I’ve been following the story of Tom Skeldon, dog warden of Lucas County in Ohio, mostly over on Brent Toellner’s KC Dog Blog:

Skeldon has been coming under increased fire over the past year.  Most of the roll against Skeldon began last winter after one of Skeldon’s staff shot a tranquilizer into a small dog that was “loose” on his own porch — with enough of a dosage that the dog died.

As people began investigating Skeldon, they found the shelter to continue to operate with a very high kill rate (77%) and an extremely low 13% adoption rate. They found a dog warden that was unwilling to work with rescue groups. And dogs were dying.

A committee was assembled to provide recommendations on improvements to be made at the shelter — improvements that Skeldon, throughout, has been reluctant to even admit were problems.  The Toledo Blade continue to run editorials and editorial cartoons calling for Skeldon’s dismissal.  The committee recommended some strict new rules last week one of which was to cease the killing of puppies.   Skeldon responded by killing 10 healthy puppies after holding them for only one day.

When the Lucas County Commission voted to retain Skeldon anyway — the tie-breaking vote being cast by Skeldon’s cousin — the Toledo Blade had this to say:

Faced with a mountain of evidence that grows higher with each dog killed at the county animal shelter, commissioners Pete Gerken and Tina Skeldon Wozniak voted no on a motion by Commissioner Ben Konop to dismiss Mr. Skeldon.

We believe the commissioners had plenty of cause to fire Mr. Skeldon. With a horrific 77 percent kill rate at the pound, and the warden’s obstinate refusal to cooperate with animal rescue groups on adoptions that would at least slow the slaughter, what more do they need?

[....]

Tom Skeldon no longer deserves the job of dog warden. Failure of his officials bosses to get rid of him only prolongs the agony, not just for the animals on his death row but for the entire community.

Today, however, the pressure finally got to Skeldon, and he resigned. And that’s good, but it’s not the story, and it’s not why my head exploded.

This is: What do you think the fine folks at PETA had to say about our trigger-happy dog warden?

We thank Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon and his staff for putting animals’ best interests first by not haphazardly adopting out dogs just to make the pound’s euthanasia statistics look better.

No one wants to end the need for euthanasia more than the brave people who hold the syringe, but pushing dogs out the door like clearance merchandise or releasing vulnerable breeds into a world that holds only suffering and death for so many of them isn’t the way to do that. Until the number of homeless dogs is reduced through spaying and neutering, euthanasia will stay a heartbreaking necessity.

Those upset about the number of dogs euthanized for lack of homes should direct their anger at those who are directly responsible: breeders, pet stores, and people who don’t spay or neuter their animals. Animal care and control professionals should be supported in their daily fight to do the right thing for animals and for the important work they do to protect animals and the community.

Jennifer Brown

Animal Sheltering Adviser
People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals
Norfolk, Va.

Understand that Skeldon was not just killing pit bulls — as if that would make PETA’s bloodthirst okay, but at least we already knew they hated pibbles. No, in their obsessive hatred of anything that could ever suggest that all humanity is not hopelessly evil and incapable of actually stopping killing animals in our shelters, and of the no-kill movement in particular, PETA has set itself up as a champion of egregious wholesale dog slaughter.

Why is anyone still listening to PETA?

Not a pretty story, in this case. One where a pit bull named Oreo gets “saved” from her abuser and then given a shot of Fatal Plus on the order of Ed Sayres, director of the ASPCA in New York — even though a sanctuary that is already a rescue partner and fellow member, with ASPCA, of the Mayor’s Alliance for Animals offered to give her a lifetime haven and appropriate care (although ASPCA animal behavior expert Stephen Zawistowski told Cristian Salazar at the Huffington Post that “the ASPCA was unfamiliar with Pets Alive.”) From Nathan Winograd:

Facts are troubling things. Facts get in the way of a contrived story. And there is one troubling fact that all of Ed Sayres’ double-speak simply cannot overcome. Try as the ASPCA might to argue that Oreo’s death was unavoidable, Sayres’ misrepresentation has one fundamental obstacle: Oreo had a place to go. The issue doesn’t turn on the real extent of Oreo’s aggression. The real issue is that a No Kill shelter and sanctuary, with experience rehabilitating aggression in dogs, which works with area shelters that could have vouched for their credibility, which enjoys wide community esteem, and which is only a short drive outside of New York City, offered to give her lifetime sanctuary, and was refused.

They called and left a voice mail message on Sayres’ telephone. They called his secretary. They called the ASPCA Press Office. They contacted everyone on the ASPCA website contact page. And they were ignored, hung up on and lied to.

