We have had a similar experience with Best Friends staff being embedded into our largest shelter. After all these years, common sense would dictate that if certain policies and procedures aren't working, it's time to re evaluate. After all, animal lives are at stake.
Thank you, Ed, for spotlighting my concerns, and Beth's, about the enormous wrong turn that the Best Friends Animal Society took toward pit bull advocacy, beginning in 2005, which soon hijacked and corrupted the entire "no kill" movement. In fairness, the wrong turn really began when in 1996 then-San Francisco SPCA president Richard Avanzino and his director of advocacy Nathan Winograd sought to rehome pit bulls by renaming them "St. Francis terriers." This program predictably blew up in their faces & was withdrawn within 60 days after several of the rehomed pit bulls killed cats. Avanzino went on to 15 years as founding director of the $350 million no-kill advocacy foundation Maddie's Fund; Winograd in 2007 founded the No Kill Advocacy Center. Neither specifically pushed pit bulls again, though, until Best Friends politically cleared the way for them to do so.
Meanwhile, as keynote speaker at the first No Kill Conference in 1995 in Phoenix, Arizona, at which you, Ed, introduced yourself to me, and I introduced Avanzino, who spoke for the first time at a national conference, I emphasized that authentic no-kill animal control could only be achieved under three conditions: that access to free & low-cost spay/neuter be extended to the point that there are no longer accidental & surplus births of puppies & kittens; that pit bulls, responsible for 70% plus of all fatal & disfiguring attacks on humans and 90%-plus of fatal attacks on other animals, be sterilized out of existence; and that feral cats be sterilized through neuter/return programs to the point of non-problematic invisibility.
None of these programs have been pursued. On the contrary, Best Friends and Maddie's Fund have pulled back completely from expanding access to free & low-cost spay/neuter; pit bulls have now killed 699 Americans & Canadians, up 102 from the already appalling 597 cited in your article, Ed; and the "Community Cats" program promoted by Best Friends, along with Winograd's advocacy of allowing cats to roam outdoors, "return to field" in place of sheltering cats, and the decline of low-cost & free sterilization help for neuter/return programs have combined to stall any measurable progress on behalf of cats.
Ken White, then representing the Humane Society of the U.S. as successor to longtime companion animal programs director Phyllis Wright, stood up after my 1995 No Kill Conference address & predicted that the no-kill community would never have the foresight and self-discipline to pursue my recommendations.
The ensuing 30 years have amply proved Ken was right. Led or rather misled by Best Friends et al, the humane community has tried to adopt its way out of pet overpopulation, with the net result despite the expenditure of literally billions of dollars on adoption promotion, that total shelter adoptions of dogs & cats are actually fewer now than 40 years ago, but we are still almost as far as ever from becoming an authentic no-kill nation because we have yet to focus on addressing the reasons why we need effective animal control agencies.
You just have to click expand full comment to see it. Great response and spot on with everything I’m learning. The small SDHS pets didn’t stand a chance with this level of corruption to attain “no kill.” They were sent to AZ without any regard so they could be live outcomes. Despite all the information from the investigations, knowing the 260+ went to and never returned from a reptile breeder, and HSSA not even entering the animals into their system two months later (the animals never actually went into the facility), San Diego Humane claims these animals as live outcomes. It’s pathetic.
Kelly, thank you for sharing this information. It is disheartening to hear how these animals were handled, especially given the lengths some organizations go to manipulate statistics. The fact that so many pets never stood a chance and were still counted as "live outcomes" speaks to a deeper issue in the system that I'm hoping this series of articles will expose.
Merritt, thank you for this thoughtful and in depth response. I corrected the article to reflect the tragic update in human fatalities since 2005. The average now, according to my calculations, is a staggering 49.9 fatalities per year.
This text appears to have been cut off from my comment above:
None of these programs have been pursued. On the contrary, Best Friends and Maddie's Fund have pulled back completely from expanding access to free & low-cost spay/neuter; pit bulls have now killed 699 Americans & Canadians, up 102 from the already appalling 597 cited in your article, Ed; and the "Community Cats" program promoted by Best Friends, along with Winograd's advocacy of allowing cats to roam outdoors, "return to field" in place of sheltering cats, and the decline of low-cost & free sterilization help for neuter/return programs have combined to stall any measurable progress on behalf of cats.
Ken White, then representing the Humane Society of the U.S., stood up after my 1995 No Kill Conference address & predicted that the no-kill community would never have the foresight and self-discipline to pursue my recommendations.
The ensuing 30 years have amply proved Ken was right. Led or rather misled by Best Friends et al, the humane community has tried to adopt its way out of pet overpopulation, with the net result despite the expenditure of literally billions of dollars on adoption promotion, that total shelter adoptions of dogs & cats are actually fewer now than 40 years ago, but we are still almost as far as ever from becoming an authentic no-kill nation because we have yet to focus on addressing the reasons why we need effective animal control agencies.
BF leadership have actually shared with me that this was their principle reason for originally coming to LA - they see LA as a fertile fundraising farm...
