EMAIL NOW! If NYS Assembly bill A05449 passes, your lost cat could be killed on arrival at your local shelter

UPDATE: Please go here to this new post for information on reaching out to Sheldon Silver. The bill passed, but was stopped by the chair of the Codes Committee. Sheldon Silver has the authority to over-rule the chair, however.

photo borrowed from the Facebook page of Tenth Life for NYC Cats.

ACT NOW!

NYS Assembly Bill A05449 will destroy the currently mandated 5-day holding period for stray pets at animal shelters, by permitting them to be killed on intake for exhibiting "psychological trauma."

(The bill is at that link above. Search for "psychological" and "at least during" to find pertinent passages)

While shelters will be required to make descriptions of found pets available to the public, the bill adds "AT LEAST DURING THE REDEMPTION PERIOD."

There is no REDEMPTION PERIOD for a cat that was killed at intake.

Feral cats and scared pet cats will disappear into a big black hole. You may be putting up posters for months for a lost shy cat that could have been killed on Day One of being taken to a shelter by an angry neighbor, or well-meaning good Samaritan who assumed that would be the best way to get the stray cat they trapped back to her owner.

Just a few groups who oppose this bill:
Best Friends Animal Society
Neighborhood Cats Note: that article contains email addresses to contact NOW.
Nathan Winograd

Those who know me very well will do a double take and say "Wait, is Susan really linking an article by Nathan Winograd?"

I am indeed. Nathan has included these links where you can immediately email legislators. You need to email all four. Text is already included and you can edit your response (delete what you don't want included, and personalize). Be sure to copy your first email, so you can just paste into the remaining three:

Alert #1 of 4: http://bit.ly/y1qO2q
Alert #2 of 4: http://bit.ly/wF1cw2
Alert #3 of 4: http://bit.ly/zLUZuh
Alert #4 of 4: http://bit.ly/AcnrMT


At the very least, please post your opinion to Assemblywoman Amy Paulin's Facebook page here.

But emails are needed. Even if you just go to the above links and send the provided text verbatim if you are short on time, your opposition will be counted.

PLEASE help NYS cats. If this passes, it could be used as a template for other states.

The vote is today. Please comment now!