At the heart of the SPCA is a simple principle. Never turn any animal away.
In the June 9 cover story, the Weekly compared us to San Jose Animal Care Center, which shelters strays but only accepts healthy, friendly pets from owners. They refer the rest to Humane Society of Silicon Valley, which requires appointments, only accepts “outgoing, friendly, healthy dogs,” and refuses cats not adopted there. Those waiting for an opening that may never come have nowhere to go. What happens to them? If we followed their policy, we would have turned away 2,601 animals in 2015.
Monterey County Animal Services claimed, “Mutual aid… is basically non-existent.” Last year, we cared for 823 animals from MCAS’ service area and 1,378 from Salinas. Those agencies refuse owner-surrendered pets, referring pet owners instead to the SPCA. What would happen if we turned them away?
The article claimed we don’t work with rescue groups, reporting Peace of Mind only took three pets from us in 2014. While true, it didn’t mention we asked for help for two more and were denied. In the last three years, half the animals we asked rescue groups to take were refused by the same groups that now criticize us. What would happen if we turned away half of the animals that need our care?
Multiple times every week, the SPCA receives animals turned away by rescue groups and shelters.
It was reported we don’t transport pets. While transport is stressful, we didn’t send this greyhound to San Diego because we could adopt him here; he was adopted the next day. Unfortunately, Weekly readers were left with the false impression this dog was euthanized.
It was also said that we euthanize dogs that jump up on people. In fact, they enter our Take The Lead or Ruff Start programs. In the coming year, many more pets with behavioral challenges will benefit from a certified training professional and volunteers dedicated exclusively to correcting behavior considered objectionable by adopters.
Each of the pets in the Weekly photos came to us with medical or behavioral problems. Each was treated and adopted. Last year, 961 pets out of the 1,959 adopted suffered from medical or behavioral issues when we rescued them. We commit hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to making them healthy and seeing them adopted into new homes.
If you profess to be a protector of animals, turning them away to an unknown fate is unacceptable. SPCA supporters rightly expect us to be there for every animal. We are. Our dedicated animal care teams help the hundreds of sick, broken or rejected animals other agencies ignore. They shed tears for every animal that is euthanized. They rightfully rail at a society that allows over-breeding, bringing so many unwanted animals into our world. It is unconscionable for shelters and rescue groups that pick and choose the animals they accept to criticize our staff and volunteers.
The quickest way to reduce this loss of precious life is to regulate pet breeding. For 26 years, we’ve advocated for sterilization ordinances in Monterey County. Our pleas fell on deaf ears.
SPCA staff and volunteers deserve credit for their accomplishments, not criticism for society’s failings. If you truly care about animals in our community, join us in the fight for a better world for animals and people.
(7) comments
As a private consultant who has The SPCA as a client, I have been in a position to know the staff, history, and inner workings of The SPCA for many years, so I was shocked at this unprofessional Weekly article on the organization, which was chock full of misleading information and outright lies. I understand that newspapers like to create controversy, but I thought the Monterey County Weekly was above this kind of mean-spirited yellow journalism—and there certainly is no other word for it.
Residents need to know that this recent storm in a teacup about The SPCA has been carefully orchestrated from the beginning by a small handful of misguided individuals, at the center of which is a disgruntled former SPCA employee who rightfully lost her job due to her performance—and much to the relief of this person’s fellow employees at the time. She reveals the personal nature of her vendetta in her comments in the thread, which are personally directed at Mr. Tiscornia—not the organization itself—something she has done repeatedly in other venues. This attempt to compromise the integrity of The SPCA—one of our community’s most valuable organizations which provides so many services to so many—is not about concern for animals; it is about egos, and payback against SPCA Executive Director Gary Tiscornia, with no regard to the damage created for the countless local animals and people who depend on The SPCA for vital services.
Yes—The SPCA euthanizes more animals than the supposed “comparison shelters” offered in the article—and given their different profiles, anyone with the facts would know that’s perfectly understandable (facts you won’t find in the Weekly article). When you are the only shelter who accepts ALL animals in need, you are going to euthanize more animals than other shelters who pick and choose which animals they will or won’t accept. In fact, if you can no longer keep your pet due to illness, financial crisis, military deployment or whatever reason, The SPCA is the only place in our county that you can count on to accept your animal for rehoming. In addition, The SPCA accepts animals from all of Monterey County—not just one jurisdiction. This includes large rural areas, which have the usual high amount of unsterilized stray pets. In short, the manipulated statistics in the Weekly article compares apples and oranges.
It astounds me that there are still people who can believe in the fairy tale of no-kills shelters. Simple math shows that there are simply more animals than there are people to adopt them. Local pet overpopulation is a fact and it is also a fact that The SPCA has done more than any other organization to prevent overpopulation and resultant pet euthanasia in this county.
