Archives for Animal Rescue category
I think that most of you have followed the story of Gloria. Gloria was a cat that was abandoned at an ASPCA mobile clinic about a month ago. The ASPCA turned her over to the ACC in NYC. After three weeks the ACC put her on the kill list and Pets Alive pulled her. We discovered the following morning that this cat had a very severely broken leg.
It was a terrible thing to lay in bed at night and think about this cat suffering for so many weeks in so much pain, and no one doing anything for her. I can’t even imagine the pain and I keep hearing over in my head the little whimper she made as I held her when we we first got her here at Pets Alive. At the time we didn’t think too much of it, but by the next day, when we found out what was wrong with her, it was deeply unsettling to us all. With that fueling us, Pets Alive went on the attack. John Sibley, a regular volunteer at Pets Alive and also a web blogger who first told us about Gloria, also had a lot to say about the issue – check out his blogs here.
Normally I would just attack via social media and it might spread viral across the web and a lot of people would know about it, but this time I decided to try something else. I called them and asked them about it. I have a person I would call a friend at the ASPCA and I said “How did this happen. How could this happen.” And you know something? She was aghast. And astonished and just as upset as I was. And she turned it over to her superiors and you know what happened? They looked into it. They did a complete investigation as to what happened and why and how and they came to some conclusions.
Are you ready for this?
They said: We were wrong. We made a mistake in this situation, and we’re putting in place change so something like this can never happen again.
Here is the press statement that is being released by the ASPCA in response to Gloria.
The ASPCA has conducted an internal investigation into why Gloria, a stray cat with a broken leg who was abandoned in front of one of the ASPCA’s mobile spay/neuter vehicles, was transferred to NYC AC&C.
Our staff followed our regular procedure of sending stray animals left with us to NYC AC&C since that is where people who have lost their pets go to look for them. At the time Gloria was admitted to AC&C, we notified its staff that Gloria had a broken leg and needed treatment.
The bottom line is that we failed Gloria, and we are grateful that Pets Alive saved her. Our strict adherence to regular procedure was clearly contrary to our mission in this case, and we deeply regret that we did not alter protocol to treat Gloria immediately instead of relying on AC&C to do so. We are implementing new procedures to prevent this from happening again.
We thank Pets Alive for stepping up to provide Gloria with the surgery and care she needed. The ASPCA is awarding a grant to Pets Alive to fund the cost of Gloria’s surgery, medical care, and convalescence and to continue its work saving more animals.
So let’s take a look at this.The ASPCA brought Gloria the cat to the ACC because that was standard protocol. The cat was a stray and if the owner was looking for her the only place they can find her is at the ACC. So that is where they bring her and they TELL them the cat needs care immediately.
It appears that by this statement, the ASPCA is taking full responsibility for maybe dropping the ball on Gloria, but my mind really goes to the ACC. The ASPCA had the cat, diagnosed the cat, followed protocol and brought the cat to the ACC where she was….what? Neglected for three weeks and then put on a death list. But I digress. This is about the ASPCA. The ASPCA followed their protocols.
Pets Alive has similar ones. When people bring a stray animal to us, we always tell them it has to go first to the local humane society so that if the owner is looking for the pet they have the best chance of finding him or her. Then we do monitor the dog or cat, because once an animal steps foot on this property we wind up all feeling a bit of a sense of responsibility to that animal and if they go on to a death list we will pull and take them here, but at least their owners had the best possible chance of recovering the animal! So we can’t really attack the ASPCA for doing that. I understand the part about bringing a stray to the place the owners can find their pet, should they be looking. And they told the ACC about this and why should they not have expected the ACC to treat Gloria? After all the ACC is responsible for the animals in NYC aren’t they? Darnit, I digress again.
But in this case the ASPCA issues this statement and they CHANGE that policy – my friends this is completely astonishing. This press release says to me, if I were to sum it up: “Wow. We messed up on this one. We should have done things differently. We are upset about this and we’re damn well going to change things and do things differently from now on”.
