Best Friends: New Collaboration with HSUS to Save Pit Bulls

by Stephanie Ernst

category: Companion Animals

Published April 10, 2009 @ 02:41PM PT

Update: See the end of this post (after the jump) for the reaction from the No Kill Nation blog too. I'm off to hug the pit bull looking at me from across the room now. :) Update II: Link to and remarks on the YesBiscuit! reaction at the end now too.

There really are times when I like being proven wrong or when something I've repeated is proven wrong--specifically, when the original news is unpleasant. Nathan Winograd wrote earlier today that there was new information coming out about the pit bull meeting between HSUS, Best Friends Animal Society, and other groups, info that at least partially countered the upsetting report he gave a couple days ago. More has happened since then, Nathan reported, and not all of the original details were correct, apparently.

And now Best Friends has put out an announcement about the agreement the groups have come to. Here's what they're telling us so far:

Among the outcomes of the meeting:

• The HSUS has a new policy of recommending that all dogs seized from fighting operations be professionally evaluated, according to agreed upon standards, to determine whether they are suitable candidates for adoption. Dogs deemed suitable for placement should be offered as appropriate to adopters or to approved rescue organizations. The HSUS will update its law enforcement training manual and other materials to reflect this change in policy.
• The groups agree that all dogs should be treated as individuals, and they are the true victims of this organized crime. They also agree to support law enforcement and animal control agencies when decisions must be made regarding the dogs deemed unsuitable for adoption and in cases when rescue organizations and adopters are unable, within a reasonable timeframe, to accept dogs from such raids that have been offered for adoption.
• The organizations will form a working group to develop future protocols for cooperation in addressing the needs of dogs seized in raids, such as how to assist with the housing of fighting dogs, how to conduct professional evaluations, and how to screen potential adopters.

The summit meeting was convened to address the matter of dogs seized as a result of cruelty investigations, particularly due to the increase in HSUS-led enforcement actions against dogfighters. Participants at the meeting included Best Friends Animal Society, The Humane Society of the United States, BAD RAP, ASPCA, National Animal Control Association, Maddie’s Fund, Nevada Humane Society, and Spartanburg Humane Society.

Update: Just after I published this post, I saw this on the No Kill Nation blog in response to this news and thought it was worth sharing:

It didn’t surprise us to hear that the first news coming out of the meeting of stakeholders involved with pit bulls and pit bull advocacy was not all that great. . . . What does surprise us though is news today that although representatives of the 'old guard' of HSUS were a part of the discussion and expressed old and tired philosophies, those philosophies have been discarded for a new and humane vision for pit bulls and other dogs seized as a part of fighting operations.

We have waited (not so patiently) for this moment. . . .

Update II: The YesBiscuit! blog features a post titled "New HSUS Policy: Getting to Know You" that asks some good questions, given that we have only vague details right now and given that, as Shirley notes, there are internal HSUS issues to consider. I will say, in response to the first question she poses though, that HSUS has at least announced the new agreement now, via a post on Wayne Pacelle's blog. Pacelle included the same statement as Best Friends in his post, following this seemingly cautious explanation: "In the past, animals seized from these operations have been routinely euthanized. This may still be the outcome for the animal victims of dogfighters, but we agreed as a number of groups that all of us should do our best to evaluate dogs seized from these operations and adopt those dogs who can be saved."