Richmond SPCA Blog

Ineptitude widespread in City administration, takes toll on animal lives

Smokey was one of 34 pets we transferred into our care from Richmond Animal Control last week.

The front page article in the Richmond Times Dispatch on Sunday was about the rampant problems, screw-ups, irresponsible management and lack of integrity and accountability in the current City administration which has been overseen for the past three years by Mayor Dwight Jones and Chief Administrative Officer Byron Marshall. The latter individual sought to characterize the failures of the administration as “stumbles” but not “falls.” Well. Call me crazy but I expect our City to be managed by people who walk and perhaps even run to earn the paycheck we provide them. Stumbling and falling should earn you a ticket out of town. Mayor Jones relied on that worn old saw of suggesting that they had inherited problems from the prior administration. Similarly, Marshall said that the City organization he inherited was “broken” – wonder what you would call the current situation exactly? And, Council President Kathy Graziano said this about the instances of overtime fraud, abuses requiring the closing of the juvenile detention center and massive problems with tax billings: “Do I have confidence that they can be fixed? I have hope that they can be fixed." I suppose that is an artful way of saying that she does not have any confidence. Neither do we.

The massive problems and egregious shortcomings of this Mayor’s administration that were reported in the newspaper Sunday, and many times before then, are utterly consistent with our own experiences in trying to deal with this City administration. After nearly two years of trying in vain to get the City to enter into a partnership agreement with us, one that had been authorized by City Council and had a history of improving the City’s live release rate for homeless animals with each passing year, we finally gave up the effort only to later see Marshall go before Council and report to them that the partnership agreement had in fact been finalized with the Richmond SPCA! When I went to Council to set the record straight, the Council members indicated that they were concerned (as well they should be) that they had not been given accurate information. I am aware that at least one member of Council asked Marshall for an explanation, and as best I have been able to find out, no explanation has ever been provided. Nor has there been any effort whatsoever by the administration to reach out to us and mend the fences that their hostile attitude and callous indifference has created.

Our Board has come to the reasonable conclusion that, until an experienced professional who is dedicated to progressive life saving principles is hired to head up Richmond Animal Care and Control and until we have some indication that the City administration actually wants to partner in a sincere way with us to save animal lives, there is no point in pursuing or agreeing to a partnership that is nothing but a façade. At a minimum, I had hoped that we would see some effort on the part of the members of City Council to require a reasonable explanation for the untruthful information that they were given and for the failure of the administration to finalize in good faith with us a partnership agreement that the Council had authorized. No such effort has been forthcoming so far.

The current state of this City is a sad thing. The ones who are really paying for this situation are those who are the most vulnerable and voiceless. That, of course, includes homeless animals in the City shelter whose lives depend on someone with the City administration caring about them. In 2011, according to records provided by the City to the State Veterinarian’s Office, the life saving results for the City shelter declined for the first time in many years. They took in fewer dogs than in the past but more of them lost their lives. I certainly cannot promise that we can do much to change the course of this City but I can promise this: We will not be silent.

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Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

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Related posts:
April 12, 2012: What is going on with our City? Questions about partnership raise issue of credibility 
April 24, 2012: City of Richmond’s indifference to lifesaving partnership for animals is subject of insightful RTD editorial

City of Richmond’s indifference to lifesaving partnership for animals is subject of insightful RTD editorial

The lead editorial on the editorial pages of the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Tuesday, April 24, articulately and appropriately took the City administration to task for their “indifference” to the life-saving services that our organization has provided to the homeless animals of Richmond and to the immense success of the partnership that we formerly had with Richmond Animal Care and Control in saving an ever increasing number of homeless animals’ lives every year. We are deeply grateful to the editorial page writers for their perceptive piece which challenges our City leaders to act with greater responsibility and sincerity with regard to animal welfare than they have done to date. 

