Speaker 1: He's nice side with Dan Ray. I'm WBSY Radio.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Al Griffith. As we move into
Speaker 2: our nine o'clock hour here on a Friday night, it
Speaker 2: is the weekend of Saint Patrick's Day, High Holiday, High
Speaker 2: Holy Day, if you will, in certainly in New England.
Speaker 2: And if there's anything we like more than holidays, I
Speaker 2: think the only thing that I can think of that
Speaker 2: I like more than holidays are pets, animals, cats, and dogs,
Speaker 2: particularly dogs. But a guy who loves all animals, all animals,
Speaker 2: is my next guest. He's the president and CEO of
Speaker 2: the Animal Rescue League of Boston. I got that right,
Speaker 2: Doctor Edward Stina doctic scatia. How are you.
Speaker 3: I'm doing wonderful pleasure being here with you. Dan. Thank
Speaker 3: you so much for having me.
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, and thanks for the time yesterday on
Speaker 2: the phone. So let's let's sort of lay this out.
Speaker 2: Normally when you're on the on with us here a representative,
Speaker 2: the anti or other of the of Animal Rescue League
Speaker 2: of Boston has done the phone. Were you were talking
Speaker 2: about some sort of an adoption special weekend, But we're
Speaker 2: we're talking legislation here tonight. Uh to to basically address
Speaker 2: some issues and problems that the Animal Rescue League of
Speaker 2: Boston has identified. So let's let's take it first. What's
Speaker 2: the problem that we have to fix and how are
Speaker 2: you and others proposing that we fix the problem?
Speaker 3: Thank you, Dan, that is a great way to start.
Speaker 3: So what we know is nearly half of Massachusetts residents
Speaker 3: for pet owners. We also know that on people struggle,
Speaker 3: pets struggle, and the Boston is the fourth most expensive
Speaker 3: need to live in the United States and Boston is
Speaker 3: also was ranked the least friendly pet city by a
Speaker 3: study by wallet Hut. We all also know that nationally nationally,
Speaker 3: fourteen percent of surrenders of pets to animal shelters due
Speaker 3: to housing related issues fourteen percent nationally. At the Animal
Speaker 3: Rescue League of Boston, we are above that we are
Speaker 3: seeing twenty nine percent of all the animals that are
Speaker 3: surrendered to us in twenty twenty four were surrendered due
Speaker 3: to housing related issues of their pet owners. This is
Speaker 3: an increase of ten percent from twenty twenty three and
Speaker 3: a twenty one percent increase of animals being surrendered due
Speaker 3: to pet housing reasons since twenty twenty two. And this
Speaker 3: is due because pet policies are extremely restrictive and regarding
Speaker 3: certain breeds or weights, and when pet owners are forced
Speaker 3: to make incredible difficult decisions regarding their pets, and this
Speaker 3: is what we've been finding. We also know we've been
Speaker 3: finding certain cases where people are leaving their pets tied
Speaker 3: up somewhere outside, very visible, wanting their pets to be
Speaker 3: found because are kind of in dire straits, no malicious intent.
Speaker 3: People just have to make a decision of what to do,
Speaker 3: and a lot of those decisions are based on housing
Speaker 3: related issues.
Speaker 2: If this situation is now exposing itself by the number
Speaker 2: of pets that you find not being or populating your
Speaker 2: shelters normally, I assumed there's an eb and to follow
Speaker 2: during the course of any given year, But are you
Speaker 2: finding that there are more pets available as a result
Speaker 2: of these problems that you've identified in pets shelters and
Speaker 2: it's more difficult to get pets obviously rehoused rehomed.
Speaker 3: Or finding that the number of animals being surrendered to
Speaker 3: us due to owners having how housing related issues have
Speaker 3: increased substantially over the last couple of years. And we
Speaker 3: also found that we are way over the national average
Speaker 3: of pets being surrendered to having related issues. And in
Speaker 3: Massachusetts only thirty nine percent of rental units accept dogs,
Speaker 3: and when you consider the number of rental units that
Speaker 3: accept dogs without any breed or weight restrictions, that number
Speaker 3: goes down to seven percent. So there's a real reason
Speaker 3: why folks that need to make some housing decisions and
Speaker 3: they have a dog in their lives, they have to
Speaker 3: make some really difficult decisions.
Speaker 2: How okay, you've identified the problems, You've identified what's going on.
Speaker 2: I know that there's some ancillary aspects of this which
Speaker 2: are not necessarily hugely contributing factors, but let's at least
Speaker 2: just mention them. There were a lot of people who
Speaker 2: decided to adopt a dog or adopt a cat at
Speaker 2: when they were living at home during COVID crisis, were
Speaker 2: working remotely. Now they're going back to work. I'm sure
Speaker 2: that has some impact. And I'm sure that the exodus
Speaker 2: of animals that seem to be found in the South
Speaker 2: for a whole bunch of reasons, perhaps meteorologically, culturally. I
Speaker 2: know that there are are dogs and cats brought up
Speaker 2: here from some of the Southern states on a fairly
Speaker 2: regular basis. So they can find adoptive homes here in
Speaker 2: New England, and I know that those are contributing factors.
