Author: Dylan Forest

Decade of adoption focus fails to reduce shelter killing

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
A decade that began with giddy hope that the U.S. might soon
become a no-kill nation is ending with the numbers of dogs and cats
killed in animal shelters still stubbornly hovering at 4.2 million,
right where it was in 2002, with the average for the decade at 4.5
million, where it was in 1999.
The numbers repudiate the emphasis of campaigns that seek to
reduce shelter killing chiefly by increasing adoptions, instead of
preventing the births of the cats and dogs who are most likely to
enter shelters and be killed.
In fact, dog acquisition “market share” has barely changed
in almost 30 years, when shelter adoptions are combined with
adoptions of found strays.

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Obituaries [July/Aug 2009]

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
Kitty Langdon, 94, died July 28, 2009 in Aurora,
Colorado. “Kitty was one of Denver’s original organized
rescuers–feisty as hell to the end,” recalled former Rocky Mountain
Alley Cat Allies director Audrey Boag, for whom Langdon was longtime
mentor. Born in Britain, where she became known for feeding strays,
Langdon came to the U.S. as a war bride in 1944 aboard the Queen
Mary, then in service as a troop ship. She and her husband Sam
lived briefly in Boston and then in Walla Walla, Washington, before
settling in the Denver area in 1956. They began rescuing dogs in
Walla Walla circa 1949 “as soon as we had a fenced yard,” Langdon
told ANIMAL PEOPLE in 1993. They formed the Sunrise Foundation in
1972, initially to promote dog adoptions and sterilization. After
Sam Langdon died in 1980, Kitty Langdon refocused on helping cats.
She was among the very early U.S. practitioners and advocates of
neuter/return feral cat control, and was an early and enthusiastic
ANIMAL PEOPLE donor. Late in life she also became an outspoken
advocate for the rights of long-term care patients, profiled in 2006
by Denver Post columnist Diane Carman.

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The effect of breed-specific bylaws on city pit bull terrier killing rates

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2009:
        This table shows pit bull killing as a share of shelter killing in 11 major U.S. cities–only one of which kills more pit bulls than the national average rate per 1,000 humans.
Cities with legislation either prohibiting pit bulls or requiring pit bulls to be sterilized are shown in boldface.
The first data column shows how many pit bulls were killed either in one recent year or as an average of  recent years,  depending on what information was available.
The second column shows the numbers of pit bulls killed per 1,000 human residents of each city per year.
The third column shows the contribution that killing pit bulls made to the total city rate of shelter killing of dogs and cats per 1,000 people.
The bottom line states national totals projected from the sum of data gathered for our 2009 shelter killing survey.

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Shelters in every region are killing fewer dogs & cats –but just barely

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  July/August 2009:


Shelters in every region are killing fewer dogs & cats
--but just barely


         Animals killed    YEAR   1,000s   Animals
         per 1,000 people       of people  killed
------------------------------------------------

New York City        2.0  2008   8,275    16,489
NEW HAMPSHIRE        2.1  2007   1,316     2,737
------------------------------------------------
NORTHEAST (29%)      1.9        34,444    66,296


TENNESSEE (prjctd)  25.1  2006   6,039   151,329
Knoxville           29.9  2006     405    12,090
Kanawha/Charleston  34.1  2007     192     6,553
------------------------------------------------
APPALACHIA (41%)    25.3        15,144   383,143


NEW JERSEY           4.5  2007   8,682    38,742
Pr. George Cty, MD   7.1  2007     841     6,000
PaSPCA-served sbrbs 18.3  2007     408     7,478
Philadelphia        19.9  2006   1,448    28,774
Camden/Gloucester   21.9  2008      86     1,886
------------------------------------------------
MID-ATLANTIC (41%)   7.2        27,638   197,546



Broward County       5.9  2007   1,788    10,500
Richmond, VA         7.9  2007     193     1,516
West Palm Beach      9.5  2007   1,351    12,820
VIRGINIA            10.8  2008   7,769    83,907
St. Johns Cnty, FL  13.0  2007     169     2,201
Alachua Cty, FL     15.4  2008     240     3,695
Lee County, FL      19.1  2007     571    10,907
Tampa area          19.9  2006   2,489    49,557
Duval County, FL    23.5  2007     838    19,662
Columbia, SC        23.5  2007     468    11,000
Charleston, SC      24.1  2007     332     8,000
NORTH CAROLINA      24.7  2007   8,856   218,350
Clay County, FL     27.3  2007     179     6,542
York county, SC     37.7  2006     199     7,500
Rome/Floyd Cty, GA  42.3  2006      95     4,034
Macon, GA           42.3  2007      94     3,970
Volusia County, FL  42.3  2007     497    21,000
Clay County, FL     44.7  2007     179     8,000
Orangeburg Cty, SC  49.5  2006      91     4,500
------------------------------------------------
SO. ATLANTIC (59%)  18.6        44,716   826,544


San Juan Capistrano  1.3  2007      37        48
San Francisco        1.3  2008     809     1,031
Huntington Beach     2.5  2006     194       485
Los Angeles city     3.7  2007   4,018    15,009
Orange County, CA    4.3  2007   3,002    13,000
San Diego            4.0  2007   2,942    11,700
WASHINGTON           6.6  2006   6,132    40,722
Los Angeles total    6.8  2007   9,503    64,457
Tehama County, CA    6.8  2006      62       421
Portland/Multnomah   6.7  2008     715     4,795
OREGON               8.4  2006   3,641    30,528
Los Angeles County   8.5  2007   5,082    43,373
Anchorage            9.1  2007     275     2,490
San Bernardino Cty  11.3  2007   2,028    22,900
Merced Cty, CA      12.2  2006     246     3,011
Long Beach          13.0  2007     469     6,075
Monterey County, CA 14.4  2006     412     5,912
Visalia, CA         16.4  2006     420     6,896
Spokane             16.8  2008     463     7,824
Kern County, CA     23.3  2006     802    18,669
Stanislaus Cty, CA  23.4  2007     512    12,000
Fresno, CA          40.9  2006     787    32,147
------------------------------------------------
PACIFIC (72%)        8.5        49,070   417,095


