AR-News: (PA - US) Follow-up on "No-Kill" Shelter

[Snugglezzz at aol.com]

Source:  The Pittsburgh Channel (Team 4)
Team 4: 'No-Kill' Follow-Up

Last month, Team 4 exposed how local animal shelters that call themselves 
"no-kill" aren't always being truthful.

Tonight, there's new evidence that one shelter is being even more deceitful.

The Animal Rescue League kills more than 3,000 animals a year. It claims all 
of them are non-adoptable because of health or behavior problems, but former 
employees and volunteers tell Team 4 that's not always true. 
- - - - - - - -

This report by Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons first aired June 7, 2004 on 
Channel 4 Action News at 6 p.m.

The ARL has been saying for almost two years that it does not kill animals 
because of space reasons -- only for health and behavior problems. Team 4 has 
obtained evidence that appears to refute that claim, and we have spoken to a 
group of former shelter workers who say the rescue league is anything but a 
"no-kill" shelter.

Janet Wolas, former ARL volunteer: "I felt guilty because I felt that I was 
part of lying to the public, just like I feel the league is lying to the 
public."

Wolas quit her volunteer work at the Animal Rescue League last December 
because the agency calls itself a no-kill shelter. That bothered her, and it 
bothered Carey Knapp.

Knapp: "It broke my heart every day, and that's why I had to leave."

Knapp was the league's public relations director until last September.

Knapp: "As the PR director, I would talk to the media on a weekly basis and 
say we haven't put down an adoptable dog in this long and an adoptable cat in 
this long. In my heart, I knew it wasn't true, and I didn't feel it was ethical 
for me to say that."

But others at the league are still saying it. The executive director made 
this claim to Team 4 just last month:

Charlotte Grimme, ARL executive director (from May 4): "We're proud of the 
fact that for almost two years now, we haven't had to put an animal down for 
space reasons."

But Team 4 has obtained an internal document from the Animal Rescue League 
that indicates the shelter has been killing for space reasons as recently as 
last August. It's a computer printout of a partial list entitled "Animals 
Euthanized By Reason," and the reason is space.

Most of the animals on the list were killed in 2002 or earlier, but it also 
includes this: On Aug. 28, 2003, a pitbull mix named Popeye was euthanized due 
to space. On the same day, staff euthanized a spaniel mix named Corky during 
consideration for adoption. The reason? Space. Also, last Aug. 28, an unnamed 
boxer mix euthanized because of space.

The Animal Rescue League says it was all a mistake. All three dogs were 
actually killed because of temperament problems.

Mark Berton, ARL: "They were entered in the computer in error, and I have the 
paperwork and the explanations for those animals."

But these former employees and volunteers say the league is just dancing 
around the truth.

Kathy Then, former volunteer: "They are a kill shelter, and they should be 
proud that they're a kill shelter."

Then says the ARL does the best job it can, handling 7.000 animals a year. 
She says she just wishes the agency was honest that it sometimes does kill 
adoptable animals.

Then: "What they're doing to the public is making innocent people think, 
'I'll bring my pet in and he''ll be okay because he's loving to me and he'll find 
a home,' but he might not."

The ARL will continue to call itself a no-kill for adoptable animals shelter.

The Western Pennsylvania Humane Society abandoned the claim of "no-kill" 
after several years of attempting to achieve it.

Both shelters, along with Animal Friends, say Pittsburgh will not reach its 
goal of becoming a no-kill city until pet owners become more responsible by 
spaying and neutering their animals.

Previous Stories: 
May 17, 2004: Team 4: 'No-Kill' Animal Shelters 














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