Pets Alive in Middletown, New York, is not only a member of the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City animals, of which the ASPCA is also a member, they are not only an Alliance-approved rescue partner, they not only have had experience with aggressive dogs, but they agreed to take responsibility for a dog the ASPCA was committed to putting in a body bag and then dumping in a landfill. Even though Pets Alive is already an approved rescue partner, the fact that Oreo may have presented a special case didn’t mean the offer should have been rejected out of hand. The ASPCA could have visited Pets Alive; they could have checked veterinary references, community references, could have insisted on specific precautions and liability waivers. But instead, early that morning, before the “media circus got out of hand,” Ed Sayres, willfully, neglectfully, cruelly, and dishonestly, chose to kill Oreo instead. That is the true face of the ASPCA. And that is intolerable.

I’m not saying no dog alive isn’t just too unhappy and dangerous to live. I am saying that I have absolutely no confidence at all that Sayres and the ASPCA are qualified to unilaterally make that determination. And part of why I feel that way, and so strongly, is the self-pitying, self-serving email sent out by the ASPCA’s communications department after this incident blew up into a PR firestorm:

While Oreo’s plight has garnered a plethora of media attention due to the sensational nature of her injuries, the decision to euthanize her is not a novel one.  These are decisions that we have had to make before—and will undoubtedly have to make again.  And as painful as these choices are, they are the same ones that face dedicated shelter workers throughout the country each and every day.   However, these outcomes are made all the more tragic because they are often preventable.

Yes, they are, Ed. You can decide not to kill them.

Animals that suffer cruelty at the hands of their owners often face tragedy beyond that which they have already endured.

[....]

Animals like Oreo are abused every day. Sometimes these animals are fortunate enough to escape the confines of their abuse and are placed in loving homes.  Sometimes, they die as a result of the abuse.

And sometimes they’re killed by people whose mission is supposed to be to save animals.

And now the part that really makes my skin crawl:

We have done everything humanly possible to save Oreo’s life; yet, as a result of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Mr. Henderson, or for other reasons we may never know, she has come to a place where she can no longer be around people or other animals.  We make this decision—and others like it– with a heavy heart and a complete understanding that had she been treated with love and respect, Oreo’s fate would be much different.

People know that the ASPCA is in the business of saving animals’ lives– it serves as the very core of our 143 year-old mission.  Yet, the moment this statement is picked up, we will feel the repercussions of the difficult decision we know had to be made.  We will receive angry phone calls… profanity-laced e-mails… and we will likely be vilified by tweeters and bloggers across the country.  And the rallying cry of these missives will all be the same: the ASPCA failed this animal.  If the ASPCA has failed at anything, it is shielding America from the true face of animal cruelty for far too long.  Animal cruelty isn’t pretty and doesn’t always have a happy ending—it is ugly and sad and, ultimately, tragic.  As a community of individuals committed to the welfare of animals, we have to be more proactive and insistent in raising our voices against cruelty—and hope that the nation is ready to listen.

Does anyone really think that this kind of whining and finger-pointing is a good PR move? You bet your butt this blogger is going to vilify you, ASPCA, because you’re a huge, wealthy organization that had options that you didn’t even explore. Because you killed this dog when it wasn’t necessary. Because you raise money off of rescuing abused dogs and then you kill them. Because Oreo is a victim, first of her abuser and then of you.

And you want us to feel sorry for you, and the burden you bear?

No sale.

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!

Perhaps anyone who could have been a fly on the wall when I had to stop an interview in mid-stream yesterday to unwind all the Borzoi hair from the base of the keys on my keyboard. Two years of accumulation meant I’d hit critical mass and lost the “S” and the shift keys.

Fortunately I was interviewing someone who is as much a dog person as they come, Marthina McClay of Our Pack, the rescue group that turned ex-Vick dog Leo into a therapy dog.

I was interviewing her for my column on SFGate.com, but she made some great comments that won’t fit into that piece, so I thought I’d share them with you here. Believe me, they make better reading than the story of how I had to use a knitting needle to untangle Borzoi hair from my keyboard.

I asked her about Michael Vick talking to at-risk youth about dog fighting on behalf of HSUS. She responded by telling me about a visit Leo made to a school for youth who have been in trouble with the law in San Jose, Calif. — some of them with dog fighting in their backgrounds:

We heard the kids going, “Oh, that’s a bad ass pit bull,” when we walked in. It’s like a cool thing to have a pit bull.

When we got into the classroom, I just took off Leo’s leash and let him walk around and do his thing. I let Leo speak for himself. He just connected with everyone, these kids. They went from hard to soft within 20 minutes.

Then the teacher said, “By the way, would you guys like to know where this dog came from?”

The kids said, “Where?”

She told them, “This dog used to belong to Michael Vick.”

You could hear a pin drop. Their mouths were open, their eyes were riveted on this dog. They said, “What?” They couldn’t believe it.

I could hear one of the kids being interviewed by a reporter from the Washington Post, and he said he’d assumed a dog like this, a Vick dog, would be aggressive and mean. Instead, he said, he’s a nice, sweet, friendly dog. “I really like him,” he said.

