A human and a pet's bond is undeniably strong. One can acknowledge that wonderful connections are made through adoption at human societies. Unfortunately, heart breaking situations can also take place. Most importantly the animal is affected by this, in addition to the family members and humane society involved. Sadly, there are times where people surrender their pets. However, what if a pet is surrendered, and a family member takes immediate action when discovering the news in hopes to remedy the tragic situation. Only to be dismissed by the very entity whose core values are "compassion, respect, and kindness". This is the story of Mister:

Mister is a one-of-a kind dog. He marches to the beat of his own drum and values being an "only child". Mister fell victim to the terrible actions of humans. Mister's former owner (who never deserved Mister in the first place) dropped Mister off at the Green Bay Campus - Wisconsin Humane Society as if he was a stray dog that was just randomly found. When a family member heard of this terrible situation, they tried to take steps to get Mister back. Due to the family member not claiming Mister during the holding period they were told they had to come to the humane society when Mister (who they already renamed "Bert") was up for adoption. When the family member arrived, they were 3rd on the list to see Mister. The first person goes in to see him and comes out. Then the next people go in as the family member is voicing that Mister is their family dog.  The family member tries to show pictures of them and Mister to the humane society to validate Mister having a connection and relationship with them. The humane society dismissed their attempts.  The family member got to sit and wait for 1.5 hours praying and hoping no one would take Mister, just to watch him get adopted by someone else. 

(Mister as a puppy shown above)

We recognize humane societies have policies such as holding periods for valid reasons like avoiding overcrowding. We also recognize humane societies have the right to make judgement calls in difficult situations. What we are hoping to resolve are the heart wrenching scenarios when a beloved animal's life is altered by no fault of their own, and a loving family member misses the holding period timelines to reunite with their family pet. Action needs to be taken or these types of situations will continue happening.

We are petitioning to reverse the Act 233 and reinstate the 7-day holding period for animals surrendered to human societies in Wisconsin. This change would alleviate numerous barriers. For those who truly lost their pets, 4 days is simply not realistic to find your loved one through the shelter system. Continued progressive action needs to be taken to improve reclaim rates and a first step is extending the holding period to 7 days. The reported data used to put Act 233 in use, included a severely low reclaim rate for cats and therefore they were "wasting time to try and reunite them vs. quickly getting them ready for adoption". This data was only obtained from 3 southeastern Milwaukee counties. Other counties have reported that majority of the time, cats are reclaimed after the 6th day. This is hard to grasp as it creates a disparity between dog and cat owners. Who is to say a human's cat is worth less than another surrendered animal? There are so many problems aside from the holding period that need to be improved upon. In Mister's case the humane society did post Mister as a stray on their website and then posted Mister's picture on the "Getting Ready to be Adopted" website page after he was there for the holding period. They did not post Mister on the social media pages. Many humane societies in Wisconsin choose not to post photos of found animals on their website and/or social media. We recognize posting photos of each animal is time consuming, but it is even more time consuming for one to go shelter to shelter in person looking for their loved one. By posting a photo of an animal as soon as they are taken into the humane society, on a website and social media platform, whatever the circumstance may be, would be a HUGE step in the right direction. 

Extending the holding period to 7 days would be pivotal in maintaining human/animal bonds. In addition to stressing the importance of humane societies posting pictures of animals on their website and social media pages as soon as the animals come to them. Signing this petition will help us move forward in the right direction. Thank you for taking the time to read Mister's story and why we feel changes need to be made. 

(Mister grown up and lounging pictured above)

data was taken from: Article: AB487/SB450 Signed Into Law