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?

I am a big believer in pet health insurance (even more after I got the very nice check for McKenzie’s recent malady), but fear-mongering? Not cool, dudes.

Especially with everyone already in a near freak-out over anything having to do with any flu, as the excellent science reporter Edie Lau writes for the VIN News Service:

Had the new canine influenza vaccine come out in ordinary times, veterinarians may have had little trouble deciding whether, when and to which owners’ dogs to offer the shot. Clients might easily have grasped that the shot is appropriate for dogs that congregate in places such as boarding kennels and shows, but not necessary for stay-at-home pets.

But times are not ordinary.

With a human pandemic flu in full swing and fresh evidence that the virus in people has passed to pet ferrets and a house cat, flu viruses of all varieties are stoking high anxiety. That’s translated into unusual — some say unwarranted — public interest in the dog flu shot and a heightened sensitivity among clinicians on the subject.

The canine influenza vaccine is not a “core” vaccine, but rather a “lifestyle” immunization, to be used only under certain conditions. Since its release, practitioners have been puzzling over just what conditions warrant it. For instance, they wonder, is it appropriate for a boarding kennel to require the shot in a region where canine influenza is not known to be circulating?

She goes on to write about who should be considering the vaccine for their pets, and why people looking at boarding over the holidays may not feel they have a choice but to vaccinate, since some kennel owners are mandating it:

[University of Florida researcher Dr. Cynda] Crawford [who discovered the virus] said she understands both veterinarian and kennel-owner perspectives on the issue. “As a veterinarian, I would prefer that policies like that be made on evidence,” she said. “At the same time, I have seen a few boarding establishments here in Florida just wiped off the face of the Earth financially (after an influenza outbreak).”

Like boarding establishments, [veterinary] clinics may have an interest in playing it safe, Crawford added. “Now (that) there’s a vaccine, what is your liability if you don’t tell clients about it?” she said. “If I do not tell clients whose dogs are socially active in the community, and they go out and get canine flu, they may come back and say, ‘Why didn’t you tell me there was a vaccine?’ ”

[Dr. Steven] Barta, a Michigan practitioner wondering how to broadcast the availability of the vaccine without inciting panic, ended up preparing a short letter for clients on the subject. It reads in part:

“This vaccine does not prevent the disease but it lessens the severity of the disease. After careful consideration and research we feel that this is an important vaccine to be given to any dogs that fall into the following categories:

• Kenneled dogs or those that visit doggie day care

• Frequent visits to the groomer

• Dogs that play at dog parks

• Out-of-state travelers

“In essence, dogs that receive the Bordetella vaccine are also candidates for the Canine Influenza Vaccine.”

The letter apparently met his goal of being informative without causing a panic. Two and a half weeks after he sent it out, Barta said the demand was “surprisingly low.”

Canine influenza originally was discovered among racing greyhounds in Florida in 2004. Before that, dogs were not known to be susceptible to the flu. The flu subtype, H3N8, evolved from a virus that infects horses.

Crawford said the virus has since reached 29 states and the District of Columbia, with urban areas in Colorado, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Florida particularly hit hard.

Read the rest here. And read Christie’s earlier blog post — from August, please note — here.

I have a dog who was a victim of canine influenza. He got it a massive dog show in Houston as 6- or 7-month-old puppy, probably from dogs brought in from Florida. The Texas A&M vet school didn’t realize what they were dealing with at first, so Woody might have been the first case in Texas — a dubious honor, to be sure. He survived thanks to A&M and is a robust, healthy dog now. Because my dogs do go to places with lots of other dogs, I will be vaccinating them. I do not, however, vaccination them for “kennel cough” because in healthy dogs it’s a minor, self-limiting disease.

But you need to look at the risk/benefit equation for yourself, talk to your veterinarian and make your own decisions — based on science, not fear.

Image: Damn, that’s a good-looking dog! Smart and hard-working, too.

A Senate committee passed legislation on Wednesday that would increase government oversight of the U.S. food supply, which has been battered by a series of high-profile recalls that have soured consumer confidence in the food safety system.

The bill would expand U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight of the food supply by giving it the power to order recalls, increase inspection rates and require all facilities to have a food safety plan in place.

[....]It has been almost 50 years since oversight of the food supply was significantly overhauled, but momentum to reform the system has grown following high-profile outbreaks involving lettuce, peppers, peanuts and spinach since 2006.

