Los Angeles Humane Society

Paws for wildlife

Wayne Pacelle is a busy man. Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, made his 68th stop on a national book tour at the Primavera Art Gallery in Ojai, Saturday, June 25. His new book, The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, has appeared on many best-seller lists, including The Washington Post, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.

Since Pacelle took office in 2004, he and the Humane Society have worked for the passage of more than 500 new state laws protecting animals, and partnered famously with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick (convicted on federal charges related to dog fighting and torturing) in reaching millions about animal cruelty.

On his way to Ojai to speak with local residents who successfully ended a lethal wildlife control program that was poisoning rodents and working its way up the food chain, Pacelle talked with the VCReporter about his book and resolving wildlife conflicts.

VCReporter: What have you been speaking about on your book tour? Wayne Pacelle: A big-picture view of our relationship with animals and how we need to step it up in terms of our own responsibility to be good to other creatures …. A lot of people don’t understand that the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) works on all animal protection issues, and we have a very significant wildlife department and a program within that department that promotes resolving conflicts with wildlife in a non-lethal way. We can resolve conflict with wildlife by applying the creativity of the human mind. We don’t have to immediately run to killing as the only way to address these conflicts that emerge.

Why do you think humans have resorted to killing animals as a way of resolving wildlife conflict? In the relationship we have with animals, we have all the cards, all the power, and it’s been easy for us to exercise that power in a way that produces body counts of wildlife. Some people have thought of that as the normal course of activity in dealing with conflict.

I read some excerpts from your book about practicing agriculture in a humane way. Can you explain the concept of humane agriculture? There was a great demonstration of this in California. We did a ballot initiative called Proposition 2 (Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act) on the statewide ballot in November 2008. It was a measure to stop the extreme confinement of livestock on factory farms. That effort was focused on stopping the worst abuse in the realm of animal agriculture. And it got more votes than any citizen initiative in history. There was $10 million campaigned against us by big agriculture business trying to frighten people about increased food costs and farmers going out of business. But the state said, “Hey, if these animals are going to be raised for food then it should be in a humane way.” It was a watershed moment and validated that people are concerned about all animals, not just those in wildlife.

Fewer pets killed because of spay, neuter programs - LA Daily News

LOS ANGELES - When Stephen Zawistowski got his first dog 50 years ago, she was the only dog in the neighborhood that was spayed.

"She had an incision that must have been a foot long and was sewn up with what looked like piano wire," says Zawistowski, science adviser for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

It took years of campaigning to change thinking about sterilizing pets, but it has paid off. This year fewer than 4 million unwanted dogs and cats will be euthanized, down from as many as 20 million before 1970.

There are several reasons: Aggressive adopt-a-pet campaigns are carried out every day in cities all over the country and breed rescues save many dogs. But animal experts believe spaying and neutering has played the biggest role in saving so many lives.

Nearly every public shelter, private rescue or animal welfare organization in the country donates money, space or time to low-cost spay and neuter clinics.

Spaying and neutering has become the law in some states, counties and cities. Many states require all shelter animals to be sterilized. Rhode Island requires most cats to be sterilized, and Los Angeles requires most dogs and cats to be spayed or neutered by the time they are 4 months old.

While shelters are firmly onboard, the biggest problem has been selling sterilization programs to pet owners.

When pets are sterilized, their reproductive organs are removed so they can no longer breed. Some people consider that unnecessary mutilation of their pets.

There are those who say: "You won't do that to my dog because I wouldn't want it done to me," Zawistowski says.

And it wasn't just pet owners who had to be convinced - so did veterinarians, he says.

Medical procedures have caught up in the last half-century and a lot of people have changed their thinking.

"Now they make a one- or two-inch incision and use self-absorbing sutures" that mean a much quicker recovery for the animals, Zawistowski says.

Aimee Gilbreath, executive director of Found Animals, a Los Angeles-based charity, agrees. "It's become a tenet of responsible ownership," she says of spaying and neutering.

"I'm 36. My childhood dog was never neutered. We lived in some rural places and he roamed the countryside. Who knows how many litters he fathered," Gilbreath says.

"Today my dog is neutered. My parents' dog is spayed. In my family, it's gone from something you didn't do to something that is automatic.

The National humane review

Biennial report of the State Board of Charities and Corrections of the State of California

California appellate decisions

Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York

Los Angeles Magazine