The SPCA Spay/neuter Clinic has performed over 134,000 surgeries since it opened in 1976. This represents hundreds of thousands of unwanted pets who likely may have died on the streets or been euthanized. Many residents depend on the SPCA’s no-cost feline Neutermania program, and other low-cost, sterilization services.
While these spay/neuters numbers alone are impressive, The SPCA has not stopped there. To prevent the surrender of animals they provide comprehensive dog training classes to the public, including solutions for difficult behaviors like aggression and shyness that often result in animals being turned in. The behavior staff also goes over and above to train and correct problems with homeless dogs so that they are highly adoptable and are not returned after they are rehomed. Their Take the Lead and Ruff Start programs help at-risk kids and prisoners while at the same time improving adoptability of shelter pets. SPCA PetMeals ensures that Meals on Wheels clients who cannot provide for their pets receive pet food and supplies so they can keep their beloved animals and not give them up, and the SPCA Pet Food Bank does the same thing to reduce owner surrenders. SPCA education programs in the schools and camps at The SPCA nurture kindness and concern for all animals in children of all ages, so they understand what pet overpopulation is, and what it means to be responsible for a pet.
Who else is doing any of this in our county? Nobody.
It’s great that we have other local groups who foster and rehome a limited number of handpicked homeless pets that they get from area shelters—there is no doubt we need more adoptions—but when there’s a huge hoarding case with a hundred-plus sickly, suffering animals to rescue, or when someone is abusing or starving their pets and he’s a dangerous person nobody wants to confront, or a fire is bearing down and hundreds of pets and livestock need to be relocated NOW, or there’s a suffering wild animal entangled or hit by a car, The SPCA is the only agency you can call for help. They routinely work with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement, the District Attorney’s office, Child and Adult Protective Services, CAL FIRE…the list goes on and on, because these professionals know that The SPCA are our local experts for all animals in need.
Don’t be fooled: if you care about animals and creating a more humane community, support your local SPCA and the dedicated staff who work there—we are lucky to have one of the most well-respected SPCAs in the country providing comprehensive services for ourselves and our neighbors.
—Anne Muraski, Monterey
Dear Ms. Muraski,
You might remember me. You featured me in SPCA newsletter articles regarding the my volunteer work. One a couple of years ago regarding the successful adoption of the horse, Thunder. Another regarding the horse Cider. In my tenure as a volunteer, I was responsible for the successful adoption of over 40 horses.
I was "fired" by the SPCA in 2013 after writing to management regarding multiple instances when horses in the SPCA's care were unnecessarily killed. One of those, Sundance, had a well-qualified adopter, a former employee and successful adopter, with an application on file at the time Sundance was needlessly put down. My story echoes that of other volunteers who questioned euthanasia decisions, and who were let go as a result of those questions.
You assert that the other shelters mentioned in the article weren't appropriate comparisons. Have your read the letter from Joe Cicirelli, Director of Animal Care and Services of the City of San Jose? Are you suggesting that he is fabricating his statistics and the results of his agency compared to SPCA of MoCo?
What, specifically, in the MCW article is other than factual? Exactly what facts did they get wrong, and what is your source? Far as I can tell, the reporter, Ms. Ceballos, used data provided by the SPCA, and direct quotes from Mr. Tiscornia, including the revelation about how the organization sometimes euthanizes for "obnoxious behavior," such as dogs who jump on people.
Perhaps, in the interest of "full transparency," as repeatedly asserted by Mr. Tiscornia, it's past time for the SPCA Newsletter, over which you apparently have some influence, to publish their euthanasia statistics. Unless the public knows the truth, there's no way to garner support for changing that truth, and decreasing the kill rate at the SPCA shelter.
And yes, that Take the Lead program? My understanding is that dogs who've completed that program also experience a 50% kill rate. If that number is in fact different, I'd love to know, however far as I can find on the SPCA website, the Live Release Rate for Take the Lead participants is another piece of information not revealed to the donating public.
Indeed, the SPCA of Monterey County has wonderful staff and volunteers. Unfortunately the organization fails to keep them. Their employee turnover tops 30% annually, as revealed by the SPCA's 990 tax returns.
This organization can do so much good. A few simple changes, in line with what is already "standard business practice" for most shelters: a robust fostering program, working cooperatively with other rescues, community outreach such as offsite adoption events... I'm so grateful that Mr. Delucchi is coming aboard. He will, I know, by simply replicating the tried-and-true practices of Peninsula Humane and other successful shelters, give a much brighter future to homeless animals in Monterey County.
For the Animals,
--Kristi Fredrickson
Salinas
As a private consultant who has The SPCA as a client, I have been in a position to know the staff, history, and inner workings of The SPCA for many years, so I was shocked at this unprofessional Weekly article on the organization, which was chock full of misleading information and outright lies. I understand that newspapers like to create controversy, but I thought the Monterey County Weekly was above this kind of mean-spirited yellow journalism—and there certainly is no other word for it.
