Hello all, thank you so much for signing our petition and your commitment to the animals. We sent it to APA leadership and followed up with multiple phone calls and invitations for discussion. They responded Thursday 2/20 by email with language mostly copied/pasted from the FAQ on their website and did not properly address any of the points raised in this petition, which we pointed out, and haven't heard back yet. We would be glad to share the full correspondence if anyone is interested, just email joriejacobi@gmail.com and I’ll forward it to you.

The county shelter did take over from the APA yesterday, despite action from all of us who hoped a contingency plan mentioning mass shelter euthanasia would be sufficient to give them pause.

However, this is not the end. We are still hoping to get real answers from the APA, but our full efforts will now turn to keeping the county shelter accountable. We plan to send them the petition as well and let them know a critical mass of residents are deeply concerned about this issue and are paying close attention, which is the beginning of all meaningful change. For those of you planning to volunteer there, please keep us updated on the goings-on and what you see. We are sure Kelsey Landis at the Post Dispatch, whose fantastic reporting revealed all of this to begin with, would have great interest in what you observe.

I'm sure all of us would much rather spend our time and energy going after organizations who actively profit from animal abuse, such as puppy mills and dog fighting rings – not an organization we adore like the APA, who work so hard for the animals. But even if we were successful in removing animals from those abusive situations, if our foundational government and nonprofit shelters are not transparent, we risk further abuse of animals in poorly-run shelters. Those have to be solid first. 
 
While the APA has made decisions we disagree with, we remain in awe of the work they do and plan on supporting them as much as possible. They are the ones on the ground doing the taxing day-to-day work of saving animals’ lives, and to keep doing that they need our help. We plan to continue donating money and supplies, adopting/fostering, and commending their efforts as much as possible. 

If anyone has any suggestions for what else we can all do to help the animals moving forward, please comment on this petition! This is an incredible group of engaged citizens, and together we can make a difference.

Thank you all!

-Jorie and Erin