Why Adopt? Pet Adoption = Instant Friend for Life!

Ask anybody who has adopted a rescue pet, and they’ll swear their bond with their rescued pal is as deep as they come. When you open your heart and your home to a pet who needs help, they really do show their appreciation for the rest of their life! Dogs or cats who have been uprooted from their homes, or have had difficult beginnings are likely to bond completely and deeply with their new human caretakers, whom they regard as heroes. Pups and kitties who find themselves in the shelter or at a rescue because of a death or other tragedy in their former human family usually go through a mourning period. Once they are adopted, however, they usually want nothing more than to please their new hero—YOU! No matter what circumstances brought them to the rescue, most cats and dogs for adoption are exceptionally affectionate and attentive, and make extremely loyal companions.

Does Macomb County, MI Need a New Animal Perspective?

Our apologies about the difficulty in reading the article below, but it’s worth the effort.  This article was written by the founder of Pet-a-Palooza in SE Michigan, who previously sat on the board of the Macomb County Animal Shelter.  He is able to provide an interesting perspective on animal rescue efforts in the Detroit Metro area, and asks some questions that are well worth considering.

No-Kill Conference

The No Kill Advocacy Center is teaming up with the Animal Law program at George Washington  University Law  School, Maddie’s Fund and Friends of Animals to bring together the nation’s most successful shelter directors and the nation’s top animal lawyers. They will help you create a No Kill community and teach you how to use the legal system to save the lives of animals.

Learn from animal control/shelter directors who are now saving over 90% of all animals using the building blocks to No Kill success – programs and services that have had results in both urban and rural communities – to increase adoptions, reduce length of stay, increase redemption rates, rehabilitate animals, and much, much more.

Learn from animal law experts who have challenged our legal system to help animals: Whether it’s drafting model laws, fighting breed specific legislation, eliminating the gas chamber, filing impact legislation, or protecting condemned dogs, learn how to use the legal system to save the lives of animals.

Learn from activists fighting entrenched and regressive shelters in their own community as they show you how to launch successful campaigns for reform.

To get more details about this event, click HERE.

Hero Dog Saves Boy From Cougar Attack

Angel the golden retriever became a guardian angel when cat pounced

By Mike Celizic

TODAYshow.com contributor

____________________________________________________________

The 11-year-old boy didn’t have time to react — and barely enough time to realize that a cougar was flying toward him with dinner on its mind. Luckily for Austin Forman, his dog, Angel, threw herself between her best friend and a lethal predator.

Never was a dog more appropriately named than the 18-month-old golden retriever who nearly gave her life to save Austin Sunday in Bar Boston, a small Canadian town some 150 miles north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

“She was my best friend, but now she’s even greater to me. She’s more than a best friend now,” Austin told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Tuesday morning from his home, where he was joined by his mother, Sherri Forman, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Chad Gravelle, who shot the cougar and saved Angel.

“We’re really lucky that he was saved by an angel. That’s exactly what it was. There’s no other word for it,” Jay Forman, Austin’s father, told NBC News.

Angel to the rescue
Around 5:30 Sunday evening, Austin went out with a wheelbarrow to bring in wood to feed the family’s wood-burning furnace. At that hour at that northern latitude, it was already dark.

Angel went along with Austin, and the boy found it curious that instead of playfully galumphing around the yard as she normally did, the dog stayed close by his side. He would shortly learn that there was a reason for her actions.

Austin was a few feet from the woodshed when he saw the cougar, which he first assumed was another dog. Although cougars inhabit the surrounding forests, they usually stay away from towns.

There was a light in the backyard, and when the animal got under it, Austin saw it was a cougar getting ready to pounce from less than 10 feet away. But just as the animal leaped, Angel came to the rescue.

“The dog knew something was up, because she ran toward me just at the right time, and the cougar ended up getting her instead,” Austin said. “I was just lucky my dog was there, because it happened so fast I wouldn’t have known what hit me.”

Dog in danger
The cougar clamped its jaws around Angel’s head. Frantic, Austin screamed for his mother and ran inside the house, yelling, “There’s a cougar eating Angel!”

Sherri Forman looked out the window and saw the cougar on the patio with Angel’s head in its mouth. It didn’t look good for the heroic pet. Angel, Sherri said, was “whining and making noises like we’ve never heard before. We knew that cougar was killing our dog.”

TODAY The cougar threatened Austin Forman as the boy was fetching firewood.

She called her father-in-law, Lloyd Forman, and he told her to call 911.

Boston Bar is a small town of fewer than 1,000 people about 150 miles outside of Vancouver in British Columbia. It’s the kind of place where everybody knows everybody else, and that applies to Constable Chad Gravelle, who was finishing up the day’s paperwork when he got the call at his office less than a block away from the Forman home.