An estimated 76 million people in the United States get sick every year with foodborne illness and 5,000 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Senate legislation would require FDA to inspect all food facilities at least once every four years and high-risk plants no less than once a year. Currently, many facilities can go several years without being inspected.

It also would implement traceability for fruits and vegetables, and require the FDA to conduct a pilot study for processed foods.

Read the whole thing here. Tell us whatcha think.

What the bill does include, apparently, is the creation of a Public Health Workforce Corps to provide scholarships and education loan repayment assistance for public health professionals, including veterinarians.

So why do we have public health veterinarians? I’m so glad you asked. I’ve been working on a book about animal-related careers and, of course, one of them is public health veterinarian. Public health veterinarians work as epidemiologists in city, county, state and federal agencies, investigating animal and human disease outbreaks. They help protect human health as it relates to zoonoses, diseases that can be transmitted between animals and people through direct contact or consumption of animal products–diseases like swine flu, avian flu, mad cow disease and West Nile virus. They’re also involved in food and water safety and helping communities–people and animals–recover after natural disasters. There’s a shortage of public health veterinarians, which is one of the reasons they’re included in the legislation.

One of the things that I hope will make my book different and interesting is that I’ve woven in profiles of people in the various fields. For this one, I spoke to Katherine Feldman, public health vet for the state of Maryland. She spends her days doing everything from writing policy on rabies prevention and control to meeting with summer-camp directors to discuss ways they can help prevent campers from developing Lyme disease or being exposed to rabies through interactions with wildlife.

My role as state public health veterinarian is to look after the health of Maryland citizens wherever animals might be involved in disease risks or transmission. Issues that are common for me to deal with are things like exposure or potential exposure to rabies or other zoonotic disease issues.

So if you hear this rumor going around, set the record straight.

In case you’ve been under an Internet rock, you might have missed the news that the FDA has issued an alert about Vetsulin, an insulin product for diabetic dogs and cats, warning that is formulation may be incorrect and it might thus fail to act correctly in patients who are using it — which in the case of diabetes is not a minor problem.

The short version: If you’re using it, call your vet. She might not actually know about the alert yet, so if you’re the first to tell her, you might want to have the alert handy, as well as this FAQ from the drug’s manufacturer, BigPharma giant Intervet/Schering-Plough.

So, I was mulling over the wording of the alert when an email popped into my inbox, cc’d to Marion Nestle. It was a reader, asking if either of us had any thoughts on the fact that Wysong Pet Food is saying that they didn’t issue an press release about their ongoing pet food recall because “the matter was of small enough consequence that we have even been told by the FDA that a news release is not necessary.”

Huh, I thought. Good question.

That was on Saturday, and I figured that Monday morning I’d talk to the FDA and see if that’s true. And then reality, in the guise of a “wake up and smell the coffee!” note from Marion, reminded me that getting comments from the FDA is getting to be right up there with getting them from, well… industry.

Worse, actually, because sometimes industry will actually talk to you. FDA? Not so much.

It’s not just us pet food junkies getting the cold shoulder. From the Society of Professional Journalists:

The Association of Health Care Journalists and SPJ are fed up with federal agencies’ use of public information officers to chill the flow of information. The two groups sent a letter this week to the FDA urging the agency to stop requiring interviews between reporters and government employees to be approved by PIOs and attended by PIOs.

This practice has become widespread throughout all levels of government, and it needs to stop. While PIOs play an important role in answering questions and facilitating interviews, they are hampering the flow of information when acting as delaying middle-men or go-betweens. Having information transmitted through a middle person is hearsay and fraught with accuracy problems – a disservice to the public.

If you cover an agency that practices this form of information control, don’t put up with it. Request that the higher-ups put an end to it. And if they don’t see the importance of direct communication, then circumvent the Big Brother channels and talk to people directly, as journalists must do to ensure accuracy. It’s our duty to get it right.

So wish me luck as I call a government agency and attempt to pry information out of it without having to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

Although, on the other hand, that’s not actually a terrible idea…

Every freaking press release, from industry or from FDA, uses that same meaningless phrase: a “voluntary recall” — as if there’s any other kind, considering that the FDA doesn’t have mandatory recall authority.

And then I was caught mid-rant when something completely different popped into the old email inbox: a warning from the FDA that no one should buy other treats made by the same company that manufactured the treats in the PetSmart recall, because they, too, were probably contaminated with salmonella:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing this health alert to warn consumers not to use Pig Ears and Beef Hooves pet treats manufactured by Pet Carousel because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella. The products were distributed nationwide in both bulk and retail packaging for sale in pet food and retail chain stores. Pet Carousel is based in Sanger, Calif.

