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Beleaguered director to leave San Francisco SPCA
By Christie Keith
November 19, 2009
The San Francisco SPCA announced today that Jan McHugh-Smith would be leaving her position as director in March of next year and returning to her home state of Colorado to be closer to her family and work for the Humane Society Pikes Peak Region.
Controversy and criticism have plagued McHugh-Smith and the SF/SPCA in recent years. An expensive veterinary hospital — a legacy from her predecessor — as well as the decision to close down the SF/SPCA’s three-decades old hearing dog program without any notice to its longtime staff and clients contributed to a growing narrative in the community that the organization had lost touch with its animal lifesaving mission.
A move to get the SF/SPCA to change course gained momentum in 2008, when a scathing article in the alternative newspaper SF Weekly accused the organization of abandoning its commitment to no-kill — a movement that originated at the shelter when Richard Avanzino was its head.
Called “A Time to Kill,” the article said that a kitten named Tulane and a young dog named Isaac had been killed by the SF/SPCA even though they could have been saved — and that this change was part of a larger picture:
The SF/SPCA has also announced a new protocol for euthanizing sick kittens, which conflicts with the public’s perception that the shelter adheres to no-kill principles.
The reason for the new euthanasia policies is, in part, money. The SF/SPCA is scrambling to find funding to complete its controversial $30 million, for-profit animal hospital, the Leanne B. Roberts Animal Care Center. The project is only half complete, and with the looming specter of hiring staff, new equipment costs, and opening expenses, there has been an emphasis on saving money around the shelter, where it costs an estimated $43 a day to house a healthy cat. Since president Jan McHugh-Smith was hired a year ago, she has scaled back or eliminated internationally known behavior and medical services that had saved thousands of animals over the years.
Employees and volunteers were alarmed at the recent closure of the 30-year-old Hearing Dog Program, along with major changes to adoption policies, cutbacks to the Cat Behavior Program, and the loss of the volunteer Affection Eaters program, which might have been able to help Tulane.
The cutbacks and new policies have caused at least seven staffers to quit, as well as an uncertain number of volunteers. Some of them have organized into two groups who are vowing to expose the new policies even if it means that donors, the lifeblood of the nonprofit, stop cutting checks.
Although McHugh-Smith insisted in an interview with me that the SF/SPCA, and she, remained commited to a no-kill goal, the community wasn’t convinced. A series of contentious Animal Welfare Commission hearings followed, with local rescue groups and the organization FixSanFrancisco.org demanding changes at the shelter.
The changes that came about weren’t what those groups had in mind. The expensive veterinary hospital came online during the current economic downturn, and is currently a million bucks in the red. Hours and staff were cut, and the shelter’s relationship with the high-profile Academy of Dog Trainers was terminated.
Another scathing cover story in another Bay Area alternative weekly, entitled “How the San Francisco SPCA Let Us Down,” alleged that SF/SPCA was sucking in all the donor money but letting the local rescue groups do all the work:
At a January 8, 2009 meeting of the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare (ACW) – which advises the Board of Supervisors regarding animal issues in the City – animal care supervisor Eric Zuercher presented some startling statistics: While the SF/SPCA took 122 dogs from (Animal Care and Control) in 2007-08, independent rescues took far more. Grateful Dogs Rescue, which gets 80 percent of its dogs from ACC, took 141 in 2007, and 146 in just the first three quarters of 2008. Rocket Dog Rescue, which, Zuercher stated deals with the toughest cases (pit bulls, medical issues), took 111. Other groups also stepped in – Muttville takes older dogs, Wonderdog takes a lot of small dogs. The 122 taken by the SF/SPCA represents just 14 percent of the total dogs they took in 2008.
Where cats are concerned, the SF/SPCA fairs better, with 73 percent of its cats coming from ACC in 2008, though that is down from 84 percent in 2007. The percentage of cats taken from other shelters jumped from 16 percent in 2007 to 25 percent in 2008.
Toni’s Kitty Rescue saved 200 kittens in just four months, all of which would have been euthanized otherwise because ACC does not adopt out kittens under eight weeks of age (and the SF/SPCA won’t take them). Lana Bajsel’s Give Me Shelter gets 95 percent of its cats and kittens from ACC – they currently have 100 cats in their system on an $80,000-a-year budget, while the SF/SPCA has just 170. Without the rescues, Zuercher concludes, many more animals would have died.
“We would be so greatly diminished without the rescues,” Zuercher says. “They astound me and inspire me with the amount of effort they put into this.”
With McHugh-Smith’s departure, the Board of the SF/SPCA says they’ll be conducting a national search for a new director. Will real change come — once again — to San Francisco?
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“Some of them have organized into two groups who are vowing to expose the new policies even if it means that donors, the lifeblood of the nonprofit, stop cutting checks.”
Sad. Silly, confused people worsening the plight of companion animals in the US. :( I’ll leave you guys alone here, sorry for stirring you up.
Comment by Drew — November 19, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
Oh, Drew, what a man you are. I’m sure we are all ever so grateful. Not.
Comment by Susan Fox — November 19, 2009 @ 8:33 pm
Sad. Silly, confused people worsening the plight of companion animals in the US. :( I’ll leave you guys alone here, sorry for stirring you up.
Comment by Drew — November 19, 2009
No, you’re not sorry at all, but you’re still leaving. We sad, silly, confused people will just have to muddle on without you.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 19, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
Oh, Gina, I think I’m going to cry.
Comment by Susan Fox — November 19, 2009 @ 9:26 pm
Irrational and emotional, Susan. Sheesh. Grow a pair.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — November 19, 2009 @ 9:57 pm
So many hearing dog owners have been left in the lurch by the closure of the program. That just adds to anger over everything else.
