This Week in Animal Protection
By Nathan Winograd
Read the original article HERE
Under her leadership, Faithful Friends helped drive a decline in statewide killings of roughly 90%. She worked with The No Kill Advocacy Center, my organization, to pass the Delaware Companion Animal Protection Act, which state officials credit with establishing “common-sense statutes to improve the health and wellbeing of animals temporarily housed in shelters,” including “vaccination upon intake,” “veterinary care for sick or injured animals,” and “holding periods to allow owner reunification or transfer.”
Officials noted that the law “has improved the quality of care animals receive in shelters and has saved thousands of animals that would have otherwise been euthanized due to outdated policies and practices. Prior to this law, healthy dogs and cats were euthanized very quickly, sometimes while their owners were looking for them.” The law also requires that animals be given to rescue groups, if requested, rather than killed.
The law — and subsequent legislation making sterilization, instead of killing, official state policy — has also saved community cats: “Cats that free-roamed, either as outdoor pets or managed cat colonies, were indiscriminately rounded up by animal control and euthanized, much to the dismay of pet owners and colony caretakers.” No more.
Jane Pierantozzi had surgery on her leg and is expected to require up to five months of recovery. She described Emma as the daughter she never had.