We’re not a farming culture anymore. We have lost our connection with animals. We almost never work hand in hand with our dogs anymore. We go to work in an office or cubicle, or we go to school, but there’s nothing to give us that feeling of how we fit into the world of animals.

So you bring a dog into the classroom and say, “Would you really want something like that to happen to this dog?” Before Leo showed up, I don’t think they cared. The Vick dogs were distant and not connected to them. But after they met Leo, all that changed. It mattered to them.

So what I’m saying is, don’t bring Vick to talk to at risk kids. Bring his dogs. His dogs will do a lot more for people who need to see the light that these are sentient, feeling, loving beings, and that it’s our job to care for them, than Vick can ever do.

By the way, Marthina told me that Leo has found his forever home… with her. As if anyone thought it would end any differently.

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.

The US Marine Corps’ latest dog policy is a mistake, plain and simple. Over the past few months the news — via the internet, newspapers, and TV — has stated that the US Marine Corps is waging war on aggressive and/or dangerous dogs.  That’s only partially true.

The US Marine Corps has begun waging war on pit bulls, pittie mixes, Rottweilers, rottie mixes and wolf hybrids. The news originally stated that families living in base housing who have these breeds or mixes will have to have their dog earn an AKC Canine Good Citizen title to remain on base. This is not addressing only those dogs who have been reported as aggressive; no, it’s breed specific legislation and is targeting only these breeds.

The CGC is a wonderful program and all of my trainers at Kindred Spirits Dog Training are CGC evaluators, we do CGC tests, and we love the new AKC puppy STAR program. But this is not what the CGC was designed for.

So a proverbial war is raging. At some bases the ASPCA SAFER program is being tried to see if it will work better than the CGC, and at other bases there are discussions about the American Temperament Test Society test.

While everyone is arguing and debating what should have been done or what needs to be done now, Kindred Spirits just stepped up to the plate and said, “We need to keep these dogs in their homes. Period.”

So we are holding free screening sessions for the dogs living on base. The service member of his or her spouse can bring the dog to our training yard during an evaluation session and we’ll take a look at the dog’s level of training or lack thereof.

If the dog appears capable of passing the CGC we’ll do it right then and there for no charge or we’ll schedule the dog for the test. If the dog is pretty close to being ready but not quite, we’ll give the owner some pointers and tell him to call us when he’s ready. Or, if the dog needs training, we’ll schedule him for a basic training class.

Our first two dogs just passed the test last night. Sam, and black and white pittie mix and Titan, a red and white pittie mix, passed the CGC after a few weeks of training. Their owners stepped up to the plate, took the coaching from us seriously, and did an awesome job. All of us at Kindred Spirits are so proud of them.

Personally I do not believe in breed specific legislation. I don’t believe groups of anyone — people or dogs — should be lumped together and judged by the actions of a few. But I also don’t want to take the time to argue with the US Marine Corps while these families might be losing their dogs. Some families have already panicked and taken their dogs to one of the local shelters or rescue groups.

Many of the owners who have contacted us are dealing with jobs and raising a family by themselves while their spouses are in Iraq or Afghanistan, and now they’re facing losing their dog.  Nope, not gonna happen while my trainers and I can do something about it.

So, if you live near Camp Pendleton and know a family living on base with one of these breeds, send them to our website. If you train dogs and live near a Marine Corps base, contact animal control on the base and offer your help. They need it.

Michael Vick is back with Nike two years after the company severed ties over the quarterback’s involvement in a dogfighting ring.

“Mike has a long-standing, great relationship with Nike, and he looks forward to continuing that relationship,” his agent, Joel Segal, said Wednesday.

Segal would not reveal terms of the agreement. Nike declined a request for comment.

The deal was announced during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium by Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick.

The endorsement is the latest step forward for Vick as he seeks to rehabilitate his career and his image after serving 18 months in federal prison. On Sunday, Vick played his first regular-season game since December 2006.

“It is quite evident that athletes that run afoul of the law are by no means relegated to obscurity when it comes to pitching products,” said David Carter, a professor of sports marketing at the University of Southern California.

Why is Nike doing that? Because apparently we don’t care enough about what Michael Vick did to those dogs:

Nike, which signed Vick as a rookie in 2001, terminated his contract in August 2007 after the Atlanta Falcons star filed a plea agreement admitting his involvement in the dogfighting ring. At the time, Nike called cruelty to animals “inhumane, abhorrent and unacceptable” and halted release of his fifth signature shoe, the Air Zoom Vick V.

Back when Vick first signed with the Eagles, Carter had said he was “too toxic for most companies to even consider taking a chance on him.” What’s changed? As Carter noted Wednesday, there has been little backlash to the quarterback’s return to the NFL.