Comment by thetroubleis — November 19, 2009 @ 11:09 pm
From FixSanFrancisco.org:
http://fixsanfrancisco.org/home/node/61
Comment by Christie Keith — November 20, 2009 @ 10:40 am
Of course it’s difficult to expose a dysfunctional organization, because of the inevitable dollar drop-off from disappointed donors. But the alternatives — “going along” or working within a system that refuses to change per the collaborative route — are worse for the victims of the mis-management. If animal welfare guides your actions, a lot of decisions become easy.
IF (as in “big if”) The Board hires a capable No-Kill advocate — and there are some great, proven choices out there — all will be quickly forgiven. If not, well … pls refer to Christie’s earlier tome about donating to smaller, lower-overhead outfits who haven’t lost sight of their mission.
Comment by Tom Cushing — November 20, 2009 @ 11:40 am
Since early September 2009 I have repeatedly tried to interest the Bay Area rescue community in adopting my plan for a cooperative coalition of all rescuers, shelters and the city’s pound (ACC).
My clear and comprehensive business plan (disguised by my use of the label “vision statement”) outlines in detail how I would, as a competent replacement for the SPCA’s outgoing president, revamp the mission of the SPCA, and create a coalition of all animal rescue workers and advocates throughout the Bay Area.
Briefly, it calls for a new “open admission” policy at the SPCA. No animal will ever again be turned away for any cause. I won’t accept “no room at the inn.”
The SPCA, simply because it’s big and visible and can easily attract donations, will coordinate all rescue functions of the San Francisco Bay Area Coalition. This is to help you rescuers stay focused on your important work - saving lives.
The SPCA disappears, leaving Maddie’s Adoption Center and the Leanne B. Roberts Medical care Center:
The SPCA and the ACC no longer will warehouse dogs in a kennel area (except for legal or medical requirements). Similar to cats, adoptable dogs (i.e good social behavior) will be moved to new “communal showrooms.” They will live and sleep together. SFers can stop by and visit calm, happy dogs in a warm, friendly environment. This replaces the walk of shame past those sweet faces locked in cages.
Dogs not ready for adoption will be transferred into the loving care of all the dedicated independent rescuers (fosters). This includes “dangerous” dogs. (As a foster, I have never met the dog I can’t successfully rehab and rehome, given enough time - no shelter director I know of can make that claim). When rehab is completed and the dog(s) can live socially with others, s(he) will be returned to the Coalition’s “new car showrooms” at Maddie’s Adoption Center for placement.
The medical center will hand back to local vets all for-pay services. Getting out of the business of making money, the medical center will now provide FREE care to all animals in the Coalition’s system. Yes, free! No longer will rescuers have to worry about what they have to give up this month to pay for medical care. Eventually, corporate donations will cover care for all low-income family pets.
The Coalition will begin a FREE neuter program for all Bay Area companion animals. Earning levels won’t be a factor. ACC officers will “take the point” in getting this vital program to areas most needing it. No longer will we need SB861 to single out any one breed.
Neutering offered for free & done onsite (or with pickup & delivery available) will remove excuses for not participating. Long-term this will serve to reduce unwanted backyard “hobbyist” breeding (the animals, not the people).
The San Francisco Coalition sets a new standard for animal rescue in the world
1) Adoptions will be free - “free-will donations” made will be given directly to the fosters to help eimburse for their expenses.
2) All neutering and medical services offered will be free, paid for by donations from the community.
This takes the burden of support off the individual groups or shelters and places where it belongs - ON THE COMMUNITY!
Voluntary participation, not mandated compliance. I have always found San Franciscans very easy to deal with when not holding a gun to their collective heads!
I am in the process of teaching the board of directors that animal rescue does not qualify as a business: there is no exchange of value which would constitute a business transaction. You donate money, I give you nothing in return. (Good feelings and a tax deduction don’t equal a transaction!). Therefore, it is time for Catherine Brown to hike up her Big Girl pants and move away from her beloved business model. No more “revenue stream,” “bottom line,” or “reasonable return on the shelter’s investments.”
The board of directors at SF’s SPCA needs to learn that this is about saving lives (all lives, not just Muffy and Princess), not running a business.
So, the above is about 50% of my “business plan.” Sound good? It meets the expressed desires of all those who complained, moaned and whined at the commission’s meetings and in all the articles written over the last year. I have done my homework.
So, here’s my concern:
I sent a proposal to most of the rescue groups, the board of supervisors, 3 of the city commissioners, most of the local reporters (including this one), the ACC, FixSanFrancisco.org, the Hearing Dog Program, Best Friends Animal Society, Best Friends No More Homeless Pets program, the No-Kill Advocacy Center, and even Allison Lindquist at East Bay’s SPCA. In return I have gotten ONE response - and that was yesterday. No articles, no reactions, no phone calls, no emails - nothing. And much of this effort was done in Septemeber. I’m now writing this in late January…
Where are all you “concerned” advocates? Quick to complain, slow to help. Want to help now? Contact Catherine Brown, chair of the SPCA, and let her know it’s time to hire a leader and visionary, not another failure like Jan McHugh-Smith and her team of fashion statements.
I have offered to do this thankless job, and clean up the mess left behind by her last hire, for less than half of what Jan received and I don’t need a half-million dollar interest-free loan for a new Ferrari, even though I really like the red ones.
Contact her at the SPCA and please let her know I’m available. Wait too long, the door closes and I head off to talk to King County (Washington) and Manatee County (Florida). They’re looking for my solution.
Phone = 415-554-3000
email = publicinfo@sfspca.org
Or you can just deal with the next “just another shelter director” they are looking for right now. Good luck.
Your humble servant and dedicated rescuer,
Thomas Cole
drdoolittle2800@gmail.com
Comment by Thomas Cole — January 21, 2010 @ 10:38 am