When Rescuing Really Means Killing: A Follow-up

We recently posted some questions regarding the killing of about 130 cats that the Animal Humane Society reportedly “rescued” from a mobile home in St. Anthony, Minnesota. In response to ARC’s expressed concerns, and concerns expressed by many other animal advocates, the AHS board issued a form letter response on April 6.

In their response, the AHS board failed to address the serious issues raised. Instead, they simply recited their talking points that killing the cats was necessary to keep people and animals safe from disease, points that had already been widely discredited by many knowledgeable authorities.

ARC has learned that nationally recognized veterinarians with expertise in shelter medicine have written AHS and stated that there is “no veterinary basis for such a statement.” Veterinarian, bioethicist, and syndicated columnist Dr. Michael Fox and consulting veterinarian, lecturer, and trainer Dr. Linda Wolf are distributing a public letter to the AHS board in which they chastise the organization for the killings, and for the failure of the board to address the issues brought to them. Read the letter from Drs. Wolf and Fox, along with the form letter response from the AHS Board of Directors to complaints about the killing of the cats in St. Anthony, and then contact the AHS Board via email to tell them that the serious questions raised by the community deserve to be fully answered – and not brushed off with a letter that fails to address any of the questions raised.