September 8, 2019 – We are mourning the loss of our Director, Dr. Gordon Stull, who passed away on September 8 after a long illness. Dr. Stull earned his Veterinary Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He was a member of the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association (HSVMA) Leadership Council. He served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR) from 2003-2007. He was the Director of the Burlington County, NJ, Feral Cat Initiative, as well as the President of the Millennium Wildlife Sciences. He continued to practice companion animal medicine and to work to better the lives for animals, even well into his illness.
When he joined the Paw Project, Dr. Stull stated, “I have been in active small animal practice for over 40 years. I am fiercely opposed to the practice of the declawing of cats. It matters not how well the procedure is performed nor how much post-operative pain medication is offered – the long term consequences are often the same and damaging to the pet. Declawing always cause physical damage and quite often emotional damage to the pet with long term consequences. Declawed cats, without their natural defenses often become aggressive and are more likely to bite. Declawed cats more often show anxieties that manifest in urinating or defecating in inappropriate places, which can often result in relinquishment of the pet to a shelter where the final result is often euthanasia. In my career as a veterinarian, I have seen and/or treated hundreds of declawed cats with these behavior problems, most of them showing signs of chronic problems, regardless of the declaw technique.”
Dr. Stull was an unfailingly kind and compassionate, but determined, man, and his passing is a profound loss for his family, for his local community, for the humane community, for animals of all kinds, and for us at Paw Project.