This man dedicated 4-5 years to painting the faces of 5,500 pets whose lives were lost in US shelters, equating to the number of euthanasias in ONE day: An Act of Dog

I feel compelled to share this film with you that I watched about a man (and his partner) who dedicated 4-5 years to painting the faces of 5,500 pets euthanized in the US shelters; this figure equates to the number of dogs and cats euthanized in US shelters in ONE day. It sounds depressing, but if you watch this film, I believe a more accurate word to describe it would be inspiring. Mark Barone's project inspired hundreds of school students to create change in their own communities. His dedication and passion for his project defies belief. https://video.ket.org/video/3007480437/ http://people.com/pets/artist-mark-barone-paints-portraits-of-5500-euthanized-dogs-to-raise-awareness-about-the-plight-of-shelter-animals/ https://anactofdog.org/

WHO…Other Than Overburdened Rescue Organizations and Adoptions Volunteers…Has a Greater Stake (...Or Even Any Stake at All…) in: 1. Stopping Indiscriminate Backyard Breeding of Dogs; AND 2. Reducing Avoidable Shelter Intake?

We cannot overemphasize our appreciation for the enormous, time-intensive and all-consuming responsibility rescues and adoptions volunteers face in terms of saving lives and striving for “No Kill”. That said, we also need to appeal to you already-overworked volunteers to go even beyond adoptions (“firefighting”) to get to the source of the problem, indiscriminate breeding (see following paragraph). You adopters currently are the only group of animal volunteers in sufficient numbers to make a difference and help ‘grow’ a grass roots movement . An overriding problem is that while the basic mantra of rescues is “Adopt, Don’t Shop…”, there are “supply push” Back Yard Breeder’s (BYB's) in communities all across this country and abroad who prey upon “impulse buyers” (irresponsible pet owners/”IPO’s” who won’t take the time/effort to become responsible pet owners). While rescues can adopt out only one and two dogs at a time, these deliberate BYBs’ are producing large and frequent litters due to their dogs’ geometric/exponential reproduction rate capabilities! Read more at: http://standupfordogs.tumblr.com/post/84860728256/who-other-than-overburdened-rescue-organizations

Incredible example of a successful partnership between a municipal shelter and rescue organization

For almost 30 years, Pet Project Foundation (PPF) and the San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter have been united in a unique partnership to provide pro-humane care to the lost and abandoned animals of our two cities. With PPF providing significant financial support, as well as donating over 25,000 hours of volunteer time each year, the shelter is able to ensure that every animal in its care will have a safe refuge until a permanent, loving home can be found – no matter how long that takes. http://www.petprojectfoundation.org/

Pet Rescue and Adoption Act, mandating only rescued pets are sold in pet stores, passes into law in California

AB485, the first ever Bill of its kind in the USA, passed into law in October 2017 as it leapt over the final hurdle of reaching Governor Brown's desk. From January 1, 2019, only rescued dogs, cats and rabbits may be sold in California's retail stores. California has spoken, and it does not see a place for pets sourced from breeders in the State's pet stores while hundreds of adoptable pets are euthanized daily in its shelters. Link to press release from sponsors of the Bill, Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL): http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Governor-Brown-Signs-AB-485-into-California-State-Law.html?soid=1101925750350&aid=IsZ6X6aOwvI More information on SCIL's website: https://www.socialcompassioninlegislation.org/pet-rescue-and-adoption-act Link to the Bill wording: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB485

Strategic Advocacy Course

Learn how to be a more effective advocate for animals. Strategic advocacy is a key tool for achieving animal welfare goals in an effective and lasting manner. With this in mind, WAN has developed a Strategic Advocacy Course that is offered free of charge to animal advocates around the world. Read our blog posts about social change movements! How it works Students can access our course materials online, and can work at their own pace or select only the modules they find relevant to their needs. The course will guide students through the basic sociological principles of social movements, strategy, campaign development, and evaluation of their effectiveness. Each of the eight modules comes with a presentation which is accessible from the module's introduction page. Introduction Documents An Introduction to Advocacy Advocacy Tools - A full set of advocacy tools Further Advocacy Resources Module 1 Social Change Brief History of the Animal Protection Movement Top Tips Module 2 Strategic Planning Advocacy Strategy Process Notes Top Tips Module 3 Advocacy Research Top Tips Module 4 Networking and Alliances Top Tips Module 5 Campaigning Top Tips Module 6 Media and Communications Top Tips Module 7 Lobbying Top Tips Module 8 Monitoring and Evaluation Top Tips http://worldanimal.net/course-contents

Consumer Action to Stop Backyard Breeding By "BYB’S" AND Benefit Responsible Breeder Community

