LARGO, Fla. — SPCA Tampa Bay is defending itself because it receives nationwide backlash over a brand new partnership with the canine breeding business.
“We are willing to try new ideas that may stretch us into new places with new partners,” the shelter wrote, partially, in a statement posted to its social media platforms.
SPCA Tampa Bay has partnered with Pinnacle Pet, a Missouri-based dealer for pet breeders, to launch a brand new pilot program known as For All Dogs.
Under this system, some respected pet breeders will likely be allowed to ship a few of their older dogs — who’ve retired from breeding — to SPCA Tampa Bay to be adopted out.
“So these are animals that are somewhere typically between four and six years old that are ready for the next step in life, they are done breeding, they’ve raised their families, now they want to go into a home, we are putting those animals up for adoption,” mentioned Martha Boden, CEO of SPCA Tampa Bay, in an interview final week.
Boden mentioned the shelter is accepting just some purebreds per week, and thus far, these dogs have had a excessive adoption charge, usually inside 48 hours.
In a telephone interview Wednesday, Chris Fleming, the CEO of Pinnacle Pet, mentioned this system won’t financially profit his firm or SPCA Tampa Bay. He mentioned it should additionally fight puppy mills, although some have recommended it should help them.
“That’s just not true of the folks that we’re working with,” Fleming mentioned.
“I encourage folks to call — ask,” he continued. “It’s not the ugly abuse and, you know, solicitation of animals.”
Despite his protection, an intense backlash continues.
Kimberly Gronemeyer, the vice chairman of Florida Voices for Animals, sees the partnership between the shelter and breeding business as a significant betrayal.
“This is sort of, you know, just a major backstab,” Gronemeyer mentioned. “I was — I was appalled. Florida Voices for Animals appalled. I think every animal advocate in the area was appalled.”
Gronemeyer will not be alone in her outrage. Groups like SPCA Florida and PETA have additionally denounced this system. Wednesday, PETA launched an online campaign asking its supporters to contact SPCA Tampa Bay and categorical their disapproval.
“Let them know that there’s no such thing as a “responsible” breeder as a result of, for each puppy or kitten who’s produced by any breeder, an animal awaiting adoption at an animal shelter loses his or her probability at discovering a home—and should be euthanized,” the group wrote.
Gronemeyer made the same argument that even when the dogs come from respected breeders, this system nonetheless units a harmful precedent.
“It legitimizes breeding, so it makes that kind of the okay model instead of having to do a rescue,” she mentioned. “Instead, they’re saying, ‘Oh, it’s okay to go to a breeder.’ It’s like, ‘Let’s go for the designer dogs rather than the rescues that need our support most of all.’”
She believes SPCA Tampa Bay will lose donors, pet foster dad and mom, and its standing locally until it abandons this system instantly.
“That is their only option,” she mentioned. “They are losing the support of everyone in the county.”
In its assertion Wednesday, SPCA Tampa Bay acknowledged the backlash. It supplied group members a survey to share their ideas in regards to the For All Dogs initiative, however the shelter expressed no want to pause or abandon this system.
“We do this to continue our service to our local community with its specific needs and opportunities,” the shelter wrote. “We also do this to learn if there are ways to work better together with others for the benefit of the pets and people in our community.”