Dallas              11.7  2008   2,346    27,355
Austin/Travis Cty.  11.9  2008     921    10,916
Jefferson Parish    16.9  2008     456     7,720
Houston             18.4  2007   3,886    71,395
San Antonio         19.6  2008   1,329    26,000
LOUISIANA           20.1  2006   4,410    92,000
Fort Worth          21.3  2007     682    14,546
MISSISSIPPI         24.8  2007   2,939    73,000
ALABAMA             25.7  2007   4,662   120,000
Conroe area, TX     26.8  2006     378    10,120
Waco/McLennan Cty.  27.0  2008     230     6,204
Mobile              31.0  2008     404    12,516
Tuskaloosa, AL      31.1  2008     178     5,536
Baldwin County, AL  32.9  2008     172     5,664
Odessa/Ector Cty.   71.4  2008     132     9,423
------------------------------------------------
GULF COAST (58%)    21.0        36,338   763,098


Reno                 5.4  2008     406     2,186
COLORADO             9.1  2007   4,753    43,000
UTAH                11.9  2007   2,700    32,000
Phoenix/Maricopa    14.8  2008   3,880    57,287
Las Vegas/Clark Cty 22.1  2007   1,997    26,500
Albuquerque         23.8  2007     505    12,029
Tucson              25.3  2008   1,014    25,600
Fallon/Lyon Cty, NV 29.6  2007      43     1,272
NEW MEXICO          33.7  2007   1,978    66,709
------------------------------------------------
WEST (88%)          15.2        19,048   289,530


Mason County, MI     3.9  2007      30       116
Chicago              6.7  2006   2,833    19,000
Porter County, IN    8.7  2007     160     1,384
Macomb County, MI    7.2  2007     833     6,000
Oakland County, MI   8.2  2006   1,214    10,000
MICHIGAN            11.7  2006  10,096   117,919
Sangamon Cty, IL    14.4  2007     194     2,800
Columbus/Frnkln Cty 14.6  2006   1,096    16,000
St. Clair Cty, MI   15.3  2007     170     2,600
Indianapolis        16.7  2007     866    14,470
Oklahoma City       28.0  2007     691    19,365
Shelby County, IN   29.4  2008      44     1,293
Independence, MO    29.7  2006     113     3,361
Tulsa               39.2  2006     383    15,000
------------------------------------------------
MIDWEST (24%)       12.8        70,204   898,611


U.S. TOTAL          13.5     3,079,939 4,157,918


	(The regional and national totals appearing in bold are not 
tallies of the data used to produce them,  but are rather estimates 
proportionately weighted to reflect demography.  The percentage 
figure in parenthesis is the percentage of the human population 
encompassed within the shelter service areas from which the totals 
were derived.)

 

China completes draft animal welfare legislation

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
BEIJING, MOSCOW– China on July 7, 2009 announced the
completion of a draft national animal welfare law. To be published
for public comment in August 2009, “The proposed draft clearly
delineates how animals should be raised, transported, and
slaughtered,” reported China Central Television, the state
broadcasting company. “It also calls for penalties and criminal
punishment for animal abuse. The draft law covers wildlife, farm
and companion animals.”
“Severe violators could be sent to prison, while lighter
punishments would include fines and detention of fewer than 15 days,”
elaborated a report in the English-language Global Times.

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Helmsley estate case

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
NEW YORK CITY–The Humane Society of the U.S., Maddie’s
Fund, and the American SPCA on August 11, 2009 asked the Manhattan
Surrogate Court to overturn a February 2009 ruling by Judge Troy K.
Webber that allowed the trustees of the late hotelier Leona
Helmsley’s estate to allocate about $5 billion to human service
charities, instead of for the benefit of dogs, as Helmsley asked in
her will. The trustees in April 2009 distributed $136 million to
human service charities, $900,000 to charities that train guide
dogs, and $100,000 to the ASPCA, the only animal charity named.

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Kenya SPCA director awarded MBE

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
Jean Gilchrist, in her 40th year as director of the Kenya
SPCA, was in August 2009 named to the Order of the British
Empire–the eighth animal advocate named since 1998, following
International Primate Protection League founder Shirley McGreal
(2008); International Animal Rescue cofounder Alan Knight, David
Sheldrick Wildlife Trust founder Daphne Sheldrick, and the late
Stella Brewer Marsden, founder of the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation
Association sanctuary in Gambia (all 2006); Care For The Wild
founder Bill Jordan, now heading the Bill Jordan Wildlife Defence
Fund (2005); Dogs Trust chair Clarissa Baldwin (2003); and Animals
Asia Foundation founder Jill Robinson (1998).

Fur sales at 20-year low & falling

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2009:
LONDON, MILAN, NEW YORK, PARIS–Again
fur industry flacks are banging the drums to
proclaim that fur sales are making a comeback,
but the media echo is distinctly muted. More
designers were trying to sell fur in mid-2009 at
the London, Milan, New York, and Paris Fashion
Week shows, 164 in all, up from 156 in 2008,
but more sellers scarcely means more buyers.
Whatever publicity boost fur might have
gotten from the participation of eight more
designers was upstaged when French first lady
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and U.S. first lady Michelle
Obama both let the world know that fur is not in
their wardrobes.

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