I was watching the evening news about Haiti and about how slow help has been for this disaster struck country.
Immediately, in my mind, I envisioned all the dogs and cats in Louisiana that were left and stranded by the Hurricane. No one is talking about what is happening to the animals of Haiti. Are they being eaten? Where are they?
I received another email from the same veterinarian about this exact subject and I am including it here:
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This is an article from the ASPCA's site-
Many have you have written and asked about
helping animals in Haiti.
--------------------------
Helping Animals in Haiti
--------------------------
With hearts and minds focused squarely on the devastating
earthquake that occurred in Haiti on January 12, the ASPCA
extends its full support to those organizations providing
humanitarian relief in the ravaged island nation. Soon, the
animal victims of this disaster will need help, too--that's
why the ASPCA has joined the Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti
(ARCH).
ARCH was created to address the needs of animals in Haiti in
this time of crisis. The coalition is headed by the International
Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the World Society for the
Protection of Animals (WSPA), and in addition to the ASPCA,
consists of a number of animal welfare groups including American
Humane, Best Friends, the Humane Society of the United States
and Humane Society International.
The ASPCA has joined ARCH with the belief that partnering across
organizations is the most effective way to address the serious
and enormous problems facing animals in Haiti. There are an
estimated 5 million head of livestock in the country (mostly goats),
a large stray dog population, and an untold number of companion
animals and native wildlife all adversely affected by the earthquake.
Currently, a team of experts in animal emergency response is staging
in the Dominican Republic waiting to get into Haiti to begin work.
IFAW and WSPA have also begun to stock a mobile clinic with
vaccines, antibiotics, bandages, food and other supplies in
anticipation of bringing direct aid to animals.
The ASPCA has committed to providing logistical support to the
disaster responders from the U.S. In addition, the ASPCA stands
ready to deploy highly skilled and specially trained members of
our own Field Investigations and Response Team to the area.
As part of ARCH, the ASPCA urges you to donate directly towards
the animal welfare Haitian relief efforts by visiting IFAW or
WSPA. If you would like to contribute to these efforts, please
donate here:
*******************************************************************************
I know that helping animals takes a back seat to helping children and people, but let us just no forget to give aid for animals. They, too, have been devastated by this tragedy and deserve our help.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
These dogs were rescued from a puppy mill in Young County just outside of Graham along with several others Friday afternoon by the Humane Society of Young County. 72 dogs were relinquished to HSYC. (Photo courtesy of the Humane Society of Young County) 72 dogs relinquished from puppy mill by By Cherry Rushin (Posted Tue 03:36 pm) newsdesk@grahamleader.com
A puppy mill just outside of Graham with an estimated 20 or more years of churning out dogs has been shut down for good.
“That’s part of the conditions. They’re under agreement with the Humane Society and Young County Sheriff’s Office, they’re subject to random unannounced visits to make sure they aren’t engaging in any activity like that again,” Chief Deputy Carl Magee said.
Magee and Kim Baxter, executive director of the Humane Society of Young County, confiscated 72 dogs Friday afternoon after receiving a call concerning the welfare of the animals.
“The animals seemed to be in poor health and crowded conditions. We found some matted, and kennels weren’t as clean as they should be ... The water dishes in the kennels were all frozen,” said Magee.
Baxter said the owners had numerous violations and in light of that decided it would be best to surrender the animals to the Humane Society. She added that not all of their animals were surrendered. The family kept eight house dogs but with stipulations.
“They have to come into compliance with all state laws regarding rabies vaccinations, and they have to coordinate through the Humane Society to get the remaining animals spayed and neutered,” said Magee.
Baxter said this is not the first time she was asked to investigate these breeders.
“We’ve had previous dealings with (them). We had another complaint on them and went out. They’ve been doing this probably 20 plus years to the best of my knowledge,” she said.
All of the animals were examined by Dr. Nick Burnham on Saturday. Baxter said several will need surgeries and further medical care.
“They lived in feces and a rodent infested environment,” Baxter said. “A rat jumped out at us when we were taking them. The smell of urine in the whelping trailer was overwhelming. There was no heat, only one space heater and three or four heat lamps in the whelping trailer, but as cold as it was, it was not enough.”
Baxter said several groomers volunteered to help with the rescued dogs and all of the animals that could be groomed were completed Saturday.
“The more we groomed, the more pregnant ones we found. There are probably eight to 10 pregnant dogs. They did nothing but produce babies ... they’re breeding for money with little concern for the animals. They breed them back to back and never give them a break,” she said.