The 911 dispatcher told Gravelle that a cougar was attacking a young boy. When the constable took down the address and family name, he knew immediately that the boy could only be Austin Forman.

He rushed to the home, thinking that Austin’s life was in danger. When he arrived, “One of their daughters ran out on the porch and said, ‘Hurry up, Chad, the cougar’s got our dog,’ ” Gravelle said. “At that point, I was a little bit more relieved that Austin was OK because I know he’s the only young boy in this house. Now we only had to deal with the dog.”

A shot in the dark
Gravelle drew his sidearm and went out the back door. He saw the cougar’s tail extending out from underneath the porch. Although he had a flashlight, it was dark and hard to see, and Gravelle was dealing with a deadly animal in a confined space.

TODAY Constable Chad Gravelle, 11-year-old Austin Forman and Sherri Forman spoke with TODAY via satellite.

“The dog and the cougar were all kind of tangled up as one unit,” he said. But he was able to see the big cat’s hindquarters and fired one shot, hoping to sever the animal’s spine.

When the cougar kept up its attack on Angel, Gravelle moved around to get in front of the cougar, which was less than 6 feet away.

“It was really dark out, and I was just trying to line up my shot as best I could. I could just see about two or three inches of the cougar’s head sticking out from behind Angel, and luckily I was able to get a good shot off,” Gravelle said.

“Without him, there’s no way Angel would have survived,” Sherri said. “The sounds had all stopped, and it was just a matter of seconds. The timing was perfect.”

The shot killed the cougar and missed Angel, but the cat still had its jaws around the dog’s head.

Hero hound
Austin’s cousin, Travis Comkin, was also at the house, and he went to help Angel.

TODAY Angel sustained injuries in her encounter with the cougar, but her owners are hoping for her full recovery.

“The cougar had its mouth over the top of the dog’s mouth, trying to suffocate it, blood all over the animal,” Comkin told NBC News. “And out of nowhere, the dog breathed a gasp of air, just like it comes back from being dead, and just spits up blood. And I’m looking at her, and I’m holding her, and I’m like, she’s going to be all right.”

From being all but dead, Angel went back to romping around the backyard, her head covered in blood. The Formans took her to a veterinarian, where she was treated for extensive — but not life-threatening — injuries.

“She had surgery yesterday afternoon,” Sherri told Lauer. “She was in for about an hour in surgery: extensive injuries to her head. Her skull was fractured, and they had to piece it together along with numerous other wounds. We’re hopeful for a full recovery.”

Angel was expected to return home as early as Tuesday to a hero’s welcome and a thank-you present purchased especially for her by her best friend.

“I bought her a big, nice juicy steak,” Austin told Lauer.

A Christmas Poem

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house  Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds With no thought of the dog outside filling their heads.

And Mom in her kerchief and I in my cap Knew the dog was cold, but didn’t care about that.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash Did the dog bark at something or find food in the trash?

The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear But Santa Claus, with his eyes full of tears.

He cradled the dog, once so playful and quick Last year’s Christmas present now starving and sick.

More rapid than eagles he picked up the doggy, Who climbed in his arms, looking frozen and dirty.

Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen On Comet on Cupid on Donner and Blitzen. To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall Let’s find this pet a home where she’ll be loved by all.

I knew in an instant there would be no gifts this year For Santa had made one thing painfully clear. The gift of a pet is not just for the season We had gotten the dog for all the wrong reasons.

In our haste to fill the kids’ Christmas list, There was one important thing we had missed A dog can be family, and puppies are cute You don’t gift a puppy, then give it the boot.

And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight, “ You weren’t given a ‘gift.’ You were given a life.”

Older Dogs Often Make the Best New Pets

By Justin McClelland, December 6, 2009

LEBANON — Amy Neal and Ruth Bertagna are adamant that old dogs can learn new tricks.

As two volunteers at the Humane Association of Warren County in Lebanon, both insist that older pets can provide a lot of value and love to families looking to add a four-legged member to bring to their home. And the biggest trick these volunteers are looking to perform is to find homes for the shelter’s increasing older pet population.

“There are lots of positives to adopting a senior,” Neal said. “Puppies and kitten can take a lot of patience to train and figure out their personality. With older pets, what you see is pretty much what you get.”

Mari Lee Schwarzwalder, executive director of Warren County’s Humane Association, said the animal shelter has seen a steep increase in older pets — both cats and dogs — in the past six months. Many of these pets were left behind by families who had to move for new jobs or were forced to locate to smaller apartments that didn’t allow pets.

“It’s not usually their first choice to leave the pets,” Schwarzwalder said.

Such is the case for Hudson, a 7-year-old black Labrador mix whose family had to leave him behind when they left Lebanon for an out-of-state job. He is excitable and friendly, and also already housebroken and eager to show affection.

