Quantcast
Channel: shelterreform.org Blog » ASPCA/CAARA
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Ed Sayres Departs from the ASPCA Leaving a Mixed Legacy

0
0

Ed Sayres Forced to Leave the ASPCA

Ed Satyes, Former ASPCA President

Earlier this month the ASPCA selected a successor to replace Ed Sayres, Former ASPCA President and CEO.

It’s been almost a year since the ASPCA first announced that Sayres would step down.  That July 2012 announcement seemed to suggest that Sayres was leaving the ASPCA voluntarily.

But subsequent news reports painted a different picture: he was being pushed out.

If the ASPCA board was displeased with Sayres, it certainly wasn’t because he failed at fundraising.  Sayres attracted millions and millions in donations.

So, something else was at work. There was dissension among the ASPCA board.

In recent years the ASPCA has suffered some bad PR, as when it had to pay (yes … pay) Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey $9.3 million.

But none of the news articles cited the following bad press generated during Sayres’ tenure:

– The uproar from the ASPCA’s killing of a dog named Oreo.

– ASPCA’s successful opposition to the Companion Animal Access and Rescue Act (CAARA) bill which, among other things, would have mandated a clear standard of animal care on shelters like the AC&C.

– When Sayres and the Mayor’s Alliance secretly negotiated a deal with Speaker Christine Quinn relieving the City of its longstanding obligation to build animal shelters in the Bronx and Queens (i.e., Local Law 59).  In return, all the City did was promise (but never guarantee) that it would throw some money at the beleaguered AC&C and open the AC&C board to more “appointed” directors (meaning, appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the Mayor’s Office).

Those actions – as well as Sayres’ refusal to directly challenge the Mayor and the Department of Health for their control over the AC&C and AC&C management dysfunction – served to overshadow the many positive things he directed the ASPCA to do for the AC&C.

And we shouldn’t forget those positives, which include:

For the past 8 years the ASPCA has donated $1 million a year to the Mayor’s Alliance, most earmarked for the AC&C.   In 2009 the ASPCA subsidized the salary of a shelter disease specialist to encourage her to take the job of AC&C Medical Director.  (Although she quit that position after 7 months, the ASPCA subsequently hired her and loaned her out for free to the AC&C as a “consultant.”) The ASPCA created a disease control protocol for the AC&C staff and has tried to teach it to AC&C staff. (The AC&C is still ravaged by an almost 100% infection rate.)

The ASPCA pulls far more dogs and cats from the AC&C than any other rescue group.  The ASPCA even built a special isolation ward to house its recent AC&C pulls..

The ASPCA recently subsidized installation of new software programs for the AC&C.  The ASPCA performs spay/neuter (S/N) procedures on more and more AC&C animals because AC&C medical staff is apparently not up to the task.  The ASPCA attempts to teach the S.A.F.E.R. protocol to AC&C employees so that they can evaluate shelter dogs’ behaviors.  (NOTE: We have never been fans of how dogs are evaluated at the AC&C, despite the claimed virtues of the SAFER test.)

And for the City’s pet owners generally, the ASPCA sends out mobile vans to provide free or low-cost S/N services. The ASPCA also performs S/N procedures on feral cats that TNR groups bring in.  The ASPCA teaches individuals to become TNR rescuers.  The ASPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement (HLE) officers investigate claims of animal cruelty (although the HLE staff has been reduced and there’s a backlog of hundreds of complaints).

These are all important services and contributions that took place under Sayres’ watch and at his direction.  And he deserves credit for them.

But also while Sayres was President, the ASPCA remained mute regarding the core rot at the center of the AC&C’s failure: its control by the City and a lack of inspired, independent, and skilled AC&C board members and executives.  Then he hailed NYC as the “collaborative” model for the U.S.  Yet, Sayres knew all too well that this model depended on beleaguered rescue groups to assume more and more duties that should have been the responsibility of the AC&C.

While the AC&C sits back and ignores it animals, rescuers save them.  Rescuers nurse AC&C animals back to health after the AC&C made ‘em good and sick.  They deal with behavior issues.  They find permanent homes for AC&C animals. We disagree with Sayres that NYC should be a model for the Nation.

While it appears that Sayres’ silence didn’t cost him his job at the ASPCA … it certainly took a toll on AC&C animals.

 


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images