WHY PROMPT AND DECISIVE CONSUMER ACTION DIRECTED TOWARDS ALL BREEDERS IS NEEDED TO STOP INDISCRIMINATE BYB’S (AND HOW THIS CAN BENEFIT THE RESPONSIBLE BREEDER SECTOR IN VERY NEAR TERM). Many truly responsible breeders and countless animal welfare advocates share the goal of eliminating indiscriminate ‘backyard breeding’ across the U.S. and beyond. Such indiscriminate breeding certainly must be a huge and embarrassing thorn in the side of the responsible breeder community. And, from the perspective of all those who are concerned about all types of dogs unnecessarily ending up in shelters (….purebreds included) – many to be needlessly ‘killed’ – we all share in the responsibility of correcting this “shelter intake” situation, i.e. pet owners, responsible breeders, national humane organizations, public and private shelter managers, etc. A major issue, however, seems to be whatever level of regulation…if at all…the breeder community at large is willing to accept (and if regulation is indeed necessary) in order to greatly reduce or stop indiscriminate breeding. The following is an effort to make the case that “reasoned” regulation of the breeder community at large is necessary and would be a ‘win-win’ for responsible breeders, animals advocates and the ‘pet industry’ as a whole. Read more: http://standupfordogs.tumblr.com/post/66209606535/consumer-action-to-stop-bybs-and-benefit?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma

SPCA and municipal sheltering partnership with astounding results

70% kill rate changed to a 70% save rate! http://www.animalsheltering.org/trainings/make-impact-strategies-building-successful-shelter-partnerships

No kill (open admission) shelter Director Tara Diller (Ventura County) discusses adoption counselling, vetting, transport programs, and more

http://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/communities/camarillo/2017/03/10/how-camarillo-stays-no-kill-animal-shelter/97139464/

OC Animal Care continues to flout animal welfare laws, following civil lawsuit

Posted by Sharon Logan: "A Public Service Announcement To The Residents And Citizens Of Orange County Regarding OC Animal Care. It has been 3 years since Paw Protectors Rescue initiated our lawsuit against OC Animal Care located in the City of Orange CA for OC Animal Care's numerous violations of the Hayden Act and most specifically in regards to ORE- Owner Surrendered Dogs where the owners are requesting that OC Animal Care euthanize their dogs. Here are just some of over the 102 pages we filed this month against OC Animal Care in OC Superior Court asking the court to enforce the settlement agreement that OC Animal Care has continually failed to abide to for the last two years. In the past two years Paw Protectors Rescue, our attorneys and some dedicated animal Advocates assembled a volunteer team that consisted of, a medical doctor, two retired attorneys, a paralegal, a Veterinarian, A data statistician and one paid consultant to analyze OC Animal Care's court ordered Euthanasia Reports that had to be provided to Paw Protectors Rescue and their attorneys. Some of the findings included that OC Animal Care euthanized 28 % of all the Pit Bulls and Staffordshire Terriers that entered OC Animal Care. 63% of Owner Requested Euthanized Dogs were Euthanized within 1 hour of entering OC Animal Care with the median time of just 45 minutes for OC Animal Care to kill Owner Requested Euthanized Dogs. This violates the Hayden Act and Paw Protectors Rescue's settlement agreement with OC Animal Care. Equally shocking would be the discovery that OC Animal Care would Euthanized 94% of the stray cats that ended up at OC Animal Care with 70% of those stray cats Euthanized within a day of entering OC Animal Care, notably 60 % percent of the stray cats were euthanized at OC Animal Care for the stated reason of being too young. There is no worse shelter in all of Orange County, CA than the County Ran OC Animal Care, OC Animal Care is a slaughter house for the unfortunate animals that end up there." https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155802449128320&set=pcb.864431877056285&type=3&theater&ifg=1

Ways to find a rescue local to you

Type in your Zipcode here, uses PetFinder's database and presents in map format: https://www.humaneforpets.com/find-shelters/ Search for "dog rescue" or "cat rescue" and then filter by location to search for 501c3 rescues here, this is a more comprehensive list of rescues than PetFinder: http://www.guidestar.org/Home.aspx

What Stand Up for Animals is all about

Youth program in Santa Barbara educating on compassion for pets

http://www.care4paws.org/youthprograms

Orange County Animal Care shelter Director resigns after continued violations of law are exposed

Boisot: Status of Citizen Lawsuit Against OC Animal Shelter https://voiceofoc.org/2018/01/boisot-status-of-citizen-lawsuit-against-oc-animal-shelter/ Posted by Saskia Boisot Feb 2: "I have official confirmation that Dr. Hawkins has resigned her position as director of OC Animal Care. She will be staying on as head veterinarian, but the position of director is now vacant. I can’t say much more than that at this time, except that animal advocacy works." https://www.facebook.com/groups/nokillshelteralliance/permalink/911630052336467/

Know Your Rights as a Rescuer & Shelter Volunteer Primer

CURRENT ENFORCEABILITY OF THE HAYDEN LAW OF 1998

By Taimie L. Bryant, one of the principal drafters of the Hayden Act