“Older pets have a tremendous amount of love to give,” Bertagna said. “This may sound silly, but they really do understand and appreciate being rescued.”

Neal said that older pets often are more mellow and require less strenuous exercise (in the case of dogs) to care for.

“They often make an easier transition to a new home than a puppy,” Neal said. “They enjoy easy living.”

Pets Go Homeless as Recession Hits Hard

by The Post Chronicle

When financial difficulties hit the home, the first to go homeless are not the human family, but their pets. Pets go homeless when recession woes hurt their families, and everyone suffers simply because of the fear of going hungry or being unable to pay the human’s grocery bill, much less food for our pets.

The ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) says that hundreds of thousands of pets may continue to go homeless as a result of the economic downturn. Other times, pets may be lost because of  “people problems” like divorce, foreclosure, and lifestyle changes.

As people lose their homes to foreclosure, and may be forced to move into apartments or stay with relatives, there’s just no place for a dog or cat.

Most of these beloved pets will end up in animal shelters, animal pounds, given away, sold, or just set loose to fend for themselves outside the home.

If you are faced with the agonizing decision to give up your pet, consider these alternatives:

• See if a friend, neighbor or family member can temporarily take your pet until you can take them back, and make sure you check in on your pet regularly if someone is indeed nice enough to take them in; Try to move into a rental property that allows pets. Most apartment complexes don’t mind a cat or bird, but dogs – especially bigger dogs – aren’t always welcome so check out resources on our blog that help you find apartments where your pets will be welcome!
• Contact a local animal shelter or veterinarian and see if they have a list of potential adopters. Give them a picture of your pet and a little write-up that they can hang on their bulletin boards; you can also pin up pictures at the local grocery stores.

Contact the ASPCA www.aspca.org if you’d like more information on how to protect the 4-legged members of your family from being lost to you forever.

On the other hand, if you are a person who has considered adopting a pet in the past, there’s no better time to find an animal who needs to be loved just as much as you do!  HomeFur-ever would love to help you find the perfect new member of your family, click HERE to contact us for help in finding your new best friend!

Yet Again, Man’s Best Friend Saves the Day

A story of the love and loyalty of man’s best friend.  Another reason to adopt a dog from an animal rescue or shelter - what if this were your story?

by Joanna Caroll
 
Man and his dog….a classic love story. Over the years, we have read the stories how dogs are used in detecting cancer in humans with an accuracy rate sometimes better than the most sophisticated hospital hardware; how dogs can sense when children are nearing epileptic seizure; how dogs can alert those with heart conditions of an impending attack.

It seems that in addition to their absolute unconditional love, these joyful creatures, these adored pets, cherished companions, four-legged members of the family, are able to save our life and save the life of those we love. This extraordinary sense, the Sick Sense, that dogs have does not necessarily involve special training. Sometimes, it just happens. But what a gift.

And so it happened in my house last night. While my father was finishing dinner, his dog, Agah, began barking. There was something different about his bark, different enough that I immediately returned to my dad’s room even though I had just been in there not more than ten minutes earlier. My father was sitting in his Lazy Boy, right arm hanging over the side of the chair, eyes closed. “Dad, open your eyes,” I said emphatically. Had it been later in the evening, I might have just covered his legs, lowered the sound on the TV, closed the door quietly and left him to nap til bedtime. “Dad, open your eyes!” His eyes remained closed but he mumbled something and raised his right arm to his head. “Pain pill, please,” is all I heard and in typical textbook fashion it was slurred. Dad was having a stroke. I immediately dialed 911 on my remote; recovering quickly, I got the phone, dialed 911. Help was on its way. One thing left to do was hug this bear of a dog and nose-to-nose just tell him thank you.

It’s been less than 24 hours but Dad’s doing really well. And the big guy in the picture is our hero!

‘Oreo’s Law’ Would Give Dogs a Second Chance at Life

A story has been drawing alot of attention on the Internet recently.  It’s about a long-abused animal who was ultimately thrown off a 6th floor roof by his abusive owner.  Miraculously, the dog named Oreo survived and was taken in by the ASPCA.  The animal received 5 months worth of life-saving medical treatment and presumably social interaction and affection.  However, recently, the head of the ASPCA made a decision to euthanize the dog, presumably because he had incurable aggression issues.  This decision was in spite of the fact that an animal sanctuary had begged to be allowed to take possession of the animal to care for him and re-train him.  The ASPCA leader’s decision has caused the organization to have to take a defensive position in the face of animal lover’s nationwide who are vocally outraged.  Now, politician’s in New York, the state where this incident took place, have proposed legislation to insure that a similar situation can never again occur in their State.

Read the details of the case below and let us know what you think.

