Yes, even though we were incredibly out-spent, WE WON, dammit! I wish I could send you all bottles of champagne. Enjoy the victory! You all deserve a celebration.
Minutes before midnight when SB250 would have expired, a final vote was taken and we won that, too! This egregious law which, if passed, would have meant that more animals would die in shelters finally died itself after incredibly long and lingering death throes. We all need to thank ourselves for making thishappen and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your efforts.
But all is not sweetness and light. (sorry) Judie Mancuso, the woman behind SB250 (and AB1634 before it and who has taken four years of my life away from me to combat her misguided legislation), knew she wouldn't win this one and has promised her supporters that she will be back in the next legislative session with a new bill. Well, we need our own new bill! One that will really save shelter animals but will also protect the animals we love and work with.
We can look to Bill Bruce in Calgary, Nathan Winograd and his No Kill movement, the State of New Hampshire and others for proven ways to stop the killing in shelters.
Mancuso and her minions operate out of misdirected hate. Look at the blogs - they all say that the opposition to SB250 came from "puppy millers". Well, I've met many, many, many of you and I haven't detected even one "puppy miller" among you. We need to come out of the shadows and let Mancuso's followers (and the public they preach to) know who we really are. We can do it.
I am so weary from being on the defensive for four years and I think most of you feel the same. Tonight is a time to celebrate but we need to not forget this moment and how vunerable we are to well-financed "animal rights" fanatics. Changing our outlook to being on the offensive will banish depression and link us to deep wells of energy. We've won a great battle but the war is not over.
Carpe diem! Let's seize the day and the arguments and make our reality real to the legislators and the public. If we were all "puppy millers" as our opposition suggests, legislators wouldn't have listened to us about SB250.
PawPrint Boxers 
