I recently contacted SHUA on behalf of a friend, asking for advice on how to rehome a pet. They gave helpful advice re: rehoming organisations, but at the end of the email suggested that my friend could have the cat put down so that it 'would have only known kindness.' I replied asking if a manager could call me to discuss this advice and recieved a rather horrid response. (See below) I'm pleased to report that other organisations were much more helpful and that my friend's loving buy boisterous one eyed kitten now has a forever home. Please: if you're considering donating, donate to an organisation that does not advocate the murder of healthy animals. "Hi Emma, I am a trustee of SHUA and I have worked for SHUA since it began over a decade ago. It is bizarre that you have apparently not read the ENTIRE email and instead focus on the final paragraph - yet even then you have misread it. And yes, this is a modified template email that all of the trustees fully endorse. We send out this information every day in response to multiple queries and have done so for many, many years. Not had a single complaint before you. Weird, isn't it? If you actually read my email, you'll see that first of all we recommend that your friend puts her pet on the waiting list for a rehoming centre. We then make suggestions as to what to do in the interim while waiting for the space at the rehoming centre. We then warn of the dangers of trying to rehome a let yourself. We then warn not to abandon or otherwise turn the pet loose. Finally, we say that if YOU CANNOT WAIT for the rehoming centre THEN (& only then) the kindest thing is to have the pet put to sleep - in other words, rather than the risks your pet would face if you rehomed them yourselves and rather than throwing them out. We advise this because that's precisely what WE deal with as an EMERGENCY cat rescue facility - pets that HAVE been abused by unkind owners or abandoned or thrown out by owners, kicked by people, hit by cars etc. If you had seen and dealt with even a small proportion of what we have over the past 15 years then you would give the same advice. But again, note that the advice is IF YOU CANNOT WAIT FOR A SPACE AT A REHOMING CENTRE - in other words, the decision and fate of this cat is ultimately yours (or your friend, in this case). Personally, we believe that it is a pet owner's responsibility to do the right thing by their pet (as does the law!) and, if a pet needs rehoming then this means doing everything in their power to ensure the animal is safe (hence we say to wait for a space at a rehoming centre). If you will not do the right thing and wait for a rehoming centre then the safest option is PTS. But, like I say, we would *hope* that responsible owners would do the right thing and wait for the space at a rehoming centre. I fail to see what you find shocking about this advice. Best wishes Sally" Update: I have received the following written response to my request for a phone call from management. Hi Emma, We have reviewed all of the email correspondence between you and Sally (who is indeed a trustee, as she says). She did not advise that your friend has her pet put to sleep EXCEPT as a final resort (re-read her first email please!!) and, yes, this is SHUA's standard advice. Thousands of healthy animals are put to sleep every year in the UK and the vast majority of these have no behavioural or physical problems. It's simple supply and demand - there aren't enough homes out there for the number of animals needing homes. As Sally says in her first email, if your friend doesn't want to keep the cat because it urinates on the bed and attacks people, why would you think that someone else would? It is hard enough to find homes for healthy, friendly, issue-free adult cats. The order in which people want to adopt is tiny kitten, young kitten, juvenile, young adult ... there are few homes for cats over 5 years old, fewer still for cats over 7, and homes for cats over 10 are simply gold-dust - pretty rare. Additionally, it's always the black or black and white cats that are left behind - last to be adopted or not adopted. People are fussy because they can be; (sadly) there are enough cats needing homes that they can pick and choose whatever suits them. If noone wants to adopt the cat because it urinates on bedding and attacks people, what would you reasonably expect a rescue or rehoming centre to do with it? This isn't a rhetorical question, it's quite serious. Is the cat supposed to be confined to a small pen for the rest of its natural life? This would breach animal welfare laws, for obvious reasons. If you can't find a genuine home and a rehoming centre can't keep an animal cooped up for the rest of its life in a pen (and risk their volunteers or staff being attacked every day plus the extra cleaning requirements of a cat that urinates on bedding), then quite seriously, what solution would you suggest? SHUA itself has a non-destruct policy, however, we are just a small organisation and barely scratch the surface of all of the problems (cats needing help) in our area due to lack of resources. No one at SHUA is paid (not even trustees); there are no staff, only volunteers. We all do of this in our free time outside of work. We have limited space, funds and time - we are a very small team of dedicated volunteers. As Sally points out, we would hope that your friend would do the right thing and wait for a space at a bona fide rehoming centre to come up but, if she will not do this, then we believe that it is kinder to have the animal put to sleep than to risk trying to rehome it to someone you don't know or to 'put it outside'. The risks Sally mentions in her first email are sadly all too real. This cat has an owner and so, as Sally points out in her second email, this decision (whether to wait for a bona fide rehoming centre to take her in or to put her to sleep) is theirs and the responsibility for that decision falls squarely on them. However, it also falls on you - you could set the cat up in one room in your flat or house, with the door closed (to prevent contact with your other cat) if you wished to. That's what we do when SHUA is full - if there is no pen free and an animal has no owner and nowhere to go and needs help, one of us will give up our bathroom or lounge or spare room for them. Sally has run the email for over a decade and dealt with literally thousands and thousands of emails. We do not feel that there is an aggressive or unpleasant tone. Her second email was only necessary because you didn’t read the first email properly and instead zoned in on the final paragraph. Perhaps you should re-read the first email. Regards The Trustees EDIT: I have now advised SHUA that I do not want to discuss this complaint further as the tone of their messages is unpleasant, and they are continuing to send me messages. I have had to block the account on Facebook messenger.

