>>In 2007, Best Friends rescued a failed and dilapidated Pets Alive sanctuary by investing over a million dollars and 8 months of a rotating cadre of Best Friends staff to get the organization back on its feet. Best Friends has spent millions of dollars and countless hours of staff and volunteer time in the past few years bailing out or cleaning up after 501c3s and rescues that have gotten in over their head with animals they can’t handle. These include Pets Alive, Gabbs, Nevada, FLOCK in Las Vegas, Oasis Sanctuary in New York….

…In fact, a number of dogs from Pets Alive, to whom the current management did not feel they could do justice, and who had languished there in squalid conditions prior to our intervention in 2007, were taken in at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah.<<

Yes, Best Friends, this is true. Well MOST of it. It wasn’t a million dollars you spent here. We know, because we got the bill from you that your past CEO, Paul Berry eventually waived, when he saw how great we were doing and how we would become a force for animals in this area. That bill, before it was waived, was just under $500,000. A minor point, but please, no need to inflate it. Let’s stick to the facts here. We have not bad mouthed you or beaten you up – in fact when people were saying they were going to withdraw support from you, we said “DON’T DO THAT”!  We have stressed how we disagree with your opinion on being neutral about this and how critical we needed your support on this bill. That’s it. Others have run with it and it has gone viral but to attack us isn’t really necessary. We didn’t…we COULD. Remember all the things that happened in those eight months? Ouch. We all know each others secrets, don’t we? Secrets that are better left between us, yes?

WE – Pets Alive – don’t really have any secrets. Our bad history has been all over the web (and we include it on our website). In fact, we make no secret about it at all – I am the one that called you when I saw Pets Alive, and how bad it was. I was the one that personally begged you to come down and save all the animals. WE, the people here now, are NOT the people that were here THEN when the situation was so bad. YOU put us here, YOU trained us, WE are YOU. We follow all your protocols, and all your job descriptions and indeed use YOUR adoption contract, and YOUR surrender forms, and your hiring methods – we are you. We are what you trained us to be. And you trained us to always be on the side of animals and speak out and help where we see wrong.

That is what we have done here…when we tried to save Oreo. When we try to save animals from other shelters that will kill them, if there is any way that we can help.

But most of all…we do what you asked us to do. What your former CEO’s (Michael Mountain and Paul Berry) asked us to do when they left. They said “We will absolve your debt to us. Instead pay it forward. Help other rescues like we helped you. Help animals. Be the GOOD in the world. Be the change. Do what you can to make things better for animals in your neck of the woods.”

I get up every single day with that intent, and that goal, and I take that promise that we made to you very seriously. We have done that. We did what you asked. Let me give you a little summary.