And then they acknowledge US and ask for people to make donations to us? How gracious is that? But more importantly than that they are changing their protocols. If an animal crosses their path it won’t be standard any more to bring to the ACC. Instead they will take responsibility and care for that animal. Should they have done this in the first place? Yes. No question in my mind. Yes. An animal needs medical care and you have a medical facility well then help the animal. Then again, no one ever really believes what a crummy place the ACC really is. This is just more proof.
When I got the call from the ASPCA to tell me this, they sounded very upset about the whole thing. It wasn’t a snow job. I completely felt that they meant it. They had launched an investigation. They had gotten to the bottom of what had happened. They CHANGED their protocols. I was completely astonished. My contact at the ASPCA said to me “When it is about the animal, and everyone remembers that, the right thing WILL happen”.
This isn’t about the ASPCA. This isn’t about Pets Alive. This isn’t about an “image” for the media. This isn’t even about the ACC (ok, it is but I’m trying to make a point here). This is about Gloria. It was about failing Gloria and then fixing that. I will be the first one out there attacking and reporting when I’m upset with the way things are being handled by other organizations and if I am going to do that then I also have to be the first one to say “I’m impressed. GREAT job” when they do something right. In this case the ASPCA did something right. They admitted fault. They fixed it going forward. And I will tell you that as the director of Pets Alive I have made many mistakes over the years. I like to think I never make them twice. But there is no way you are always going to do everything perfectly and neither will our staff. When we have screwed up, we acknowledge it and we fix it going forward.
I’m impressed with the ASPCA in this situation. And yes I’m grateful that they will help us with the costs for Gloria, which has been financially staggering to us…but that isn’t it. It isn’t about the money. I’m over joyed that they looked into this. Were upset about it. Fixed it. And contacted me about it. I’m super impressed with this press release. It means a great deal. It means a lot. Read between the lines at all the meaning behind this. And be impressed too.
Now, ASPCA if you would just get behind CARA, we would be happy to rename the proposed law to “The ASPCA is FREAKING awesome ACT of 2012“. Whaddya say?
And ACC? Really. The ASPCA, in my opinion, had MUCH MUCH less responsibility in this situation. You examined Gloria THREE times. Yet they stand here and take the blame for this. They had Gloria just a few hours. And THEY are standing here accepting responsibility. You had Gloria in your “care” for more than three weeks. YOU examined her three separate times. You let her suffer like this. YOU need to step up and make changes to make sure this never happens again. Will you? What changes can you make there to make sure cats like Gloria don’t slip through the cracks?
(Damnit. I made it about the ACC again. I can’t seem to help myself.)
But anyway, thank you ASPCA for stepping up. Responding to this. And fixing it going forward. It is what we needed for you and we’re glad that you addressed this.
(I personally love the press release part where you mention Pets Alive!!!!!! – can we throw in a URL there? A donation box? No? Ok, Yeah that would be pushing it.)
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Jan 27, 2012. There are comments.
Some of you have asked me in person, or in email how is it we could work with the ASPCA on the Arkansas rescue when we have vilified them in the past, especially over Oreo.
I’m surprised that people don’t understand this.
Surprised that some of YOU don’t understand it, and I felt that writing a blog would help to overcome some of the misconceptions.
Have you ever read Pets Alive mission statement? Oh don’t bother to go and look for it, let me post it here for you:
Our mission is to improve the lives of companion animals everywhere by any means possible, including rescue, adoption, advocacy, collaboration, intervention and education.
That’s our mission statement. Short and sweet. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 18, 2011. There are comments.
In this “business” we see it all the time. Really well meaning people that get in over their heads. I’m not speaking of hoarders. Most psychologists feel hoarding is more of a mental disease than a controllable impulse.
I’m talking about well meaning rescuers that have let their hearts lead the way and they put their logic and their finances aside to try to help “just one more”.
I’ve seen so many cases where people were living in absolute squalor, all their resources gone, all their money gone, their homes in foreclosure and still much of the rescue community looks at them like they were heroes.
“They gave their WHOLE lives to the animals”.
I’m not impressed.
