California Humane Society Stops Giving Animals to Blood-Bank Kennels

October 2000

Glenn County, California, is home to a hidden industry in which animals are suffering: animal blood-bank kennels. Dogs and cats at these kennels are warehoused for years at a time and are repeatedly “bled” to provide blood to veterinarians across the country. Animals confined indefinitely in this manner live miserable and lonely lives.

The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights states that animal blood donors should be companion animals who are taken to veterinary clinics for the purpose of donating blood. If this is not possible, the time spent as a donor should be finite and short. This was not the case in Glenn County. Yet, for years, the Butte County humane society gave dogs and cats to these kennels, even though conditions for animals at the kennels hardly met the humane society’s requirements for a “good home.”

PETA intervened by writing to the humane society, asking that it stop supplying animals to the blood-bank kennels. We called Butte County PETA members, asking them to attend a humane society board meeting. We also put an action alert on our Web site, asking concerned readers to contact the shelter. Local activists worked very hard on the issue as well, publicizing the problem and lobbying the shelter board. As a result of these efforts, the Butte County humane society board voted unanimously to stop supplying animals to these blood-bank prisons.