Baxter said the response to the rescue has been overwhelming thanks to the story airing on Wichita Falls television, but the shelter can still use help caring for the animals.
“Right now, we really need monetary donations. We’ve got vet bills, and we’re going to continue to have expenses we’re going to have to pay out-of-pocket,” she said.
The shelter was closed Monday and Tuesday to process the animals. All are getting vaccinated, wormed and any other vet care they may need. Baxter said she hopes to start adopting them out this week.
“I think they’ll all be adoptable. There are some that weren’t very social because they hadn’t been touched much, but with love and patience, they’re coming around,” she said.
For those interested in adopting a dog, the adoption application is available on the HSYC Web site at www.humanesociety-yc.org. The breeds include Chihuahua, Yorkshire terriers, rat terriers, shih tzus, Lhasa apsos, Pomeranians and more.
Baxter said the shelter could also use bleach, paper towels, dog food, puppy pads, Fabulosa, laundry detergent and volunteers for bathing, brushing and loving the animals.
She said other shelters have offered to help. Representatives from the Wichita Falls shelter came Saturday and brought towels, blankets and food and offered to take some of the animals, but for now they are going to remain at HSYC.
Although the animals are now safe and will possibly find new homes, the breeders may not have heard the end of it.
“Kim and I are still working on the case and investigating, and once we finish our investigation, we’ll sit down with (County Attorney) Dane (Miller) and determine if we need to file any criminal charges,” said Magee.
This kind of thing just plain makes me mad. How on earth can a person live with himself? I am so glad that someone finally stepped up and took control to give those dogs a better life. How could they leave 8 of them in the care of these people? As long as people will buy from these types of breeders, this "business activity" will continue. When will we learn? These are living, breathing, feeling beings and deserve to be treated with respect. I know everyone is not an animal person, but surely people realize that we were given the job of caring for the animals of the earth and this is not how to do it.
Here's a great idea. I found this article and decided to post it in time for the Christmas holiday. As a foster dog mom, I can tell you that knowing you are preventing a pet from the horrors of a cage in a shelter really is worth it. I can also tell you that this author is quite right when she points out that you need to think ahead before you begin to foster, not all dogs are the same. You need to think it through and get a foster animal that will fit in with your life and your lifestyle.
If you work all the time, or you are gone quite a lot, then you may even think about fostering a cat. There are so many animals in shelters that would love to spend time with a real family, even for a short time. This is preferable to spending days on end locked away in a cage with other frightened animals.
The last time I wrote about Valerie Kennedy, the movie "102 Dalmatians" was a holiday blockbuster and Kennedy wanted to spread a message to shoppers:
Do not go out and buy a Dalmatian just because you like those movie dogs. That cute dotted puppy could turn into an unhealthy, hyperactive hound you'll soon discard.
Kennedy got in touch a couple of days ago with a different Christmas tune: Why not adopt a dog, even if it's just for the holidays?
Kennedy isn't suggesting giving pets as presents. Shelters are filled with barking Christmas gifts the recipient didn't want or couldn't handle.
But a foster dog is different from a gift dog. It's a gift you give yourself, maybe just for a while.
"I keep seeing stories in the news -- and in e-mails that I get -- about dogs who are dumped at the shelter these days because the economy is so bad," Kennedy says. "I can't imagine what it must be for them to go from the arms of a child, or the dog bed on a kitchen floor in someone's home, to a shelter. In the spirit of Christmas kindness, maybe folks could consider fostering a homeless dog."
Kennedy owns four dogs. She's drawn to mutts, rejects, orphans. The dog rescue service she founded was once featured in People magazine and though she gave up the business when she got breast cancer, she never gave up the cause.
One of her dogs, until his recent death, was Lucky, the paraplegic, incontinent son of the dog who played Pongo in "101 Dalmatians." Lucky, who had been abandoned in a house in Malibu, wore a diaper and ambled around attached to a wheelchair. Kennedy adored him.
Since we talked about dogs nine years ago, Kennedy's life has changed. She has moved from Chicago to Wilmette; left her job as Midwest media director for Humana to work with her husband's TV production company; survived cancer, lost Lucky and acquired Wrinkles, another Dalmatian.
One thing hasn't changed. She hates to see a homeless dog.
"I had my son at 41," she says. "People said, 'Oh, when you have that baby, you're not going to care about those dogs.' That might have been somebody's truth, but it's not mine."
