14,500 Unnecessary Deaths by AHS in Minnesota - The Petition Site

14,500 Unnecessary Deaths by AHS in Minnesota - The Petition Site

Over 36,000 animals were taken into the Animal Humane Society of Minnesota and nearly half of them were destroyed. The AHS of Minnesota is a non-profit 501(c)3 and is now a collaborative of 5 agencies throughout the Twin Cities. A budget of an astonishing $11 million was collected by AHS from a number of sources none of which include government funding in 2007. They have also ventured into "for profit" business in the past year to raise even more money. The AHS needs to be restructured immediately and we are calling for the resignation of the CEO, Janelle Dixon and COO, Ray Aboyan. Under the direction of Janelle Dixon and Ray Aboyan, AHS destroyed over 14,500 animals for various reasons. Please sign this petition to save animals from the Animal Humane Society of Minnesota and it's current administration.

According to Janelle Dixon, CEO of AHS, the explanation of the more than 14,500 "humane deaths" by AHS included:
19% were owner requested
30% health of the animal
42% behavior/temperament (including animals that were just shy)
5% lack of space in the AHS for cats and other small animals
4% un-weaned babies with low survival rate.

Some simple math paints a troubling picture. If we remove from the total the 19% "owner requested" we are left with around 11,700 animals. We know from other publications that around 94% of the euthanized animals are dogs and cats. This means that around 11,200 cats and dogs were killed under the discretion of AHS reasons ranging from "un-weaned babies" (labor intensive), "health of the animal" (often very treatable illness), "behavior/temperament of the animal" (using very suspect criteria streamlined to pass only the most easily adoptable animals), and "lack of space in the AHS" (obviously relieved by working with rescues).

All of these numbers could be dramatically lowered or eliminated. Rescues and other groups throughout Minnesota could help these numbers decrease and save these special lives. AHS will not encourage this collaboration as they made over $2 million in revenue through their own adoptions and simply destroyed the other animals instead of making them available to rescues.

The AHS of Minnesota has one of the highest kill rates of non-profit kill shelters in the US and still manages to try and defend their actions by saying they had to do it. The 5 Animal Humane Society branches in the Twin Cities run by CEO, Janelle Dixon, according to their own numbers, euthanized an average of over 30 animals every day for a year. There are rescues who are willing to take most, if not all, of the animals. They only sent 43 animals to rescues over an 8 month period last year and still claim to work with dozens of rescues. In 2007 AHS made over $11 million. They paid 157 full-time, 98 part-time employees, almost $6 million (more than half of what they made). They also had 1,550 volunteers that put in over 100,000 hours of volunteer time - and they still did NOT save the animals.


The AHS of Minnesota under current management is destroying far more animals than it should. The Board of Directors should be ashamed of this catastrophe. The animals deserve better and people that care need to help them. Please sign this petition asking for the resignation of the AHS CEO - Janelle Dixon and COO - Ray Aboyan. An immediate restructuring of the Animal Humane Society in Minnesota needs to take place if there is any hope of stopping their killing of vulnerable companion animals.
To speak directly to Janelle Dixon of AHS call her at 763-522-4325.

14,500 Unnecessary Deaths by AHS in Minnesota - The Petition Site