Rescue-Five-O
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

No Kill Advocacy Center and Rescue-Five-O

[Ed. Note: Shelters originally established to provide safety and care for homeless (or de-homed) companion animals have fallen far short of those goals. Read Do Animals Need Laws Protecting Them From Shelters? and How Much Do You Know About Pound Seizure?]

Rescuing Animals from Death by Reforming Shelters in All 50 States

Working with grassroots activists across the country, Rescue Five-0 will seek the introduction and passage of The Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA) in every state, model legislation which mandates the implementation of the proven life-saving programs collectively known as “The No Kill Equation.”

Rescue Five-0 has sent model CAPA legislation and Nathan Winograd’s groundbreaking book detailing the history and future of the No Kill movement, Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America to every state legislator in the country: 7,400 in all.

The No Kill Advocacy Center and No Kill Nation are excited to announce the launch of their joint campaign to create a No Kill nation: Rescue Five-0. Working with grassroots activists across the country, Rescue Five-0 will seek the introduction and passage of The Companion Animal Protection Act (CAPA) in every state, model legislation which mandates the implementation of the proven life-saving programs collectively known as “The No Kill Equation.”

To launch the campaign and to inform legislators regarding the urgent need for shelter reform, Rescue Five-0 has sent model CAPA legislation and Nathan Winograd’s groundbreaking book detailing the history and future of the No Kill movement, Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America to every state legislator in the country: 7,400 in all. No Kill activists are encouraged to take advantage of this profound and unprecedented educational outreach to our nation’s lawmakers by requesting that their own legislators follow the lead of Texas, Rhode Island, and New York, where versions of CAPA have already been introduced, as well as Delaware, where CAPA became state law last year after its unanimous passage through that state’s legislature.

CAPA mandates simple, life-saving practices that most people would be shocked to know are not already standard operating procedure at our nation’s shelters, and which, if implemented nationwide, would save the lives of millions of animals being systematically killed in our nation’s shelters every year. Among other equally common sense provisions, CAPA bans the common practice of killing animals despite empty cages, and mandates that shelters must allow rescue groups to save the lives of animals they are planning to kill. In short, CAPA requires shelters to implement the programs and services which have already succeeded in creating No Kill communities throughout the nation, but which the majority of shelters in this country have refused to adopt willingly.

"We have known how to end the killing at our nation’s shelters for over a decade now, and in more communities than ever before, we have," says Nathan Winograd, attorney and Executive Director of the No Kill Advocacy Center. "Unfortunately, the vast majority of shelters in this country refuse to follow the proven, life-saving mandates prescribed by the Companion Animal Protection Act, and millions of dogs and cats are killed in our nation’s shelters every year as a result. Progressive laws which reform our shelters by requiring them to operate according to the most innovative and progressive standards is the right of every animal entering our nation’s shelters, and every animal loving, taxpaying citizen."

No Kill Advocacy Center attorneys will be available to assist grassroots activists through the legislative process in their states, while the vast network of animal activists created by the No Kill Nation will be mobilized to support CAPA wherever it is introduced. "In the last several years, the No Kill movement has grown at an astonishing pace," says Debi Day of No Kill Nation, which has created a network of over one hundred thousand animal lovers. "Activists nationwide want to see an end to the killing, and are anxious for substantive ways they can make that happen. We are thrilled to offer a means to harness all of that compassion, dedication and determination. Rescue Five-0 provides animal lovers with a straightforward, concrete means to assist in the creation of a No Kill nation through the democratic process. And we will use our vast network of animal lovers to create groundswells of public support for these laws whenever and wherever they are introduced."

Rescue Five-0’s Companion Animal Protection Act is part of a three-pronged approach to nationwide shelter reform: leadership, political advocacy, and legislation.

Activists, Legislators and media are encouraged to visit Rescue50.org for the latest news on CAPA nationwide and for free downloads of model legislation, supplemental materials and a how-to legislative primer for activists, "There Ought to be a Shelter Reform Law: An Activist’s Guide to Passing Humane Legislation."

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