully it was with some good resources to allow them to continue to help the animal.
And while it may not seem fair, supporters and donors do receive all sorts of "premiums" from organizations they support. In some organizations that might mean a hat, or a jacket, or an invitation to a luncheon. In this case it means accepting a stray or fixing an animal for free. And personally I am happy to see anything that moves get fixed so we can get to that 70%.
Your Director does have the responsibility of bringing in the funds and resources needed to fulfill your organizations' mission - no easy task for any not for profit. You do have to look at the economics here. If a donor gives you $2,000 and the free spay costs you $50 the animals are still ahead.
However, if the special services/favors has gone too far and limits do need to be set, hopefully collectively, by the entire staff, I would direct you back to Bert Troughton.
So, having had Bert get the Director and the staff on the same page, one way you may wish to set these limits for your donors and supporters (in a more round about and gentle way then to just say no) is to sit down with them and discuss what your current mission and capabilities are, providing examples of things they are asking you to do that goes above and beyond what you do for everyone else. Then invite them to assist you to provide those other services by securing what would be needed to do that, like the funding. Look at this as an opportunity not a problem. Perhaps you can expand what you can offer the public and the animals!
Good luck.
Response from Rebecca:
You know, I don't think there is any Director of a non-profit agency out there who isn't reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them. Likewise, there may be some conventional wisdom on this subject, but I don't know what it is. My personal approach is to try to be helpful to those who have been helpful to my organization. If one of our high donors comes to me with an animal problem that my organization does not deal with, I try to be honest with them about our operations and our mission. And then I personally try to help them. For example, the daughter of one of our largest donors asked us to take in a stray dog she had found. We had no facility at the time for a stray animal. Instead of sending her elsewhere or giving her a list of rescue organizations, I called several friendly groups in town and managed to get one of them to take the dog as a favor to me. People always have a choice as to where they donate their money or volunteer their time. I want them to feel good about choosing my organization. If we can't be there when they truly need us, they will go elsewhere.I don't think it is necessary to abandon all principle when dealing with your largest supporters. I do think it is sometimes necessary to go the extra mile. If you have a number of supporters who have "come to expect favors", however, something has gone wrong. People want to support organizations that act with integrity. They don't like to think that their money is being misused for special favors outside the scope of your organization's mission. If you have reached a point that you must set limits with some of your supporters, then set them. Explain what their money is used for and why, and then thank them for their support.
The staff's reluctance to approach your Director is likely indicative of another problem. Saving animals is a difficult business. All of us have to learn to pick our battles. Sometimes, it is easier to focus on minor issues within an organization than it is to cope with the limitations we all face in trying to stop the killing of companion animals. But that's another topic.
Taking over an animal control contract
Question from Margaret:
Our county contracts with a local non-profit to provide animal control. There have been a lot of problems documented in the media with animals being euthanized improperly, high kill rates, and disgruntled employees. There is a group of us wanting to take over animal control and bid on the contract when it is up this June. Do you have any advice on doing something like this?Response from Rebecca:
My first advice is to be careful what you wish for....Near the end of 2002, I was asked to join the Board of Directors of Southern Hope Humane Society to assist in a bid on the Fulton County animal control contract in Atlanta. In March 2003, we were given an interim contract and then awarded the final contract in July. On the Best Friends website, there is an article by Nathan Winograd entitled "How I Turned My Shelter Upside Down". In the article, he writes, "No-kill starts as an act of will." Nathan was able to walk into the Tompkins County, NY Shelter, a shelter that took in about 3,000 animals a year, and from day one, he virtually stopped the killing. The Fulton County shelter takes in about 13,000 animals a year. Unlike Nathan, and certainly not for any lack of will, we couldn't stop the killing. With an average of 30 animals coming in every day, we were filled way beyond capacity in less than a week. Within our first week, our Assistant Director, a woman who had worked in no-kill animal rescue for the last 10 years, walked through the shelter and made the kill list. Now, nearly every working day, she walks through the shelter at about 5 pm and decides which animals will die the next morning.
