Position of Horry County Council Members on Horry County Animal Care Center
- humane organizations and the ASPCA were founded to establish standards for humane treatment of animals to protect them from harm and to promote their righ
- the right to life is every animal’s most basic and fundamental right
- past practices of killing animals in traditional shelters is no longer acceptable
- the No-Kill method has successfully implemented proven programs that provide alternatives to the mass killing of animals
- the mass killing of shelter animals, along with killing free-roaming cats, is no longer acceptable to Horry County voters
- therefore, No-Kill policies and procedures are the only legitimate foundation for animal sheltering
We, the voters of Horry County, are asking you to implement No-Kill policies and reject the kill-oriented practices of the past. As taxpayers we all pay for the county shelter, and we have a right to know how our shelter operates, how our dollars are being spent, if our tax dollars are being spent wisely and if our animals are being treated humanely. A failure to implement No-Kill programs constitutes a breach of the public’s trust in the sheltering community since proven alternatives exist. No-Kill programs provide lifesaving alternatives, but only if they are embraced, developed and implemented. We are asking Horry County Council members to embrace the voter's position on No-Kill and reject the failed kill policy of the past. Mass killings are no longer acceptable to Horry County voters.
We will be contacting every county council representative to have a discussion on No-Kill, and will ask them to formally endorse No-Kill for Horry County. We will be asking every council member to endorse moving our high-kill shelter to a No-Kill shelter. The results will be posted on our new website: Animal Advocates of Horry County. Their reply will be listed under 'The Hall Of Fame'. Every voter will be able to make an informed decision on which candidate to vote for and which candidate most represents his or her wishes for upcoming elections. If the council member wishes to write a statement, we will gladly publish that onto our site too.
We are particularly disturbed by Council Chairman Mark Lazarus' statement to WMBF News on April 21st, "The animals being killed are not people's pets due to a 72 hour holding policy." A sad statement from our council chairman that shows a total lack of understanding and disrespect for animals. Does he really think that people's pets are not part of the animals caught and turned into the Animal Care Center? Many animals killed there are pets; they do not separate the feral cats from the companion cats, so his statement is absurd. Why kill when there are alternatives to killing: