Why Local Governments Should Be Required to Provide Animal Control Services
Release Date: 09/25/2025
Designer Dogs, Shelter Dogs, and the Small Shift That Would Save Lives
The Animal Advocate
When most people decide to get a dog, they start with a picture in their head — a breed, a look, a particular idea of what the dog at the end of the leash should be. That picture is filling America's shelters. Hundreds of thousands of dogs are euthanized for space every year, not because they're sick or dangerous, but because the buyers who could have chosen them chose a specific breed of puppy instead. In this episode, Penny Ellison walks through the math of a problem the animal welfare community rarely talks about directly. The dogs dying in shelters for space aren't dying because...
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How to Fund Spay/Neuter Programs: Lessons from States That Got It Done
The Animal Advocate
Spay/neuter access is one of the most effective tools for reducing shelter intake, but in most states it's chronically underfunded. Five states have figured out how to change that, and the way they did it is more politically achievable than you might expect. In this episode, Penny Ellison shares what she learned from her fellow panelists at the Humane World for Animals Animal Care Expo, where advocates from New Mexico and Delaware presented the funding models that are producing real results. In this episode, you'll learn: Why voluntary funding mechanisms like license plates and tax...
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Are Humans Inherently Superior to Other Animals? The Question at the Root of Animal Advocacy
The Animal Advocate
What really separates humans from other animals? It's one of the oldest questions we've asked — and the answer keeps changing. Tool use was supposed to be uniquely human. Then we watched crows bend wire into hooks and octopuses carry coconut shells as portable shelter. Language was supposed to be uniquely human. Then bonobos, whales and other animals taught us differently. The list keeps getting shorter. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the framework we use to define human uniqueness is built on a standard we designed ourselves Which items on the current "uniquely human" list are likely...
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Can a Law Make Shelters Go No Kill?
The Animal Advocate
When animals are dying in shelters, the demand for a law to stop it is completely understandable. But passing legislation that tells shelters when they can and can't euthanize is a lot more complicated than it sounds — and in the wrong conditions, it can hurt the very animals it's meant to help. In this episode, Penny Ellison — attorney, animal law professor, and longtime shelter advocate — takes on one of the most contested questions in animal welfare: can we legislate our way to no-kill? Utah just passed a right-to-rescue law requiring shelters to give rescue organizations the...
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Animal Control Funding: Why Shelters Walk Away from City Contracts
The Animal Advocate
Somewhere in your community, someone sees an injured stray dog and dials for help — and there's no one there to answer. Municipal animal control has been structurally underfunded for decades, and the nonprofits quietly filling that gap are reaching a breaking point. In this episode, host Penny Ellison examines why the contract model between cities and animal shelters keeps collapsing — and what advocates can push for to change it. In this episode, you'll learn: Why the contract model looks reasonable on paper but fails in practice How nonprofits end up subsidizing a government public...
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How Philadelphia Passed a Breeding Moratorium 15-0: A Framework for Animal Advocates
The Animal Advocate
Philadelphia's City Council just voted 15 to 0 to pass a 3-year moratorium on unlicensed dog breeding and puppy sales — a bill that Penny Ellison helped draft and testified in favor of in council hearings. In this episode, she walks through exactly how it happened and what advocates everywhere can learn from it. Using Philadelphia's moratorium as a case study, Penny breaks down her Four Cs framework — Common Sense, Collaboration, Communication, and Compromise — and shows how each one played out in real time, from the first draft to the unanimous roll call vote. In this episode, you'll...
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From Protest to Policy: Ending Horse-Drawn Carriages in Philadelphia
The Animal Advocate
For nearly a decade, one Philadelphia advocate has worked to end horse-drawn carriage rides in the city—not with outrage, but with strategy. In this episode, I speak with Janet White, founder of Carriage Horse Freedom, about how she moved from street protests to drafting legislation, building scientific credibility, and proposing a viable replacement model that changed the political conversation. We examine what it really takes to push for a legislative ban on a long-standing practice—and why persistence, data, and creative problem-solving matter more than credentials. In this episode, we...
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Why Public Opinion Is the Most Underrated Tool in Animal Advocacy
The Animal Advocate
What kind of advocacy really improves the lives of animals? Is it public education? Is it passing laws? Is it litigation? Host Penny Ellison spent nearly two decades trying to figure out which one mattered most — and the answer she's come to may surprise you: public opinion has to move first. When it moves far enough, everything else follows. Sometimes that makes a law possible. Sometimes it makes a law unnecessary. And that second outcome is often better than people realize — because laws require enforcement, and enforcement is chronically underfunded. In this episode, you'll learn: ...
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How Animal Protection Laws Really Get Passed: Lessons from Texas
The Animal Advocate
Passing animal protection laws is rarely as simple as drafting a good bill and building public support. In this episode, Penny Ellison speaks with Shelby Bobosky of the Texas Humane Legislation Network about what legislative advocacy really looks like in one of the toughest political environments in the country. They explore the unglamorous but essential work of stopping harmful bills, why unexpected allies—from sheriffs to hunters—often determine success, and how enforceability shapes whether laws help animals or quietly fail. Drawing on Texas examples, including the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act...
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Understanding Animal Shelters: Roles, Challenges, and Misconceptions
The Animal Advocate
Encore episode: This conversation onte different types of animal shelters and how they function has come up repeatedly in recent discussions about social media, advocacy, and public expectations — so we’re resurfacing it for new listeners as well as longtime listeners. In this episode of The Animal Advocate, we dive into animal sheltering. Learn about the different types of shelters - from municipal facilities to private SPCAs to foster-based rescues - and understand their unique roles, challenges, and contributions to animal welfare. We explain how these organizations work together...
info_outlineWhen you find an injured stray dog in your neighborhood, who do you call? In many communities across America, the answer might surprise you: there's often no one officially responsible for helping. This creates dangerous gaps that leave both animals and people at risk.
Host Penny Ellison talks with Brian Hackett, Director of Government and Community Relations at Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey, about the uneven patchwork of animal control across the country. This continues our series exploring potential legislation that can move the needle for animals. This week's focus: making local animal control services mandatory in every community.
In this episode, we explore:
- The fact that only 13 states require local governments to provide animal control services
- How Pennsylvania and New Jersey handle stray animal control differently —what works and what doesn't
- What happens when critical services are left to underfunded charities instead of being treated as public safety functions
- Real-world examples of implementation challenges, even when laws exist
- Why reliable animal control benefits both animal welfare and community safety
- How to research and advocate for stronger animal control laws in your area
- Action steps you can take to improve services where you live
Brian shares insights from years of working within the system, explaining how even states with legal mandates often fall short in implementation, and why sustainable animal control requires treating it as an essential government service like police or fire departments.
Key Takeaway: Animal control isn't just about animal welfare—it's about public safety, community health, and creating systems that work for everyone. Every community deserves reliable, well-funded animal control services.
Resources mentioned:
- Free Shelter Assessment Tool & Advocacy Resources: animaladvocacyacademy.com/free-resources
- Podcast show notes, transcripts and previous episodes: animaladvocacyacademy.com
- Associated Humane Societies of NJ
Don't miss future episodes in this series as we continue exploring achievable legislation that can create real change for animals in your community.
Subscribe for more on animal law, advocacy, and taking compassionate action in your community.
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Because compassion is great, but compassionate action is infinitely better