Speaker 2: But the two pieces of legislation that the Animal Rescue
Speaker 2: League of Boston on is now focusing on to address
Speaker 2: each of these problems, as interrelated as these problems are.
Speaker 3: Do you mind if I go back to one thing
Speaker 3: you just said them? That's okay?
Speaker 2: Sure, sure, absolutely so.
Speaker 3: You mentioned people adopting pets during the pandemic, and that
Speaker 3: is one hundred percent true. And sometimes these pets work
Speaker 3: out great now that people are going back to work.
Speaker 3: Sometimes it's not the right fit. When somebody surrenders a
Speaker 3: pet to us at the Animal Rescue Leage of Boston,
Speaker 3: we ask them why they're surrendering their pet to us.
Speaker 3: Could we want to understand are there any trends or
Speaker 3: are there anything that we need to start thinking about.
Speaker 3: And so what we're really focused on is housing, because
Speaker 3: that is the trend that has been really increasing the
Speaker 3: animals being surrendered. So there are two bills, as you mentioned,
Speaker 3: that we're working on in the state legislature. One is
Speaker 3: an Act to maintain Stable Housing for Families with pets
Speaker 3: and the other one is to codify pet Family, elderly
Speaker 3: housing policies, and Ensure pet parody are cross housing authorities.
Speaker 2: So let's take them. Let's break them up as we
Speaker 2: can as separately as possible, because obviously both of them
Speaker 2: are important, but they both have a little bit of
Speaker 2: an overlap. But I'd like to just try to make
Speaker 2: it as clear as possible in the listener's minds. So
Speaker 2: if they are running into their local state rep. Or
Speaker 2: their local state Senator at the diner, as we say
Speaker 2: here in Boston over the weekend, they could say, hey,
Speaker 2: there's a couple of bills that we're interested in.
Speaker 3: Maybe this isn't Maybe this isn't the best weekend to
Speaker 3: do that at the diner.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's always when you when you finally
Speaker 2: see the state rep in the state senators, when they
Speaker 2: come out of higradation and they're walking in the neighborhood.
Speaker 2: Actually it's never you never missed that opportunity to go true.
Speaker 2: So the first to.
Speaker 3: Maintain Stable Housing yet the Act to Maintain Stable Housing
Speaker 3: for Families with Pets. The goal of this bill is
Speaker 3: to make housing more friendly for families with pets by
Speaker 3: increasing access to housing and reducing the cost of pet
Speaker 3: rent and insurance. What this bill will do is prohibit
Speaker 3: discrimination by landlords and condo associations based on a dog's breed, size, weight,
Speaker 3: and appearance. It will also limit the amount landlords can
Speaker 3: charge for pet rent. It will state that during a
Speaker 3: state of emergency, it will prohibit hotels from unreasonably refusing pets.
Speaker 3: And it will expand current pet programs and elderly housing
Speaker 3: authorities to apply for all state funded housing. So there's
Speaker 3: a variety of things this is doing, and the most
Speaker 3: important thing is really removing the restrictive pet policies based
Speaker 3: on a dog's weight or size and appearance.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's break those down. Okay, you're going to
Speaker 2: have the real estate industry lobby against this bill. If
Speaker 2: you're going to try to in any way limit the
Speaker 2: amount that that theoretically a landlord might charge for the
Speaker 2: presence of a pet, that's going to make it a
Speaker 2: tougher sell at the state House. I'm sure you figured
Speaker 2: that out.
Speaker 3: We have. We have, and it's not limit, it's not
Speaker 3: telling it's not telling landlords they can't charge anything additional.
Speaker 3: But it's really making it equal if somebody has a pet.
Speaker 3: It's not discriminating or based on the breed or size
Speaker 3: of the dog, and that is what we're really focusing
Speaker 3: on now.
Speaker 2: I see, Okay, So okay, so if well, within that bill,
Speaker 2: they can't say, oh, if you had a chouah, we'll
Speaker 2: charge you an extra twenty dollars a month, but since
Speaker 2: you have a bull mastiff, we're going to charge you
Speaker 2: five hundred a month. Something is obviously that's part part
Speaker 2: of it, part of it.
Speaker 3: That's definitely part of it.
Speaker 2: Correct, okay, and what else give us? Let's break down
Speaker 2: the facets of that bill, so everybody's converse and what's
Speaker 2: the other points you made?
Speaker 3: So if you're a renter, landlords and insurance can't charge
Speaker 3: can't charge you more or out refuse renting to you
Speaker 3: based on your dog's breed, size, light, or appearance. If
Speaker 3: you're a homeowner, insurance companies can't charge you more or
Speaker 3: refuse or cancel coverage solely based on the breed of
Speaker 3: the dog in your home. And if you're a condo,
Speaker 3: association can't refuse to allow dogs on the basis of
Speaker 3: a breed of a dog or prohibit a dog that
Speaker 3: might increase insurance premiums. So it's all the christ factors.