Residents need to know that this recent storm in a teacup about The SPCA has been carefully orchestrated from the beginning by a small handful of misguided individuals, at the center of which is a disgruntled former SPCA employee who rightfully lost her job due to her performance—and much to the relief of this person’s fellow employees at the time. She reveals the personal nature of her vendetta in her comments in the thread, which are personally directed at Mr. Tiscornia—not the organization itself—something she has done repeatedly in other venues. This attempt to compromise the integrity of The SPCA—one of our community’s most valuable organizations which provides so many services to so many—is not about concern for animals; it is about egos, and payback against SPCA Executive Director Gary Tiscornia, with no regard to the damage created for the countless local animals and people who depend on The SPCA for vital services.
Yes—The SPCA euthanizes more animals than the supposed “comparison shelters” offered in the article—and given their different profiles, anyone with the facts would know that’s perfectly understandable (facts you won’t find in the Weekly article). When you are the only shelter who accepts ALL animals in need, you are going to euthanize more animals than other shelters who pick and choose which animals they will or won’t accept. In fact, if you can no longer keep your pet due to illness, financial crisis, military deployment or whatever reason, The SPCA is the only place in our county that you can count on to accept your animal for rehoming. In addition, The SPCA accepts animals from all of Monterey County—not just one jurisdiction. This includes large rural areas, which have the usual high amount of unsterilized stray pets. In short, the manipulated statistics in the Weekly article compares apples and oranges.
It astounds me that there are still people who can believe in the fairy tale of no-kills shelters. Simple math shows that there are simply more animals than there are people to adopt them. Local pet overpopulation is a fact and it is also a fact that The SPCA has done more than any other organization to prevent overpopulation and resultant pet euthanasia in this county.
The SPCA Spay/neuter Clinic has performed over 134,000 surgeries since it opened in 1976. This represents hundreds of thousands of unwanted pets who likely may have died on the streets or been euthanized. Many residents depend on the SPCA’s no-cost feline Neutermania program, and other low-cost, sterilization services.
While these spay/neuters numbers alone are impressive, The SPCA has not stopped there. To prevent the surrender of animals they provide comprehensive dog training classes to the public, including solutions for difficult behaviors like aggression and shyness that often result in animals being turned in. The behavior staff also goes over and above to train and correct problems with homeless dogs so that they are highly adoptable and are not returned after they are rehomed. Their Take the Lead and Ruff Start programs help at-risk kids and prisoners while at the same time improving adoptability of shelter pets. SPCA PetMeals ensures that Meals on Wheels clients who cannot provide for their pets receive pet food and supplies so they can keep their beloved animals and not give them up, and the SPCA Pet Food Bank does the same thing to reduce owner surrenders. SPCA education programs in the schools and camps at The SPCA nurture kindness and concern for all animals in children of all ages, so they understand what pet overpopulation is, and what it means to be responsible for a pet.
Who else is doing any of this in our county? Nobody.
It’s great that we have other local groups who foster and rehome a limited number of handpicked homeless pets that they get from area shelters—there is no doubt we need more adoptions—but when there’s a huge hoarding case with a hundred-plus sickly, suffering animals to rescue, or when someone is abusing or starving their pets and he’s a dangerous person nobody wants to confront, or a fire is bearing down and hundreds of pets and livestock need to be relocated NOW, or there’s a suffering wild animal entangled or hit by a car, The SPCA is the only agency you can call for help. They routinely work with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement, the District Attorney’s office, Child and Adult Protective Services, CAL FIRE…the list goes on and on, because these professionals know that The SPCA are our local experts for all animals in need.
Don’t be fooled: if you care about animals and creating a more humane community, support your local SPCA and the dedicated staff who work there—we are lucky to have one of the most well-respected SPCAs in the country providing comprehensive services for ourselves and our neighbors.
—Anne Muraski, Monterey
I usually don’t get involved directly with the controversies and debates about animal welfare going on in individual communities. However, my colleague Gary Tiscornia Executive Director of the Monterey SPCA chose to involve San Jose Animal Care and Services in his most recent response to the articles and comments published about the Monterey SPCA. Unfortunately, he did so without asking me what our practices are, or attempting to understand our philosophy. He made up his own version in an effort to support his assertion that comparing our two agencies is unfair.
To clarify the record. The San Jose Animal Care Center does not turn away any animals in need. When people want to surrender their pet to us, we do not pick only the healthy and friendly animals and reject the rest. In 2015 we took in more than 2,000 owner surrendered animals. We also euthanized several hundred because either their behavior or their health was beyond our capacity to help. How is that possible if we don’t accept those animals, as Mr. Tiscornia wants the readers to believe? We do make it very clear to people that we should be the last resort for their pet and that they should explore other options first. If we think we may need to euthanize their pet—we tell them that, up front, before they decide.