• We have helped make FOUR shelters no-kill. We take in their over-flow, we help them develop programs, we help them by inviting them to our adoption events, or putting their animals on our petfinder or by directing our people to them. How many animals have they now saved as a result? How many less have died as a result of what happened with Pets Alive? We ask them what you asked of us – Pay it Forward. Help others. And they do. How many more will THEY then help and so on? So was your dropping half a mil here a waste? Do you regret it? Let’s look….
• We have adopted out over 1000 animals from our own site every year since you left. That is over 2300 animals right from here. 2300 that have lived as a result of us being here.
• We have saved countless numbers of others by putting them in touch with OUR adopters when we don’t have a dog or cat to match what they are looking for – we help them find that animal in a local (or even NON local) shelter and help facilitate getting that animal to them. Those numbers are not counted, but they are there and they DO count.
• We have become the resource for new shelters starting out. This “dilapidated place” as you call us?… well, other shelter directors and managers come here in DROVES every year to take a tour, ask us questions, learn from us and brain storm with us. We ask them to go and help animals, and call us no matter what they need. And we are always there for them – late at night, early in the morning with advice, sharing our resources, helping however we can.
• We started a Humane Education program. We teach kids about empathy and about how animals feel and what THEY need to do to BE THE CHANGE in their generation. Teach them to go forth and speak up if the see animal cruelty or lack of animal care. And those kids – they are our next generation to try to make a difference.
• We have gone in and done mass rescues. The most recent in West Virginia where we saved 78 animals from a bad situation, brought them here, worked with a dozen other rescues and shelters to place them, get them into good homes and get them vetted and cared for. It was a massive undertaking for a small organization like us.
• We started a foster program- moving seniors and hard to place dogs into foster care to help them become more adoptable….we’re in the wee stages but so far it has been very successful.
• We allow kids to come and volunteer here. Something almost no other organization allows. Little children are here every week, playing with animals, walking them or just sitting and talking to them. We have helped families reconnect and teach their children about charity and love.
• We take in animals that have no other place to go – the ones that need surgeries, or have issues, the ones that no other place will touch and we get them here and we fix them up and we find them homes. if not then we provide a great quality of life for them here.
• We take surrender requests and we put those people in touch with our trainers to try to show them that they can keep the animals there in the home with them and they can work on the problems rather than giving up the dogs or cats.
• We have provided boarding or animals for other shelters when they had over flow, or for military having to go overseas.
• We are building and raising money for a medical building. When done, it won’t just be for US. We plan to offer to EVERY no-kill shelter in the area, or ones trying to be, the use of our facility. They will pay ONLY our cost for any treatment that any of their animals need. We will help other rescues and shelters save money to help develop programs and other ways to help their animals find homes, so that medical costs do not need to stand in the way.
• The medical facility will also offer low or no cost spay/neuter and inexpensive basic medical care to the community residents.
• We have bailed out another rescue – one that is three times the size of us – because they are no-kill, and because to lose them in the community that they are in would be devastating to animals. This was a huge undertaking and frightening for us but it looks like we may just pull that off. Then there is another facility – this one that can house 300 dogs and 200 cats that would otherwise be dead. We paid that forward and we’re still struggling there – don’t suppose you’d like to help?

So Best Friends. When you belittle us and accuse us of not being grateful…what more could you have asked for?
What more could any mentor have asked for, than what we have become?

And when we came to you with a plan to save thousands upon thousands of animals- your only answer is to refuse because you don’t think everyone is being nice enough to each other?
You have broken my spirit.
Broken it.
I had total faith and total belief in you. You were the leader, my mentor, the place that I put all my faith and trust in, and all my belief that things CAN be better that things WILL be better.

You are wrong on this issue and instead of stepping forward and contacting us to try to work it out for January, you instead malign us on your website. I’m so saddened by this. I still believed that you would step up. Right up until today’s post…I still held out. Ask Matt, ask Nathan, ask anyone. They have been telling me that you have gone to the dark side and I said no way….wait and see they will do the right thing. I am so sorry to be wrong. I am deeply broken over this.

I wish, more than you could know, that you were by our side.
I get it though now. I finally get it.

We could have done GREAT things in New York together.
WE – Pets Alive – still will.

Read John Sibley’s blog. Your own staff recognize the negative changes in your organization.
Why can’t you?

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It’s a classic David versus Goliath proposition, and Goliath is winning.
They’ve convinced the chairman of the Agriculture Committee (Robert
Magee) to table the bill because the “language isn’t clear.” What part
of “if a qualified rescue requests an animal that would otherwise be
euthanized the request must be fulfilled” don’t they understand?

Emails and calls are pouring into Magee’s office and the other members
of both the Senate and Assembly Agriculture committees are getting them
as well. Animal lovers and voters are making it clear that they will
hold these people responsible for the innocent lives that will be lost
should this bill die in committee.

I have been watching the email servers at the Senate and the Assembly,
and they are bogged down with emails to the point where we have to send
over and over again to get them through. This is fantastic! Keep it up,
my friends. In a election year that has a tremendous anti-incumbent
sentiment we need to let them know that we’re watching, we vote, and we
will blame them for the lives that would be lost should this bill be passed.

Ed Sayres of the ASPCA, Jane Hoffman of the Mayor’s Alliance, and groups
like the Animal Law “Coalition” have poured money and lobbyist time into
killing this bill. Let’s show them that in the end the PEOPLE of New
York decide the POLICIES of New York, not some power hungry elitists
with our money spilling out of their pockets.

I, Matt DeAngelis, promise that should Mr. Magee table this bill I will
personally pour my own personal time, energy and money into ensuring he
is defeated this November, WHEN HE IS UP FOR RE-ELECTION.

We need you loyal supporters. Go to this page:

http://petsalive.com/email

And send emails to the Ag Committee members letting them know this is
their last chance to choose life over politics. Urge them to vote YES in
getting the bill out of committee, rather than tabling it like our
opponents want to do.