Speaker 2: Our kindo was so now in Massachusetts able to have
Speaker 2: a no pet condo. I should probably know this, but
Speaker 2: I don't. If let's say there's a condo association of
Speaker 2: I don't know, you know, ten units, a relatively small group,
Speaker 2: and everybody in the group, for whatever reason, is not
Speaker 2: you know, doesn't feel about pets as you and I do.
Speaker 2: Can they say can they in effect? I mean, obviously
Speaker 2: they cannot say a Constitutionally, if let's say they are
Speaker 2: all of one race, they can't say no, one can
Speaker 2: sell to someone of a different race. We know that's unconstitutional,
Speaker 2: as it should be. But are condo associations able to
Speaker 2: agree amongst themselves, hey we will we will not have
Speaker 2: any dogs or cats in our unit?
Speaker 3: Is that I believe they can. I believe they can.
Speaker 3: I believe they can make the decision no pets entirely, okay,
Speaker 3: And that's what this bill is not addressing that.
Speaker 2: Right, No, I understand that. I think it's important to
Speaker 2: make to point that out. That that that's that's why
Speaker 2: I asked the question. So what you're saying is is
Speaker 2: that if pets are allowed, they can't say, okay, you
Speaker 2: can have a dog that weighs no more than twenty
Speaker 2: pounds or ten pounds. Okay, right, they can't. They can't
Speaker 2: if once they accept dogs or cats, they can't make
Speaker 2: restrictions or on the breeds.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that is correct, one hundred. So let's let's
Speaker 3: let's address addressing.
Speaker 2: Let's address not the elephant in the room, doctor, but
Speaker 2: let's address.
Speaker 3: The pit bull, the lovable Yes, let's talk about Well.
Speaker 2: I think I think it's important because I think that
Speaker 2: that this is an issue that we need to address it,
Speaker 2: and my daughter would be very upset with me if
Speaker 2: we didn't address it.
Speaker 3: I know what type of hot dog your daughter hasn't
Speaker 3: shared with me yesterday. I'm a little afraid of that
Speaker 3: breed yesterday. Don't tell your daughter, and don't mention the
Speaker 3: breed name, because I don't want to get in trouble.
Speaker 2: No, I won't. Most of my my good listeners, my
Speaker 2: loyal listeners, know exactly what type of breed Mustard is,
Speaker 2: So we'll let's let that go. But anyway, so you
Speaker 2: feel you feel, and I know my daughter feels, although
Speaker 2: she does not have a pit bull, that that pit
Speaker 2: bulls have have been given they haven't earned, but they
Speaker 2: have been given a bad reputation.
Speaker 3: Tell us why I I agree with that. I agree
Speaker 3: that pippoles haven't given a bad reputation. And can I
Speaker 3: have a few facts about pit bulls that I think?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what you're the you're the witness. I'm just
Speaker 2: asking the questions. Go ahead.
Speaker 3: I don't like me to call the witness. I'm afraid
Speaker 3: of where this is going, but I accept no. Oh,
Speaker 3: I know, I know. A pit bull is the term
Speaker 3: pitfull an umbrella term for various broots. It includes the
Speaker 3: American tipule terrier, American bully, the Staffordshire bull terrier. So
Speaker 3: when somebody says pitbull, what do they really say? That's
Speaker 3: number one? And a lot of people are making assumptions
Speaker 3: based on what a dog looks like that it's a
Speaker 3: pit bull, and usually those are mixed breed dogs. We
Speaker 3: also know that environmental factors cause aggression, not a particular
Speaker 3: breed or type of dog biting. Biting is not breed specific,
Speaker 3: and it's often caused by any many other factors. And
Speaker 3: there's no scientific evidence that indicates one kind of dog
Speaker 3: is more likely to injure human than another. And there've
Speaker 3: been studies done on this and lastly, lastly, pitboll specific
Speaker 3: legislations do nothing to keep people safer. In fact, it
Speaker 3: can make things more dangerous because in areas where there
Speaker 3: are bands in place regarding pitbulls, people that own pitbulls
Speaker 3: tend to restrict their dog's outdoor time and socialization. And
Speaker 3: when you do that, that can act worse than or
Speaker 3: even great behavioral issues and caused that dog to be
Speaker 3: more harmful. So what we think we're doing is protecting
Speaker 3: people from a particular breed and am using their quotes
Speaker 3: can actually be doing more harm and causing something that
Speaker 3: we're trying to avoid.
Speaker 2: Okay, Now, I love to tell the story that many
Speaker 2: years ago when I had a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
Speaker 2: and I was in a bank one Dame's the cutest
Speaker 2: dog in the world, and there was an older woman
Speaker 2: who across the bank asked me, oh, what type of
Speaker 2: dog is that. In being a practical joker and just
Speaker 2: doing a little bit of a social experiment myself, I said, oh,
Speaker 2: he's a pit bull. As she was walking towards the dog,
Speaker 2: she stopped in her tracks and started to back away. Now,
Speaker 2: obviously she had no idea what a pitfull looked like
Speaker 2: because a cavalar King Chiles Spaniel, And I of course correct,
Speaker 2: I said, I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding. He's a
Speaker 2: cavalier King Chile Spaniel and come on over and he's
Speaker 2: a lovable dog. But that was proof to me that
Speaker 2: in the minds of some people, just the word pitbull
Speaker 2: was intimidating. So that is I think a big part
Speaker 2: of this. What are you going to do to try
Speaker 2: to make the public better understand that it is a
Speaker 2: question of nature versus nurture and that a pitfall that
Speaker 2: is brought up properly is no more dangerous than a
Speaker 2: capitali Ar King Charles Spaniel that would be brought up properly.
