Colorado’s legislature is discussing a new animal welfare law. It is before the House Agriculture, Water & Natural Resources Committee. That sounds a bit boring but this is an important law which people in America can help push through.
The law would make it obligatory for Colorado animal shelters to notify qualified and licensed rescue organisations and No Kill shelters before killing an animal. The idea here is that if an animal pound or shelter is planning to euthanise an animal they should contact other shelters first to see whether they can take them and then rehome them.
The task of doing this should be easy because these shelters and pounds are connected through shelter software which is already in place. It would seem that all it requires for one shelter to notify another is to push a button on a keyboard.
As Nathan Winograd says, it is “a simple, commonsense law”. But Colorado’s pounds object to it because they think that they have the right to do what they want to do with their animals and they don’t want to be questioned and interfered with.
Nathan Winograd has asked people to help overcome the opposition of ‘regressive shelters’ and their allies. He keenly wants this bill to pass through the Colorado legislature to save lives.
And to help achieve this goal he says that “we need large numbers of animal lovers to urge committee members to vote YES on the Bill which is labelled HB 24-1114.
He has made it easy for us. He says that all “you need to do is cut and paste the To, Subject, and Body Text below to an email.
In other words, all the information you need is below. You have the email addresses. You have the topic i.e. subject, which goes into the subject box on an email. And you have the text of the email below that.
Please try and do this. It will probably help to save lives. This is an opportunity for anybody to try and have their say in helping shelter animals. They all need our help because they are vulnerable particularly at Colorado’s pounds where, it seems, too many are euthanised which means killed because they are often healthy animals.
To:
karen.mccormick.house@coleg.gov, julia.marvin.house@coleg.gov, tammy.story.house@coleg.gov, ty.winter.house@coleg.gov, marc.catlin.house@coleg.gov, meghan.lukens.house@coleg.gov, barbara.mclachlan.house@coleg.gov, brianna.titone.house@coleg.gov, richard.holtorf.house@coleg.gov, matthew.martinez.house@coleg.gov, matthew.soper.house@coleg.gov, elizabeth.velasco.house@coleg.gov, Alexa.Kelly@coleg.govSubject:
YES on House Bill 24-1114 (Colorado Rescue Act)
Body:
Please vote YES vote on House Bill 24-1114. The Colorado Rescue Act would require shelters to notify licensed rescue organizations and No Kill shelters before killing an animal. And given that such notifications are possible through shelter software already used by these facilities or available for free, complying would require nothing more than a stroke on a keyboard: one click to notify rescuers that a life needs saving.
Without HB 24-1114, thousands of animals are killed despite rescue organizations ready, willing, and able to give them a second chance. Their killing by those who are supposed to protect them is many things: tragic and heartbreaking, chief among them. Nothing can alter that calculus. But we can lessen the futility of their deaths if we learn from them and alter our society in such a way as to prevent other animals from suffering the same deadly fate. That is what HB 24-1114 would do.
It deserves a Yes vote not only for animals but for people, too. Killing animals causes psychological distress for those wanting and able to save them. Animal rescuers are already donating their time, energy, resources, and love to make Colorado a better place. They shouldn’t have to sacrifice their emotional well-being, too.
Thank you.
RELATED: Colorado law designed to ensure high standard, ‘socially conscious’ animal shelters