Our Board leadership and I worked for more than 20 months to seek to re-establish with the City the working public-private partnership that we had with them starting in 2001. That partnership reached its highest degree of effectiveness when Jody Jones headed the Richmond Animal Care and Control (RACC) due to her progressive philosophies and sincere desire to partner with us effectively to save animal lives.  Our partnership had expired by its terms in 2008 and Jody worked with us to try to get the City administration to work out a new partnership agreement between our organizations. The City’s lack of support for RACC and their hostility toward the Richmond SPCA and reluctance to re-establish our partnership were among the main reasons for Jody’s decision to leave Richmond. An issue of crucial importance now is whether the City will undertake a true nationwide search and will hire replacement for Jody who has progressive philosophies and will truly prioritize saving animal lives.

Even though City Council authorized the City administration to enter into a new agreement with us, the City never did so and, in fact, someone introduced into the draft agreement that went to Council for its approval a paragraph that we had never seen and never agreed to. This introduction of a new paragraph without bringing it to our attention was unethical and no one with the City administration would ever discuss the addition with us. We made more than 30 documented attempts to get the City administration to create a new working partnership with us and were consistently ignored or rebuffed. Then, last month, CAO Byron Marshall went before City Council and was asked if the partnership with us had been signed. He told them that it had been. Clearly, this was a misleading and disingenuous statement for which we have heard no explanation yet having been offered. 

While it is clear that the City of Richmond has no sincere interest in partnering with us, that does not mean that the Richmond SPCA will desert the homeless animals of the City of Richmond who need us now more than ever. Despite the absence of a working relationship with the City, we took in nearly the number of animals from RACC in 2011 that we did in prior years. Despite our help, whether desired or not, the City of Richmond saw a significant decline in its live release rate from RACC’s shelter in 2011 over the prior year. Calendar year 2011 was the first year in many that the live release rate for the City did not improve. According to annual shelter statistics submitted by RACC to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, RACC took in fewer dogs in 2011 than it did in 2010 but nonetheless took the lives of more dogs than it had in the past. RACC is now taking in more cats than it used to do when Jody was actively supporting and promoting Trap-Neuter-Return programs for feral cats. Consequently, more cats are also losing their lives. The outcome was that their live release rate declined by about 7%.

On the other hand, the Richmond SPCA worked energetically in 2011 to save more animals from a greater number of shelters in and around our community. We have done this in order to be sure that we utilize our resources effectively to save as many animal lives as we possibly can. The outcome for us is that we saved more lives of precious homeless animals in 2011 than in prior years – in fact, we saved 9% more animal lives in total in 2011 over 2010. 

Our life saving is going in the right direction and that of the City is not. They may not want our help but we know that the animals want it and need it. And, we will be there for them no matter what. The animals are the focus of our mission, not any local government entity. Please do all you can to express your concern for the lives of homeless animals to those in City administration and on City Council. If, as anyone would surmise, the inaction and disingenuousness of City administration reflect their belief that the people of Richmond do not care about the lives and well-being of companion animals, then they are very mistaken.  We need to let them and the members of City Council know that loudly and clearly. 

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Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

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Related links:
April 12, 2012: What is going on with our City? Questions about partnership raise issue of credibility
April 9, 2012: Setting the record straight before City Council regarding the partnership agreement with the City

What is going on with our City? Questions about partnership raise issue of credibility

What is going on with our City? Well, certainly among other things, a cavalier disregard for the truth.

A couple of weeks ago, I received a phone call letting me know that the Chief Administrative Officer Byron Marshall, while speaking to City Council in favor of a paper to increase the job category of the person heading Richmond Animal Care and Control, was asked by Councilman Charles Samuels whether the Memorandum of Understanding (City speak for a partnership agreement) between the City and the Richmond SPCA had been signed. This proposed agreement had been authorized by Council to be fully executed in the early fall of 2010. Mr. Marshall replied that, yes, it had.

That was surprising news to me since we had never signed the MOU, had never received a document for signature, had never been contacted by the City about getting the document signed, and I had contacted the City administration numerous times in an effort to get the MOU executed and had never received any meaningful response from them. I had raised this issue of the City not finalizing the MOU with us with several senior members of the City administration including the Mayor. He said that they would get back to us on it. They never did. After more than a year had passed of our trying to get the agreement finalized, our Board had come to the reasonable conclusion that the City had no intention of entering into a partnership agreement with us, and therefore, the Board needed to proceed with its strategic planning for this organization and the accomplishment of our mission to save animal lives without any partnership with the City. Seemed like the reasonable thing for us to do. How long can you or should you keep on banging your head against a wall?

