SAVE TEXAS SHELTER ANIMALS Tell AG Greg Abbott's office to stop threatening No Kill in TX!
- by: Dawn Erin
- recipient: TX Attorney General Greg Abbott, Governor Rick Perry
WHAT THEY WANT:
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The Texas Veterinary Board of Medical Examiners (TVBME) is fighting to prosecute cases that could give them jurisdiction over ALL Texas animal shelters. If this happens then all shelters would have to abide by the same rules as private practice vet clinics, including having a vet on staff 24/7. This is an unfunded mandate overseen by State Attorney General Greg Abbott's legal team.
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If the Vet Board does get jurisdiction, shelters would no longer be allowed to empower volunteers and fosters to give medicine to the animals, or even administer simple flea and tick treatments! All medical treatment would have to be supplied by paid staff employed by the veterinarian, not the shelter itself or even the City.
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Shelters would no longer be able to take in sick and injured animals unless there is a vet present at intake. Nor would they be allowed to give animals life saving vaccines to prevent distemper until an on staff vet has examined the animal. The only alternative would be to operate illegally.
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The vast majority of shelters don't have nearly the funds necessary to employ vets 24/7. They will have to drastically increase their operational budgets just to pay a vet to provide even the routine care which is currently being done by trained and caring volunteers and staff. This would drastically decrease the number of animals that shelters are able to save! City shelters would also have to start killing en masse again because this mandate is unfunded. Many, many healthy and adoptable animals will die as a direct result of this.
WHY THIS IS AN OUTRAGE:
- The Vet Board regulates and promotes veterinary private practice. "Shelter Medicine" is considered a vastly different medical model. This is a government agency trying to impose regulations on a system it neither understands nor cares about.
- The Board has traditionally thought of animal shelters only as killing places. They have previously only taken enough interest to authorize the killing of shelter animals WITHOUT need of a veterinarian. A 12 hour "Euthanasia Certification" class is all that's needed for shelter employees to administer lethal injection to pets.
- By their own statute they don't have jurisdiction over shelters because, by law, shelters are the "owners" of the animals in their care.
- The No Kill movement is making great strides in Texas right now! Austin is the largest US city to achieve and maintain No Kill status (90% or higher live outcome at municipal shelters). Imposing such a hardship on shelter veterinarians for trying to save lives is going backwards, FAST.
- As a State Board, TVBME falls under the supervision of TX Attorney General Greg Abbott's office. He has done nothing to stop this case from going forward.
HOW YOU CAN HELP!
- Sign this petition urging Greg Abbott to tell his legal team and the Vet Board to drop the case. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A TEXAS OR EVEN A US RESIDENT TO SIGN THE PETITION. All signatures are welcome.
- As all the Vet Board members are personally appointed by the Governor, we are also petitioning TX Governor Rick Perry.
- You can also contact the Attorney General directly at:
Dear Governor Perry and Attorney General Abbott,
We, the undersigned animal advocates are writing to ask that you please take a closer look at the recent actions of the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and their efforts to gain jurisdiction over animal shelters in Texas. Through prosecuting several cases, the Vet Board wants to impose their statutes--which regulate private practice vet clinics only--on all Texas animal shelters, a vastly different and relatively new medical model which operates by different systems.
This would require animal shelters to dramatically increase their operational budgets just to pay vets to do much of the work that is currently done by caring, trained volunteers and staff. While shelters would love having a vet on staff 24/7, few if any could afford to do so. This would be an undue burden to a system that has found innovative and cost saving ways to save more animals lives than ever before.
We feel that this is a prime example of a big government agency trying to micromanage a system it neither understands nor cares about. The No Kill movement has been making great strides in Texas, with Austin still the largest American city to reach and maintain No Kill status. Imposing such over-reaching regulation on the shelter system would quickly undo all of this great work. Shelters will have to start killing more animals simply because they can't afford to save them. We feel the animals deserve better than this.
Texas is at the forefront of the No Kill movement and we all want to stay there!
We respectfully ask that you please order the Vet Board to drop its jurisdictional cases.
You have a chance to do the right thing here by the animals of Texas. We implore you to do so.
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