The products were manufactured under conditions that facilitate cross-contamination within batches or lots. Although no illnesses associated with these products have been reported, the FDA is advising consumers in possession of these products to not handle or feed them to their pets.

The affected pig ear products were packaged under the brand names Doggie Delight and Pet Carousel. The affected beef hooves were packaged under the brand names Choo Hooves, Dentley’s, Doggie Delight, and Pet Carousel. All sizes and all lots of these products made by Pet Carousel are included in this alert.

During September 2009, the FDA conducted routine testing of pig ears made by Pet Carousel. The test results detected a positive reading for Salmonella. This prompted an FDA inspection of Pet Carousel’s manufacturing facilities. During the inspection, the agency collected additional pet treat samples. Further analysis found Salmonella present in beef hooves, pig ears and in the manufacturing environment.

I guess a “health alert” is about as strong an action as our current FDA can take. Which raises the question: When will Pet Carousel issue a “voluntary” recall of its own?

However much the “voluntary” thing makes my head explode, at least PetSmart sent out a press release and recalled the treats. Good for them. Of course I’d rather they weren’t selling contaminated treats in the first place (and I bet they do, too), but bad things do happen, and the way you tell the good businesses from the bad is how they react when they do.

A lesson everyone in the pet food industry should take to heart. The sooner the better.

Although I’m not exactly holding my breath.

There has also been a confirmed case in at least one ferret. While the ferret case isn’t too surprising — ferrets are notoriously susceptible to influenza viruses — the cat’s illness is causing concern among veterinarians and cat owners.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) sent out a letter to its member veterinarians an hour and a half ago, informing them of the feline case. They also posted a public announcement on their website:

A cat in Iowa has tested positive for the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, state officials confirmed this morning, marking the first time a cat has been diagnosed with this strain of influenza.

The cat, which has recovered, is believed to have caught the virus from someone in the household who was sick with H1N1. There are no indications that the cat passed the virus on to any other animals or people.

Prior to this diagnosis, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus had been found in humans, pigs, birds and ferrets.

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP) are reminding pet owners that some viruses can pass between people and animals, so this was not an altogether unexpected event. Pet owners should monitor their pets’ health very closely, no matter what type of animal, and visit a veterinarian if there are any signs of illness.

The AVMA is actively tracking all instances of H1N1 in animals and posting updates on our Web site at www.avma.org/public_health/influenza/new_virus.

Pet Connection’s Dr. Tony Johnson acknowledges the concern that many people may feel about this, but asks them not to over-react. “The humans who gave the virus to their cat, and the cat, all recovered,” he said. “And there is no evidence H1N1 goes from cats to people; it was the other way around.”

I asked him why, if a virus can be passed from humans to cats, we shouldn’t be worried it can pass the other way, too.

“The answer is, we don’t know for sure,” he told me. “But sometimes a virus can make a host sick, but not reproduce and become infectious in that host. So far there is no evidence that this virus can be passed from cats to humans, although that doesn’t mean it can’t.”

The bottom line: “Think about this critically, and don’t make knee-jerk reactions,” he said. “Common sense and a cool head are better than flipping out and putting your cat out with the garbage.”

The AVMA said that owners who have the flu should try to avoid close contact with their cats. If your cat shows signs of respiratory illness, seek immediate veterinary care.

We’ll update as more information is available.

You can listen to the show in the San Francisco Bay Area at 960 AM, or on the Internet at www.green960.com.

They also run an open discussion during the show as well, at www.lftlc.com/live.

Hope you can tune in!

The Petsavers Foundation conducted a study of the housing market for pet owners, and among their many findings were these:

The data suggests there is little if any difference in damage between tenants with and without pets. The biggest difference between damage from tenants with pets and those without was under $40, with an average of $323 in damage for tenants without pets and an average of $362 for tenants with pets. This was not a statistically significant difference (meaning that the difference is quite possibly due to random variation in the data rather than any real difference) and the amount is very small when compared to the extra deposit, rent, and other benefits received from renting pet-friendly housing.