Speaker 3: What we do at the Amareesk League of Boston is
Speaker 3: we try not to identify breeds on the animals in
Speaker 3: our air because unless it's a pure bred dog, we
Speaker 3: could only make a guess based on what the dog
Speaker 3: looks like. And what we do at the Amoresk League
Speaker 3: of Boston is when somebody is interesting in adopting a dog,
Speaker 3: they may come in because their look online and they'll
Speaker 3: see a beautiful dog that they just must have. But
Speaker 3: when folks come in it's a conversation. We ask folks,
Speaker 3: why are they interested in that particular dog. Tell us
Speaker 3: what they're looking for in a dog, tell us about
Speaker 3: your family, tell us about your lifestyle. And then what
Speaker 3: we do is we learn as much as we possibly
Speaker 3: can from the dogs in our care. And sometimes it's
Speaker 3: an obvious match, but other times it's not because some
Speaker 3: dogs need a little bit more structure in their lives,
Speaker 3: and it's we try to pair up animals and we
Speaker 3: really don't. We don't really have that issue where people
Speaker 3: are coming in afraid of pitbulls. I think when people
Speaker 3: come into our doors and into one of our animal
Speaker 3: care and adoption centers, their hearts are open, their homes
Speaker 3: are open, and they're really there just to see what
Speaker 3: they can do and who's who who they can invite
Speaker 3: into their home.
Speaker 2: Okay, my guest is the CEO and the president of
Speaker 2: the Animal Rescue League of Boston. We've talked about one
Speaker 2: piece of legislation, and we're going to talk about the
Speaker 2: second piece of legislation. And I'm also going to invite
Speaker 2: people to call and join the conversation. I know that
Speaker 2: in this day and age of tariffs and trade wars
Speaker 2: and cease fires. These may not be the top issues
Speaker 2: on your mind, but it is. This is a very
Speaker 2: important conversation in my opinion, here in the context of
Speaker 2: Massachusetts and New England. And if you'd like to join
Speaker 2: us six one, seven two five four to ten thirty,
Speaker 2: any question that you might have for Doctor Edward Scatino,
Speaker 2: he's the president and CEO of the Animal Rescue League
Speaker 2: of Boston and he feels very strongly that there needs
Speaker 2: to be the playing field needs to be leveled here,
Speaker 2: not only for folks who maybe don't have the ability
Speaker 2: to buy a home with two acres of land and
Speaker 2: buy whatever dog they want, but people who are living again,
Speaker 2: either in apartments or in condominiums, rental units or whatever.
Speaker 2: Feel free give us a call six months seven two
Speaker 2: five four to ten thirty or six months seven nine
Speaker 2: three one ten thirty. I apologize for the technical interruption
Speaker 2: earlier this half hour. I promise I hope fingers crossed
Speaker 2: that it's not going to happen again. The for the
Speaker 2: Battles of the Night, it happens about once every three
Speaker 2: months periodically, and unfortunately for the role of the dice.
Speaker 2: Doctor Skatina Wo had interrupted us, but we'll pick up
Speaker 2: the pace and we'll talk about the other piece of
Speaker 2: legislation right after the news break at the bottom of
Speaker 2: the hour. Stay with us here on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Sorry, we're talking about pets, and specifically pets who need
Speaker 2: a home and need to be adopted, and how we
Speaker 2: can make it easier for not only people to adopt pets,
Speaker 2: but to keep pets. With me is doctor Edward Scatino.
Speaker 2: He is the president and CEO of the Animal Rescue
Speaker 2: League of Boston, and we talked about a piece of
Speaker 2: legislation in the last half hour that, if passed, would
Speaker 2: make it more difficult for discrimination really to occur against
Speaker 2: pets based upon their size or their breed, or also
Speaker 2: insurance companies deciding that they're going to charge exorbitant rates
Speaker 2: for homeowners or landlords who do either want to have
Speaker 2: pets or want to allow pets. However, there's another issue,
Speaker 2: and that is that in the various senior housing in
Speaker 2: certain communities, there's no consistency as it appears to us,
Speaker 2: and I think you want to address that issue. So
Speaker 2: doctor Scatino tell us about what needs to be changed there.
Speaker 3: Sure, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Dan.
Speaker 3: So the second bill focusing focuses on pet family, elderly housing,
Speaker 3: and many housing authorities, as you mentioned, have different pet policies.