I recently contacted SHUA on behalf of a friend, asking for advice on how to rehome a pet. They gave helpful advice re: rehoming organisations, but at the end of the email suggested that my friend could have the cat put down so that it 'would have only known kindness.' I replied asking if a manager could call me to discuss this advice and recieved a rather horrid response. (See below) I'm pleased to report that other organisations were much more helpful and that my friend's loving buy boisterous one eyed kitten now has a forever home. Please: if you're considering donating, donate to an organisation that does not advocate the murder of healthy animals. "Hi Emma, I am a trustee of SHUA and I have worked for SHUA since it began over a decade ago. It is bizarre that you have apparently not read the ENTIRE email and instead focus on the final paragraph - yet even then you have misread it. And yes, this is a modified template email that all of the trustees fully endorse. We send out this information every day in response to multiple queries and have done so for many, many years. Not had a single complaint before you. Weird, isn't it? If you actually read my email, you'll see that first of all we recommend that your friend puts her pet on the waiting list for a rehoming centre. We then make suggestions as to what to do in the interim while waiting for the space at the rehoming centre. We then warn of the dangers of trying to rehome a let yourself. We then warn not to abandon or otherwise turn the pet loose. Finally, we say that if YOU CANNOT WAIT for the rehoming centre THEN (& only then) the kindest thing is to have the pet put to sleep - in other words, rather than the risks your pet would face if you rehomed them yourselves and rather than throwing them out. We advise this because that's precisely what WE deal with as an EMERGENCY cat rescue facility - pets that HAVE been abused by unkind owners or abandoned or thrown out by owners, kicked by people, hit by cars etc. If you had seen and dealt with even a small proportion of what we have over the past 15 years then you would give the same advice. But again, note that the advice is IF YOU CANNOT WAIT FOR A SPACE AT A REHOMING CENTRE - in other words, the decision and fate of this cat is ultimately yours (or your friend, in this case). Personally, we believe that it is a pet owner's responsibility to do the right thing by their pet (as does the law!) and, if a pet needs rehoming then this means doing everything in their power to ensure the animal is safe (hence we say to wait for a space at a rehoming centre). If you will not do the right thing and wait for a rehoming centre then the safest option is PTS. But, like I say, we would *hope* that responsible owners would do the right thing and wait for the space at a rehoming centre. I fail to see what you find shocking about this advice. Best wishes Sally" Update: I have received the following written response to my request for a phone call from management. Hi Emma, We have reviewed all of the email correspondence between you and Sally (who is indeed a trustee, as she says). She did not advise that your friend has her pet put to sleep EXCEPT as a final resort (re-read her first email please!!) and, yes, this is SHUA's standard advice. Thousands of healthy animals are put to sleep every year in the UK and the vast majority of these have no behavioural or physical problems. It's simple supply and demand - there aren't enough homes out there for the number of animals needing homes. As Sally says in her first email, if your friend doesn't want to keep the cat because it urinates on the bed and attacks people, why would you think that someone else would? It is hard enough to find homes for healthy, friendly, issue-free adult cats. The order in which people want to adopt is tiny kitten, young kitten, juvenile, young adult ... there are few homes for cats over 5 years old, fewer still for cats over 7, and homes for cats over 10 are simply gold-dust - pretty rare. Additionally, it's always the black or black and white cats that are left behind - last to be adopted or not adopted. People are fussy because they can be; (sadly) there are enough cats needing homes that they can pick and choose whatever suits them. If noone wants to adopt the cat because it urinates on bedding and attacks people, what would you reasonably expect a rescue or rehoming centre to do with it? This isn't a rhetorical question, it's quite serious. Is the cat supposed to be confined to a small pen for the rest of its natural life? This would breach animal welfare laws, for obvious reasons. If you can't find a genuine home and a rehoming centre can't keep an animal cooped up for the rest of its life in a pen (and risk their volunteers or staff being attacked every day plus the extra cleaning requirements of a cat that urinates on bedding), then quite seriously, what solution would you suggest? SHUA itself has a non-destruct policy, however, we are just a small organisation and barely scratch the surface of all of the problems (cats needing help) in our area due to lack of resources. No one at SHUA is paid (not even trustees); there are no staff, only volunteers. We all do of this in our free time outside of work. We have limited space, funds and time - we are a very small team of dedicated volunteers. As Sally points out, we would hope that your friend would do the right thing and wait for a space at a bona fide rehoming centre to come up but, if she will not do this, then we believe that it is kinder to have the animal put to sleep than to risk trying to rehome it to someone you don't know or to 'put it outside'. The risks Sally mentions in her first email are sadly all too real. This cat has an owner and so, as Sally points out in her second email, this decision (whether to wait for a bona fide rehoming centre to take her in or to put her to sleep) is theirs and the responsibility for that decision falls squarely on them. However, it also falls on you - you could set the cat up in one room in your flat or house, with the door closed (to prevent contact with your other cat) if you wished to. That's what we do when SHUA is full - if there is no pen free and an animal has no owner and nowhere to go and needs help, one of us will give up our bathroom or lounge or spare room for them. Sally has run the email for over a decade and dealt with literally thousands and thousands of emails. We do not feel that there is an aggressive or unpleasant tone. Her second email was only necessary because you didn’t read the first email properly and instead zoned in on the final paragraph. Perhaps you should re-read the first email. Regards The Trustees EDIT: I have now advised SHUA that I do not want to discuss this complaint further as the tone of their messages is unpleasant, and they are continuing to send me messages. I have had to block the account on Facebook messenger.