So, we had to wonder why Mr. Marshall would stand before Council members and tell them that it had been signed? I decided that I should go to the next Council meeting in order to give them the correct information. Not because we wanted or expected an agreement to now get done but because I thought they deserved to know the truth of what had occurred.

On the evening of April 9, I explained to the Council members that no MOU had ever been signed between us despite many efforts on the part of the Richmond SPCA to get that to happen. As I was leaving City Hall, I was approached in the hallway by a member of the City Administration who was very unhappy with me about what I said. According to him, Mr. Marshall had said what he did to Council members because the City had signed the MOU itself. That’s right, the explanation is that Mr. Marshall was asked by Mr. Samuels if the City had signed it and he was saying that the City had done so, just the City. This explanation does not even meet the red face standard – a term our family has always used for a position that you cannot take without turning red in the face because it is so embarrassing. Signing an agreement unilaterally and then sticking it in a drawer and never getting the other party to sign it, never even delivering it to the other party or letting anyone know it has been signed does not meet any rational person’s definition of executing an agreement. The administration really will need to do better than that if they are to maintain any credibility.

Or do they even concern themselves with credibility?

I have now been asked by several Council members to ask our Board if they would still be interested in a partnership with the City. I will do so as soon as possible. I can know this much – this organization will do whatever we honestly believe will result in our being able to save the greatest number of animals’ lives. It is just that simple. Whether partnering with people that you cannot trust is likely to do that is really the question, isn’t it?

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Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Related:
April 9: Setting the record straight before City Council regarding the partnership agreement with the City

Setting the record straight before City Council regarding the partnership agreement with the City

Tonight at the meeting of Richmond City Council, the Consent Agenda contained two items of importance to Richmond Animal Care and Control. 

Item 3: To amend City Code for the purpose of providing for a Director of the Office of Animal Care And Control. 

Item 4: To amend the pay plan to create a title of Director, Office of Animal Care and Control in the unclassified executive service. 

Our Chief Executive Officer Robin Starr addressed the following remarks to members of council: 

President Graziano and the members of City Council, I am Robin Starr, the Chief Executive Officer of the Richmond SPCA. Our organization supports the creation of a position of Director to head the operation of Richmond Animal Care and Control and the related increase in salary range on one condition. That condition is that the City conducts promptly a valid and well-organized nationwide search for a truly experienced and well regarded animal welfare professional who is sincerely committed to progressive approaches to saving homeless animal lives and that the City will support the implementation of such progressive approaches. We believe that the decision on such hiring must reflect the input of persons chosen by those organizations that transfer animals from the City shelter including the Richmond SPCA. If a nationwide search is not going to be conducted and/or if the decision making process will not be reflective of the viewpoints of those who are actively saving homeless animals in the City, then we see no need for this increase in title and pay level. 

I must take this moment to correct inaccurate information that I am told you received at your last public meeting two weeks ago. I understand that, at that time, you were informed that the City had entered into a new partnership agreement with the Richmond SPCA to replace our previous one that expired by its terms. That is not the case.

This Council authorized City Administration to enter into a new partnership agreement with us in the fall of 2010. The document that was authorized we found later contained language that had never been seen or agreed to by the Richmond SPCA. When we sought to discuss this added language and find the way to arrive at a mutually acceptable document, we were unable to ever get any response from the City administration. I made numerous attempts, all of which have been documented, to address this issue, none of which received any response from the City. I will add that neither did City administration nor the City Attorney's office make any effort to get the partnership agreement that was approved by this Council executed by the parties in the form that it was approved. After our many efforts to finalize a new mutually agreeable partnership agreement proved futile, our Board made a decision last fall that we would no longer seek or enter into such a partnership with the City. 

This was an important occasion to set the record straight before City Council and explain that City administration had been non-responsive for many months. It became imperative upon our organization that we must act consistently with our mission to save the greatest possible number of lives, and that is how we have been operating  without preference to any specific local government within our community. 

