Which Part of No Don’t They Understand?

First, kudos to Pinellas County animal lovers, advocates, and lifesaving organizations for lifting your collective voice and bringing pressure to bear on Tampa SPCA to abandon the plan to be a discount outlet store for puppy mills to dump their overbred and unsold dogs. It would have been a lifeline and a “humane wash” for the inherently cruel puppy mill trade.

Second, the community is doing a dumbfounded double take to the Pinellas County Commissioners, who, in the face of overwhelming opposition from their constituents to Tampa SPCA’s ill-conceived deal with the devil, lamented its failure and continued to express their support for it.

Which part of “No” don’t you understand?

I assume that the Commissioners are well intentioned if misinformed animal lovers, whose source of information on this issue is Tampa SPCA leadership and the folks at puppy mill broker Pinnacle Pets and Sunshine Puppies pet retailer.

Please, Commissioners, listen to your constituents who are speaking to you with the voice of the majority of Americans who believe dogs and cats are part of the family, and yet Tampa SPCA is killing almost 50% of the pets that enter their building. There is no excuse for such dismal lifesaving performance, and it would be heartening if you pushed the organization to examine the policies and programs of their out-of-touch operation, rather than embrace an intentionally misleading gambit called, “For All Dogs” – a name that sounds like it popped out of some political pollsters focus group.

Your defense of the proposed puppy mill alliance is a head scratcher. Why are you not bringing the same fervor to the question of why Tampa SPCA kills so many local pets? Tampa SPCA should be advocates for the dogs and cats in their care, not order taking clerks for puppy mills. Passing a county resolution to make Pinellas County a no-kill community would be a powerful way for the County Commission to demonstrate a commitment to all dogs and cats who call Pinellas County home or need help finding their way home.

Animal shelters exist to serve their local community, and non-profit animal shelters are entrusted with donor funds to implement lifesaving work in line with their mission. Rather than put in the hard work and make the changes necessary to bend the lifesaving curve upward, the leadership and board of Tampa SPCA opted for self-protection and the status quo with Pinellas County pets and the people that love them paying the price.

From the outside, it’s difficult to explain the position of the County Commission. Citizens want local dogs and cats to leave their shelter alive and do not want puppy mill dogs imported into their community. It’s as simple as that.

Apart from anything else, it seems like a terrible move politically since most Pinellas County voters are Pinellas County animal lovers who expect more from Tampa SPCA and more from their County Commissioners to protect the lives of homeless Pinellas County pets.

Julie Castle, CEO, Best Friends Animal Society