Speak out against killing
Volunteers, rescuers, No Kill advocates, and other animal lovers do not surrender their constitutional rights at the shelter door.
Dear Colleagues:
The Town of Hempstead in New York is no stranger to controversy. Indeed, it is no stranger to “Abuse, Corruption, Nepotism and Cronyism.” Years ago, staff at the pound filmed themselves terrorizing a cat. As lazy, inept, and cruel animal control officers stand around laughing, making obscene gestures, and goofing off, a terrified cat is brought into the room and hung from the neck with a catchpole. While he struggles to escape, pound staff sadistically chant, “Kill the kitty, kill the kitty.”
A couple of years later, rescuers filed a lawsuit against the pound and the Town for violating their constitutional rights, after they were banned from the shelter for speaking out against mismanagement, cronyism, and animal abuse. The rescuers won.
Two years later, an audit of the Town pound confirmed gross financial mismanagement, including taxpayers being overcharged $12.7 million for running the “shelter.”
Subsequently, another lawsuit alleged that pound managers verbally abused rescuers and volunteers, denied animals prompt and necessary veterinary care, and retaliated against anyone who spoke out about neglect and abuse by killing animals they wanted to save.
And that takes us to this year, where, once again, the Town is the subject of a lawsuit for allegedly violating the constitutional rights of volunteers. Specifically, a volunteer dog walker claims he was banned from the pound for exercising his First Amendment rights.
According to the Complaint filed in Federal Court, the pound took custody of a dog named Titan, who was placed in solitary confinement. The Town later sought to have Titan killed. The volunteer created a Facebook page, Save Titan, sharing videos and urging the public to advocate against killing. This generated public pressure.
After attending a court hearing about Titan’s case, the volunteer was handed a letter from the Town Attorney’s office informing him that he was suspended from volunteering and banned from all Town of Hempstead facilities (including the pound, parks, and beaches), under threat of police intervention. In the lawsuit, he alleges the ban is retaliation for his attempts to save Titan, and accuses the Town of a conspiracy to violate his civil rights.
For a copy of the Complaint in Febrizio vs. The Town of Hempstead, click here.
As I have written so many times before, citizens not only have a First Amendment right to speak out against government policies with which they disagree, but they also have a constitutionally protected right to demand that the government correct the identified wrongs.
As the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently ruled, “speech on public issues occupies the ‘highest rung of the hierarchy of First Amendment values’ and is entitled to special protection.” Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 145 (1983). Indeed, such speech lies “at the heart of the First Amendment’s protection.” First Nat’l Bank of Bos. v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 776 (1978).
When animal lives are at stake — as they are when animals enter a pound that has not fully embraced a culture of lifesaving — banning volunteers and rescuers critical of policies that favor killing by government “shelters” is even more egregious, given the life and death consequences.
Thankfully, the First Amendment gives rescuers, volunteers, and No Kill advocates the right to criticize the shelter without being banned. It gives them the right to complain to city and county officials without being fired as a volunteer or rescuer partner. It gives them the right to take and publicize photographs of conditions at the shelter without being evicted from the premises. It forbids shelters from forcing them to sign, as a condition of volunteering or rescuing, a “non-disclosure” agreement that prevents them from posting criticism the shelter deems “disparaging.” It also makes it illegal to ban commenters, as well as to hide or delete critical comments on government social media pages.
Whether it is the Town of Hempstead or anywhere else, animal lovers do not surrender their constitutional rights at the shelter door.
Know and protect your rights by downloading “Section 1983 to the Rescue,” our free guide.
Very truly yours,
Nathan J. Winograd
Executive Director