The ensuing discussion made clear that members of the City Council were very surprised at the lack of a formal partnership agreement. 

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Tabitha Frizzell Hanes is the director of communications at the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Guest post: Report from the 2012 General Assembly Session

Greetings Richmond SPCA advocates!  As the Virginia state director for The Humane Society of the United States, I’d like to share an update on the animal protection legislation that was considered during the 2012 legislative session.  When looking back on this session, it’s important to also keep in mind that policy reform takes time and perseverance. It took nearly a decade to pass effective puppy mill legislation, and now Virginia has the top ranked commercial breeding regulations in the country.

We must celebrate our achievements, and not lose heart over battles not yet won. I look forward to working with you all as we continue to be tenacious advocates for animals.

Our successes:

• H.J. 143 – Spay Day Virginia. Patroned by Del. David Englin, D-Alexandria, and passed by the Senate on Feb. 28, this bill designates every Feb. 28 as Spay Day in Virginia.  Four million cats and dogs—about one every eight seconds—are put down in U.S. shelters each year. Spay Day will create a wave of spay/neuter awareness and activities across the Commonwealth by linking together hundreds of events organized by local animal welfare organizations and veterinary professionals. 

• S.B. 610 - Regulation of care and handling of agricultural animals. Patroned by Sen. Richard Black, R-Loudon, this bill would have exempted hunting dogs, working dogs and show dogs from our strong companion animal care standards and redefined them as “agricultural animals.” It also stated no locality or humane society would have authority to regulate the care and handling of agricultural animals. Such a ludicrous bill incited outrage among animal advocates and was thankfully tabled.

Your advocacy is needed on these measures that didn’t pass in 2012:

• H.B. 363 – Pet Protective Orders. Patroned by Del. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, this bill sought to extend protective orders being sought by survivors of domestic violence to include animals.  Although successfully reported from the House courts of justice committee, this bill stalled in appropriations.  More than 20 states now have such legislation and Virginia should enact this measure to protect pets and people.

• H.B. 695/S.B. 202 - Fox and coyote penning; Class 1 misdemeanor for purpose of pursuing foxes and coyotes with dog within an enclosure. Patroned by Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax and Del. Kenneth Plum, D-Reston, this bill proposed to outlaw fox and coyote pens, which are fenced enclosures where dogs are released to chase wild-caught foxes, often in staged competitions to judge how long the dogs will pursue the captive wildlife.  In just three years, Virginia pens took nearly 4,000 live foxes from the wild to fuel this fenced bloodsport. The Senate agriculture committee carried over Senate Bill 202 and requested the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries study the issue. This is a great beginning in a widely-supported campaign to end this cruelty.

• H.B. 1242 - Dangerous Wild Animals.  Patroned by Del. Chris Peace, R-Hanover, this bill would have restricted the possession of certain dangerous wild and exotic animals to licensed and qualified facilities. In the wrong hands, these animals threaten public health and safety and their welfare suffers. This bill was crafted with a wide array of stakeholders at the table, and much momentum was gained, however time ran out in Virginia’s short legislative session and the patron requested the bill be carried over to next year.

• H.B. 1159 - Shark Fins. Patroned by Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, this bill sought to make the sale, possession and trade of shark fins illegal. Tens of millions of sharks have their fins cut off for use in shark fin soup and are then discarded back in the ocean to die. Sharks have roamed the oceans for millions of years but many species are now threatened with extinction due to this cruel industry. Watch Dan Rather’s investigation of shark finning here. Unfortunately, this bill was voted down in committee due to opposition from the VA Seafood Council.

• H.B. 888 – Tethering; companion animals. Patroned by Del. Ken Alexander, D-Norfolk, this bill simply clarified that localities may regulate tethering laws at the local level. Some localities in Virginia already have done so, such as Richmond and Danville, but other localities don’t feel the General Assembly has given them regulatory authority over such a policy. This bill was opposed by the VA Farm Bureau — which is baffling given this bill only applies to companion animals. Dogs (like people) are social animals, yet more than 200,000 dogs live empty lives chained or tethered outdoors. Tied-up outside, dogs become lonely, bored, and anxious, and they can develop aggressive behaviors. Bring a dog inside (or help a chained dog in your neighborhood) and you’ll keep everyone safer.