Interestingly the $40 (at most) difference in damages for tenants with pets was much smaller than the difference found for tenants with children. Tenants with children on average had $150 more damage than tenants without children. If housing is divided into four categories based on whether children and/or pets are present, then for housing with children the people with pets caused on average $4 less damage. For housing with no children, the people with pets caused on average $25 less damage. In other words, when having children is accounted for, people with pets did not cause any more damage whatsoever on average than people without pets.

There’s a lot more, inc luding some measurable financial benefits to landlords who allow pets that, as noted above, actually outweigh the $40 loss in extra damage.

Since housing problems are the main reason people give up their pets, and it appears that landlords’ reluctance to rent to pet owners has no rational basis, what do you think? Should there be a law?

I’ll be liveblogging the town hall meeting, so just a couple of reminders: This is live, so there will be typos. Only things in quotations marks are direct quotes; everything else is a paraphrase. I’ll update now and then, so if you come across this post while the event is still in progress, just hit “refresh” to see new material.

Here we go. :)

This town hall is part of a series of events across the nation. Jennifer Fearing is head of HSUS here in California, and she is speaking first.

This is Wayne’s first California town hall, in “America’s most humane city,” San Francisco. This is Wayne’s fifth year as CEO of HSUS. So much has changed so rapidly in those years.

Wayne takes the podium.

Thanks audience for coming, thanks Jennifer. “We’re very blessed to have so many people devoted to changing the world.”

Thank you all for supporting the organization. For 10 years before becoming CEO, was in charge of communications and before that, head of Fund For Animals. Has spent his whole life focused on animals.

As a little kid, he knew animals were different — in good ways. Beautiful, thick fur, ran fast… I thought, this is magic. These animals are incredible. I didn’t need a degree in animal science or philosophy to know I needed to be decent to animals. I think kids naturally understand this. It’s about reclaiming that instinctive reaction to animals.

We don’t really argue that humans and non-humans are equals. Frankly, we are not all equal in terms of our abilities as humans. We have diversity within our own communities. We don’t give more attention or respect to the people who do something better. We realize everyone matters. A civil society works when we all work together.

We aren’t just concerned with our own ends. We interact with each other, with other nations. We have to be good to each other. That is what makes society work. And we want to extend that to animals, too.

That doesn’t require equality, but there are ways in which animals are our equals. They want to live, care about family members. They don’t have to be just like us, though, for us to care about them.

When it comes to animals, we (humans) hold all the cards. Look at how we dealt with the buffalo, for example — attitude of dominance. In just a few decades we eradicated 40-60 million bison. Now have only 5000 animals surviving in Yellowstone Park.

The passenger pigeon used to fly in flocks so large they would “blot out the sun.” The last one died in the 40s.

We have incredible destructive power if we don’t impose some limits. We want to balance the interests in society, and prove we can have a good, decent life without hurting animals.

Says bless everyone who cares about rabbits, pit bulls, feral cats, wolves… we have incredible pluralism when it comes to animals. It adds up to a powerful movement.

HSUS has a particular role in this movement. We want to care for animals on the ground. We want hands on care. We want to combat animal cruelty on any level. But we also want to take a big picture approach.

Wayne brings up Center for Consumer Freedom, says it’s a badge of honor that they attack HSUS. He says they say HSUS does not run all the animal shelters in this country…. Wayne says nowhere on their website do they say they do, but they do help shelters who do this vital work.

Eight million dogs and cats enter shelters every year. 3 million of them are euthanized even though they are healthy and treatable. We have nearly tripled the number of animals in people’s homes, and the number euthanized has gone down dramatically.

We’re very excited about the project we’ve launched with Maddie’s Fund, the Shelter Pet Project. It is pointing out that just because an animal is in a shelter doesn’t mean the animal has a defect. Maybe there was a divorce or illness.

Shelter animals are fabulous. They’re vaccinated, sterilized, wonderful. We need to address the needs of those 3 million healthy treatable animals.

But what about the hundreds of millions of animals killed for fur, used in medical testing, harmed in inhumane agriculture. HSUS will never restrict itself to just those dogs and cats.

The fate of animals raised for food must be the focus of anyone concerned about animal welfare. Agriculture doesn’t just operate at high volume, but so many in agribusiness view them as meat, milk and egg producing machines. Connection between farmer and animal has been severed. How do you have a connection with animals when there are 150K laying hens or 17K pigs in confinement. Very little labor input, great mechanization. How do you have that connection?

We feel a duty to address animal issues related to ag. The genetics of how we have transformed these animals to turn them into meat, milk and egg producing machines.

