May 4th, 2013
| We now have a North Carolina “Legislative Report Card” so you can see how your state representatives are voting on animal bills!View Legislative REPORT CARDS here.
P.S. Don’t know who your state representatives are? Click here. |
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April 10th, 2013
| Raleigh, N.C. — A bill filed by a bipartisan group of House lawmakers would make it a crime to leave pets unattended in a car in hot or cold conditions and would give law enforcement the authority to take action to save them. Read more |
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March 14th, 2013
| Please register TODAY for the March 23rd UNC Student Animal Legal Defense Fund Animal Law Symposium 2013! It was a SOLD OUT event last year, so don’t wait. Lots of exciting topics and guests this year, including North Carolina Voters for Animal Welfare!
>>>REGISTRATION<<<
Days events:
Registration and Light Breakfast
Panel: “Trap, Neuter, Return: The New Wake County Ordinance and the Legal Aspects of Controlling Feral Cat Populations”
- Martha Sue Carraway, Independent Animal Rescue
- Will Gomaa, Alley Cat Alliance
- Lisa Kroll, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Wake County
- Moderator: Daina Bray
Panel: “Animal Legislation in North Carolina” in Room 4085
- Kim Albuom, North Carolina State Director, Humane Society of the United States
- Caleb Scott, President, North Carolina Voters for Animal Welfare (NCVAW)
Presentation: “A Case Study in the Pet Trade: Global Captive Breeders, LLC”
Elizabeth Overcash, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Q&A with Animal Law Attorneys
- Calley Gerber, Gerber Animal Law Center
- Nicole Roth, Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) Member
Lunch: Catered by Vimala’s Curryblossom Cafe, 4th Floor Rotunda
- Including tabling by local animal groups.
Panel: “‘Whoa!‘ Current Issues in Equine Law”
- Dorothy Bass Burch, NC Equine Attorney
- Beecher R. Gray, NC Administrative Law Judge
- Sue Gray, Executive Director of NC Horse Council
Keynote Speech: “Criminalizing Animal Activism: ‘Ag Gag’ Bills and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act”
- Speaker: Will Potter, Journalist and Author
>>>REGISTRATION<<<
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November 27th, 2012
| Greensboro, NC — A local organization is spreading awareness about the affects of chains on dogs and having no shelter in the wintertime. Watch video from WFMY |
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July 31st, 2012
NCVAW is compiling a list humane candidates to endorse.
Please help us by contacting your Senator and House Representative.
When you get a reply please email us. Once we get this information we will share it with so you know who to vote for in November 2012!
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April 22nd, 2012
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The Citizens’ Pet Responsibility Committee, or PRC, is a no-nonsense name for a group of volunteers devoted to animal welfare. Three years ago, co-founders Angela Zumwalt and Pam Partis came up with the brilliant idea of enlisting the help of schoolchildren to get their point across.
The result has been a popular curriculum adopted by every Moore County public school, as well as three private schools, a devoted band of volunteers, and, most recently, the Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service. Read more from fayobserver.com
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February 5th, 2012
The word ‘compassion’ has a Latin origin and literally means ‘suffering with’. Involving sharing the discomfort,  pain and distress of other people and animals, compassion can really hurt.
Compassion fatigue is an emotional and spiritual fatigue or exhaustion that takes over a person and causes a decline in his or her ability to experience joy or to feel and care for others. Compassion fatigue can be experienced by caretakers of people as well as animals. Facing a number of crisis & victories, day after day, you can experience a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows. Experiencing chronic suffering of animals, toxic circumstances, and the sometimes abusive acts of owners can leave you detached, numb, powerless and angry.
Whatever your role – animal rescue work, sheltering work, animal control work, political advocacy work, volunteer, employee, supervisor, administrator, board member, your compassion for animals can drain your emotionally.
Compassion Fatigue—The Cost of Caring
A video of how caregivers cope
Compassion Fatigue Symptoms
Compassion fatigue is a type of burnout. Whether you are a paid professional, a volunteer—or both—the symptoms are similar:
- Free-floating anger or misplaced anger
- Increased irritability
- Substance abuse, including food, alcohol, drugs
- Blaming “them” (whoever they are)
- Chronic tardiness
- Depression, hopelessness
- Obsessive worry that you aren’t doing enough; irrationally high self-expectation
- Diminished joy toward persons/activities that used to bring you happiness
- Diminished sense of personal accomplishment
- Low self-esteem
- Workaholism
- Diminished balance between empathy and objectivity
- Hypertension
- Exhaustion (physical and emotional)
- Frequent headaches
- Gastrointestinal complaints
- Insomnia, sleep disturbances
- Frequent vague illnesses
Source: Health Leader
Compassion Fatigue Resources
Book: Compassion Fatigue in the Animal-Care Community
Article: “Dealing with Compassion Fatigue (animals)”
Article: Balancing Service and Self Care
Video: Compassion Fatigue: The Value of saying NO!
website: Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project |
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May 26th, 2011
| Animal welfare activists and some North Carolina lawmakers are pushing for stronger penalties for animal abuse and more regulation of commercial breeders, are at odds with some of the most powerful organizations in the state. |
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March 11th, 2011
| Created in 2005, this underfunded program has generated significant positive change for the animals of North Carolina and the shelters caring for them. The Animal Welfare Section: |
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- Inspects shelters, boarding kennels, pet stores and large rescue groups to ensure the safety of the animals and workers within them
- Provides on line inspection reports of above listed facilities available to the general public for review at their leisure
- Inspects euthanasia processes and euthanasia technicians each year to ensure that they meet the requirements of the AWA
- Provides shelters and county officials with options for correcting deficiencies that fit within the county budget and assists in finding resources for repairs and training
- Handles hundreds of animal welfare complaints from the general public annually regarding shelters, pet stores and animal rescues
- Acts as resource for shelters and animal control agencies throughout North Carolina and provides valuable information sharing between agencies
- Has found countless deficiencies in shelter structures across the state resulting is shelter renovations that have drastically improved the lives of NC shelter animals
- Provides oversight of euthanasia procedures
- Inspectors promote Spay/Neuter through education of both the public and local governments
- Provides community outreach to remove the stigma associated with animals shelters
- Has been responsible for uncovering puppy mills, animal cruelty cases and unscrupulous “rescues”
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Why should you oppose this proposal?
If the Animal Welfare Section is eliminated there will be no oversight of animal shelters, boarding facilities, pet stores or large rescue groups. Over 320,000 animals enter NC shelters annually. Our shelters are in crisis due to pet overpopulation and budget cuts. Elimination of this section would be a devastating blow to the animals and the men and women who are caring for them. |
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Who would be impacted by this proposal?
The elimination of the Animal Welfare Section cuts less than $400,000 from the Department’s $61 million budget. The Animal Welfare Section has been under funded since the inception of the program in 2005. Even grossly underfunded, the Section positively impacts over 320,000 shelter animals annually, hundreds of animal welfare workers across the state, and animal facilities in 100 counties. |
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