• S.B. 359 - Trap, Neuter, and Return programs. Patroned by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, SB 359 proposed to improve cat overpopulation control efforts by allowing TNR programs and exempting citizens who engage in TNR from the definition of companion animal abandonment found in §3.2-6503. The bill passed the Senate but failed in the agriculture subcommittee in the House. It is anticipated that the Department of Agriculture will convene a work group on this issue.

Next year’s legislative success depends on our continued dedication to being a voice for animals in Virginia. Now that the General Assembly session is over, it’s the perfect time to let your representatives know that you are an advocate for animals. You can find who represents you here.  For tips on speaking with your legislators check out our advocate toolkit or contact me. I would be delighted to join you in a meeting with your Virginia legislator.

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Laura Donahue is the Virginia State Director for the Humane Society of the United States.

To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name. 

Dog Jog and 5K Run proved to be a bright day for homeless pets in spite of rain clouds

The great success of our Tenth Annual Dog Jog and 5K Run, presented by Car Pool, is a testament to our supporters' dedication to the homeless animals who rely on our help no matter the conditions. Undaunted by the rain, they came to run in the 5K and brought their dogs, whose expressions seemed to say that a wet jog is just as well by them. We are pleased to share that we surpassed our fundraising goal – $131,000 – and raised nearly $143,000 for the animals in our care!

The Richmond community's devotion to saving the lives of orphaned pets was celebrated as part of the 10th anniversary of the Dog Jog and 5K Run. Staff, volunteers, board members and other friends of the Richmond SPCA surprised the crowd with a flash mob, choreographed by Catherine Noack of the Richmond Ballet, that took place in the midst of the Holiday Barn Pet Resorts Vendor Fair. Greatly exceeding the event's fundraising goal provides extra meaning to the song that was chosen, Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams Come True." 

The participants who work in the weeks and months leading up to the Dog Jog and 5K Run to solicit contributions from friends, family and co-workers ensure the success of this lifesaving event. Their work has helped to save the lives of thousands of orphaned dogs and cats in need. 

Top individual and team fundraisers

• Top Fundraising Individual: Sarah Sinsabaugh, $3,588 raised
• Second Highest Fundraising Individual: Brenda Birkitt, $2,900 raised
• Third Highest Fundraising Individual: Whitney Kelliher, $1,993 raised 
• Top Fundraising Youth: Stephanie Story, $840 raised
• Top Fundraising Team: Team Birkitt, $8,805 raised 
• Second Highest Fundraising Team: Team Bank of America, $4,182 raised
• Third Highest Fundraising Team: Team Running Buddies, $2,275 raised

Richmond Road Runners Club is the official timekeeper for the 5K Run, and 388 runners crossed the finish line last Saturday.  Full race results can be found at www.rrrc.org/page/rrrc-race-results. Select "SPCA Dog Jog 5K" from the drop down menu. 

Top 5K Finishers

• First overall female:
  Maureen Ackerly 18:49
• First overall male:
  Chris Carrier 15:59
• Second overall female:
  Allison Hazlett 21:14
• Second overall male:
  Sean Killeen 18:27
• Third overall female:
  Ariel McGuire 21:32
• Third overall male:
  Erich Fritz 19:03

Our volunteer Rich Terrell has shared a terrific set of photos from Saturday's event on Flickr. We'll post additional photos on the Richmond SPCA Facebook page, and you can share your own photos on the wall of our Dog Jog and 5K Run page on Facebook. 

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Tabitha Frizzell Hanes is the director of communications at the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Richmond SPCA's head feline offers to host feline debate for VA Senate race

A cat named Hank has entered the Virginia Senate race, and he's making national headlines. 

The latest development is the Allen Campaign's introduction of Cisco, cat coalition co-chair. 

The Richmond SPCA offers to host a debate between Hank and Cisco. We're eagerly awaiting the Kaine campaign's announcement of its own feline representative. The debate will be moderated by Dumbledore Starr, who has overseen the Richmond SPCA administration and media relations for years. 