So many of you who worked on Prop 2 here in California, and our friend, Senator Dean Florez who is here tonight — we addressed this issue through the initiative process, and we faced  a wide range of opponents. Egg, pork, veal industry. We were saying animals that are built to move should b3e allowed to move. It’s not about eating animals or not eating animals, but IF animals are going to be raised for food, they should not be treatedin this inhumane way.

A lot of us who care about this issue get overwhelmed with the idea that there is so much abuse, but this was an example of how the majority of people decided we should be better to animals. And despite the claims of opponents that food prices would soar, people still thought we should be decent to animals.

It’s had a long tail already. Maine and Michigan have adopted measures to protect farm animals, too. Michigan is seventh state in last 3 years to restrict these inhumane egg producing practices.

We need to think about our food  choices. We need to care about how these billions of animals are treated. And it’s not sustainable — water, soil, environmental issues.

I want to address the subject of Michael Vick. Some of you have written to me about this. I have listened to all the voices. This is a very personal one for me. I talked to a friend of mine who is a court certified expert on dog fighting in Sacramento (Eric?). He told Wayne there are 5 states where cock fighting is legal, mostly a misdemeanor.

Dog fighting, including street fighting, is on the rise. Young kids, mostly African American and Latino, are fighting their dogs in alleys and streets.

Wayne said they had to do something. At that point we said we’re going to ratchet up our dog fighting and cock fighting campaign. Cock fighting is now illegal in all states, and dog fighting is a felony in all 50 states. Also banned interstate travel of fighting animals, which is one of the things Vick was charged with.

Vick should not have gotten off. We pursued that case with vigor. We provided a key confidential informant, campaigned to get the NFL, Nike, the Falcons to drop him. We took that anger and immediately began to channel it into action.

We upgraded the federal law, and now 27 states have upgraded their laws, including California. We have a tip line and a rewards program. Vick was convicted, of course — federal prosecutors took it seriously. He pled guilty. He got a strict sentence and served two years in prison. (Note from Christie: but not for anything he did to the dogs. For racketeering.)

Vick came to HSUS, the organization that helped send him to prison. They talked for a long time. “I said Michael, you want to be involved in anti dog fighting work, and that’s great. We’re always looking for recruits. But I don’t want you to do a PSA. I want you to talk to the kids we’re not having much of a discourse with.”

Vick started fighting dogs when he was 8 years old. Those kids never hear from someone like me, and they never hear from an athlete telling them these things are wrong.

Are we about endlessly flogging an individual, or are we ab out societal change. It’s very easy to get a Jennifer Fearing involved. But can we take people who take terrible things and make them a contributing member of society, to reach audiences we have never reached?

If he doesn’t fulfill his obligations, if he doesn’t live up to this, we’ll be the first to criticize him. But I’ve seen Michael Vick telling people who never listen to me, don’t do what I did. Be good to animals.

“The proof is in the pudding. N9othing good comes from just isolating him.” I want him to contribute with his labor to combat the ongoing scourge of street fighting….”

Our movement is too fractured. We’re not having the impact we could have. On my second day as CEO, I told Mike Markarian, we can be stronger if we unite. Merged with Fund For Animals. Pour savings into new programs and activities.

Made same pitch to Doris Day. Said it would be her legacy. Want an organization as powerful on our issues as NRA is on theirs.

We’ve merged with several organizations not becuase we’re on ap ower kick, but because the animals need a powerful group. Need best lobbyists, communications specialists, veterinarians.

I’m heartened by the change. I see more cruelty and suffering than most of youcould contemplate. I see it on the ground, I see the footage from all sorts of terrible operations. I see the worst sides of humanity. But I also see the best. I see people like you, who take money from your pocket and time from your schedule, who expose yourself to the emotional pain and resolve to take action to make this world a better place.

This year we broke the record for new animal protection laws… 117. In four years we’ve nearly doubled the output. We have more traction with congress. 47 lawyers working in our litigation department.

Burgeoning awareness, surge of lawmaking — things are changing. With animals is not all or nothing.

Animal abuse, and poverty, and violations of human rights will always be with us. But it doesn’t mean you give up. All these things we do change the lives of individual animals, and every life saved is a 100 percent victory for that animal.

If you ever feel overwhelmed, think about that one animal.

Each of us has the power to change the life of one animal. And together as a group as large as HSUS, we have the power to change billions.

Introduced Sen. Dean Florez, Humane Legislator of the Year. Audience gave standing ovation.

