Dear SPCA family,

I am writing to you today to address the recent article in our local paper that alleges “mismanagement” at the SPCA.

First, I would like to say that I have been at the SPCA for almost 13 years. It has been a pleasure and an honor to serve the animals of Tompkins County, our supporters, and countless volunteers who all help make our work possible.

More than that, it has been a privilege to work alongside some of the most dedicated, caring, and hard-working coworkers I have ever had. Over one third of our approximately 35 staff members have been with the SPCA for 10 years or more.

Our medical staff and veterinarians are among the best in the region. Our medical department manager has been with the SPCA for 19 years. We have been working closely with the same veterinary service since 2010. This team includes veterinarians who are board-certified specialists in shelter medicine and recently edited/coauthored the Association of Shelter Veterinarians' 2022 Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters, as well as a veterinarian board-certified in preventive medicine with a special interest in animal behavior.

These people form the backbone of the SPCA and are fundamental to fulfilling our mission as the first open admission "no-kill" shelter in the United States. I am continually amazed at what we can achieve together despite the very real and very difficult cases we deal with day in, and day out at the SPCA.

I think sometimes what might prompt a “complaint” stems from a misconception of how we operate, how we make decisions, and what that process entails.

When I was asked to provide comments on the allegations received, I provided the reporter with a copy of our Euthanasia Policy. That policy is located further along in this newsletter. We think it is important that our community understands what “no-kill” actually means and that we as an organization are transparent about it. For some, it means that animals are never euthanized, but that is not the case. Unfortunately, as much as all of us here would like to see every single animal leave our shelter with a positive outcome, that is not the reality.

Like our own pets, many animals have medical conditions that just cannot be treated or managed. A small number of others have a history of aggressive or dangerous behavior or have exhibited behavior while in our care that is dangerous or aggressive. In most cases, that includes a serious bite to a person. We have a duty to ensure that the animals adopted do not pose a danger to our community. Unfortunately, there are times when we must make the difficult decision to cease working with an animal that poses a risk to our staff, volunteers, and members of our community.

Simply put, the decision to euthanize an animal for behavioral issues is incredibly hard to make and can have an emotional impact on our staff and volunteers--the people who may have been caring for the animal for weeks or months. However difficult the decision is, the SPCA also has a duty to the community to ensure that dangerous animals are not adopted. Euthanasia decisions involve balancing these competing interests on a case-by-case basis.

The notion, as the article states, that these decisions are made “irresponsibly” by me, or that they are based solely on an initial behavior assessment is not accurate. We meet as a team every week at our Animal Welfare meeting to discuss the majority of our animals. Specifically, we give the greatest attention to cases with medical or behavioral issues or concerns. This team is comprised of at least a dozen people from all areas of the shelter who are experienced and knowledgeable. This includes myself, members of our operations staff, medical/surgical staff, animal control officers, typically 3-4 veterinarians, and our behavior assessment leads. The average length of service to the SPCA of these group members is more than10 years. Our Behavioral assessment lead has been with the SPCA for more than 12 years.

Behavioral euthanasia decisions are taken extremely seriously by all of the staff involved, especially shelter leadership. We are deeply aware of the emotional toll euthanasia takes on our staff and volunteers. We have criteria and protocols in place for determining the seriousness of an incident, which includes reviewing any information provided by previous owners, gathering information from volunteers and staff or anyone involved in the incident, investigating what the incident entailed in each circumstance, and what may have triggered the behavior. If the team feels as though an animal cannot be safely adopted, we then provide a follow-up report to anyone involved in the direct care of the animal explaining what happened and why we feel as though this decision must be made. As a last resort, we will also go as far as contacting the previous owner to explain what happened and to see if they are willing to reclaim the animal.

I don’t think it is necessary to provide the specifics of the cases mentioned in the article, other than to say neither of the dogs referenced were ultimately euthanized. However, as you can imagine, each case is incredibly nuanced and unique, and it is quite rare for any one situation to be like another.

Unfortunately, my biggest disappointment with the article was that several of the accusations were never presented to me when the reporter reached out for comments, so I was never given the opportunity to comment on them. Specifically, it is simply false that our transport work results in a “months-long waiting list.”

Historically, the SPCA has been able to bring in transports in partnership with other organizations that are removing highly adoptable dogs from shelters where they would otherwise be euthanized.

These dogs have helped diversify the types of dogs we have available to local adopters based on what local adopters were telling us they were looking for. It also helps to save lives and brings them from areas and shelters with little or limited resources.

The notion that in doing so, local dogs would be turned away as a result of transport work is untrue. It is also not work being funded by grants. We specifically make sure that we are capable of having the space available in order to accept transports and have cancelled them in the past if our capacity of local dogs or other factors prevents us from doing so. The size of our transports is very small, usually only about 6-8 dogs come in at a time. In 2023, the SPCA transferred 55 dogs compared to 35 in 2022 and 103 in 2021. (You can see more about our intake statistics in the graph below.) Most of the dogs transferred in are sent directly to one of our in-home foster care families and spend limited time in the shelter until they come back for spay/neuter surgery, and it is time for adoption. Some also get adopted directly from foster homes, and they have an overall shorter average length of stay compared to dogs that come in locally for rehoming or as strays.

There is sometimes a misconception that “open-admission” means “immediate admission.”

Shelters must practice active population management, which is the process of intentionally and efficiently planning services for each animal in the shelter’s care. We ask that pet surrenders be done by appointment to ensure that we are prepared to accept a pet by having staff available for an intake exam and having housing ready and waiting for them. During the scheduling process, owners are asked to provide a full profile of their pet, the reason for surrender, and other pertinent information to help us better prepare for their pet.

When appropriate, we prioritize owner retention over shelter intake. For instance, if someone calls and needs to surrender a pet, we may determine when the pet needs to be surrendered. In some instances, owners are capable of retaining the pet in their home. In those instances, we work with owners to put them on a waiting list for surrender at a later time.

Helping pets stay with their owner or caregiver in an environment that they are already familiar with preserves the human–animal bond, reduces the amount of time they need to stay in the shelter, and eliminates the stress of shelter life.

The SPCA also services most local municipalities for stray dog control. Stray dogs, contractually, are never turned away and we reserve a certain amount of shelter space for their care.

Finally, I would like all of our supporters to be aware that the Board of Directors is reviewing the issues that were raised and the SPCA's current policies and procedures to determine whether we are doing all we can to provide excellent care to our animals, support for our staff and volunteers, and safety to our community.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for caring about our work, our mission, and most importantly, our animals. Simply put, we could not do what we do without YOU.

On behalf of everyone at the shelter, I thank you, our loyal supporters, for believing in the SPCA of Tompkins County and for caring so deeply about homeless companion animals in our commmunity.

Jim Bouderau, Executive Director

director@spcaonline.com