____________________________________________________________

by Nathan Winogard

MANHATTAN — A bill to allow animal welfare organizations the right to request animals be given to their care when a shelter is planning to euthanize them will be introduced in the State Legislature this week by Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner and State Senator Thomas K. Duane.

The bill is named Oreo’s Law in memory of a pit bull mix who became well-known after she survived abuse at the hands of her former owner, including a fall from a six-story building, but was eventually euthanized after the ASPCA determined she was untreatably aggressive. Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill animal shelter located in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, specializing in the rehabilitation and care of abused animals, offered to take Oreo, but the ASPCA refused the request.

“As a dog owner and a foster parent for an animal rescue group, I was heartbroken to learn that Oreo was euthanized. When a humane organization volunteers their expertise in difficult cases, a shelter should work with them to the fullest extent possible.” said Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner. “I am hopeful that Oreo’s Law will ensure that no animal is ever put to death if there is a responsible alternative.”

“The humane treatment of animals in the care of shelters is an issue about which I feel very strongly,” said Senator Thomas K. Duane, who will introduce Oreo’s Law legislation in the New York State Senate. “No animal should be put down by a shelter if a reputable humane or rescue organization is willing to assume responsibility for its well being. Oreo’s Law would make sure that in instances where animals aren’t rabid or physically suffering, such organizations have the authority to take possession with the payment of the normal adoption fee, and that Oreo’s sad plight will not be repeated.”

“We are deeply moved that Assembly Member Kellner and Senator Duane have taken up Oreo’s cause. We all need to be the voice for these innocent animals,” said Kerry Clair and Matt DeAngelis, Executive Co-Directors of Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary. “We have asked our local legislators to support the bill and we hope that Oreo’s tragic and unnecessary death will offer life to thousands of others.”

Oreo’s Law is modeled after a provision in California state law, adopted there in 1998 as part of a general animal welfare reform package known as the Hayden Law (named after the Senator who authored it).

“Oreo’s Law” would prevent shelters like the ASPCA from killing dogs that legitimate rescue groups are willing to save. It is named after the dog Oreo who was killed by the ASPCA despite a No Kill shelter/sanctuary’s offer to provide her lifetime care.
 

The Meaning of Oreo

Over the last several days, the ASPCA’s killing of a dog named Oreo has ignited a furor among animal lovers nationwide. They tried to justify it by claiming she was aggressive. But the question of whether or not Oreo was beyond rehabilitation is merely a side story to the most significant issues raised by Oreo’s execution. And while Oreo’s killing by those who were supposed to be her protectors has left too many questions unanswered, what has emerged as the most significant one is why did Ed Sayres, the President of the ASPCA, rush to kill an abused dog when the public demanded that she be saved and a sanctuary had offered her lifetime care?

Last June, a one-year old dog named Oreo was intentionally thrown off a sixth floor Brooklyn roof top by her abuser. Oreo sustained two broken legs and a fractured rib. Although the facts are sketchy, Oreo also appears to have been beaten in the past—several of the neighbors in the building where Oreo lived reported hearing the sounds of the dog being hit. The ASPCA nursed her back to health and arrested the perpetrator. They also dubbed her the “miracle dog.”

The miracle was short-lived. According to Ed Sayres, the President of the ASPCA, when Oreo recovered from her injuries, she started to show aggression. After a series of temperament tests, Ed Sayres says he made the decision to kill her. The New York Times reported the story the day before Oreo’s scheduled execution. Despite the best efforts of Sayres to spin the outcome, the furor and condemnation by dog lovers all over the country was immediate.

In an attempt to contain the wrath of the animal-loving community against him, Sayres issued a press release replete with crocodile tears (“We are all upset by this”), saying that she was truly vicious, and arguing that lifetime care in a sanctuary would have meant no quality of life. Sometimes, Sayres said, there are no happy endings. Early on Friday morning, Oreo laid dead, the victim not of her former abuser, but of an overdose of poison from a bottle marked “Fatal-Plus,” at the hands of a shelter bureaucrat.

 

Refusing a Lifesaving Alternative

Facts are troubling things. Facts get in the way of a contrived story. And there is one troubling fact that all of Ed Sayres’ double-speak simply cannot overcome. Try as the ASPCA might to argue that Oreo’s death was unavoidable, Sayres’ misrepresentation has one fundamental obstacle: Oreo had a place to go. The issue doesn’t turn on the real extent of Oreo’s aggression. The real issue is that a No Kill shelter and sanctuary, with experience rehabilitating aggression in dogs, which works with area shelters that could have vouched for their credibility, which enjoys wide community esteem, and which is only a short drive outside of New York City, offered to give her lifetime sanctuary, and was refused.

They called and left a voice mail message on Sayres’ telephone. They called his secretary. They called the ASPCA Press Office. They contacted everyone on the ASPCA website contact page. And they were ignored, hung up on and lied to.

