Since Manatee County became a model government by adopting a “no kill” policy for the dogs and cats that end up in the animal shelter, advocates have found another ally in the movement. Bradenton state Sen. Mike Bennett is sponsoring legislation that would establish Florida as a pet friendly state, an ambitious and commendable effort to stop the senseless slaughter of adoptable animals.
Manatee County’s policy, adopted last month, intends to phase out euthanasia and progressively increase the pet “live release” rate from 61 percent to above 90 percent sometime next year. Only terminally ill, injured and suffering pets as well as vicious dogs will continue to be euthanized.
Animal advocates convinced commissioners to approve the policy by committing to a partnership with the county’s Animal Services Division.
Manatee pet rescue and animal welfare organizations aim to boost pet fostering and adoption and promote free or low cost spay and neutering programs.
Bennett’s “Animal Rescue Act” (SB 818) will spread those goals across the state by requiring public animal control agencies and shelters maintain a registry of private rescue groups willing to take animals earmarked for euthanasia.
Thus, it would be illegal for shelters to kill animals when a qualified non-profit rescue organization expresses a willingness to spare the creature.
Why would this legislation establish such a requirement? Animal advocates point to a No Kill Nation statewide survey of rescue groups that shows 63 percent of the organizations encountered a government shelter that rejected a collaborative approach and killed animals instead. Some shelters were actually hostile to rescue groups, an absurd proposition.
The survey also found that shelters have a variety of rescue access policies, with half the respondents saying the criteria sometimes depended on the whims of staff on duty. That is poor public policy. The Animal Rescue Act would set state standards that will eliminate such arbitrary and backward policies. State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo is the primary sponsor of the House version (HB 597).
An additional benefit is a savings for taxpayers as shelters lower operating costs by releasing animals to rescue groups. Bennett cites both those savings and the additional shelter revenue from adoptions as rescue organizations would be charged a fee for saving animals.
The city and county of San Francisco saved almost $500,000 in animal control costs with a similar rescue access law and transferred 4,000 additional animals to private groups, according to Florida-based No Kill Nation.
To participate in Florida’s program, rescue organizations would have to qualify, and groups with any associates convicted of animal neglect, cruelty or dog fighting would not be allowed on shelter contact lists.
Unfortunately, opponents of this legislation have disseminated misinformation. The measure does not force rescue groups to take shelter animals, it only requires shelters to contact organizations willing to accept abandoned, neglected and stray pets.
One of the keys to increasing pet adoptions is marketing, which Manatee County government and residents are pursuing aggressively. Kris Weiskopf of Manatee’s Animal Services Division writes a popular weekly column for the Bradenton Herald titled “A View to No-Kill” that promotes adoption among other pet issues.
One of the most popular features on www.braden ton.com are the image galleries of available pets. Animal Services posts images of adoptable animals at www.mymanatee.org/pets. But a group of volunteer photographers is joining forces to boost the no-kill movement by shooting more becoming images and posting those at a new website, www.picture themadopted.com, expected to go live this week.
Animal Services, which will link to the site on its pet page, anticipates a great response thanks to the efforts of the amateur and professional photographers.
Images that show a pet’s personality have proven to increase adoptions considerably. Kudos to these volunteers, under the leadership of Caryn Hodge.
More photographers are sought, and training in how to elicit cute reactions from pets is provided. Contact either Hodge at 941-713-3105 or county animal care specialist Megahan Simpson at 941-742-5933, ext. 8314.
Kudos, too, to Bennett for pushing a sound public-private partnership that will spare the lives of countless pets. The legislation is gaining co-sponsors, a positive sign for passage of this measure.