Florez: Very proud to receive award. My county is the biggest factory farming area in the state.  Barack Obama lost overwhelmingly there. Prop 8 passed humongously. But Prop 2 passed big time. If you’ve got Kern County, you’ve won.

Said I’m Latino, and I want to talk about Michael Vick. That’s a message we just don’t hear anywhere. Our kids are learning what Michael Vick learned at a very young age. It makes a difference when a Michael Vick, where you never see people of color address this issue — if Wayne can get Michael Vick to go into these areas, we will change California in a very big way.

Applause.

(They showed a video I’ll have more to say about later. Taking opportunity to fix some typos.)

Open to questions from audience, mixed with questions submitted in advance through website.

Q: What are we going to do about “crush” videos.

A: Bob Stevens is a publisher and videographer of dog fighting video. We got a law passed making it illegal to sell images of animal cruelty. We used them against “crush” videos, and “crush”industry went away under threat of federal felony. Bob Stevens was convicted and appealed. Court overturned statute and said it was overbroad and vague and interfered with free speech.

Bush’s lawyers appealed up to Supreme Court, and then Obama’s solicitor general stayed with the case. 36 state attorneys general sided with us; none against us. Media organizations took position it was against free speech.

Did not go well and he expects they’ll affirm overturning, but will give guidelines on how this can be accomplished if it goes back to Congress.

Q: Database of animal abusers?

A: Is in progress.

Q: You say you’re a threat to agribusiness, but what about animal research? Interest and energy has waned. What is HSUS doing to end animal research?

A: Animal research is the toughest issue. We are focusing on animal TESTING. We’re working with P&G, DuPont, many other orgs. We see by perhaps 2020 a worldwide end to animal testing. In Europe, 4.5 million animals will be saved from chemical testing.

I don’t quite see the political pathway to ending animal research. We are seeing alternatives being effective. Our approach is refining techniques to elminate pain and distress; reduce numbers; replace with non-animal approaches. Many instituations are embracing this “3 R” approach.

Q: Can anti-trust laws be used against agribusiness?

A: You see fewer producers, more animals. I do think there are issues here, and opportunities. We want to work with companies to change their practices, but we’ll look at all legal options — anti-trust, environmental, anti-cruelty.

It is folks in rural communities who suffer the most from factory farming. Groundwater polluted. Can’t walk out of their homes. We want to make alliance with farm workers and residents of rural areas.

Recc’d Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “Fast Food Nation.”

Q: National law about transporing horses for slaughter for human consumption.

A: Horses are going to Mexico, Canada. We definitely have notes in the US House to pass this, and we’re encouraging Nancy Pelosi. Very confident we’ll psas in House, but we may need 60 votes because there may be a filibuster. Ask your lawmakers to get behind this legislation and fight for it. I’m cautiously optimistic.

Q: Wild horses are being harassed. HSUS is supporting a law that will basically eradicate those horses. Land set aside to protect these horses has been whittled away. Rome Act passed House in July, stuck in Senate. Please re-think supporting this horrible, horrible proposition.

A: According to BLM there are 35K wild horses and burros in US. In 1971 Congress passed law to protect them as living symbols of our heritage. We suppor that but are disappointed in its implementation.

BLM manages the land, and the cattle industry and other resource users in the west don’t like the fact that wild horses and burros eat grass and forage on our public lands. They want to graze cattle there. Big push to round up the horses, by helicopter or other means. Remove them from the range, then adopt them out.

The problem is, they have removed more horses than they can adopt, and now have 32K wild horses and burros in short term holding facilities. Using money to care for captive horses that was supposed to go to care for them on public lands.

We supported the Rome Act. But we see the fact that it’s going to be very difficult in Congress to reclaim those lands. Political power in Senate will fight that. Unless we change the dynamic, I fear we’ll be on the treadmill with it.

HSUS spent millions of dollars to develop a contraceptive vaccine to delay or stall reproduction in horses. We’re been using it in the East on island to slow growth of population. More human population control

So what we embraced from Salazar was his pledge that they were going to re-orient this program and focus on contraception rather than round up and eradication. We are going to work in the House to get the right provisions.

They want to move the captive populations to Eastern and Midwestern states. The lands in the East have more grass and forage. We want fewer round ups and fewer removals, and more contraception. Details will be sorted out in Congress, and I assure you we’ll be advocates for the wild horses and burros.