Speaker 3: Some of them include outright provision on pets, and in
Speaker 3: some housing for fac ladies and persons with disabilities, pets
Speaker 3: aren't allowed. So what this bill will do is help
Speaker 3: codify existing pet programs and elderly housing into law. It
Speaker 3: will expand this to all states funding housing for families
Speaker 3: or for people with disabilities. And it would prohibit restrictions
Speaker 3: on dog breeds, sizes, weight, and appearance. And it would
Speaker 3: also prohibit the requiring a decline of cats, which is
Speaker 3: now also illegal in Massachusetts. It would also prohibit the
Speaker 3: eviction slowly on the basis of owning a pet. It'll
Speaker 3: address pet rent and housing authorities and create an advisory
Speaker 3: group to assist with these regulations, which would include a
Speaker 3: human health and animal welfare experts. And I would like
Speaker 3: to mention one other thing of why if these two
Speaker 3: bills are so important to us at the Animal Rescue
Speaker 3: of Boston. We believe pets are part of the family,
Speaker 3: and we believe that and we're doing everything we can
Speaker 3: to keep pets and people together and trying to prevent
Speaker 3: animals from being surrendered to us. We do this for
Speaker 3: a variety of reasons, but the one thing I would
Speaker 3: like to share is the health benefits of pet ownership.
Speaker 3: All of us that have pets, regardless dogg or pet
Speaker 3: or anything else, we know why we have a pet,
Speaker 3: how it makes us feel. Studies have shown their mental
Speaker 3: health benefits for owning a pet. Reduces stress and anxiety,
Speaker 3: helps feelings of loneliness, creates a calming presence. It gives
Speaker 3: people a sense of purpose. With physical health benefits, pet
Speaker 3: ownership reduces the risks of cancers, and this is by
Speaker 3: establishing daily movement and healthy weight for folks that are
Speaker 3: out walking their dogs. It also shows that decreased level
Speaker 3: of cortisol by owning a pet that could help decrease
Speaker 3: blood pressure and increase cardiovaspar health. Owning a pet makes
Speaker 3: it healthier as you age. It helps provide central, social
Speaker 3: and emotional support for older adults, which reduces retroduction and
Speaker 3: stress and loneliness. Aging in place is so important. It
Speaker 3: reduces the rate of depression and really helps with long
Speaker 3: term dijesus like dementia by decreasing distressed loneliness and also
Speaker 3: helps with children in development, helps children with autism and
Speaker 3: attention deficit disorder by allowing kids to focus their attention,
Speaker 3: and also helps kids become calmer and have better social interactions.
Speaker 3: So keeping pets and people together, that's what the bills
Speaker 3: are trying to do. Create healthy people, healthy pets, healthy communities,
Speaker 3: and a healthy city. And that's why this is so
Speaker 3: important to us.
Speaker 2: Well, you represented really well and everything that you said.
Speaker 2: I was thinking about the time the times that I'm
Speaker 2: now a grandfather of two dogs I guess or whatever
Speaker 2: you want to call them, okay, who occasionally take up
Speaker 2: residence here. For a long time, I had a Cavalier
Speaker 2: King Charles Spaniel, and I got to tell you, I've
Speaker 2: said to friends of mine and if anyone is out
Speaker 2: there thinking about a pet, as I got the calv
Speaker 2: from my daughter and my son, but primarily my daughter
Speaker 2: really wanted a dog, and she was about nine years old,
Speaker 2: eight or nine years old, and obviously what an eight
Speaker 2: or nine year old daughter wants, she gets, and I
Speaker 2: got her Charlie, the Cavalier King Charles, King Charles Spaniel,
Speaker 2: who in about you know, he was in about maybe
Speaker 2: three days. He became my best buddy. And you know,
Speaker 2: I was the one who would get up in the
Speaker 2: morning at two am if he had to go out
Speaker 2: or whatever. But they're so intelligent they sense your mood.
Speaker 2: In the case of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. For
Speaker 2: the ten years that we were blessed to have him
Speaker 2: with us, my kids grew up and they became teenagers
Speaker 2: and young adults, and as they grew, you know, they
Speaker 2: they would look for, you know, dad, can I have
Speaker 2: a few bucks or whatever? And then who's can I
Speaker 2: have the keys to the car. And of course my
Speaker 2: wife would always give me to do lists. And Charlie
Speaker 2: the dog, he just wanted to hang with me. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, watch a football game, or you know, lay
Speaker 2: of the couch, sit on the couch next to you
Speaker 2: and snuggle. And how can anyone hate that? I mean,
Speaker 2: I conditional love. And I don't know if there are
Speaker 2: people out there who are listening tonight who have never
Speaker 2: had a pet, but everyone at some point should and
Speaker 2: there should be no barrier to people of whatever age,
Speaker 2: of whatever circumstance or situation. And this is what these
Speaker 2: two pieces of legislation do. I don't know if before
Speaker 2: we finish tonight, and we're not close to finishing, we
Speaker 2: still have another twenty minutes or so. I don't know
Speaker 2: if these pieces of legislation have been given either names
Speaker 2: or bill numbers at this point, but if they have
Speaker 2: at the end, it would be great. Okay, good, we'll
Speaker 2: get those. In the meantime, we're going to get to
Speaker 2: some phone calls six months, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty.
