Animal Shelter Safety

Dangerous dogs must be put down

I am an animal lover - I have a rescue dog. However, I also love & care for my fellow humans as well and, as someone who was mauled by a dangerous dog, I need to know that aggressive animals are not in our shelters, on our streets, or in our neighborhoods. And that starts with you making good decisions so that people like me don't have to deal with the aftermath. I now have an injury deemed as "PERMANENT" after my attack. Let's ensure that no one else has to say the same. DOG ATTACKS CAN BE PREVENTED. So, let's do that.

The executive director of ACCT Philly makes $170k/year? WHAT? THIS IS TRULY DISAPPOINTING AND APPALLING! GET RID of the Director and hire someone more in line with the organization's values who has the employees and volunteers best interest at heart at a salary more in line with this type of organization. So many people dedicate their free time to help ACCT - help them help ACCT!

Return to common sense and prioritize public safety. Humane euthanasia of dangerous dogs is the answer. There is NOTHING INHUMANE about humane euthanasia.

Agree 100%. The whole “save them all” attitude is getting people and pets killed.

This is awful. Working in a shelter is tough work in perfect conditions, but working under these conditions is unacceptable.

I agree with the petition, but am troubled by the fact that it fails to mention the adopters at all. Employees and volunteers should be protected but at least they're aware of some of the risks of working with sheltered dogs in an open-intake city shelter. The adopters, both at ACCT and at the rescue 'partners who take their 'rescue only' dogs, are in the dark about the risks, and the risks are now life and death. To take just the most recent example of a shelter dog killing someone, the Miami-Dade (FL) open intake shelter got a woman killed this week; they released a pit bull to a rescue group in early August, Mastiff Rescue of Florida. MRF rehomed it to a man soon after. 3 weeks later, it mauled his elderly mother to death. Now the volunteers are blaming a bad placement, without any apparent recognition that a dog who kills an elderly woman was not adoptable to ANYONE. There has to be some humane limit on how dangerous a dog's behaviors can be and still be considered adoptable. I've seen many dogs on ACCT's adoptable or 'rescue only' list that are extremely dangerous and have proven it by mauling and killing other dogs and by attacking and badly biting humans. Many are listed as being so violent, the professional shelter and medical staff are unable to handle them. Yet they're being passed along as pets. You don't just need a behaviorist, you need a sense of responsibility to public safety.

This is needed so badly over volunteer acessments who are not qualified in any animal behaviors

I can help

Acct looks like a junk yard and it’s public agency.

Why isn't the safety of staff, volunteers, rescue partners, and the public being considered? A certified behaviorist or a team of behaviorists is basic to prevent injuries to staff, volunteers and to the public. It is also inhumane to keep a dog with behavioral issues kenneled for days on end. These dogs need to be evaluated by a professional. Safety of humans and humane treatment of animals should be the number one priority.

This is a disgrace that ACCT pays the extremely distant and inaccessible director $170,000 a year but expects unpaid volunteers to pretty much run the shelter. They need to hire a professional team instead of relying on volunteers to do everything. ACCT Philly does not value the safety of volunteers, fosters, or the public. I am disgusted by the corners that the shelter chooses to cut to save money and their ongoing refusal to have a team of professionals doing evaluations and working with the animals on a regular basis.

please do this- i had a dog bite to my face when i worked in a shelter. Just missed my right eye. This is so important for safety to avoid incidents like this

It's long overdue that the city of Philly stepped up to their responsibilities and did everything necessary at/for ACCT and it's staff!

I am 100 percent behind this. It’s unfathomable that this position does not exist. This needs to change YESTERDAY. We can’t keep coasting along and continuing to volunteer- and gambling on which dog will be the one to put us in the hospital - or worse. The board needs to seriously prioritize this, but I have little faith that anything will be done before another incident occurs. The staff, volunteers, and the dogs deserve better!

The shelter I world for loves pulling from ACCT because we know the help is desperately needed, however when we walk in and so many are labeled bite cases and have no notes of being out recently or evaluated, other than possibly medically, can make pulling difficult. When a dog isn’t able to get their frustrations out properly, they quickly decline and exhibit worse behavior than before. The volunteers do everything they can, but at great risk and which is entirely unfair to them. With having a behavior a position available, only time would tell for someone to take it, so ideally something would be in place to evaluate regardless of this position or not. The safety of the people in the building at any time is the utmost important thing and of course, the dogs deserve anything and everything we can provide to them to give them a fair chance.

Thank you Talia Irvine

This is ESSENTIAL for a place like ACCT. Please help us keep the staff, volunteers, and rescue advocates safe!

I was surprised to find that such a position did not exist, since it had existed for many years. It is time to bring it back. A behaviorist can give appropriate evaluations, so that the tough decisions can be made on more of a risk assessments basis, not just medical, or space.

I do believe properly training staff and volunteers on what to do if an incident should occur is also key. Evaluating dogs prior to volunteers handling them is also very important. I hope things do change for the staff, volunteers and dogs’ sake.