These people don’t impress me. I pity them. Not only that but they are HURTING us, our no-kill movement, they make us all look bad and “suspect”, and they are not good for the future of the animals in their care. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 11, 2011. There are comments.
This week, Pets Alive will be heading down to Arkansas to help out another rescue. The story is a sad one. This organization has been around for many years. They have done their best, with very little, in a rural area. In this area, for many people, animal lives are not highly valued and dogs are often dumped on the side of the road when they are not wanted. The kill rates in local shelters there top 95%.
So with very little, Jim and Peg tried to help. They ran into trouble a few years ago – the usual that we see so often. Too many animals, not enough resources. Another rescue stepped in then, taking 65 dogs from them with their promise to slow down or stop rescuing, as Peg had become sick with a cancer that would be terminal. Somehow the rescuing didn’t stop. Perhaps they tried, but Jim said every time he went to the mailbox there would be a box of puppies and he couldn’t just leave them there.
So here we are a year later, Peg has very little time left and Jim is desperate for help. It is a small community and the Southwind Animal Hospital (Justin and Dr. Corey Key) that have always cared the the animals there, were worried. They reached out to Pets Alive and asked us to help.
Could we take some animals? Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 08, 2011. There are comments.
There is a lot of confusion about Pets Alive and Manos Por Patas and what happened and why Chrissy is no longer working with us. We will state for the record that the previous director of Manos Por Patas was the ONLY member of the organization. The sole director and sole board member. When she could no longer run Manos Por Patas she appointed the Pets Alive board as the NEW board of Manos Por Patas and then she resigned, effectively turning over Manos Por Patas to Pets Alive. Once that was done, Pets Alive legally filed a DBA (Manos Por Patas - Doing Business as Pets Alive Puerot Rico), filed our by-laws with the state, and filed all the other legal paperwork to take over the charity. All donations received for Pets Alive Puerto Rico went to the EIN for Manos Por Patas (DBA as Pets Alive Puerto Rico).
Chrissy Beckles was a volunteer with our organization, and with Manos Por Patas. For over a year we had a very amicable relationship, at one point even offering her a paid position which she opted to not accept for various reasons. When we disagreed on some basics philosophies, Chrissy decided to start her own rescue. We were glad to see her continue rescue and glad to continue to support her doing so. Personally we have great admiration and respect for Chrissy. She is a passionate, loving person with a generous spirit. While Chrissy and Pets Alive no longer share a common dream, we do share a common goal, and that is to save the lives of dogs in Puerto Rico who are abandoned and abused. I know I speak for everyone at Pets Alive when I say that we wish her nothing but success in this mission.
However, the problem was that her new rescue was started under the Manos Por Patas name and was raising donations with that EIN#. This is not legal, as Pets Alive is legally responsible for all donations to that EIN. We are responsible for your tax receipts, we are responsible for claiming those donations on our 990’s, and responsible for many other federal regulations. We asked her to stop raising money under that EIN and things didn’t go well from there.
We HAD discussed turning over the name and EIN to Chrissy and allowing her to continue to run as Manos Por Patas, and all of us resigning, and leaving it to her alone, but in the end this was not possible as our organization had to at least complete the year and file our 990’s and handle all donations legalities, and then we found out a bunch of other legal issues that made it very complicated to now separate from that EIN and “DBA” (Doing Business As). Our board voted to continue running Pets Alive Puerto Rico under the current EIN – JUST AS WE RUN PETS ALIVE WESTCHESTER under the EIN# of the Elmsford Animal Sanctuary (Central Westchester Humane Society.) That TOO is a separate EIN from Pets Alive Middletown. We have DBA there as well.