Speaker 2: If you want to back us up or support us
Speaker 2: and what we're saying here, obviously would appreciate it. If
Speaker 2: you have a question, a more technical question for doctor
Speaker 2: Edward Scatino, He's going to handle all the tough questions. Okay,
Speaker 2: so yes, thank you. Let's get to the phones. Not
Speaker 2: a problem. I've figured that you're more than capable of
Speaker 2: handling tough questions or easy question. I'll take the easy ones,
Speaker 2: you get the tough ones. Let's go to Jennifer problem
Speaker 2: see Okay, let's go to Jennifer and Brockton. Hi, Jennifer, welcome.
Speaker 2: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray and doctor Edward Scatino,
Speaker 2: the President and CEO of the Animal Rescue League of Boston.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 5: First of all, thank you, thank you. Thank you for
Speaker 5: all the work you've done and for the legislation that's
Speaker 5: that's on the table right now. This is all things
Speaker 5: that I am arr and do in my heart. And
Speaker 5: it's a relief tonight to not talk about politics and
Speaker 5: everything else and to talk about something that matters.
Speaker 2: You think you're relieved, Jennifer, how do you think I feel?
Speaker 3: I heard much that every night.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm like, boy, damn, let's need a break.
Speaker 2: But well, this is something, this is something hopefully we
Speaker 2: can all agree upon, So go ahead, Jennifer.
Speaker 5: Absolutely. So. We live in a managed apartment complex in Brockton,
Speaker 5: and you can imagine we have stray problems, sterial colony problems,
Speaker 5: loose dogs, you name it. But we I just want
Speaker 5: to say all the problems you're describing with the housing,
Speaker 5: it also affects the community, so you know, and we
Speaker 5: we volunteer. We offer support to our local shelters, the
Speaker 5: Animal Protection Center in Brockden, and what happens there's a
Speaker 5: lot of turnover here. There's about four hundred units and
Speaker 5: people come and people go and they just leave their cats, yeah,
Speaker 5: and or they like we also have restrictions. So when
Speaker 5: we first rented here. They basically said one cat only.
Speaker 5: We had two cats. But the leasing agent he basically said, no,
Speaker 5: I don't worry. As long as you don't have ten cats,
Speaker 5: don't worry. Just don't mention it. And so we brought
Speaker 5: the few cats in. Yeah, I was terrified if they
Speaker 5: find out, we're gonna you know, we're gonna have a
Speaker 5: big issue. And it's very stressful. In the meantime, we
Speaker 5: see people that literally they have enclosures outside on the balcony,
Speaker 5: they have cats that they don't permit in their home,
Speaker 5: or they just leave them. We've probably picked up about,
Speaker 5: you know, twelve cats over the years and brought them
Speaker 5: to the shelter. Kittens left behind, somebody took their cat
Speaker 5: and left the litteral kittens.
Speaker 3: Cats.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we had one cat that was abused that we
Speaker 5: had to bring in and she had to be put down. Unfortunately,
Speaker 5: another one that you know did. I mean, it just
Speaker 5: it's a problem bottom line.
Speaker 3: Bills that these bills. Unfortunately, it's not really focused on cats.
Speaker 3: It's really focused on dogs and bring and weight restrictions
Speaker 3: on dogs. Yeah, it really doesn't affect much with cats.
Speaker 3: But I want to share with you that we have
Speaker 3: an incredible program dealing with community cats that if you
Speaker 3: mentioned there's some story cats in your complex, go on
Speaker 3: our website Arlboston dot org. It's our contact information is there.
Speaker 3: We have a special program that we have folks that
Speaker 3: go out into communities. They can meet you in your complex.
Speaker 3: You can show them the colony of cats and we
Speaker 3: can work with you in your community to help bring
Speaker 3: those cats in to trap, new their release, and even
Speaker 3: adopt them out. So we have a program that can
Speaker 3: come to you, help you in your community, focus on
Speaker 3: the community cats that are outside, and we can help
Speaker 3: with with alleviating that problem over time. If you if
Speaker 3: you if you want.
Speaker 5: Help with that, absolutely some thank you. Sometimes we have
Speaker 5: a cat and you know, I have two daughters and
Speaker 5: we're all involved, and you know they can sometimes have
Speaker 5: a disease and so we don't know the cats and
Speaker 5: we end up Yeah, I would love that. Right now,
Speaker 5: we don't have so much trouble, but you know, things
Speaker 5: the summer's coming and you know things can change sly.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, give us a call, go on our website,
Speaker 3: give us a call to our field service department and
Speaker 3: they'll be able to help you and set somebody up
Speaker 3: to come out and meet you and you can show
Speaker 3: them what's going on, and we can come up with
Speaker 3: a plan with you in your community to kind of
Speaker 3: make a difference and help the cats and help the
Speaker 3: community as well.
Speaker 5: That would be great. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Can you ask question?
Speaker 5: Yeah, one question that's are in the news recently that
Speaker 5: there's like seven hundred I think seven hundred thousand stray
Speaker 5: cats in Massachusetts. Yes, and that with it Animal Rescue
Speaker 5: League that was behind an initiative to try to Is
Speaker 5: that that's living with the website. Yes, yes, thank you,
Speaker 5: thank you, thank you, thank.