Helping dogs, Kennedy says, doesn't mean you don't help people too. And vice versa.
"There are a lot of sad things in the world," she says. "There are people who have different passions. And these guys, they bring me joy. Whatever I do for them, I get back in spades."
I'm not a dog person, but I admire passionate people who act on what they love, which is why I think Kennedy's message is worth airing.
And she's not alone in advocating a foster dog. Petfinder.com, an online consortium of more than 13,000 pet adoption agencies, including many in the Chicago area, is running a program this year called "Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays."
If you do it, Kennedy warns, think about it first.
Does your mother-in-law who hates big dogs baby-sit for you? Don't get a big dog. Do you work all day? Don't get a puppy. Consider how much dog hair you can tolerate.
Then give it a try.
"It's like test-driving a car," she says, "or going on a date."
You may fall in love, but if it doesn't work out, you haven't lost much.
"If someone's looking for an easy Christmas kindness," she says, "this is such an easy kindness."
Here's a follow up on the posting from yesterday. This is about the rat terriers that were surrendered. This is a terrible thing. I know that this person really loved these animals, but everyone needs to understand that there is a limit to the number of animals you can actually take care of. Love is not just food.
If you can help, these little dogs would really love you for it.
OHS volunteer Julie Honse lends a hand as the Tillamook dogs arrive at OHS.
One of the many rat terriers surrendered; seen here with Patty Melnichuk of OHS.
Dec. 8, 2009: A Tillamook dog breeder today surrendered 118 dogs to the Oregon Humane Society, following a lengthy investigation by OHS and the Tillamook County Sheriff.
98 dogs, almost all of them rat terriers, are arriving this afternoon and this evening at the OHS Shelter at 1067 NE Columbia Blvd. in Portland. The dogs will be available for adoption after they are spayed/neutered and get a clean bill of health from the OHS medical team.
Another 20 dogs were also taken from the breeder and will be offered for adoption through other organizations.
"The dogs were living in terribly overcrowded and unsanitary conditions with limited access to food and water," said Dr. Kris Otteman, OHS medical director.
The owner was charged with animal neglect by OHS Humane Investigators and relinquished ownership of the dogs to OHS.
OHS, working in concert with Tillamook County’s Sheriff, responded to years of complaints about the residence. When the owner made the decision to surrender the animals today, the Tillamook Sheriff's office and Tillamook Animal Control department provided vehicles and staff to transport the animals to Portland and assist with their processing. Also Tillamook Animal Shelter was instrumental in helping with this case and took in 20 of the dogs.
The Tillamook rescue is not related a second rescue now happening in Harney County (details here).
Monetary Donations Needed
OHS relies entirely on private donations to to rescue neglected and abused animals.
This kind of "hoarding" has got to stop. As a psychiatric nurse, I understand the compulsion these people may have felt and the obsession they had with collecting more dogs, but these are living, breathing, feeling beings--not things. Animal abuse is animal abuse, period. Please help stop such terrible abuse. If you know of any animal that is being abused, please report it. An investigation may or may not support your claim, but at least you will have tried to help. Dogs, cats, other animals cannot speak for themselves and depend on us to provide safe and secure living conditions. Don't we owe them the respect we would want given to our own loved pets?
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December 08, 2009, 8:14PM
A suspected case of dog hoarding has turned into one of the largest cases of animal neglect in state history, the Oregon Humane Society said Tuesday.
The case involves about 100 dogs on a sprawling, desolate piece of property about 20 miles south of Burns.
David Lytle, spokesman for the Oregon Human Society, said the dogs were living without shelter in icy conditions, surrounded by cattle bones gnawed clean.
The dog owners, who live in trailers on the property, fed them carcasses from a local meat processing plant.
"The whole property was scattered with the carcasses," Lytle said. "I've never seen anything like it."
A couple and another woman living on the property were arrested by Harney County Sheriff Dave Glerup on suspicion of animal neglect.
Glerup said the couple -- 43-year-old Ronald Steven Anderson and Anita Darlene Anderson, 55 -- and 34-year-old Kathlean Fuchs-Goyogana, 34, agreed to give up the dogs and were released on their own recognizance.
Glerup said the couple has lived on the property on Frenchglen highway for more than a decade and are currently unemployed. The property is owned by a woman who used to live in the area but moved near Joseph after her husband died. Glerup said the Andersons sublet to Fuchs-Goyogana, who has a 9-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.
