Killed Without Warning at Chicago ACC:  A Sprinkling of Sweet Faces…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo  credits: Volunteers at Chicago ACC

A HIGH KILL POUND stains a city more than any other factor, because it reveals that the city does not care about the killing of the most vulnerable members of its community.

Present Management of Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC), Chicago’s municipal open access pound, has been barely running an under functioning pound and management has killed thousands of healthy, adoptable dogs without warning, in secrecy.   They need to be REMOVED and REPLACED by a qualified Director who has a strong work ethic, is hands on, has a passion  for saving lives and will restore TRANSPARENCY to Chicago ACC.  

Due to present leadership’s mismanagement,  dog “euthanasia”  numbers at Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC )  skyrocketed in 2023, when Sue Cappello became Active Executive Director.  Over 3,000 dogs and cats were killed. The killings continued to rise at an alarming rate on a daily basis, with almost 4,000 in 2024. Since January of 2025 they have already killed over 10,000 potential pets. They are killing dogs every night; up to 20 and more.  Management claims that the steep rise in deaths “for space” this year is due to the overwhelming number of dogs entering the pound every day.  They point to the national crisis where shelters are being flooded with discarded animals and say the community’s disposing of their animals due to the economy and rising cost of living leaves them no choice but to “euthanize”  healthy, treatable animals. In truth, the lack of initiative, planning and effort, observed since 2023, has left them overwhelmed and unprepared.  

 There was an 83% rise in total number of dogs killed in 2023, since 2018,  when the intake numbers were similar.  Leadership and staff have killed approximately one out of four dogs that go into the pound.

CONSISTENTLY in 2022, 2023 and  2024 and now in 2025 it’s one out of three or sometimes two.

We reject the term “euthanasia,” and call destroying healthy lives what it is: killing. No dogs die peacefully, wrapped in loving arms, at Chicago ACC.  They die as they are treated in residency by some staff: being dragged out of their cages, never a pat or a kind word.

The Acting Executive Director, Susan Cappello, whose background is in HR, is rarely on-site and is unreachable.  She has relinquished the day to day operations of the city pound and the power to kill to unqualified members of her staff.  The animals subsist in unsanitary and inhumane conditions while they are in their cages 24/7, only taken out twice a week for 15 minutes.

Leadership cultivates secrecy, a total lack of transparency, driving dogs KENNEL CRAZY from neglect and killing them WITHOUT WARNING.  One day they’re gone from the database and the next morning we find out they’re dead.  

Under this vacuum of leadership there is no strategic plan or vision.  There need to be offsite adoptions throughout the city and suburbs on a consistent basis, low cost or free medical help and education to aid families keep their dogs, sponsorship of a foster system by the pound, approve more Rescue Partners and any other way to give maximum exposure to save lives.  The management’s only response is to waive adoption fees repeatedly, especially at Adoption Events in their building only, and give away dogs for free; a dangerous solution.

Nathan Winograd’s “No Kill Equation,” provides a model that has been proven to work. Chicago would be the first major city in the United States to implement this model and achieve a 98% live outcome rate.  HERE’S HOW: https://youtu.be/JCTt5JppNA8

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the very least, Chicago ACC should:

1. Provide a free spay and neuter clinic for dogs who are among the pit bull breeds and pit bull mixes because they are at greatest risk of being euthanized. 

2.  If CACC insists on killing, management should provide at least a two week warning to the public and volunteers for dogs that are targeted for “euthanasia,” giving volunteers at the facility and volunteer networkers time to network the dogs and extend their outreach to give the dogs a fair chance to be adopted or rescued.  

Companion animals have feelings and emotions. They are crucial to the very fiber of our community. They are at the core of family units, teach children compassion and responsibility, bring out the best in ourselves, ease our pain, loneliness, protect us and give us purpose.  As someone once said, “Dogs teach us to be human.”

 Killing them unnecessarily makes us immune to the very act of killing a sentient being and therefore LESS human.  Tell the city to stop the killing!  Help us to save them!  Help us to save our humanity.