There is a current uproar about a cat named Gloria. If your not familiar with the story, advocate John Sibley wrote about the situation here and updated it here.
Thanks to the power of the Internet, everyone has become aware of it. Who knows what kinda crap they pulled before there was a Facebook? I will say that everyone I have ever spoken to who has worked there, has told me that while they obviously do some good, they do a lot of bad, and overall, their experience was disillusioning. This is besides how they cherry pick the animals that they choose to take from the AC&C.
None of this should be a shocker to me, not after I found out the reason why they left the NYC shelter system in shambles was due to public relations.
Read this article from the NY Times in 1993.
It seems to me that they did exactly the opposite of what you'd expect (hope?) that they'd do - There was a situation in crisis, and rather than help, they choose to leave.
Seriously, think about what they did for a second... (I'll wait)...
Rather than work to create a better shelter system, they told NYC to drop dead, much as they have recently. Why? It was costing them donations.
Take a gander at this quote from them the ASPCA's then President -
"Philosophically, it's a nightmare to kill 30,000 to 40,000 animals a year," Mr. Caras said. "That's not our mission."
Exactly whose mission is it to kill 30,000 to 40,000 animals a year (besides McDonald's)? They ran the shelter (and others) since 1894 and in all those years, they couldn't come up with ANY workable ideas?!? They kept the status quo and once they saw how much it was hurting their coffers, they left. And then, right after is this lovely quote...
In addition, he said, being perceived as an animal killer has crippled the society's fund-raising...
My guess is that the "in addition" is the EXACT reason why they cut bait and ran.
With all of this history, how can anyone take these clowns seriously? Why would anyone want to donate money to an animal rights organization that won't fight for the animals when the going gets tough? How long will it take for the public to see through their commercials?
Harris Bloom
President/Founder
www.stewietotherescue.org
4 comments:
Let's state it more simply: they stopped running a shelter so they could focus full-time on getting rich.
They succeeded.
I didn't think I could be more appalled by the ASPCA. But now I am.
Thanks for posting this.
Wow, that article is an amazing find, Harris! As I was reading it, I copy-pasted the - to me - most telling paragraph, only to realize that you'd chosen the same one to quote.
It's like a rescue saying, "It breaks my heart that I can't save all those animals from ACC, so I guess I will just stop saving them altogether, but still hold fundraisers in memory of all the animals I am now not trying to save."
It's incredible that the ASPCA would so blatantly give up on all our homeless pets in New York, never even trying to hide that it's all about how people perceive them - and it doesn't change people's perception of them for a second.
Great post!
Viktoria
I know, it's incredible - I just added a line to it about how they did the exact opposite of what you'd expect (hope?) them to do in a crisis situation - I mean, you'd think they'd come in and be heroes, no? Instead they left.
Harris
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