A friend of the girl's sparked the investigation, telling her mother about conditions on the property. The mother called the Department of Human Services, which in turn called the Harney County Sheriff's Office.
Glerup said Fuchs-Goyogana agreed to take her kids off the property. She is currently under investigation for child neglect, he said.
As for the dogs, most of them are border collie, Shiba Inu and Australian shepherd mixes. Lytle did not see any obvious injuries, though he said some had nails so long they were curled over and growing into their paws. But he said the dogs did not appear to be malnourished.
"I would call this a hoarding case," he said. "The woman was very attached to a lot of the dogs."
This is the second large animal rescue from Harney County this year. In March, sheriff's officials and the humane society rescued 131 dogs from breeder Ted Tellefson, who had dogs chained, in house trailers and roaming on his property in Burns.
This latest rescue also involved dogs stuck outside without shelter. With temperatures plunging to 11 degrees below zero Monday night, officials found dogs tied to posts and farm equipment or trapped in a wire pen. Several small dogs had sought shelter by digging a hole below a few wooden planks.
"When we came by, they popped their heads up out of the ground like prairie dogs," Lytle said.
He spotted the carcass of one dead dog on an oil drum.
On Monday, Lytle and two other people from the humane society rescued 14 dogs, including a mother and four 1-week-old pups, and brought them back to the agency's headquarters in Portland.
A second humane society crew left Tuesday in three vans to bring back as many dogs as possible.
The first group should arrive at the humane society on Wednesday to very full shelter. On Tuesday, the agency was rescuing at least 70 rat terriers from an overwhelmed breeder in Tillamook.
Lytle said the agency's investigators had been talking to the woman for a long time, trying to persuade her to give up the terriers.
Dogs from the two rescues will take up half of the agency's kennels at its headquarters in Portland.
"Fortunately, a lot of the dogs are small dogs so we can put several in the same kennel," Lytle said.
But the humane society said it needs donations of puppy food, large crates, shredded paper and cash as officials scramble to care for the dogs.
The dogs will be examined, given medication and neutered to prepare for adoption.
"Our medical staff is going to be very busy over the next few days," Lytle said.
I don't know if you watch this show or not, but I have gotten hooked on watching "Dogtown". I love seeing the wonderful things these people can accomplish. I watched as they took in the Vick dogs and worked diligently to rehabilitate them and find homes for the poor dogs. I have a friend who took her vacation and went to visit Dogtown where she and her daughter worked for several days cleaning, bathing, loving, training and sometimes socializing by taking an animal for the night with them to the motel.
I found this site and read the post about this years rescue event. Below is an excerpt from the blog and the link to go read the entire post. He has videos and many, many pictures, so I recommend you visit. Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. I hope you tune in to watch Dogtown, too.
The blog's been a little quiet for a while, I've been slightly busy...
Beginning on Nov 11 I participated in a Best Friends rescue called Pup My Ride, which we've done several times this year. Pup My Ride goes into the Midwest and pulls mostly discarded breeder dogs from puppy mills and arranges their safe transport to the Northeast, where they are very adoptable. These are dogs of all ages, mostly on the small side but usually with some surprises thrown in as well - like the beautiful and friendly pair of Mastiffs that turned up! This was my first experience with Pup My Ride and I was overjoyed to be asked to go along as the animal care supervisor - one of my dogs, Ginger, is a former puppy mill breeder and the cause is near and dear to my heart.
Co-worker Mary Richie and I met early on the morning of the 11th to begin the long drive from Kanab, UT to the staging area in a horse barn in the Midwest. I believe Mary's title here at Dogtown is receptionist but that doesn't do justice to her talents; and on this operation she is simply the Person Who Knows Everything and Keeps Track Of Everything. In a chaotic environment where dogs are constantly moving around and situations change on a moment by moment basis, she tracks every piece of information and can tell you anything about any dog at any time, as well as the closest place to buy an extension cord and where to obtain 6 bundles of newspaper at 1am.
Our noble steed for the long journey was to be a mid-90s Ford F350 Turbo Diesel Dually towing a cargo trailer loaded with all the supplies we would need for the staging area - soup to nuts, crates to poop scoopers. The rig really brings out my inner Tim Allen, I want to grunt every time I climb into the driver's seat. The coolest thing for the dedicated long-distance driver is the 75 gallon aux fuel tank built into the bed; between that and the two stock tanks it holds a total of 115 gallons of diesel for your long distance driving pleasure. The ride to the staging area took two days and was relatively uneventful, with Mary and I alternating driving and sleeping.