Speaker 3: You for doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2: Also, thank you, thank you, Jennifer. Good night, Good night, Jennifer,
Speaker 2: have a happy San Patrick's day. You know that's interesting
Speaker 2: when they say seven hundred thousand straight cats, is that
Speaker 2: seven hundred thousand feral cats.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I didn't surprise you with us yesterday when we spoke.
Speaker 3: I wanted to say this for tonight. No, there are
Speaker 3: approximately seven hundred thousand stray cats in the state of Massachusetts,
Speaker 3: seventy thousand stray cats in this Boston alone. They're not
Speaker 3: called stray cats. We call them community cats. These are
Speaker 3: cats that live outdoors, either cats as Jennifer mentioned, that
Speaker 3: are either left behind friendly cats. These are cats that
Speaker 3: are feral cats that have had kittens outside and cats hide.
Speaker 3: You don't know, You don't see these cats unless you're
Speaker 3: like Jennifer and and you're and then there's a problem.
Speaker 3: And we have a program that helps work with communities
Speaker 3: and folks to trap, meuter, bring the cats into us
Speaker 3: and sometimes we're we're able to adapt out seventy five
Speaker 3: percent of those types of cats and the other twenty
Speaker 3: five percent we were turned back out to the field
Speaker 3: and then they just live the rest of their lives
Speaker 3: outside and have a wonderful life and everything's signed, but
Speaker 3: they're all stayed and needed when they go back out.
Speaker 2: All right. My guest is doctor Edward Scatino, President and
Speaker 2: CEO of the Animal Rescue League of Boston. Back with
Speaker 2: more phone calls, if you'd like to join us. I
Speaker 2: got a little bit of room six one seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty six, one seven, nine, three, ten thirty
Speaker 2: Coming right back on night Side.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on w b Z the news radio.
Speaker 2: Okay, back to the phones we go. My guest is
Speaker 2: doctor Edward Scatino. He is the president and CEO of
Speaker 2: the Animal Rescue League of Boston, and they've got a pieces,
Speaker 2: a couple of pieces of legislation, uh dealing with pets
Speaker 2: which would make it easier for people to own pets,
Speaker 2: to keep pets, UH, and for those pets to prosper
Speaker 2: in someone's home. Let me go to Chris and Havero. Chris,
Speaker 2: you are next on Nice Time with doctor Scatino, CEO
Speaker 2: and President of the Animal Rescue League of Boston.
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Chris, Good evening, Dan, I'm a first time caller.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll get you a run of a flause from
Speaker 2: my legal studio audience. They're standing right now, thank you.
Speaker 4: All right, Okay, Well, I have an interesting story to
Speaker 4: tell you about five years ago. In January, my husband
Speaker 4: knew I had wanted a dog for a while, so
Speaker 4: I ended up and I knew he knew I wanted
Speaker 4: a King Charles Cavalier, Okay, And so I did my
Speaker 4: research and everything, and in February I went and got
Speaker 4: my puppy. And I was seventy four years old then
Speaker 4: and had a lot of mobility issues. But my husband
Speaker 4: passed away the following month after I got aernie. Oh no,
Speaker 4: must he must have known. He had to have known
Speaker 4: that I needed the comfort because that was just the
Speaker 4: beginning of COVID. So even while he was in the hospital,
Speaker 4: I couldn't be with him. Okay, but I had this
Speaker 4: beautiful little girl and she has been my wonderful, wonderful friends.
Speaker 4: So I every time you say good night to Charlie,
Speaker 4: I enjoy it every single night. And you know, you
Speaker 4: never can tell what's going to happen. She's a dog,
Speaker 4: wonderful dog.
Speaker 2: As I say every night, all dogs, all pets, all
Speaker 2: cats go to have, all cats, all yes go to heaven.
Speaker 4: And I'm so glad as far as the bills that
Speaker 4: are being proposed that I mean, it's important that our
Speaker 4: seniors be able to have the pets that we want
Speaker 4: to be able to have. I'm in an over fifty
Speaker 4: five community and they've restricted the size of the pet,
Speaker 4: which I think is absolutely foolish. Look John, but that
Speaker 4: that is the way it is. But I want to
Speaker 4: thank you for listening to my story.
Speaker 2: Well, you have a state representative up there, Representative Gary
Speaker 2: Jerry g E r R y uh and uh you
Speaker 2: when you see her, just drop her note and tell
Speaker 2: her that that you and I both feel the same way.
Speaker 2: She's a really good state representative. She's been on the program. Uh,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure that she will support this piece of legislation.
Speaker 4: Okay, thank you very much.
Speaker 5: Okay, thanks very evening.
Speaker 2: First phone call. Looking forward to Chris's second phone call.
Speaker 2: Thanks Chris. Let's keep rolling here, going to go to
Speaker 2: Joyce in Mansfield. Joyce, you're next on Night Side with
Speaker 2: doctor Edward Scatino, the President CEO of the Animal Rescue
Speaker 2: League of Boston. Joyce, go right ahead.
