Woman Fired After Photographing Dogs Scheduled to be Euthanized

A picture may be worth a thousand words. However, for Emily Tanen, it was worth her job.

According to a report in The New York Times (NYT), Tanen was fired from Animal Care & Control (ACC) in New York City, for taking photographs of dogs about to get euthanized and publishing them, in the hope that someone would adopt them. Her role in the organization was to provide a link between ACC and rescue groups that take in the animals.

The photographs taken were, apparently, successful in encouraging adoption. They managed to convince rescue groups and adopters to take in animals they otherwise may not have, Tanen claimed. She had been working with ACC for a little over two years.

The photographs were taken on Tanen's private $1500 Nikon DSRL camera; however, they were in violation of the organization's policies, which detailed who could take the photographs, how the animals could be photographed and how the photographs could be used.

I knew they hated me, Tanen said to NYT, But I thought that even if I was a pain, they'd suck it up. Because I was doing a really good job.

I think they just didn't want photos of animals that they were about to kill looking cute and adoptable and happy with people, but they said it was because their research showed that photos with people didn't encourage people to adopt, she added.

However, according to the organization itself, Tanen was fired because she took the photos against company guidelines, which state that there should be no humans in the photographs because it looks like the animals have already been adopted.