On infrequent occasions, when the shelter is full, we will ask people to wait to surrender their pet if it isn’t an emergency situation. Our philosophy is that we don’t want to compromise another animal’s chances by overcrowding the shelter. Again, this is done when the shelter is full, and when it makes sense. It’s not an abdication of our responsibilities, in fact it is an affirmation of our commitment that once we take responsibility for someone’s pet, we will do our best to help that pet. It means that if we are full, and they can wait, then we want them to wait and/or try other options first. In all cases, if the situation warrants, we will take the pet – even when we are full. We believe that in those situations, is it better to try and empower the pet owner (who is able) to help themselves to find a good outcome for their pet.
Some organizations base their policies on the assumption that people are basically bad pet owners (“irresponsible pet owners”). While it is easy to see that there are some people who are not great pet owners, the vast majority are good. In San Jose, our residents own about 400,000 cats and dogs. We see about 15,000 of those in any given year. That’s less than 4% of all dogs and cats in our community per year. What about the other 95%? This level of annual intake is not significantly different from other communities. We believe people are basically good and want to do what is best for their pet. We don’t buy into the myth that if we don’t unconditionally accept someone’s pet that they will just abandon it or do something harmful. We trust the public, and if we suspect anything could go wrong, we take the pet. Some agencies like to label this practice as “limited” or “closed” admission in an attempt to claim a higher moral ground by declaring that they are “open admission” and then try to justify their policies by drawing this distinction. We label it “common sense”. It makes no sense to knowingly or purposefully overcrowd the shelter, and put other animals at risk, when an animal owner is willing to work with the shelter in a constructive way.
On some levels, Mr. Tiscornia is right that it isn’t fair to compare our organizations. In 2015, we took in about 15,000 dogs and cats (3X the volume of all animals at the SPCA). About 25% of those dogs and cats were considered “healthy and adoptable”. More than 5,000 of those dogs and cats came to us as “unhealthy and untreatable” – these are the most significantly sick/injured and/or behaviorally challenged animals in a shelter. Despite the difficulty that such numbers present, we only euthanized about 2,100 of those 15,000 dogs and cats. And we will do a better job this year. How can that be? Because our philosophy, polices, and programs are different. It isn’t magic, and it isn’t playing games with statistics. It’s hard, hard, work. It involves partnerships, it is listening to our stakeholders, volunteers and staff and inviting them to be part of the solution. It is a commitment to continually evaluate new ideas, new programs, and ways to change our existing programs. It requires us to challenge long-held assumptions in our industry and it is being accountable for our performance by being open and transparent.
Gary writes in his response on June 16, that “If you profess to be a protector of animals, turning them away to an unknown fate is unacceptable.” Well, how is this for unacceptable? An agency that professes to be a “protector of animals” and that their philosophy is to “never turn an animal away”, and then they euthanize 1 out of every 2 animals that enters their facility. I guess it makes for a nice sound bite, but it is a hollow philosophy when paired with results like that. This type of logic is thankfully beginning to change in the animal welfare industry, but it still persists in places such as the Monterey SPCA. It’s a philosophy rooted in the flawed ethos that we must kill animals in order to protect them from “fates worse than death”. Any ethicist would have a field day with this type of thinking.
The good news for the SPCA going forward is that it is a well-funded organization and there appears to be a lot of low hanging fruit. I know the incoming new Executive Director. Scott Delucchi is smart, caring, hardworking, and comes from a good organization. He knows the value of good communication and he will face all the same challenges that the current administration does. Check back with him in a year or two, and I would bet money that there will be a significant improvement in their results and relationships. When you do see that improvement, I hope you will remember that it all started with one change. Him. You won’t hear the excuses, blame games, and the clinging to myths about what really is happening with pets, shelters, and our society. I predict you will just see better results.
-Jon CicirelliAssistant Director, Public WorksDirector Animal Care and ServicesCity of San Jose, CAwww.sanjoseanimals.com
(Edited by staff.)Mr. Tiscornia,
When you're explaining, you're losing.
When you're in a hole, stop digging.
Is your euthanasia rate for your shelter animals still 50%?
Yes. I thought so.
Mr. Tiscornia,
When you're explaining, you're losing.
When you're in a hole, stop digging.
Your euthanasia rate is still 50%, right?
Yes, I thought so.
Wouldn't the chances of passing pet sterilization ordinances have been much improved if the public knew that only about half of the animals admitted to the SPCA made it out alive? It shouldn't require investigative reporting for us to know the truth about the fate of animals entrusted to SPCA care. Even today, SPCA euthanasia statistics remain unpublished.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.