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NYS Rescuers and Residents: We Need You!

We need your help saving the lives of puppies, kittens, dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals currently being killed in New York State shelters despite rescue groups willing and able to save them. According to Empty Cages Collective, a NYC-based rescue group:

While justifications for killing abound, the truth is that shelters all over New York State kill animals who reputable and responsible animal rescue organizations are or would be willing to take, rehabilitate and place in loving homes. Animals are being killed in New York City, Rochester, Buffalo and cities and towns throughout the state because animal control establishments are not working with rescuers at all or will not work with them to the extent they could. Even in New York City, where NYC shelters do a better job working with rescue organizations than almost anywhere else in the state, animals are still killed while hardworking and knowledgeable individuals who run 501(c)3 non-profit animal rescues are denied taking animals destined to die.

Attention: New York State rescuers and rescue groups

As Oreo’s Law is considered by the New York State legislature, the No Kill Advocacy Center is asking for your participation in a short (5 minute) survey about your experiences.

To take the survey, click here.

Attention: New York State residents

The animals of New York State need your help. They are in a classic David vs. Goliath battle for their very lives. Lobbyists for the ASPCA and behind the scenes maneuvering by the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals is threatening to derail legislation which would save the lives of thousands of animals currently being killed throughout the state.

We need letters in support of Oreo’s Law sent immediately to:

The Honorable William Magee
Chair, Assembly Committee on Agriculture
LOB 828
Albany NY 12248

You can also e-mail him by clicking here.

While all letters are welcome, we especially need letters if you are from New York State. If you are part of a rescue group, please tell him of your experiences and difficulties and how much Oreo’s Law will help you save lives.

Remember: Without you, the animals do not stand a chance.

Oreo’s Law Resources

For far too long, those running our animal shelters – agencies funded by the philanthropic donations and tax dollars of an animal loving American public – have refused to mirror our progressive values. For far too long, they have assumed a power and authority to act independent of public opinion, and the will of the people who have entrusted them to do their jobs with compassion, dedication and integrity. In betraying this trust, they have proven that they can’t be trusted, and that we must regulate them in the same way we regulate other agencies which hold the power of life and death: by removing the discretion which has for too long allowed them to thwart the public’s will and to kill animals who should be saved. Oreo’s Law, thankfully, seeks to do just that.

Sadly, we cannot bring Oreo back and give her the second chance the ASPCA denied her. And we will forever remember her killing at the hands of those who were supposed to protect her from further harm as many things:   tragic and heartbreaking, chief among them.   Nothing can alter that calculus. But we can lessen the futility of Oreo’s death if we learn from it, and alter our society in such a way as to prevent such a betrayal from ever happening again.

— From the No Kill Advocacy Center

To learn more about Oreo’s Law, click here.