Musings: Sacrificial Killing

An email arrived in my inbox today, advertising an event that seems great on first glance, but has so much ugliness festering beneath the surface:

It's a pitch for a June no-kill conference, with the stated goal of turning the Kauai Humane Society into a no-kill shelter.

It comes on the heels of a relentlessly vicious social media attack on KHS Director Penny Cistaro, waged in large part by the Kauai Community Cat Project — a group that wants to save all the feral cats on the island by putting them into managed colonies and the shadowy Kauai Coalition for Animals.

So what has Penny done to incur all this hate and wrath? Euthanizing animals that nobody wants — not even the animal lovers.

Minutes after I skimmed the no-kill conference email, I happened upon a news story from Taiwan, about a shelter veterinarian who killed herself after on-line haters attacked her following a TV appearance where she talked about her job.

On the TV program, she had begged people to adopt dogs, not buy them, because the shelters were packed with unwanted canines. She told of crying herself to sleep, and feeling guilty about putting dogs down. But she said they had no choice, because they had no more room. Her honesty, good intentions and appeal for public support counted for nothing with the haters,Instead, they brutalized her in comments, calling her “female butcher” and “beautiful executioner.”

It's not unlike the attacks that have been leveled against Penny. Google her name, and the first thing that comes up is a website that has appropriated her personal domain name to offer such links as “why does Penny Cistaro order employees to euthanize puppies?”

Next up is the Facebook page of the Kauai Coalition for Animals. Though this group is busily trying to destroy Penny's good name, and a solid professional reputation built on 30 years in the business, they've too cowardly to identify themselves. But videos link them to the Kauai Community Cat Project, which is headed by Basil Scott.

It's followed by another Facebook hit page by a Central California no-kill group attacking her policies at a Sacramento shelter, then a change.org petition seeking her ouster. It's not until the second page of results that we start seeing nice things about Penny. The haters know well how to optimize search engines so that their slime rises to the top.

I went back to look at the email. It said the conference will start with Nathan Winograd, a no-kill missionary, presenting his film “Redemption.” It purports to be about “a social movement as noble and just as those that have come before. But most of all, it is a story about believing in the community and trusting in the power of compassion.”

Oh, yeah, that sounds really good. But ya know, I'm not so sure about the “believing in the community” part. Especially when we've just witnessed the fanaticism and mob mentality of the anti-GMO movement. And especially when we're seeing the supposedly kind and caring  animal lovers engaged in horrible attacks against Penny.

Are cyber bullying, character assassination and other despicable tactics how Winograd, Basil Scott and their followers define "community" and "compassion?" How can they claim to be “noble” when they're causing horrible harm to someone who loves animals, and is tasked with the very hard job of euthanizing those that can't find homes?

Even PETA, an animal rights' group, has denounced Winograd's movement. Blaming shelter workers for euthanasia, PETA says, is akin to blaming hospitals for deadly diseases. PETA continues:

This false “logic” lets the real culprits off the hook: people who breed (or fail to spay or neuter) their animals and people who buy animals from pet stores or breeders instead of adopting homeless animals from shelters. No one wants to see animals euthanized—least of all, those who have to perform it—but denying that a crisis exists and blaming those who have devoted their lives to ending it is misguided and solves nothing.

PETA went on to offer several examples of how the no-kill approach to shelter management resulted in dangerous policies and practices that harmed animals. 

This mainland-based no-kill movement is a repeat of what happened with the mainland-based anti-GMO movement. You get people all fired up about an emotional cause, simplify the issues, offer an equally simplistic solution, wreak lots of havoc and rake in some dough along the way.

And just like the anti-GMO movement, its real objectives are hidden by the emotional appeal. In the case of the no-kill movement, its true goals on Kauai are this: derail efforts to control Kauai's huge population of feral cats, which are killing endangered native birds and monk seals.

It's unrealistic to imagine that some 20,000 feral cats can be managed humanely, healthfully and economically in colonies on little Kauai. It's pure fantasy to think they'll all find homes.

And it's downright wrong to support movements and individuals who sanction the sort of tactics used against Penny and the veterinarian in Taiwan. 

On Kauai, all this stink-talk has included urging people not to take animals to the shelter. Like abandoning them elsewhere, or giving to an unsuitable home, is supposed to be a solution?

If those folks want to start a Kauai no-kill shelter of their own, go for it. (Though PETA offers numerous examples of the downside of these feel-good shelters.)

But we all need to condemn their attempts to sacrifice native birds — and destroy Penny and KHS — in the process.