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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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The Scrump Story

scrumpy In honor of Scrump Day today, I thought I would tell the Scrump story for those of you that don’t know it…and it seems most don’t!  So here it is – this is a picture of Scrumpy when he was about 7 months old.

Where I used to work we pulled animals in from high kill shelters.  Some were killing up to 95% of all the animals that walked through their doors, so whenever we could, we would take as many as possible.  Scrumpy was NOT one of the dogs chosen …but he arrived on a transport with 20 other dogs we had pulled. A dog that we HAD requested was NOT on that transport. I contacted the sending shelter only to find out that a mistake had been made. They had euthanized the dog we had requested and Scrumpy (who had been scheduled for euthanasia) was sent by accident. She was very apologetic and told me they would arrange for him to come back to them.  Um….for what?  To kill him?  Ridiculous, so Scrumpy stayed.

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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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My Eulogy for Pat

I’d like to thank you all for coming today.

It is very obvious that Pat was well respected and loved, and how much we are all grieving this loss.

Pat would hate all of this focus on him. He would cross his arms over his chest, shake his head and give a half smile of wonder and bemusement.  Pat didn’t have an ego. He didn’t see himself as special.  But while he would hate all this attention, he would also understand and respect OUR need for it. To help US come to terms with this.

Pat and I had so many plans, and so many dreams for building a better Organization and helping more animals.  But, selfishly, when I think of the loss of Pat, I go first to my own grief. The loss of an amazing friend. A trusted confidant. A humorous companion. A mentor.

Pat played so many roles in my life. He was a big brother. He was a father figure. He was an advisor. He was a friend. He was someone to do things with. He wore so many hats and filled so many shoes – but aside from my own personal loss, and your loss… – what he did for our organization and what we were moving toward also creates such a huge hole.

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