Category: Animal Rescue Related

Wind them up, give them a little power, watch them…kill?

 

NO KILL!So all over the nation the no-kill movement is growing and growing and growing.  Building momentum. More and more people are getting involved, not accepting the status quo (that they “have to die, there are no other options“), and putting an end to the killing in their neighborhoods.  BSL is being fought, kill shelters are frowned upon, TNR is supported and good is conquering evil.

Each day, each week, each month, we hear more and more success stories. We learn more about the good that people are doing and we watch as the “evil-doers” are verbally and legally attacked by their community for their killing. People flooding meetings to standing-room-only status, bringing law suits against their shelters, and standing up for what is right and good.  No longer backing down, but fighting to save lives. The “bad” is no longer covered up, but put out there with the press covering it, blogs light up across the internet with “do you believe this?? SIGN THIS PETITION”.

We rejoice that you are no longer tolerating it.
Good for you.

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What happens to “evidence” dogs?

 

What happens to “evidence” dogs?

pb3You ever read the newspaper and read about these dog fighting rings being broken up? Police or Animal Control moves in and breaks up the ring, arrest people, put a stop to it?  We all rejoice.  Yay.  More scum put behind bars where they should be.  More dogs taken from the terrible life  they lived, the ONLY life they have ever known –  a life of horror, terror, fear, abuse, misery and cruelty.  Saved.  Those dogs SAVED.

Well. I hate to burst your bubble.

No. Mostly they don’t get saved.  FUTURE dogs may get saved from this fate by breaking up these rings and putting the leaders behind bars (thank goodness), but the actual dogs involved – what happens to them?

Well. By and large they get euthanized.

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Crazy letters we get…

 

There is no end to the crazy emails and letters that we get. Some are so unreasonable and strange that we just shake our heads.  Others make us laugh.  Others are highly insulting. Many people give us their opinions or tell us how we could improve or do better, or how they would do it.   Many also tell us “thanks” or “great job” or “we’re glad you’re there”.  This blog is going to be about some of the crazies though. Come and take a dip with us into the twilight zone of unreasonableness.  Are you ready?  Are you wearing your crazy hat? You’re gonna need it.

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A note to shelter directors – CHOOSE LIFE

 

katie11You all know that Pets Alive often goes head to head with shelters that are still practicing archaic policies that result in the killing of perfectly healthy and adoptable dogs and cats.

Everyone knows by now about our experience with the ASPCA as we tried to save Oreo, a dog that suffered a life of cruelty and brutality.  She was thrown off a six story building, had surgery, recovered, and then was killed by the ASPCA – even though we agreed to take her here.

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What has happened to compassion in our shelters?

 

saddogSo recently a group that we have tremendous respect for, and work with frequently, contacted us about the Chesterfield, SC shelter. This is the shelter that some time ago was attacked for being one of the cruelest in the nation, (allowing dogs to maul each other, killing dogs that had rescues or homes lined up, not feeding the animals, etc etc). There was also a huge outcry from the public to dismantle their barbaric gas chamber (that went un-inspected for years and basically TORTURED the dogs to death) and to stop the other horrors that went on. Their response to the naysayers and the whistle blowers? They sneered and killed ALL the dogs – EVEN THE ONES THAT HAD RESCUES WAITING FOR THEM.

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Black Cats, Halloween, & Reduced adoption fees – OH MY!

bindiOK, so recently we caused quite a stir by offering reduced adoption rates for Halloween. So far we have done this for every holiday or any event we can think of. You see the same marketing ploy in stores across the nation – every holiday or event – there are the sales. Adopting animals is actually about marketing. It is about marketing the animals we have for adoption. You can object to that and you can be outraged but it is the truth.

Let’s look at this. We can start with Petfinder. If you are looking for an animal to adopt and you are browsing through hundreds on PetFinder that meet your criteria, which do you remember?

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Kameron Jacobsen Youth Award & Memorial Garden

This year at the Pets Alive Annual Fur Ball (our most important fundraiser of the year), we awarded the very first annual Kameron Jacobsen Youth Award.

The award was in honor of 14 year old, Kam, who took his own life, after suffering intense peer bullying in his school and via social media.

I admit to being AWARE of bullying (and how heinous it was), but I was unaware exactly how prolific it was. How invasive. How viral, and how frequent, and often it occurs to children in this “new world”. I’ve watched as Wanda and Kevin and their family shattered and fell apart, and how they have been trying to rebuild themselves. I read the anguish in their posts online, and their reaching out to others, and their determination to make sure that Kam is never forgotten, and that people are aware of this insane epidemic that is attacking our children.  I can see how desperate they are to help save other people’s children and other families from going through this, or losing their children.

Read that word again.
CHILDREN.

Children today are such victims in so many ways.

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Choosing the method of murder

So over the past week many of my friends, relatives and fellow rescuers, have been sending me a petition to sign.

I warn you that I see and read a lot of “horrible animal stuff” on a regular basis, doing what I do for a living. Reading this one resulted in a lot of grief and tears for me from the imagery it presented. I’m not quick to that reaction anymore. Perhaps I’ve been desensitized or learned coping methods of not letting it in too far. I won’t analyze it, but accept that how I shut a lot of it out is a necessary survival mechanism.

So I read a little of this one and was not able to shut it off and I didn’t finish the read. You can if you like, here is the link: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ban-the-use-of-gas-chambers-in-north-carolina-pounds.html

For the weak of heart I will summarize.

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Rehoming pets online or in newspaper ads – BAD IDEA. Help fight these sites!

images-1Recently a new Facebook page cropped up.
It is called REHOMING PETS OF THE HUDSON VALLEY. It is a FaceBook page for you to post your no longer wanted animal and other people can adopt them from you, or buy them, or whatever deal or trade you might make.

On the surface of it, it appears to be a site to help people find other good people to adopt the animals they no longer want or can not keep. Me? Well…I’m beyond upset about this. The person running this site is actually the same one that runs the LOST PETS site which is a fabulous site and does a great job, and I believe him to be a kind and compassionate man. I have appealed to him to shut it down and explained why.

His response was to ban me from posting to the FaceBook page. My crime was posting to people that listed their animals and asking them NOT to do this and explaining why. Continue reading…

FREE adoptions? No fees? Isn’t that dangerous? – the answer will surprise you.

When I first heard about low or no cost adoption fees, I was completely and totally against the idea.

I had heard rumors of some places doing this, and I just thought to myself that they were disreputable and didn’t care who adopted their animals.

Screen Shot 2013-05-16 at 3.36.38 PMThen I read about a seminar where it was encouraged for you to REDUCE adoption fees on senior dogs and cats, or pit bulls, or difficult to place dogs or cats, or dogs or cats with medical issues or those that had been with you a long time.

I read the seminar description and thought “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”  Those dogs and cats are not worth any less in our eyes! Just because they are older or sick, or may be tougher to place, does that mean I want people adopting them BECAUSE they see a “discounted” animal? It seemed to imply that they are WORTH less or that we should devalue them in some way!

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