We arrived in the Midwest on the 13th at our host facility, a horse barn - which turned out to be PERFECT for this sort of operation! The 23 individual stalls each had their own door, so dogs could be let out to play in the stall areas or allowed to run around while cleaning was done without fear of escape - great! We met a few co-workers there including our fearless leader Kelli Ohrtman some dedicated Pup My Ride volunteers and began setting up the stalls to house dogs - including isolation areas and areas for puppies.
And oh, the volunteers... these are people who came here to do this for us and with us, some of whom traveled great distances to join us and stayed in hotels while on-site at their own expense. They all worked 13+ hour days without complaint, doing the dirtiest work you can imagine - scrubbing kennels and bowls, doing all the hands-on care. They were the lifeblood of the operation and some simply amazing, selfless, caring people.
Over the next two days, dogs came in and were dropped off by the vanload. Each dog needed to be given a collar tagged with an individual ID number and a crate location, so that we could keep track of every dog and make sure they were all taken care of. We also began the process of pairing dogs for transport, which I would continue right up until the transport truck loaded - the truck had 96 travel crates and we expected to ship 160 dogs on it, so it was important to pair dogs up as quickly as possible to see who got along with whom.
On rescues like this you never know what will turn up, and we were really lucky on this one; there were no medical emergencies - thank god! As the volunteers took dogs through intake and carried them back to their kennels they acted as the first screeners for possible issues, alerting us to things that needed to be looked at when our veterinarian came in to do physical exams on every dog prior to transport. Though there were no emergencies, many of the dogs displayed signs of an abominable lack of care that is unfortunately all too typical of puppy mills: painful burrs and matts in long haired dogs that had never seen a grooming, nails grown into foot pads, obvious flea infestation and ear problems - and oh, the smell. There is a smell unique to dogs that have just been released from the mill that will stay with you forever; it's not just the excretions they have lived all their lives lying in in too-small cages but also of untreated abscesses, of infected ears. It is the smell of cruelty, made bearable by knowing that these dogs were about to have such a vast improvement in their lives.
The two intake days went quickly, with constant activity - cleaning, cleaning, cleaning; checking on concerns and socializing with the dogs. Behaviorally they were also a great group - by and large shy and undersocialized, but also curious and friendly. We saw huge changes in some of them over just a few short days as they began to realize that everything would be different now.
Many of the rescued breeder dogs I have met on this Pup My Ride transport for Best Friends and other mill dog rescues act like this: when you open their crates and invite them out, they don't quite know what to do. No one's ever done that before - they've always been grabbed, usually not very nicely, for a veterinary procedure or to be thrown in with another dog for breeding. They slink for a few minutes and stay low to the ground, their body language speaking volumes about their uncertainty even as they taste freedom for the first time.
As sad as this can sometimes be to witness, it is also hopeful: nearly every dog like this that has the curiosity to come out and give it a try will make a full recovery and enjoy and revel in their freedom.
After two days of intake we had our medical day, where our incredible on-site vet did physical examinations and innoculations on 196 dogs in an 8 hour period, with just one 10 minute break. She was fast but also thorough, identifying what dogs needed further treatment and/or investigation. Volunteers lined up with dogs to keep a steady flow coming to her, which also gave ample chance to visit with dogs while they waited! As always, during the examinations crates were being cleaned, water changed, newspaper laid and dogs visited with - and in the evening, once the checks were done, the daily feeding. The barn was also surrounded by grassy areas that were great for walking the larger dogs - particularly Louie the Basset Hound, who always had a line of people who wanted to take him out!
On the morning of the fourth day the main transport truck arrived and we began to load it with dogs beginning at 6am - it contained 96 kennels which volunteers set up with absorbent pads and ice chips in buckets, then we loaded all the dogs. The load went very smoothly and the main transport truck was on the road by 9am, followed by a chase van that had some special cases in it destined for other rescues.
With most of the dogs safely on the road, our hard-working volunteers stayed behind to clean and break down every kennel and load the cargo van with all of the rescue supplies. That also went quickly and Mary and I began the drive back to Kanab at noon after loading 8 dogs into our truck, mostly special medical cases that would return with us to Best Friends for care. We decided to try sleeping in shifts and driving continuously the approximately 27 hours back to the sanctuary, and that worked out great! We stopped every few hours for food and dog care, then immediately got back on the road with our charges. The Big Red Truck arrived back in Kanab on-schedule and Mary and I both went home for a long nap!
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