We have had a similar experience with Best Friends staff being embedded into our largest shelter. After all these years, common sense would dictate that if certain policies and procedures aren't working, it's time to re evaluate. After all, animal lives are at stake.
Thank you, Ed, for spotlighting my concerns, and Beth's, about the enormous wrong turn that the Best Friends Animal Society took toward pit bull advocacy, beginning in 2005, which soon hijacked and corrupted the entire "no kill" movement. In fairness, the wrong turn really began when in 1996 then-San Francisco SPCA president Richard Avanzino and his director of advocacy Nathan Winograd sought to rehome pit bulls by renaming them "St. Francis terriers." This program predictably blew up in their faces & was withdrawn within 60 days after several of the rehomed pit bulls killed cats. Avanzino went on to 15 years as founding director of the $350 million no-kill advocacy foundation Maddie's Fund; Winograd in 2007 founded the No Kill Advocacy Center. Neither specifically pushed pit bulls again, though, until Best Friends politically cleared the way for them to do so.
Meanwhile, as keynote speaker at the first No Kill Conference in 1995 in Phoenix, Arizona, at which you, Ed, introduced yourself to me, and I introduced Avanzino, who spoke for the first time at a national conference, I emphasized that authentic no-kill animal control could only be achieved under three conditions: that access to free & low-cost spay/neuter be extended to the point that there are no longer accidental & surplus births of puppies & kittens; that pit bulls, responsible for 70% plus of all fatal & disfiguring attacks on humans and 90%-plus of fatal attacks on other animals, be sterilized out of existence; and that feral cats be sterilized through neuter/return programs to the point of non-problematic invisibility.
None of these programs have been pursued. On the contrary, Best Friends and Maddie's Fund have pulled back completely from expanding access to free & low-cost spay/neuter; pit bulls have now killed 699 Americans & Canadians, up 102 from the already appalling 597 cited in your article, Ed; and the "Community Cats" program promoted by Best Friends, along with Winograd's advocacy of allowing cats to roam outdoors, "return to field" in place of sheltering cats, and the decline of low-cost & free sterilization help for neuter/return programs have combined to stall any measurable progress on behalf of cats.
Ken White, then representing the Humane Society of the U.S. as successor to longtime companion animal programs director Phyllis Wright, stood up after my 1995 No Kill Conference address & predicted that the no-kill community would never have the foresight and self-discipline to pursue my recommendations.
The ensuing 30 years have amply proved Ken was right. Led or rather misled by Best Friends et al, the humane community has tried to adopt its way out of pet overpopulation, with the net result despite the expenditure of literally billions of dollars on adoption promotion, that total shelter adoptions of dogs & cats are actually fewer now than 40 years ago, but we are still almost as far as ever from becoming an authentic no-kill nation because we have yet to focus on addressing the reasons why we need effective animal control agencies.
You just have to click expand full comment to see it. Great response and spot on with everything I’m learning. The small SDHS pets didn’t stand a chance with this level of corruption to attain “no kill.” They were sent to AZ without any regard so they could be live outcomes. Despite all the information from the investigations, knowing the 260+ went to and never returned from a reptile breeder, and HSSA not even entering the animals into their system two months later (the animals never actually went into the facility), San Diego Humane claims these animals as live outcomes. It’s pathetic.
Kelly, thank you for sharing this information. It is disheartening to hear how these animals were handled, especially given the lengths some organizations go to manipulate statistics. The fact that so many pets never stood a chance and were still counted as "live outcomes" speaks to a deeper issue in the system that I'm hoping this series of articles will expose.
Merritt, thank you for this thoughtful and in depth response. I corrected the article to reflect the tragic update in human fatalities since 2005. The average now, according to my calculations, is a staggering 49.9 fatalities per year.
This text appears to have been cut off from my comment above:
None of these programs have been pursued. On the contrary, Best Friends and Maddie's Fund have pulled back completely from expanding access to free & low-cost spay/neuter; pit bulls have now killed 699 Americans & Canadians, up 102 from the already appalling 597 cited in your article, Ed; and the "Community Cats" program promoted by Best Friends, along with Winograd's advocacy of allowing cats to roam outdoors, "return to field" in place of sheltering cats, and the decline of low-cost & free sterilization help for neuter/return programs have combined to stall any measurable progress on behalf of cats.
Ken White, then representing the Humane Society of the U.S., stood up after my 1995 No Kill Conference address & predicted that the no-kill community would never have the foresight and self-discipline to pursue my recommendations.
The ensuing 30 years have amply proved Ken was right. Led or rather misled by Best Friends et al, the humane community has tried to adopt its way out of pet overpopulation, with the net result despite the expenditure of literally billions of dollars on adoption promotion, that total shelter adoptions of dogs & cats are actually fewer now than 40 years ago, but we are still almost as far as ever from becoming an authentic no-kill nation because we have yet to focus on addressing the reasons why we need effective animal control agencies.
They have long sought high profile support of celebs to bolster their credibility and coffers.
BF leadership have actually shared with me that this was their principle reason for originally coming to LA - they see LA as a fertile fundraising farm...
If something good can happen that would be great.
From your lips to God's ears...