Speaker 6: Yes, I'm very excited to talk to long story shirt.
Speaker 6: I got very heavy about four years into advocating for
Speaker 6: you animal So my husband and I when I see
Speaker 6: bills posted by you, we always call the representative and
Speaker 6: say please pass them through. And I'm really hoping that,
Speaker 6: you know, funding for people to keep animals will go through. Now.
Speaker 6: The animal that we adopted from the Denim shelter, we
Speaker 6: named him Smokey. He's a rabbit. We've all adopted man
Speaker 6: he was he was just put out with like about
Speaker 6: five of the rabbits. Somebody just dumped them. Unfortunately, we
Speaker 6: heard that the Animal Rescue came and got them now,
Speaker 6: of course I have no way of knowing was it
Speaker 6: because the people couldn't afford to take care of them,
Speaker 6: or they just didn't want the babies, But as an
Speaker 6: animal lover of all animals, that it obsessed me tremendously
Speaker 6: when these types of things.
Speaker 3: Happen, So I would think I would look at things
Speaker 3: a little bit differently. I think everybody struggles, and we
Speaker 3: never know the reason why somebody does something, so we always,
Speaker 3: we at the ORSK League, always assume they're trying to
Speaker 3: do the best they can with what they have, and
Speaker 3: that is why we're here, and that is why you're there.
Speaker 3: And all we do is bring in these animals, regardless
Speaker 3: of how they come to us, give them all the
Speaker 3: love and energy and vetinary care they need, and find
Speaker 3: them homes like yours, and really not questioning the reason why.
Speaker 3: And in fact, at the Animal Rescue League, we have
Speaker 3: so many programs and resources for folks that are struggling
Speaker 3: just to keep a low cost vetinary care, stay new
Speaker 3: their pet food, and supplies so many things. So we
Speaker 3: just encourage everybody to reach out to us and they
Speaker 3: need assistance and help, and and we just we just
Speaker 3: the world is crazy enough we just we just think
Speaker 3: everybody is doing the best they can with what they have,
Speaker 3: and if they can't and they need help, we're here
Speaker 3: to help them. However, that whatever that looks.
Speaker 2: Like, great, Carol. I'm running out of time here, Joyce,
Speaker 2: but I just wanted to say, gives gives smoking the
Speaker 2: rabbit a big pet for us tonight. Thanks for cal
Speaker 2: and I want to give him the doctor a little
Speaker 2: time to wrap it up. But thanks very much, and
Speaker 2: appreciate you taking the time tonight and adopting. Thank you
Speaker 2: Sara so much, thank you, thank you very much. Ye Joyce,
Speaker 2: doctor Scatino, thank you very much again. Let's if you
Speaker 2: have the numbers. Are the names of those bills, let's
Speaker 2: hear them, go.
Speaker 3: Right ahead, all right. The first bill the Act to
Speaker 3: Maintain Stable Housing for Families with Pets. It's H one
Speaker 3: five five nine or Senate Bill one zero two two
Speaker 3: H five five nine or Senate Bill zero one zero
Speaker 3: two two.
Speaker 2: Here's the first one is the first one, the stable
Speaker 2: housing was that one five five nine or five five
Speaker 2: nine one?
Speaker 3: I'm sorry one.
Speaker 2: House one five five nine, Senate one zero two two.
Speaker 3: In the second one, the second one is House one
Speaker 3: four seven six and it's just has a house number
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: Okay, and again that bill deals with basically friendly elderly housing. Okay,
Speaker 2: those are the bills, folks. Let's get on the phones
Speaker 2: and as I say, for Chris and Haverol, call your
Speaker 2: state representative Colleen Gary, who is really a good state rep.
Speaker 2: And I'm not sure I think she's got drink it.
Speaker 2: Maybe she doesn't have HAVERO, but give her a call
Speaker 2: either way. Uh, Doctor Skatino, thank you very much for
Speaker 2: what you do, and thank everyone at the Animal Rescue
Speaker 2: League of Boston. And if folks want to adopt you,
Speaker 2: you've got some great great pets available catch dogs, rabbits
Speaker 2: and other species.
Speaker 3: So thanks everything in between, everything in between.
Speaker 2: I have a great Saint Patrick's Day weekend. Thanks, doctor Skatino.
Speaker 3: Thank you very much, Dan, my pleasure, Thank you welcome.
Speaker 2: But by the way, this hour you can pull down
Speaker 2: and will be posted by Rob at nightside on demand,
Speaker 2: and you can circulate that to all of your supporters
Speaker 2: from the Animal Rescue League and if they missed this
Speaker 2: hour tonight, they can listen to it at their own
Speaker 2: leisure nightside undermand. All right, thanks so much. When we
Speaker 2: get back We're going to talk about the decision that
Speaker 2: came down in federal court yesterday on the Karen Rea trial.
Speaker 2: She will be retried on all three counts, I guess,
Speaker 2: beginning as early as April. Back on Nightside, right after
Speaker 2: the ten o'clock News