Pets Alive in Middletown, New York, is not only a member of the Mayor’s Alliance for New York City animals, of which the ASPCA is also a member, they are not only an Alliance-approved rescue partner, they not only have had experience with aggressive dogs, but they agreed to take responsibility for a dog the ASPCA was committed to putting in a body bag and then dumping in a landfill. Even though Pets Alive is already an approved rescue partner, the fact that Oreo may have presented a special case didn’t mean the offer should have been rejected out of hand. The ASPCA could have visited Pets Alive; they could have checked veterinary references, community references, could have insisted on specific precautions and liability waivers. But instead, early that morning, before the “media circus got out of hand,” Ed Sayres, willfully, neglectfully, cruelly, and dishonestly, chose to kill Oreo instead. That is the true face of the ASPCA. And that is intolerable.

 

Lowering the Bar

Ironically, had these events taken place in California, it would have been illegal for the ASPCA to kill Oreo instead of giving her to Pets Alive. In 1998, the California legislature overwhelming and bipartisanly passed a law making it illegal for a shelter to kill a dog if a No Kill shelter or rescue group is willing to save that dog—even in cases where the shelter says the dog is aggressive. Having worked in San Francisco, Sayres should be sensitive to the fact that the ASPCA, which claims a leadership position in this movement, should not have a more regressive policy than one approved by an overwhelming number of politicians on both sides of the political spectrum and the State’s Republican governor.

And yet the ASPCA, under Sayres, proves once again that the large national organizations have no vision, no desire to truly raise the status of animals in society, and despite claiming they are setting the bar on how society should relate to animals, that they are in reality staffed by those who would rather perpetuate the violence and betrayal Oreo already experienced by killing her—even as true animals lovers offered them a simple, life-affirming alternative, and the second chance at life Oreo so richly deserved.

And as an agency which claims to be the leading voice of animals, the ASPCA has a duty to continually push the envelope and raise the bar on these issues: to ask the tough questions, to give the issue the time it needs to arrive at a just and thoughtful resolution. Instead, the ASPCA rushed to kill Oreo and permanently closed the door to an animal that needed the full force of the ASPCA’s compassion—and vast resources—the most.

 

Ignoring the Public

A few short years ago, this case would have had the same tragic ending, with the majority of the dog loving public angry that Oreo’s life had come to this short end. But their anger would have been directed only at her former abuser. Today, that anger is still strong, but it is also being directed at the agency which was supposed to protect her from that ultimate harm and fundamentally failed. This is the same anger that forced Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle—like Sayres, another stalwart defender of killing—to stop pursuing the automatic destruction of abuse victims. Today, despite the claims of aggression which would have ended the dialog in the past, people want, deserve, and believe the dogs deserve the happy endings to which they are not only entitled, but which are readily available if men like Sayres and Pacelle would only give it to them. But time and time again, they choose not to.

That Oreo may not have been an immediate adoption candidate due to aggression issues is therefore secondary to the will of the people who wanted Oreo saved, who demanded that Oreo be saved, who were not swayed by false calculations of quality of life, of talk of being traumatized, of any other rationale that would have allowed Sayres and Pacelle to kill dogs without public condemnation. People are tired of the excuses, they are tired of the justifications, and they are tired of the killing.

Because I was quoted in the New York Times article (a bit misquoted actually as I would never call a dog an “it.” I was referring to the testing, not the dog), I was flooded by e-mails and telephone calls. The anger at Sayres was resolute. As one of those individuals noted,

Missing completely from the ASPCA’s response is any acknowledgment whatsoever of the concerns and outrage of the public who fund their work. The public was disrespected; their concerns guided by compassion disregarded.

The gulf between what the public expects from a humane society and the conduct of the ASPCA and others in their league is so at odds with humanity, a gulf so wide, it cannot be crossed. Instead of building a bridge to create needed dialog, Ed Sayres mounted a barricade from which he ran a self-serving propaganda campaign to force his views. He forgot that the ASPCA is publicly funded. He behaved like a dictator, not a leader.

 

Set Up to Fail?

No analysis on Oreo’s death would be complete without an evaluation of how the ASPCA determined that she was aggressive: Did the ASPCA evaluate her fairly? Given the abuse she suffered, how painful was she? Did they give her enough time to learn to trust again? Critics have charged that the ASPCA set her up for failure. That is an important issue and one that cannot be left to the often self-serving claims that have defined the ASPCA over the years.