Dumbledore intends to include the following topics for debate: 

• The constitutionality of a requirement of an ultrasound before spay/neuter surgery
• Whether a bailout of the catnip producers was a wise move
• How to further reduce the cat unemployment rate and increase the amount of daily naptime
• Whether the tax rate on families with more than one cat should be reduced and whether the tax rate on families with dogs should be increased

We ask Hank and Cisco to give us their available dates as soon as possible. In the meantime, Dumbledore encourages you to like Hank for Senate on Facebook. 

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Update: We've gotten confirmation via Twitter that Hank will participate in the debate. (3:35 p.m, Feb. 29)

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Dumbledore Starr is chief of feline operations at the Richmond SPCA. His staff blogs and moderates comments for him without disturbing his naptime. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Clinic for Compassionate Care will offer pets affordable care they can’t afford to do without

Today we made an announcement to the media that we are very excited about, and I wanted to share this news directly with those of you who read our blog. The Richmond SPCA will open the Clinic for Compassionate Care on March 5, providing full-service veterinary care by appointment to the pets of low-income guardians, pets adopted from the Richmond SPCA on or after March 5, pets referred to the clinic by another veterinarian, and pets in government shelters on a low-cost, high-quality basis.

This is the most recent in the many groundbreaking advances for the well being of animals that the Richmond SPCA has made. Since our founding in 1891, we have always been on the forefront of positive change and have pushed both our community, and the animal welfare field nationwide, to adopt new approaches and to let go of outdated notions in order to save more animal lives. Playing that role is not always easy because ours is a field that resists change. Well, when you think about it, what field does not resist change? Maybe some high-tech fields do not, but most of them resist change because people resist change.

Offering low-cost, high-quality veterinary care for pets of low-income guardians is a new and novel approach that has not been done in our community or in many other communities in the US. We know that many companion animals desperately need us to do this for them. There are many of them who are beloved members of families that simply cannot afford to provide their pets with the veterinary care they need. The result is that many pets suffer and die needlessly and many people are faced with the misery of relinquishing or euthanizing a beloved pet with a treatable ailment. This has been confirmed in empirical research that was done for us by Alan Newman Research and in our own experience with the Wellness Clinic we have operated since 2009. We do not in any way fault the veterinary community for this circumstance because they must make enough to pay the expenses of their clinics and to provide themselves and their families with a reasonable living. Veterinary practices are regularly faced with the difficult situation of a pet in need of expensive treatment and a guardian who cannot afford it. The Clinic for Compassionate Care will provide them with an alternative to offer the guardian.

The Richmond SPCA’s role is to save animal lives, advocate for their well being and make sure that more cats and dogs find good homes where they will be loved. Our new Clinic will be a great tool in accomplishing these goals. Our Smoky’s Spay/Neuter Clinic will continue to do its great work providing sterilization surgeries for our pets available for adoption, feral cats, pets adopted from other shelters, and pets of clients of the Clinic for Compassionate Care. The reception office, which may be reached by calling 804-521-1330, will begin taking calls for appointments and other information February 27. In the meantime, please visit the Clinic for Compassionate Care website at www.richmondspca.org/clinic for more details.

We are proud to be that rare organization that does not see obstacles as insurmountable, is not mired in the status quo and does not fear forging a new way. We act with energy and guts because the animals count on us for their lives.

Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.

Important animal welfare legislation needs your urgent support

There are two matters of significant importance before the General Assembly this week, and we need your help to better ensure a positive vote.

Please take a moment to contact your state delegate and senator before Wednesday and urge them to support the essential pieces of legislation outlined below that will protect defenseless animals and the individuals who care for them throughout Virginia. It’s important that you call your House and Senate representatives since ultimately the bills, if passed in the Senate, will cross over to the House for another vote and ultimate passage. To obtain the contact information for the representatives of your districts, click here. Calls are always best; however, emails can also be effective.

