President’s Message:
NYSHA’s Website Offers Wealth of Resources
The NYSHA website contains a wealth of material on topics related to animals, but many folks are unaware of its treasures, so I am going to highlight some topics on the site and urge you to explore nyshumane.org for yourselves.
For those of you fighting animal cruelty, on the right side of the homepage, there is a Manual of Procedures on Investigating Animal Cruelty, along with examples of search warrants and criminal Informations under ATTENTION: Police Officers/Veterinarians. Below that is a PDFs of Article 26 and Article 7.
Very important to humane agencies holding animals in cruelty cases, there is a complete description of the security bond posting application procedure, located at ATTENTION: NYS Humane Agencies. The write-up also contains downloadable forms where you fill in the blanks and are ready to go. The forms were developed by a senior ADA and have been successfully used by many humane agencies
On the left side of the homepage, we have the Second Edition of The Connection Between Animal Abuse and Human Violence, by Board Member Harry Hovel, Ph.D. You can download the booklet to show DAs and judges the relationship between animal crimes and future anti-social acts. You can also download Introduction to Animal Law, by NYSHA member Valerie Lang Waldin; it contains a repository of online resources for research and laws. Relevant to these issues, further down the page is a listing of NYSHA Cruelty Investigations Workshops and dates.
Additionally, the homepage link It’s the Law provides teachers with extensive resources that can be used for humane education, as well as forms for students who wish to opt out of performing dissection in biology class.
For those interested in ending the horrors of horse racing, we provide The Ugly Truth About Horse Racing, a link that contains the NYS Senate Hearing held on Welfare of Racehorses — a real eye-opener for most people — as well as Bryant Gumbel’s HBO segment, Raced to Death, which is a powerful, fact-based piece on what happens on the track and off.
One of the most important features is Your Voices in Albany, which links to a chart of all the key animal welfare bills currently in the Legislature. This section also provides a link, so you can find your legislator. We ask you to please look at the chart, find the bills most important to you, and contact your legislators.
Of interest if you find injured or abandoned infant wildlife is the link Locate a Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator.
Lastly, at the top of the homepage, there is a tab for NEWSLETTERS, where you will find past newsletters containing stories of cruelty cases and their resolution, which you can use as a reference when dealing with your own. This dropdown also contains The Vet is In columns by Dr. Holly Cheever, providing veterinary information useful to pet owners.
So don’t be a stranger to the NYSHA website. There is something for everyone.
Always be kind to animals,
Patricia Valusek
President
New York State Humane Association Humane Review, Vol.XXXV Spring 2020.