From Pets to Companion Animals 4CHAPTER Researched by Martha C. Armstrong, Susan Tomasello, and Christyna Hunter A Brief History of Shelters and Pounds nimal shelters in most U.S. their destiny: death by starvation, harassed working horses, pedestrians, communities bear little trace injury, gassing, or drowning. There and shopkeepers, but also spread ra- A of their historical British were no adoption, or rehoming, pro- bies and other zoonotic diseases. roots. Early settlers, most from the grams and owners reclaimed few In outlying areas, unchecked breed- British Isles, brought with them the strays. And while early humanitarians, ing of farm dogs and abandonment of English concepts of towns and town like Henry Bergh, founder of the city dwellers’ unwanted pets created management, including the rules on American Society for the Prevention packs of marauding dogs, which keeping livestock. Each New England of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and killed wildlife and livestock and posed town, for example, had a common, a George Thorndike Angell, founder of significant health risks to humans central grassy area to be used by all the Massachusetts Society for the and other animals. townspeople in any manner of bene- Prevention of Cruelty to Animals State and local governments were fit, including the grazing of livestock. (MSPCA), were concerned about ani- forced to pass laws requiring dog As long as the livestock remained on mal abuse, their focus was more on owners to control their animals. Al- the common, the animals could graze working animals—horses, in particu- though laws that prohibited deliber- at will, but once the animal strayed lar—than on the fate of stray dogs. It ate abuse of or cruelty to animals had onto private property or public thor- was through the efforts of Caroline passed in most states by the turn of oughfares, a “pound master” took the Earle White, founder of the Women’s the century, few states had laws that animal to the pound, a small stone- SPCA of Pennsylvania, that the fate of provided for the control of dogs be- walled corral that was usually just a stray dogs began to change. White yond their owners’ property. Only lat- few feet away from the common. For a secured the first contract from a city er in the 1900s were laws requiring small fine, the owner was able to to a humane society to operate a leashing and licensing of dogs passed retrieve his stray livestock. more humane pound or shelter for throughout the United States and As the United States began to grow dogs and cats and implemented an money allocated to hire dogcatchers and as towns became more popula- adoption program, as well as more and run pounds. Although some laws ted, urbanization brought a new type humane ways of housing, caring for, were passed strictly on the grounds of stray to the city. Stray dogs allowed and, if need be, euthanizing the ani- of protecting public safety, most were to roam the streets could present all mals in the care of the SPCA. tied to other laws that required dogs types of problems: barking at and to be vaccinated against rabies and/ frightening working horses, creating Shelters at the or that provided additional penalties sanitation problems, and biting pass- for a dog who killed livestock. A pro- ersby. The old stone-walled corrals Turn of the liferation of local ordinances and by- were not appropriate for dogs. Instead Twentieth Century laws were passed in the late 1930s unused warehouses or enclosed barns Expansion of urban life and contrac- and early 1940s to strengthen state were employed. tion of agrarian interests created in- animal control laws and to provide a Housed in crude pens or tied to creased problems for city managers, revenue source to pay for animal con- hooks on the side of the wall, pound including protecting the public’s trol programs. dogs stood little chance of escaping health and safety. Stray dogs not only 71 While most citizens did not want While most large U.S. cities already Pound Seizure stray dogs roaming the streets, they were served by an SPCA, many of The conditions and location of the also did not want the captured strays which ran shelters, smaller cities and pound were not the only reasons for kept in facilities near their homes. rural communities were either under- the formation of hundreds of new The barking, howling, and fighting served by the local SPCA or relied humane societies and animal welfare among hundreds of strays made solely on municipal government to organizations. The proliferation of pounds unpopular neighbors. As a provide animal care and sheltering stray dogs shortly after World War II, result, the shelters were usually found services for their community’s ani- the shortage of sheltering facilities, near a locality’s other dumping mals. During the early 1950s, humane and the growth of government-funded ground, the municipal landfill. Early societies, animal rescue leagues, and biomedical research combined to municipal pounds were crudely con- other animal welfare groups prolifer- bring about a new policy, pound structed, lacking heat, cooling, and, ated. Many were created to fill a void seizure, which horrified many pet in many instances, hot and cold run- in the locality they served. Others lovers. First passed in Minnesota and ning water. Animals entering a pound were formed to provide an alternative then pushed along by the National were rarely claimed, even more rarely to a substandard municipal pound. Society for Medical Research (NSMR) adopted or rehomed, and normally The new shelters were different not and local research organizations else- destroyed within hours of arriving. only in their look and location, but where, pound seizure laws required Those who did have some sort of iden- also in the programs they offered. They municipally run animal shelters or tification—a collar with a license or sought more to prevent animal control pounds to release unclaimed animals identification tag—were usually afford- problems than to provide curative and on demand to any accredited re- ed an additional period of holding time punitive measures. Humane educa- search facility or university that before they were destroyed. Irregular tion, spaying and neutering, and dif- requested them. cleanings and rarely disinfected cages ferential licensing were part of the Local humanitarians found pound provided ample opportunity for dis- broad menu of services added to the seizure to be the antithesis of the eases to run rampant throughout new animal shelters’ lists of programs true purpose of an animal shelter—to pounds. Coupled with the fact that provided to their communities. provide a safe haven for stray and lost few strays had received any vaccina- As the traditional pound disap- animals. To avoid the law, local tions against highly contagious dis- peared, the stereotypical dogcatcher humane societies built their own shel- eases such as distemper, even the followed right behind it. The days ters or contracted with municipalities “lucky” owner-identified animal who when a driver’s license and the will- to run their facilities. By agreeing to escaped immediate destruction with ingness to be bitten occasionally were run the shelter under contract with his fellow strays would usually con- the only prerequisites gave way; the city or county or by establishing a tract and succumb to disease shortly knowing a bit about animal behavior, separate facility, these organizations after entering the pound. animal first aid, conflict resolution, found that they were exempt from and legal procedures was now re- being forced to comply with pound A Half Century quired. The new animal control offi- seizure laws since they fell outside the of Progress: From cer was more physically fit than his or definition of covered entities. The her predecessor, as well. MSPCA was one of the first to chal- Dog Pound to Training opportunities to profes- lenge pound seizure laws by filing suit Animal Shelter sionalize the field were also increas- in court, stating that the Massachu- ing. The MSPCA offered training for After World War II, pounds underwent setts law mandating pound seizure executives and law enforcement offi- violated the mission of animal shel- a massive transformation. Pet owners cers in the early 1950s. The American were no longer willing to let a con- ters. Although the case went all the Humane Association (AHA) launched way to the state’s Supreme Judicial crete-block-and-wire building at the a series of educational and training town dump represent their communi- Court before a decision was finally venues through universities, state fed- rendered, the court’s ruling still left ty’s effort to house and care for erations, and local shelters. In the homeless and stray animals. They the subject in limbo. The Court stat- late 1970s, The Humane Society of ed that the MSPCA did not have wanted a place that humanely shel- the United States (HSUS) launched tered the animals under its roof, but standing to sue, since the pound sei- its Animal Control Academy in con- zure laws applied only to municipally they also demanded programs that junction with the University of Alaba- were aimed at decreasing the home- operated pounds or shelters. Since ma to provide certification to animal the MSPCA was a private, nonprofit less animal population and shelter control officers. Several state animal staff trained to be more caring and organization that did not serve as a control associations offered training pound, it was not an aggrieved party. professional in the care and treat- through state law enforcement train- ment of animals. The controversy surrounding pound ing institutes or academies. seizure was not limited to the local 72 The State of the Animals: 2001 level.