Legislation to Save Animals in Peril
Your Help is Urgently Needed
June 11, 2010
"Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, Oreo’s Law will be voted on by the New York State (NYS) Assembly Agriculture Committee. But it is not likely to pass without a large showing of community support between now and then. That is because the Committee Chairman is recommending a “hold,” the equivalent of being tabled, which would mean Oreo’s Law would die in committee, despite the fact that it has legislative cosponsors across the state and supporters outnumber the opposition.
If Oreo's Law is defeated, thousands upon thousands of cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, rabbits, and other animals will continue to be needlessly killed in NYS shelters every year—animals Oreo’s Law has the power to save.
A statewide survey of NYS rescue groups found that over 70% were being turned away because the shelters were hostile to rescue groups, and then those shelters turned around and killed the very animals the rescuers were willing to save. The law would make it illegal for a shelter to kill an animal if a qualified rescue group is willing to save that animal’s life.
Oreo’s Law is central to the fight for a No Kill nation. For No Kill success to be widespread and long lasting, we must remove the discretion which allows shelter directors the ability to ignore what is in the best interests of animals and kill them needlessly. We need to regulate shelters in the same way we regulate hospitals and other agencies which hold the power over life and death. Oreo’s Law helps do just that.
Today, shelter directors across New York State are arbitrarily turning away qualified rescue groups because they are hostile to rescue and arbitrarily refuse to work with them. Today, animals across New York State are being killed even though those rescue groups have offered to save animals otherwise facing certain death. Today, those animals are ending up in landfills, when they should be going to rescue groups where they will be cared for at no cost to taxpayers until a permanent and loving home can be found. Oreo’s Law would give NYS shelter animals that future—a future the ASPCA is intent on denying them in order to save face and maintain power and control (Oreo’s Law is named after an abused dog the ASPCA killed despite a rescue alternative).
According to a legislative insider, despite the fact that supporters outnumber the opposition, the opposition is strong, but the supporters are not. They do not have enough connections. And they certainly don't have the money, millions of dollars given by unsuspecting donors who erroneously think these organizations speak for the animals, instead of their own ambition.
Meanwhile, the other large, wealthy, national groups who claim they do speak for the animals, who claim they do support No Kill, who claim they are the leading voices for ending pet homelessness or supporting TNR are not supporting Oreo's Law because they are afraid to stand up to the ASPCA, because the ASPCA gives them money, or because of personal and professional loyalties with the ASPCA they value more than the lives of the animals Oreo’s Law would save.
So the animals need you. They need the voice of the people, every day animal lovers and rescuers to speak for them. They need you to call committee members and urge them to vote "Yes." Because they don’t have anyone else and only an overwhelming show of support can save Oreo’s Law from defeat and the animals from certain death.
Tragically, right doesn’t always defeat might. Sometimes the animals don't win. Sometimes they continue to get killed despite a readily available lifesaving and rescue alternative. Sometimes a feral kitten who a rescue group is willing to socialize and place in a loving home will instead get injected with poison from a bottle marked “fatal plus” and then dumped in a landfill. Sometimes a puppy who can go to rescue and be guaranteed a home will be killed instead. Sometimes a person who kills an abused dog a rescue group was willing to save gets away with it. For their sake, please do not let this be one of those times....
Please call and e-mail the NYS Assembly Agriculture Committee members today. Because without you, the animals don't stand a chance.
Nathan J. Winograd
Director, No Kill Advocacy Center
♦ For contact information, click here.
♦ Click here for a list of e-mails (just cut and paste to your e-mail's "To" line when composing).
♦ Click here for a list of phone numbers so you can call.
♦ You can also make your voice heard by visiting YesOnOreosLaw.
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When animals are harmed, the No Kill Advocacy Center is there...
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The No Kill Advocacy Center in partnership with Stray Cat Alliance are the only organizations challenging a court ruling in Los Angeles condemning all cats deemed feral to certain death. Read our appeal by clicking here.
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Join the crusade. Donate now by clicking here."
Call, write, post. Let your conscience be your guide.
'vie
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