Q: Status on mandatory spay/neuter bill, SB 250. Meant to have fines on backyard breeders and ban puppy mills.

A: That’s Dean’s bill. It’s not mandatory spay/neuter. It’s differential licensing, and you’d pay a higher fee if you had an intact animal. (From Christie: ummm, no.) Presumption in bill is to encourage s/n but not mandatory s/n. It didn’t have anything to do with puppy mills. There are no fines for backyard breeding.

Person in audience: I got my information from the head of the Santa Cruz SPCA. I guess I got bad information.

Q: Fighting aerial hunting of wolves.

A: Doing this in wilderness areas where there aren’t even any human-wolf conflicts. I’m very disappointed in Obama administration on the wolf issues. De-listed wolves in Northern Rockies and tried to de-list Great Lakes wolves. De-listed in Montana and Idaho, and some of the Yellowstone wolves who strayed out of the park were killed by a hunter. Obama admin has done some good things for animals but has some problems as well.

Q: Im against breeding animals, as most are in this room. I started doing volunteer work for Guide Dogs for the Blind, and I encourage people to do up there and have a tour. They do breed the dogs there for a specific purpose. I’m proud of how the animals are treated there. What is position of HSUS on that?

A: There are around 165 million dogs and cats in people’s homes. 3 million healthy and treatable euthanized. Around 20 percent of dogs and cats come from shelters, 80 percent from other sources. THere are not enough dogs and cats in shelters to satisfy the demand. Breeding is necessary at some level. It needs to be done in a responsible sort of way.

We have been targeting the puppy mills, breeding activities that cause genetic problems in purebreds, that lead to chronic phytsical problems. They need to engage in proper breeding so these animals don’t suffer as they get older.

As regards service animals, our policy is on our website. We like to have shelter animals used ,  but we are not opposed to it either way.

Q: How do we help animals without resorting to ballot initiatives and infighting?

A: We don’t want to do ballot initiatives, but agribusiness has too much power to fight any other way. Tail docking of cows, veal confinement, no standards of human slaughter for poultry — we are very eager to talk to the ag community. I’ll talk to anyone about these problems. I want to talk to hunters about ending canned hunts, to animal researchers — a lot of good people are involved on the other side, and we want to move them in our direction. I want to nurture the best instincts in everyone we deal with.

Audience comment: “If it’s a woman in a fur coat speaking out against veal, I’ll take it.”

Question: Do yuou have a timeline on when shelter deaths will go down to zero?

A: I’m hoping by 2015. I’m hoping the Shelter Pet Project will be part of that. The research done  for that campaign showed there are 41 million Americans planning on getting an animal who haven’t decided where they’ll get that  animal yet. 17 million will get one in the next year. We only need to turn 3 million of f hem.

This is research driven. It’s statistic driven. We spend a lot of money on rescue, but look at Pfizer or whoever, now we all know what erectile dysfunction is, why don’t we have advertising for animals to drive the message? (Applause)

You now, we are all coming at this from different positions. You know, hunters love their dogs. For someone, they might change overnight when they visit a slaughterhouse. For others, it will be a gradual thing.

Q: Those three million dogs and cats being killed in shelters. I see cooperation wtih you and Maddie’s Fund here and with the ASPCA  in the Helmsley lawsuit, but I don’t see it on the community level. There is so much infighting. Can you devote your influence to healing the gap between people in the community (re: no-kill)?

A: The no-kill movement has caused us to question the use of euthanasia as a tool to manage excess population. We (HSUS) have embraced no-kill as a goal. Killing animals is a bad thing.

I have seen many traditional shelters who have embraced this 2020 viasion to eliminate euthanasia in this country. I don’t see this divide between traditional and no-kill shelters anymore.  Maddie’s Fund has been a leader in that area. But there are difficult personalities who cloak their antagonism in an ideological difference.

Audience: It might help if you could reach out and heal that divide, too. (Applause, laughter.)

(I missed a question re: declawing — sorry.)

Q: Greyhound racing. 10K dogs being killed each year, not humanely. And greyhound racing often comes under state gaming, so with muscle of HSUS, what can you do? (She is from Greyhound Friends for Life.)

HSUS: We support the end of greyhound racing, And greyhound racing is dying. It’s being overtaken by other kinds of gambling. Tracks not pleasant, people wagering less. We see key as Florida. We are working to de-couple gambling and racing, as a first step.

Wayne: Invited everyone to read his blog. Applause, thanks, end.