We are very sorry that there has been confusion about this and some people do not understand all these issues and believe that somehow we have done something unscrupulous. I assure you that this is not so. Pets Alive works closely with many other organizations. We always do. As for “stealing ideas”, we don’t even understand that accusation. At Pets Alive we give ALL our ideas to ANYONE that can use them. Recently we came up with the Christmas morning pet delivery idea, and asked YesBiscuit! and other bloggers to blast it out so other shelters could make use of the idea. We share every single one of our legal forms, applications, adoption contracts, waivers and anything else we can think of with other organizations and tell them “Don’t recreate the wheel – take our logo off and slap yours on and use our stuff!”. So I’m unsure what ideas we supposedly stole, but I assure you that if we have an idea you want – TAKE IT!! USE IT! SAVE ANIMAL LIVES! If we stole yours (like our calendar idea we first saw at Boxer Rescue and we loved it and used it) then we apologize if we have somehow overstepped in some way but we use any great idea we see and we encourage others to use ours. TOGETHER we can save more lives, and any idea we have taken, or given, we hope has been to that effort – to save lives.
So I hope that clears up misconceptions.
This blog will now be closed for comments because this is the last comment we will make on this issue. So far in all the years we have operated, have we ever lied to you or steered you wrong?
No. We are upfront and honest with you. At this point our reputation and our history should speak for itself. So we address this, this ONE time and will make no further comment on it.
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 03, 2011. There are comments.
You’re not gonna believe this but Santa Claus called us this week.
We couldn’t believe it.
Santa? Calling US?
HERE?? From the North Pole?????
Oh my goodness.
We immediately started to think about the previous year. Had we been good? Are we on the good list this year? Was he calling because we were on the naughty list for fighting with some big organizations this year?
I admit it.
We were nervous.
We gathered all the staff around and put Santa on the speaker phone.
The first words of of his mouth were: ”HO-HO-HO Pets Alive!!”
We all laughed with glee at his jolly voice!
Santa said that indeed we had been VERY VERY VERY good this year. So good that he had selected us for a very special mission.
He was making us all “honorary elves” and empowering us to help him deliver some Christmas cheer!
We were shocked and delighted.
US???
He went on to say that he had a lot of little boys and girls that were getting dogs and cats for Christmas, but that he didn’t want to leave them in a box under the tree all night! He asked if there was any way that Pets Alive could help him this year.
Well, when Santa calls you, and asks you to help him, you do NOT say no! EVER.
So this year, Santa will visit Pets Alive on Christmas Eve. He will leave with us, all the dogs and cats, and puppies and kittens and rabbits that are going into new homes this season.
If you are a parent and you have already told Santa it is ok for your children to receive a pet this holiday season all you need to do is fill out our application, get approved, come down and select your pet (within a week of the holiday). Pets Alive will tell Santa and we will drive up to your house on Christmas morning, (with the Pets Alive MAGIC BUS) and knock on your door.
DING DONG!
::door opens, little boy looks up. There we stand in Santa hat, with clipboard, big MAGIC BUS behind us::
Us: “Hello, is this the house of Susie and Timmy So-and-So?”
Little Boy: “Yes. This is. I am Timmy So-and-So”.
Us: “Well, Timmy, get your sister, because we have a very special delivery from Santa for the two of you!!”
::We turn, whistle and out of the bus comes Santa’s Elf with Fido!! ::Us: “Timmy and Susie – Santa asked us to take care of your new dog, Fido. He stopped by Pets Alive so that Fido didn’t sit under the tree in a box all night! He asked us to deliver him to you this morning! Merry Christmas Timmy and Susie from Santa and Pets Alive! ….. and Merry Christmas to YOU , Fido, for you my sweet little furry friend, have finally found your forever home!”
See you on Christmas morning!
Click below to see available animals – more added every day, check back frequently:
(Some restrictions apply, must be within a reasonable travel distance from Pets Alive Middletown or Pets Alive Westchester)
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 02, 2011. There are comments.
The below blog was written by Joanna and Lauren, two of Pets Alive’d best volunteers. They are always there to support us, donate their time and energy to us, and even deeper than that, they are always coming up with ways to take us to the next level, the next step, the next frontier. They also handle our Humane Education, taking dogs offsite to classrooms or educational events to talk about animals, empathy, kindness and adoption. They have been a wonderful asset to our organization and we deeply appreciate their time and commitment. Recently, they decided to accept the challenge of CGC training and accrediting one of our dogs. Below is their experience. Thank you Lauren and Joanna. Zena has been blessed to have had this experience with you both.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Oct 28, 2011. There are comments.