As in many of these cases, people are questioning whether she was truly as aggressive as Sayres is trying to make out. There have been unconfirmed reports that staff and volunteers have claimed the ASPCA is exaggerating, and the ASPCA has not yet released any videotapes of her which would shed light on the real extent of her alleged aggression. According to unconfirmed reports, two staff members indicated that while the dog did show aggression, she could also be very affectionate, and as a result, they felt she was treatable. Unconfirmed reports also indicate that staff members asked Sayres for a reprieve so she could be placed in a sanctuary. And finally, unconfirmed reports indicate that a volunteer was able to go in and handle Oreo, despite some aggression issues. I have not been able to verify the veracity of these claims, but since this is secondary to the main issues above, their resolution would not alter what should have been the outcome.

On top of these nagging issues, there is the question of whether Ed Sayres is fit to make the final determination. I worked very closely with Sayres at the San Francisco SPCA. It was Sayres who was responsible for the decline and eventual abandonment of the No Kill goal in San Francisco. It was Sayres who embarked on the boondoggle of building a $20 million specialty hospital despite other specialty veterinary hospitals in that city and surrounding areas; and projections that it was not needed, would ultimately harm the San Francisco SPCA’s finances without meeting an unmet need, and cause programs for homeless animals to be curtailed. It is no surprise that those predictions have come to pass: The SPCA is now losing $3,000,000 every year, has eliminated 25% of its staff, has cut lifesaving programs, and appears to be racing toward financial oblivion, all due to the legacy of Sayres’ catastrophic leadership. As I wrote in Redemption about his tenure in San Francisco, Sayres inherited an,

SPCA with a strong infrastructure, departments that had become the envy of the growing No Kill movement, and a fundraising apparatus that had amassed an endowment of over forty million dollars. [He] would not fully leverage the opportunity he was given. In a short period of time, with money being wasted, fundraising opportunities missed, deficits created, an increasingly bloated bureaucracy developing, and key programs gutted or eliminated, the SPCA finally abandoned all pretensions toward No Kill in San Francisco.

This is a man who, as head of the wealthiest and most powerful SPCAs in the nation, claimed on the front page of USA Today, the most widely circulated newspaper in the country, that not killing was the moral equivalent of killing. This is a man who in Austin, Texas, has chosen to attack No Kill and shelter reform advocates and hinder their goals by throwing his organization’s support behind a shelter director who refuses to embrace alternatives to killing and who also kills tens of thousands of animals annually despite hundreds of empty cages at her facility. Sayres is also taking credit for the modest decline in killing this year which is exclusively the result of the work of a private rescue group saving the animals the ASPCA-partner shelter is otherwise determined to kill.

During my tenure with him in San Francisco, Sayres rarely ventured out of his office, almost never walked the kennels or interacted with the animals, and was so detached, that he simply signed off on whatever his staff said, no matter how regressive those he hired were (and there are plenty of regressive people at the ASPCA also). But there is one incident in particular which sheds light on the Oreo case.

When I was working with Sayres in San Francisco, he had signed off on the killing of a dog who I felt deserved further evaluation. He made the decision to kill a dog without seeing the dog, without observing the evaluation, without, I would venture, even being able to pick the dog out of a kennel of other dogs. I objected and suggested that we needed to set the bar higher. I gave him a formal proposal that, before killing an animal, he appoint a guardian ad litem, someone who would represent the dog (or cat) the same way an attorney would defend the accused during a death penalty case. It would not cost him anything, as I was an attorney, I already worked there, and I agreed to represent the animals whenever a behaviorist or veterinarian issued the death warrant. He said, “No.” Ironically, that is the process used in the criminal and civil case against dog slayer Michael Vick. A guardian was appointed by the federal judge overseeing the disposition of the dogs. As a result, the vast majority of Vick’s victims were saved. In other words, when Sayres is given the chance to be fully involved, he chooses not to be, even when it means death for dogs at the shelter he oversees; or when it means a lost opportunity to advance this movement, as would befit someone in his position.

 

The Great Betrayal

In 1866, over 140 years ago, Henry Bergh began the modern humane movement in the United States with the founding of the ASPCA. For the rest of his life, Bergh devoted himself to saving the lives of animals in and around New York City. For over two decades, Bergh spent each and every night, regardless of freezing temperatures, walking the streets of New York City tending to sick animals, fighting for their rights, working to save them, and confronting—and stopping—their abusers.

At the time, New York City had the largest horse-pulled railway in the world. In one poignant incident, one evening in February of 1871 during the evening rush hour, working people rushed for the cars, and the horses began to strain with heavy loads through snow and slush. As one overloaded car reached the corner near where Bergh stood, the driver was ready to give the horses another lash when the call came to “Stop!” and “Unload!” It was Bergh. “Who the hell are you?” came the reply from the driver. “Unload!” called the order again. When the driver refused, Bergh reportedly pitched him into a snow bank and unhitched the horses. Often, Bergh would completely stop traffic on the lines, causing traffic jams that would leave thousands of people stranded and cursing to no avail—because one man had stopped all the traffic to protect a single horse.

