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Press Release
For Immediate Release: JANUARY 21, 2009
Contact: ELIZABETH PAROWSKI, eparowski@alleycat.org or 240-482-1984; FRANCIE ISRAELI, fisraeli@johnadams.com or 202-207-1134
ALLEY CAT ALLIES SEEKS TO UNCOVER ACTS OF
DECEPTION BY ANIMAL POUNDS AND SHELTERS
Shelter Deception Project asks individuals to submit first-person testimonials
BETHESDA—Rocky and Spring, two cold and hungry but otherwise healthy stray kittens, were
discovered by a concerned couple who – assuming they were doing the best for the kittens –
turned the pair into the local animal shelter. The couple was promised by staff that the kittens
would be put up for adoption. In reality, they later found out, Rocky and Spring were killed at the
shelter only hours after they’d arrived.
This tragic tale is one of numerous testimonials submitted to Alley Cat Allies, the national
advocate for stray and feral cats, as part of its Shelter Deception Project (www.alleycat.org/tellus.)
Alley Cat Allies invites the public to visit the site to read the testimonials, and is urging anyone
with a similar experience to submit their own.
“Most Americans probably assume that animal pounds and shelters exist to save animals,
especially since many call themselves ‘rescue leagues’ or ‘humane societies’ and urge the public to
bring them stray animals. But the truth is that over 70 percent of cats who enter shelters are killed
there,” said Becky Robinson, president of Alley Cat Allies.
Other testimonials on the web site, which is continually updated, recount misleading or deceptive
practices by animal pounds and shelters that promise to find homes for surrendered cats and kittens
but instead kill them, as with Rocky and Spring; or that style themselves “no kill,” but hide the fact
that they routinely accept feral cats – cats who are not socialized to people – and then kill them
because they aren’t adoptable.
Robinson said the Shelter Deception Project is part of a larger, ongoing effort to document and
publicize the needless killing that occurs in most animal pounds and shelters across the nation.
“The first step toward fixing this very broken system is exposing it,” said Robinson. “We’re
asking anyone who has been affected by deceptive shelter practices to help us – and to help
memorialize the animals they tried to save – by telling their stories.”
To submit your story to Alley Cat Allies or read the other accounts of deceptive animal pound and
shelter practices, visit www.alleycat.org/tellus.
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About Alley Cat Allies
Alley Cat Allies is the nation’s leading advocate for stray and feral cats. Their website is www.alleycat.org.
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