There seems to be no end to horror stories like this one about the SPCA harassing wonderful people like Madalyn Gilmore, who devotes her life and resources to rescuing, rehabilitating, and finding homes for stray cats.
One would think that it would be enormously in the SPCA’s corporate self-interest to avoid blindly enforcing laws that say that only municipal pounds and themselves have the “authority to pick up strays and release them to new owners.” Aren’t there enough abused, neglected, and abandoned animals to go around? They certainly do not seem to be in short supply. Surely an intelligent reading of laws and regulations like this would suggest that they were not created to perpetuate the unspeakable misery that so many animals experience at the hands of humans.
People like Madalyn Gilmore are truly and actively engaged in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, at great personal cost, and it would seem that this is something that the SPCA would want to respect, if not actively encourage.
In the interest of attracting donations from a population that is becoming increasingly suspicious of its motivations, one would think that avoiding the harassment of those people engaged in real animal welfare would be good corporate policy on the part of the SPCA.