As hard as Bergh labored to protect all animals, he worked equally hard to protect dogs, particularly against abuses at the hands of city dogcatchers. Through prosecutions of abusive dogcatchers, lobbying for stronger laws and greater protections, and by striving himself to save them, he reduced deaths for dogs at the hands of the city pound by over 80 percent in just one year alone. Henry Bergh would not have killed Oreo.

Today, Ed Sayres sits in the chair once occupied by Bergh. He does not advance the cause of animal protection. He is not a tireless champion on their behalf. He does not faithfully represent Bergh’s vision, nor does he faithfully represent how most Americans now feel about animals. Instead, when given the opportunity to save the life of an animal, he cowers in his office, refusing to return telephone calls, while collecting a paycheck of half a million dollars a year. On the afternoon of Friday, November 13, Ed Sayres had a personal driver take him home. Oreo’s body was sitting in a freezer, waiting to be delivered to a landfill.

Toward the end of his life, Bergh would often lament, “I hate to think what will become of this [SPCA] when I am gone.” Ed Sayres has answered that question for him. And Sayres’ answer: “an agency that kills savable dogs,” would have hurt Henry very deeply.

When I was growing up, the ASPCA represented very little beyond an annual fundraising calendar with pictures of kittens and puppies and platitudes about the human-animal bond. And while we have all grown up to demand more than calendars and killing, the ASPCA has not. And while that agency claims to be a leading voice for the animals and the people who love them, their actions toward Oreo demonstrate otherwise: The ASPCA doesn’t represent the dog lovers at Pets Alive. It doesn’t represent the values of the American people. It no longer represents the fierce compassion of its founder. And it certainly doesn’t represent dogs like Oreo.

URGENT Situations for 3 HomeFur-ever Animals

We at HomeFur-ever would like to make our audience aware of 3 VERY SPECIAL ANIMALS which are in need of URGENT re-homing.  We are desparate to find a foster home, adoptive home, or sanctuary where each of these animals can be provided with the special care they need to give them the best possible quality-of-life in order that they may live out the remainder of their lives with the dignity they deserve. 

The animals are currently located in the Detroit metro area, however, if a suitable home is located for them outside the area we have several options available to insure they would be able to be transported to that location.  Obviously the Detroit area or State of Michigan would be easiest, but we’ll do whatever is needed to provide them with the special care they need.

Please read their stories and contact us  if you can provide assistance or refer us to someone who can.

Case #1 – Scrappy -

Scrappy is owned by a person in a section of Detroit where there is a high rate of animal abuse and neglect.  He does have an owner who keeps him in the house most times, but that is about the best we can say of the situation.  Scrappy’s tale of woe really began when he got loose and did not come home for a couple of days.  Someone in the neighborhood spotted him lying under a vacant home near the porch so the owner retrieved him.  Upon return, his condition indicated to the owner that he had likely been hit by car but even so, he neglected to take him to a vet for medical care.  Scrappy was forced to pull himself around dragging his back legs which were no longer functional. 

When HomeFur-ever became aware of the situation and got involved, we first asked the owner to surrender the dog to us since it was obvious he was not being properly cared for.  The owner refused to surrender him saying, ‘I love him, couldn’t possibly give him up’ – of course our thought was, if you love him so much why isn’t he receiving proper medical care?  So, alternately, we begged the owner for authorization to rush him to our most skilled/experienced vet, where we found out by X-rays that someone had shot him and the bullet was still lodged in his lower back.  If Scrappy had received treatment when found, the Vet thought he would probably still be walking. Unfortunately, by the time the Vet got him, he was unable to change Scrappy’s circumstance.

So, as an alternative and at the Vet’s urging, HomeFur-ever has purchased a cart for Scrappy in hopes that if he could be exercised daily in the cart that his spine would straighten out, which in turn could possibly give him better muscle control in the kidney area thus making him a good candidate for medication to better control his urine; the Vet thought it a good sign that he still had muscle in the anal area.

We trained the owner on how to place him in the cart and spent time teaching Scrappy how to walk in it so he could again become mobile under his own power.  We educated the owner about the importance of daily use of the cart to benefit Scrappy.  In spite of his physical challenges, Scrappy is the sweetest, most loving animal, who easily gives kisses and just loves any attention he is given.  He obviously has a strong will to live and make the best of things.

It has been a couple of months since Scrappy has received his cart, and the owner recently called our Director to tell her that he is tired of cleaning up after the dog and does not have time to put him in his cart.  He is planning to put him down so he can get a puppy.  We have begged him to give us some time to find an alternative arrangement for Scrappy so he can live the life he deserves, but so far have been unable to find a foster or adoptive home for him.  Time is running out as the owner is quite impatient to be rid of him, and we are terrified that he will be put down any day.