In a major metropolitan area, animal control is more than hard. It is horrific. In animal rescue, we somehow learn to cope with the cases of neglect and abuse. We tell ourselves we can't save them all, and we learn to move on. When Southern Hope transformed from a no-kill animal rescue group to an animal control contractor, we couldn't just say, "Well, we can't save them all". We had to kill them ourselves. Our Assistant Director makes the actual decision of who must die. I have never once had to do it. But even serving as just a Board Member of a kill shelter, I can hardly stand it.
So, my advice to you is don't do it unless you feel you have no choice. Try to work with the current provider. If you write to us at info@bestfriends.org, we will help you. But if you must take control, start with assembling a strong Board of Directors. Look outside your own group for leaders in your community who will serve on your Board. I think the greatest asset on our Board of Directors is a man who had no previous animal welfare experience, but he knows how to run a business, how to serve on a Board, and how to get things done in the community. Then, find a good Executive Director. This is not easy.
Animal control and animal rescue traditionally have different missions. As the first priority you want someone who can run animal control but still believe in getting the animals out alive. A good Animal Control Director can make sure that the animals are "euthanized" properly, lower the kill rates somewhat, and deal with disgruntled employees. But you must want more than that, or why do it? In addition to field operations, you will likely need new staff for education, cruelty investigations, public relations and promotion, fundraising, spay/neuter and other veterinary services, and of course, adoptions. Finally, you need someone in your group who is willing to do the hardest job - someone who can stand the killing and keep moving forward.
It can be done. We are having some success in Atlanta. In 2001, before Southern Hope took over, 84% of the animals handled by Fulton County Animal Control were killed. In Southern Hope's first ten months, that number has been reduced to approximately 54%. If you really feel you have no other alternative, go for it. I haven't the knowledge or skill to tell you all that is involved in such an endeavor, but I have learned from personal experience that Nathan is right about this. No-kill starts as an act of will.
Pet limit laws affecting foster homes
Question from Carrie:
Our foster program is facing an odd situation. The city we live in just passed an ordinance with pet limit laws. This will affect our fosters, because they can't keep more than 5 animals in their home, including their owned animals too. How can we work on making changes or getting an exemption so that ourfosters can continue to help us get more animals adopted?Response from Rebecca:
Presumably, pet limits are enacted to give animal control authorities some means to control animal "collectors". Unfortunately, pet limit laws discourage animal lovers who want and could easily care for more pets than the limits allow. Even worse, overly broad pet limit ordinances put responsible animal rescuers and the animals they save at risk. Overall, I think pet limit laws are difficult to enforce and many counties opt not to bother. So long as no one complains, you can have as many pets or fosters as you are able to manage regardless of the limit. The problem arises, of course, when a neighbor decides your foster dogs bark too much and they call animal control.Recently, in one Atlanta area county, the rescue community was able to mobilize before such a law could be enacted so that at the very least, an exception would be created for responsible rescuers. I would first read your new ordinance carefully to see if there are any exemptions already available. If not, you will need to make one. Just as a precaution, I suggest you first find a spokesperson who is not currently in violation of the limit.
As Jane has mentioned before, legislative drafting can be tricky, so you may want to get a lawyer to help in drafting your exemption. Most likely, your government officials will be more willing to entertain an exemption for authorized rescuers who are registered with your animal control agency and who agree to meet certain conditions, such as spaying and neutering before adoption. You may also have to agree to some kind of foster home inspection.
In response to an earlier question, I suggested developing a supporter in your local government. Find a pet-friendly City Council person and encourage them to sponsor your amendment of the ordinance. If you meet with significant resistance, you can consider mobilizing your community through an email campaign or media campaign. Local elected officials still respond to pressure from voters.
Response from Jane:
This is one of the situations we were discussing in an earlier question, where a law (which might or might not have been intended to be animal friendly) has just the opposite result. The lesson to be learned is to really think about what you are trying to accomplish, what all the ramifications of passing such a law might be. Then draft the law very carefully and very narrowly to accomplish what, and only what, you want to accomplish.This is also why, in the future, if you, as an animal advocate, can position yourself as an asset and a resource for your city officials when it comes to informing them about animal laws, you can sometimes head things off at the pass before the bill is finalized and passed. I find it hard to believe that the drafters of the ordinance intended this consequence. I would hope that if the City Council were approached by your group, politely and well armed with data about the many benefits of fostering and a detailed description of the program, they would be happy to build in an exception. I do not think politicians want to be seen as the enemy of kittens and puppies.