S.B. 202
This bill, which is patroned by Sen. David Marsden, would make fox penning a Class 1 Misdemeanor that is punishable with up to 12 months in jail and up to a $2,500 fine. Currently in Virginia, wild foxes can be trapped and transported to fenced enclosures where they are released. Hounds are then turned out in these pens in order to chase the foxes, whom they oftentimes tragically tear apart and kill. Opponents of this bill say that fox pens provide a safe training tool for dogs and that the foxes are hardly ever harmed. In reality, this activity is tantamount to animal fighting, and more than 3,600 foxes died in these pens over the last three years (and it was not from old age). In summary, we hope very much that legislators will support and pass S.B. 202 to ban fox pens in Virginia because they are inhumane and because they pose a serious threat to Virginia’s wildlife heritage. Read the Richmond Times-Dispatch's editorial, which supports S.B. 202.

S.B. 359
This bill, which is patroned by Sen. Creigh Deeds, would clarify the existing Virginia code in order to protect individuals who compassionately care for feral cats. Under current law, returning a spayed or neutered feral cat to his outdoor home may be construed as a crime of abandonment. In some municipalities, this means that feral cat caregivers are prevented from engaging in the responsible practice of Trap-Neuter-Return and are threatened with charges and penalties by local law enforcement who claim the caregivers are acting as “owners” of the cats once they trap them. Under S.B. 359, returning a feral cat to his colony after he’s been neutered could no longer be interpreted as abandonment. In summary, we hope very much that legislators will support and pass S.B. 359 to reaffirm Virginia’s commitment to animal welfare and to protect individuals who are responsibly ensuring that feral cats are being sterilized and vaccinated against rabies. To read a prior blog post on this bill, click here.

We are grateful for your deep commitment to the animals who share our world and for your ongoing advocacy.

To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name. 

 

Wise RTD editorial comes to correct conclusion about fox penning

Earlier this week an editorial appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch taking a strong and well-reasoned position in support of the House and Senate Bills (House Bill 695 and Senate Bill 202) that would make the inhumane practice of fox penning a Class 1 misdemeanor. We could never thank the editors of the Times-Dispatch editorial pages enough for their wisdom and courage in supporting our efforts and those of the Humane Society of the United States to outlaw this horribly cruel practice.

Their editorial received many comments from all the usual suspects who regard animals as nothing but tools for their own profit and pleasure regardless of the suffering and death that they cause. These commenters expounded at great length as they always do claiming that the foxes have places where they can escape (stretching the truth by a mile) and that the hounds really do not often kill the foxes (wonder why, then, the enclosures have to be restocked each year with thousands of new foxes) and (my personal favorite for its sheer nuttiness) that the foxes enjoy the chase. The latter absurd suggestion leads one to imagine just how much you yourself would enjoy being placed in an enclosure from which you could not escape with Bengal tigers which you would run from until utterly exhausted at which point you would be torn apart in their jaws. Sounds like a rip-roaring good time, doesn’t it?

These people are the group that we will have to contend with as the opposition as we work to get the legislators to take a courageous step in the direction of compassion and ethics for our state. They conduct themselves with no greater ethics in their efforts to lobby than they do in their treatment of defenseless animals. The patron of the Senate version of this bill, Senator Marsden is himself a hunter and one who believes deeply in the ethics of fair chase. He is appalled by the utter cruelty and lack of ethics of the people who engage in fox penning. We applaud his wonderful stand and will do all in our power to support him.

Fox penning is a stain on the honor and integrity of our state and an example of the thinking that animals’ suffering and death is to be disregarded entirely in favor of depraved human pleasure. It places the most miserable of human motives on a pedestal and attempts to make them sound positive. It is no different and no better than any other sort of animal fighting. The closing line of the Times-Dispatch editorial said it beautifully and I quote it here: “Humanity's dominion over the earth and its wildlife does not translate into a right to torture the beasts of the field.”

Please help us to protect these animals by calling and writing your senators and delegates and urge them to support these two bills. It is crucial to our living in a state with a heart and a conscience.

P.S. To those fox penners who will send comments in to try to get them published in our blog, save your efforts. I have no inclination whatsoever to allow you a forum on our organization’s blog. You have plenty of other places to spew your venom.

Robin Robertson Starr is the chief executive officer of the Richmond SPCA. To read her biography or that of our other bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.