The ASPCA
An Ugly Side to a Pretty Good Organization
by Joe M. Young
May 2013

ASPCA
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, founded in 1866, overall is a good organization and provides much needed protection of animals here in the United States. There are many laws and general attitudes now that were brought about directly due to the hard work put forth by the ASPCA.
Having said that, there are flaws in the administration of this organization like any other very large organization. A lot of that may be due to the fact that local chapters of the ASPCA are run by individuals who may not adhere exactly to the ideals of its headquarters.
As an example, a couple of controversial issues that have made headlines:
In 2012 the ASPCA agreed to pay Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus $9.3 million of donations to settle a lawsuit regarding the ASPCA's false allegations of animal cruelty by the circus. Courts found that ASPCA activists had paid the key witness, a former Ringling barn helper, at least $190,000, making him "essentially a paid plaintiff" who lacked credibility.
Another controversy is over the salary of the CEO of this organization. The CEO is paid over $500,000 per year.
All in, it is an organization that is still much needed and respected in America. But I had the opportunity to see first-hand, the result of what happens when a charitable organization focuses more on the business aspects rather than its altruistic roots.
When I first came to Michigan I had to leave my cat Smudge behind with family in Huntsville, Alabama. Originally I had adopted Smudge from the animal shelter there in Huntsville where was on “death row”. The idea was to get settled into a more permanent residence and send for Smudge to join me. Unfortunately circumstances arose which dictated that my family would be moving to Collierville, Tennessee and thus I needed to bring Smudge up with me and stay in my hotel room until I got into a house or apartment.
I leased an apartment in Howell, Michigan but I travel a lot in my work which means Smudge would be without someone to take care of him and feed him sometimes as long as ten days. Since I didn’t know anyone in that area, I decided to give him up for adoption at the ASPCA.
I had a different vision of the ASPCA at that time, assuming that they would put the welfare of the animal before all else. I was wrong. It killed me to give him up but I was left with little choice. I signed the papers, paid $35.00 in fees, and left Smudge with them and even donated his deluxe animal carrier that I brought him in.
I checked back after a few days to see if he was adopted yet and found out he had not been approved yet for adoption. They didn’t give me a reason other than that it sometimes takes up to a week to be certified as suitable for adoption. I knew Smudge would be scared to death in this place given where he had come from originally.
During the next week I began feeling more and more guilty about Smudge having to live like that so I stopped by once again and told them I wanted to adopt him back. I told them I was willing to pay the adoption fee of $37.00 and since he had already had all of his vaccinations and had been neutered, he would be ready to go.
The girl who was helping me looked on the computer screen and said she would be right back. She came back out and said I should make sure Smudge was still there. Apparently they don’t keep updated or accurate records even for something that had transpired in the past week.
She took me back into three different rooms where they kept the cats caged until they were deemed suitable for adoption. Finally in the third and last room I looked down at the cages on the lowest level and there was a white towel covering one cage. It was Smudge. He was very, very sick looking. The girl said, “oh that cat is very sick.”
We went back out front and the location manager came out to tell me it would cost me $260.00 to get Smudge back. I got a little animated. “Say what? It’s only $37.00 to adopt him why is it so much?” Of course there is a whole large room of prospective customers around me and since I was quite loud they all turned their attention to me. She said, “well it’s $26.00 per day to board a cat here and it’s been ten days today.” I said, “But I didn’t board him and I paid the fee to have him dropped off for adoption and donated his really nice animal carrier too.”
She started to get indignant but I could see she was keeping an eye on all the other people also. A couple of them had begun to move over towards me. She said, “you didn’t let me finish. I am willing to reduce it to the $37.00 adoption fee plus another $25.00 for a veterinarian visit because he’s so sick.” I said, “You mean to tell me that he has been here for ten days and was perfectly healthy when he came in and because a veterinarian saw him, who by the way donates his services, you want to charge me for that?” She said, “Well that’s another thing. Your cat is a very sick animal and may not survive anyway. You will have to get him to a vet immediately and even then he may not live.” By now I was incredulous and started raising my voice even more. "So you’re telling me that you want to charge me for a vet visit in which he didn’t even treat Smudge even though as you claim he is on death’s doorstep? In almost two weeks you couldn’t get him a shot or some kind of treatment?”
She shot back with, “well sir, you’re the one who didn’t want him. You just dropped him off to us and went about your life.” My blood began to boil. I could feel the heat coming from my face now. I said, “read the form I filled out when I brought him here. It explains exactly why I was leaving him for adoption. I was renting a place that didn’t allow pets. But I changed to another apartment complex that does allow pets so I can now take him back. I didn’t just drop him off and haul ass the way you are implying. And frankly I’m a little disgusted that you would say something like that not knowing anything about why I dropped him off.”
At this point, about four or five people had moved in really close and one of them was a man who had done the same thing as I had on the same day and now was trying to get his cat back. Seeing my support grow, she turned to the girl who was helping me and snapped, “Just write it up for $37.00 and let him take his cat.” Then turned to me and said, “you’d better get him to a vet as soon as you leave here or he won’t survive.” I shot back with, “just bring my cat out here.” And when I said that, I was actually shouting.
She left and the girl never said anything else to me. The guy who was getting his cat back was saying what a bunch of bullshit this all was. And he gave me the phone number of a vet nearby who would be able to look at Smudge.
They brought smudge out in a little, cheap, and dirty animal carrier. I paid the money and got out of there as quickly as possible.
My whole point here is that at least in this location, their focus was not on the welfare of the animal whatsoever. It was on money. If I had not complained about paying the $260.00, she was poised to charge me just that. Plus, if they had any concern whatsoever for the welfare of my cat, why did they not have something done in the week and a half he was there?

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