Case #2 – Sanford

HomeFur-ever rescued Sanford after he appeared to have been hit by a car. He had two broken legs, one with a compound fracture.  Poor Sanford was in so much pain that he had chewed off his foot to try to alleviate the pain. Unfortunately, that leg was damaged beyond repair and had to be amputated.

You would think he had suffered enough and the story would end there, but such is not the luck of our poor Sanford.  Unfortunately, during his recovery he was frightened and managed to escape from the veterinarian’s office where he was receiving care.  This led to him being missing for several weeks until a good samaritan finally found him hiding under a porch looking for scraps of food.  They saw his HomeFur-ever tag and we were able to get him back to complete his treatment and work toward giving him a much better life.

Unfortunately, due to a shortage of foster homes, Sanford has to live in a foster home that has a lot of other foster animals who are left on their own much of the day while the foster Mother is out working, including some who didn’t like him very much, so there are times when those animals have attacked him.  This resulted in Sanford becoming very timid and fearful.

Even with all of this, Sanford has been a trouper!  He adapted fairly well to the loss of the leg and learned to get around as needed, and as time has passed, he seems to have overcome his fear of other dogs.  Unfortunately, he has now suffered a spinal stroke and is starting to lose his battle to gain a new life.  As a result of the stroke the vet indicates he needs regular physical therapy with a professional, and daily physical therapy at home.  However, the home where he is currently placed is unable to provide this extensive type of care and Sanford’s condition is deteriorating quickly as a result.  We have been unable to find anyone else who is willing to take him on in a foster or adoptive situation.

Case #3 – Celeste

This is Celeste, a VERY small German Shepherd at only 30 lbs. She is somewhere between 10 – 15 years old, and unfortunately is dying from cancer.

She doesn’t have very long to live, so we’ve been trying to find a quiet foster home where she can end her days in a loving environment, but have so far been quite unsuccessful – she is currently living in a foster home with multiple animals where they are doing their best to care for her and give her the calm environment she needs, but it’s not the best situation for her.

She will need hospice care, but there is actually little more involved than giving some meds to keep her comfortable, feeding her in small amounts several times per day, and wiping her eyes to clear away the liquids that collect there. She’s a very quiet girl who doesn’t move very well, but just loves laying outside in the sunshine.  We believe she previously had a stroke, but the meds do help her move better so she can do her business when needed. She still currently has control of her bodily functions, though she does have a very hard time walking.

Each of these animals has had to suffer the worst that life has to offer; we hope that our readers will help us find a situation for each of them that will enable them to live the rest of their lives seeing only the best that life can offer them.  Can you find it in your heart to help?

A New National Initiative: The Shelter Pet Project

Have you ever adopted a new pet?  Where did you get your pet from; the pet store, a friend, a breeder, a newspaper ad?  Did you even consider adopting a rescued animal from an animal rescue or shelter?  Probably not, and you’re not alone.

Consumers tend to have the perception that animals who land with rescues or in shelters ‘have something wrong with them’, whether it be medical or behavioral issues.  In fact, however, such is not the case.  In fact, most animals ending up in such a situation are there because of a situation that has occurred in their owners life such as: divorce, a death in the family, bankruptcy, moving to a place that won’t allow pets, etc.  Some of these animals are surrendered to shelters, most are just abandoned to fend for themselves.

According to The Humane Society of the United States, of the 8 million pets that enter animal shelters and rescue groups every year, approximately 3 million of these healthy and treatable pets are euthanized due to a lack of adoption. While there has been steady progress on the issue (the number of animals put down was approximately 24 million in the 1970s), the continued euthanasia of our best friends and family members is a national tragedy. 

The euthanasia of pets by animal shelters and animal control agencies comes at an enormous moral and economic cost. Each year public and private agencies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on animal care.   Increasing the adoption rate from rescues and shelters would diminish labor, feeding, and physical infrastructure costs. 

Adopting a pet is a life-changing and enriching experience. When adopting a pet, people are obtaining companions that give them unconditional love, affection, and attention. Adopting a pet from a shelter not only saves an animal’s life, but is also good for our own well-being as research shows that owning a pet has many positive psychological and physical health benefits. The animals rescued from shelters know you’ve saved their lives, and they typically treat their rescuers with lifelong loyalty and affection. And, adopting from a rescue or shelter makes space so that another animal may be rescued in his/her place.

To help get this message out to the public at-large, the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie’s Fund are joining with the Ad Council on a national multi-media public service campaign.  The goal of this effort is to increase shelter pet adoption by showing people that shelter pets are loving, well-adjusted animals who are homeless through no fault of their own.  HomeFurever is proud to endorse and promote this effort.  Click HERE to learn more about this wonderful initiative, and how you can help increase animal adoptions from rescues and shelters.