At Pets Alive my job is mainly decision making. I probably make hundreds of decisions a day. Some are easy. Some are tough. But I think if you put it all in a nutshell that is my primary function as the executive director here. Make decisions. Yes, some are bound to be wrong and believe me, there isn’t anyone that can beat me up over those more than I can, so …save it. If I screwed up, then I’m already caning myself far worse than anyone else ever could. I understand that I’m human and that I’m not going to be right every time. I’m going to make mistakes like everyone else. I do accept that. When I do mess up, I try to make sure I understand why and not ever make that same mistake again. Not much more I can do than that.
I like to believe, and perhaps this is arrogant, that I don’t make a whole lot of mistakes when it comes to decision making about an animals life and his or her welfare. Other things, yes, but not about animal care. If an animal NEEDS it, then we get it done. Period. Somehow if they need an expensive surgery, we figure out a way to raise the money. If they need a special diet or food, we make that work. If they need a special sort of emotional or mental stimulation, we try to make sure that happens. These decisions aren’t difficult. These are the easy ones. These are black and white.
Sometimes it isn’t easy. Sometimes we have meetings and we decide things as a group because some decisions are tougher than others, but still I make them, with input, knowing that my heart is in the right place, and that right or wrong I am doing what I believe to be the best thing for the animal.
Recently though I was wrong. I made a very bad decision for an animal in our care. I don’t know why I feel the need to share it with you. Maybe part of my self flagellation, or maybe in the hopes that another rescuer might read this and see him or herself in this blog and make the RIGHT decision for that animal.
This is the story of Tyson.
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Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Jul 15, 2011. There are comments.
What a month at Pets Alive. One of the worst I can ever remember.
It has actually defeated me a little bit and slammed me to my knees. I’ll get back up again and dust off and go on, but sometimes we need some time to sit in the dust and cry. This is one of those times. Tomorrow or maybe next week I’ll be back with my fists in the air, but this week I’m feeling rather defeated.
First we had to say goodbye to Glen. Our wonderful, very senior horse. He had been battling a series of medical issues since we had taken him in a few years ago. Cancer, severe malnourishment, inability to absorb protein and much more. He was a tough case and we spent a lot of money and time and love on him. Last year, we even had to remove one of his eyes and still he valiantly fought on, grazing, hanging with his goat friends, and greeting EVERYONE who approached his fence. He was a special horse and we all loved him dearly. It was difficult to let him go and I still miss him and feel a pang in my heart when I see the gate to his pasture just standing open and empty. No matter how many years I am here, I hope that never goes away. I hope that it always hurts to lose one, and that I will always feel this terrible loss when we do.
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Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on Jun 09, 2011. There are comments.
Huckleberry came to Pets Alive Westchester a few months ago from a high kill shelter in the south where he had been turned in as a stray. He was in very poor physical condition and he had a large wound on his neck. As is the fate of so many dogs who wind up in the southern shelter system, Huckleberry was slated to be killed. A local southern rescue took him in and lovingly mended not only his wounds but his broken heart. When they asked for help placing him into a loving home, Pets Alive Westchester agreed to take this beautiful, sweet, boy and to find him a home.
When Huckleberry arrived, we were amazed at his stunning good looks and his gentle loving personality. This boy will find a home quickly, we thought. He waited patiently, and he watched as all of the dogs that made the journey north with him were adopted. New dogs came and went, but Huckleberry barely got a second glance. He was beginning to get restless, and had began pacing in his kennel run. He wanted out of the kennel. He wanted a quiet place to rest. He wanted company.
One night as we were making our rounds in the kennels, we found Huckleberry whimpering in his run, in obvious pain. We could see that his leg was broken. By following the trail of blood in his run, we theorized that he had climbed to the top of his run, gotten his leg caught and finally fell to the floor.
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Filed in
Animal Rescue by kerry on May 07, 2011. There are comments.