Protests have been limited, and the Eagles’ sponsors have stood by them. That experience could make companies less wary about adding Vick as an endorser, though the biggest determinant might be no different from any other athlete: how well he performs on the field.

So Nike only does the right thing if they have no choice. Got it. Way to go, you mavericky shoe-making juggernaut, you. There’s nothing like a guy who has killed and tortured dogs with his own hands, while laughing about their agony, to sell stuff for a red-blooded American sporting goods firm.

By using the SAFER assessment, safe dogs will be given the opportunity for a waiver so they can remain on the base until 2012. The ASPCA is opposed to breed bans — laws that ban specific breeds of dogs or unfairly discriminate against responsible dog guardians based solely on their choice of breed. Such laws also fail to achieve the desired goal of stopping illegal activities such as dog fighting, and breeding and/or training dogs to be aggressive. The ASPCA believes that strict enforcement of laws that ban animal fighting, and breeding and/or training animals to fight, is the proper means to address the problem.

“We’re very excited about the ASPCA coming to Parris Island,” said Army Capt. Jenifer Gustafson, the Officer in Charge of the veterinary clinic on Parris Island. “There was a chance that some pet parents would be forced to give up their dogs or leave housing on the base, so this is a great

The media release from the ASPCA is here.

The list of things people think they know about rescued pit bulls and retired racing greyhounds could fill a book, but I settled for a column over on SFGate.com this morning:

When it comes to choosing the right dog, it’s not reality that bites. It’s the seemingly endless list of myths and misconceptions that result in too many people bringing a dog into the family that’s exactly the wrong one for them while passing up a dog who might have been a perfect match.

Take two of the dog world’s least-known treasures, rescued pit bulls and retired racing greyhounds. Far more of these dogs are available for adoption than ever find homes.

Pit bulls and pit bull mixes are the most common dogs killed in many shelters because no one will adopt them. As for greyhounds, there is a vast network of rescue organizations trying to help them find homes, but there are always more dogs than adopters.

Sadly, far too many of these dogs are rejected or never considered at all, not because they’re actually the wrong dog for a particular home, but because the potential adopter doesn’t actually see the dog sitting in front of him. Instead, he sees the idea of the dog he has in his head.

I interviewed Donna Reynolds of BAD RAP for the true story on pit bulls as pets, and talked to Barbara Judson of Greyhound Friends for Life about ex-track greyhounds. Fantastic organizations, terrific interviews, and great dogs. It doesn’t get much better than that for a pet writer! Check it out here.

And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did get equal numbers of photos of pit bulls and greyhounds, but only one of the greyhound photos made the cut. I put another one of them here on this post, just to make myself feel less breed-discriminatory, even though I have to admit pibbles really are easier to photograph than sighthounds!

The two greyhounds in the photo are ex-track dogs named Bali (left) and Coach (right). Bali is 11 and a half years old; Coach is 7. They live in San Francisco with their humble servants Erik Schulz (with Coach) and Rob Kachajian (with Bali), and deigned to pose for me outside of Pet Food Express on Market St. here in San Francisco one day, shortly after having been water tortured bathed at the self-service dog wash inside.

Several months ago, Mr. Vick’s PR representatives approached the ASPCA to help educate America about the heinous act of dog fighting following his release from prison. We were the first animal welfare organization given the opportunity to work with Mr. Vick but immediately turned him down due to the unique knowledge we had of his indescribable and barbaric acts of animal cruelty where he and his associates savagely electrocuted and beat dogs to death after they lost their brutal fights.

The ASPCA’s general consultation and our specific role in processing the forensic evidence in this case were key elements that resulted in Mr. Vick and the three other defendants all pleading guilty to felony crimes. As such, this organization and I personally have seen the acts of cruelty committed by Mr. Vick first hand — acts so heinous that the public has never laid witness to them. And now that Mr. Vick has spoken out for the first time since his release from prison, the ASPCA wants to make clear why this organization chose not to partner with him in his supposed rehabilitation efforts. We are simply not convinced that Mr. Vick has demonstrated compassion toward animals as living beings or the necessary remorse for his criminal actions against them.

60 Minutes provided a convicted criminal a national platform to selfishly focus on his own recovery when, in fact, the animals, the victims who cannot speak for themselves, should have received the attention. CBS did a grave disservice to the animal welfare community by failing to show the ugly truth of Mr. Vick’s actions and the horrors of dog fighting and animal cruelty in this country. The continued attention paid to Mr. Vick is only reinforcing that criminal behavior does not destroy fame and fortune.

You can read their (admirable albeit tardy) full statement here — and kudos to the A for not sending this out via email until it was available on the Web for linking. I wish more folks looking for bloggage were so savvy!

Photo: Leo, one of the Vick dogs, now  a therapy dog.