One of the last bastions of bi-partisanship is the animal rescue world. And for the most part, it remains that way.
But once in a while, you run into the crazies – the people who think their politics are more important that saving and adopting the animals in their care.
The Shelter Hope Pet Shop in California has decided they won’t be adopting their dogs out to people who don’t support gun control.
Although the group is listed as being a “pet shop,” they are an all-volunteer non-profit organization who adopts out stray and surrendered dogs in a business space. The pet store is run by volunteers on an appointment basis.
Founder Kim Sill is listed as the president on their tax forms and she is the only one listed on the board of directors so she can do what she wants. She’s accountable to no one other than the folks who donate their money to her.
The documents about the group that appear on the website Guidestar [1] show that the organization took in $333,312 in 2020.
Sill recently told NBC [2], “If you believe that it is our responsibility to protect ourselves in public places and arm ourselves with a gun – do not come to us and adopt a dog. We have a choice of who we work with.”
Yes, if you want to protect yourself, Sill’s pet shop is not a destination you should be visiting. Her questionnaire for dog adoption now includes “Where do you stand on gun control?”
Totally irrelevant to adopting a dog.
What’s next…
Is she going to ask – Are you a Trump voter? Do you believe in free speech? Do you support taking kindergarteners to drag shows? Do you drive too fast? Do you eat at McDonald’s?
With this crackpot, anything is on the table.
Sill even posted a threat and said if you lie about being an NRA supporter, she will sue you for fraud [3].
She’s even telling her fosters who are taking care of her dogs that if they are gun supporters, they should bring them back to her.
The comments all over the internet including on the group’s Facebook [4] page are NOT complimentary. People don’t agree with yahoos who choose politics over saving and adopting out pets.
Some of the comments I saw include…
“How sad. How many animals won’t be adopted because a lot of people have guns for protection.”
“It’s 100% none of their business…”
“The new version of PETA at the expense of the furies.”
“Not good for the animals who need good homes.”
“I hope the good people of California, there must still be one of two left, will withdraw their support of these self-righteous deniers of other citizen’s constitutional rights.”
When it comes to leftists trying to force their will on people, animals sometimes get caught in the crossfire when their rescue organizations are ran by people who forget what their real mission is.
Back in March of 2021, I wrote [5] about how Huffington Post tried to take down a dog rescue organization because they held a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago and had a relationship with Lara Trump who was the honorary chair of their organization.
Leftists are truly evil people.
Saving dogs and cats in our country from euthanasia is hard enough.
And although progress has been made, the ASPCA about 390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats are euthanized [6] every year. Other groups put that number are more than two million.
According to the Best Friends map [7] of euthanized pets, California is one of the worse offenders who aren’t achieving the no-kill status that other states are working towards. Less than half of their shelters are no-kill shelters.
We don’t need people like Sill and her supporters at the Shelter Hope Pet Shop withholding animals from adopters because of their politics when so many pets are killed every year.