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Foreword Foreword Dear Friend of Animals: People wanting to make a positive difference for animals in their community contact The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) National Shelter Outreach Department every day. Many of these people want to start a humane organization. Some of them come from areas with no humane organizations, some are dissatisfied with their local humane organizations and still others want to start a new organization with different services. This guide is intended to help you understand the complexities of humane organizations and give you the information and tools you will need to start one. The guide will detail and discuss: varieties of humane organizations from non-sheltering to shelter facilities; alternatives to starting a new organization; difficulties you will encounter starting and running a humane organization; and where to look for further information. It is important to understand that the ASPCA is not a parenting organization for local SPCA’s, humane societies or animal care and control organizations. “SPCA,” like “Humane Society” and “Anti-Cruelty Society,” is a generic term. SPCA’s and humane societies generally have no affiliation with each other nor even any similarity of policies and procedures. While “SPCA” and “Humane Society” are often interchangeable terms, “SPCA” may (but does not necessarily) imply a law enforcement capability. The National Shelter Outreach department works with all varieties of animal protection organizations around the country to help them do their job better. We provide materials, resources, referrals, advice and training at little or no cost. Each year we visit over 150 animal shelters and spend time talking with directors and staff to assist them to stay current on trends in sheltering. The appendix lists many of the materials we have gathered and distribute to organizations. In fact, we have packets of in-depth information on each topic covered in this guide and many more which we will be happy to send to you at no charge. Please contact us to request these packets, or if you have other specific shelter related questions. Talented volunteers are a boon to any non-profit organization and we are particularly indebted to one of our volunteers for the creation of this manual. Mary Kirby is a published author and accomplished editor who came to the ASPCA to volunteer her skills. Every month for over a year we sent her home with arm loads of reading materials to study and distill. She also visited shelters and attended conferences with us, immersing herself in the details of humane organizations. We met with her regularly to guide her in the writing of this book but it was she who performed the immense job of sifting information, crystallizing, and writing the majority of the manual. We are ever grateful. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Dennen Reilly and his expertise on animal welfare boards of directors and to the kind people at The Humane Society of the United States and the American Humane Association who graciously allowed us to refer to many of their excellent materials. Our own colleagues here at the ASPCA, particulary Lila Miller, D.V.M. and Jacque Lynn Schultz, also gave generously of their time and expertise. Finally there are numerous contributions and insights from other people and organizations across the country, some are mentioned although too many remain nameless, whose input and experience is greatly appreciated. Please note that all sample forms and contracts have been gathered from various sources and they may or may not be used by The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These agreements are included as examples only. The ASPCA does not recommend that you adopt any of these agreements for your organization without advice from your own local attorney. Agreements must be individualized to each organization’s needs and laws vary widely from state to state. We hope you will find this manual very useful. We look forward to updating it on a regular basis and welcome your comments. Sincerely, Julie Morris Lisa Saavedra Vice President Director ASPCA, National Shelter Outreach ASPCA, National Shelter Outreach New York, NY New York, NY Foreword 1 ASPCA Keys to a Great Shelter Origins of the ASPCA and the American Humane Movement Origins of the ASPCA and the American Humane Movement The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is the country’s first humane organization and one of the largest humane organizations in the world. Since its founding, the ASPCA has protected, nurtured and sheltered tens of millions of unwanted, neglected and abused animals. Privately funded through charitable contributions from members, corporations, foundations and the general public, the ASPCA continues to play an active role in providing effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals. Its Humane Law Enforcement Department is fully empowered to enforce animal protection laws throughout New York State. The Society was started by Henry Bergh, the youngest son of a New York shipping magnate as John Loeper recounts in his book, Crusade for Kindness. After inheriting a sizable fortune, Bergh and his wife traveled widely throughout the United States and Europe. Wealthy and popular, they led the carefree lives of cosmopolitan socialites, collecting art and friends throughout their travels. There were a few glimmers of the turn Bergh’s life would later take, and some of his early correspondence indicates a growing awareness of the injustice of animal abuse. While vacationing in Spain he witnessed a bullfight that so offended him he wrote a letter to a New York newspaper in 1848, protesting the senseless brutality of the sport. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Henry Bergh to the post of legation secretary at Czar Alexander’s court in Saint Petersburg. It was here, amid the palaces of the sophisticated Russian nobility, that Bergh first began articulating his belief that animals were sentient, feeling beings that deserved to be treated with respect and kindness. Ironically, it was the stark contrast between the living conditions of the Russian aristocracy and the serfs that most dramatized for Bergh the need for someone to crusade for animal rights. Four– fifths of the Russian people lived in poverty as serfs with few rights and no hope for a better life. Often they took their frustrations out on the only ones whose lot was worse than their own, their defenseless animals. Bergh became increasingly vocal about this abuse. When friends were puzzled by this new found passion he could only explain, “At last I have found a way to be of use.” On his way home to the United States, Bergh made a special stop in London to meet with the Earl of Harrowby, president of England’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). At last, there was a society that not only believed in the humane treatment of animals, but also actively promoted legislation protecting them and criminalizing their abuse. The RSPCA had been rescuing and sheltering animals and raising public awareness of the dignity of animals for over 40 years. Bergh spent several weeks with Harrowby and decided to start a kindred society in the United States. Upon his return to the United States in 1866, Bergh found a nation deeply wounded by the horrors of the Civil War. Compounding the pain was the enormous social dislocation caused by the Industrial Revolution. People were leaving farms and small towns and pouring into the cities looking for factory jobs. Cities were now teeming with people and animals crowded in unsanitary quarters. The chaos and inhumanity of the times reached its epitome in New York City. Horse-drawn streetcars had become the backbone of its urban transportation system. Overcrowded cars were drawn through muddy, filthy streets by overworked draft horses who were often beaten and prodded until they died in their tracks. Slaughterhouses throughout the city used the most barbaric and unsanitary methods to kill livestock. Stray dogs and cats were routinely captured, locked in cages and drowned in the East River. Origins of the ASPCA 1 ASPCA Keys to a Great Shelter and the American Humane Movement Still, the time and the place were ripe for Bergh’s message of kindness. Some historians believe that Bergh’s plea for humane treatment might have fallen on deaf ears even ten years earlier. Bergh launched his crusade with a speech at New York’s Clinton Hall before an influential audience on February 8, 1866. He denounced cruelty against animals and pleaded for the establishment of a society similar to the RSPCA to enforce laws which would protect them. As a result of his personal eloquence and appeal, a number of wealthy and powerful New Yorkers signed his “Declaration of the Right of Animals” which he then presented to the state legislature. On April 10, 1866 the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was officially chartered. Just days after the incorporation of the ASPCA, New York passed the first effective animal humane law ever enacted in the United States. There were earlier laws but they had no real mandate or method to enforce them. It read: “Every person who shall by his act or neglect, maliciously kill, maim, wound, injure, torture, or cruelly beat any horse, mule, cow, sheep or other animal belonging to himself or another, shall upon conviction, be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor.” Punishment for such a conviction was imprisonment for not more than one year, or a fine, or both. The original statute was so carefully drawn by Bergh and so comprehensive that it was adopted in some form by every state in the union and across Canada.

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