Please…do it now. If you’d rather call, please do. But do it today. This
is our last chance (all the assembly phone numbers can be found here: http://bit.ly/9nC0z2).

Call and email friends and tell them to do it too.

Thanks. Together we have made such a tremendous difference in the lives
of companion animals, and here is an amazing opportunity to save
thousands. PLEASE. Act now.

Matt

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

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

For the weak of heart I will summarize.

The basics are that the petition hopes to shut down gas chamber murders of animals in Gaston County, North Carolina. Georgia recently did something similar. It is now illegal to murder animals in a gas chamber. Yippee. I guess. Killing them other ways is still fine. This new attempt to get these law passed is called the “Killing With Kindness” campaign.

There is absolutely no doubt that this archaic method of murdering animals should be eliminated. No question. However I can’t bring myself to sign the petition. It seems to me that by signing it I am saying that THIS method of murdering is not ok, but lethal injection or OTHER methods of killing these poor helpless animals IS ?

Instead of raising all this public awareness about gas chambers, why not take it a step further and raise awareness about the numbers being killed? About why shelter directors are not TRYING to get animals out? Why perfectly healthy animals are killed while rescuers stand by willing to take them. Why the county will pay for these mass murders and body disposals but won’t pay for what could help solve the problem – spay/ neuter clinics. Why many shelters don’t try to reunite animals with their owners, don’t hold them for a decent amount of time to help facilitate that, don’t do offsite adoptions, or utilize petfinder, or promote their animals in any way whatsoever. Why some shelters kill animals even though they have empty runs and empty space (preparing for what MIGHT come in, or because they can keep staff low).

We deal with some shelters that are killing 200 to 300 dogs every week. You read that correctly. Every WEEK. I haven’t even MENTIONED cats. Did you read that? I want to be sure it sinks in. Every week. ONE shelter, in ONE town, in ONE state. This shelter has no programs. No adoption hours, no foster care, and they kill everything for the holidays so no staff have to come in and work on Christmas or other “holidays”. This is the TRUE horror and what awareness needs to be raised for.

I have relatives in the south who tell me about a dog they found, a stray. I tell them DONT BRING IT TO THE SHELTER!!!! Me! A shelter director. That is what I tell my family. I say trap it, get it fixed and help it with some food. Try to find a home, but if you can’t keep it, whatever you do, don’t bring it to a shelter. It stands a MUCH better chance of surviving out on it’s own than going into the system.

I mean shouldn’t THESE be the things that we get behind? Should we be desperately trying to stop gas chambers but ignoring the rest of this? Should we just accept the rest of this? Or are we saying “well…..one step at a time”?

By signing this petition….even though on principal I do agree with it, I feel as if I am saying…ok don’t do it (murder animals) that way. Do it THIS way. And THAT is ok. Well. Not “ok” but “less-not-ok”.

I can’t bring myself to do that. I do hope that this petition raises awareness and that you all sign it and support this….but personally I just can’t do it. It eats at me at a deep soul wrenching level.

I DO hope you all sign it. I DO hope that this is successful and it happens. I want them all gone. I want it to stop, so badly. I hope this is successful.

It may be a surprise to you all, that my partner in crime over here, the other Pets Alive director, Matt, disagrees with me about this. That is rare with us. I respect his opinion about this though, and completely understand the POV. He feels this is definitely a step in the right direction. It is incrementalism toward the goal of not killing them at all. He is even willing to pay, out of his own pocket, to send staffers to classes to learn how to do lethal injections if they promise to dismantle their gas chambers. On many levels, I deeply respect that. But I just can’t support it. I just can’t say “kill them nicer”. I can only say….

STOP KILLING.
TRY HARDER.
DEVELOP PROGRAMS.

After all – YOU – are all they have.

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His crime? He’s a pit bull and he lives in Ohio. This is called breed-specific legislation, and the worst I’ve ever seen has been introduced by a moronic legislator by the name of Tyrone Yates of Cincinnati. Here is the yutz himself.

The details are simple:

The bill requires all owners to surrender their “pit bulls” within 90 days of the effective date of the proposed law. The bill is unequivocal that the dog warden “shall” euthanize all pit bulls within 10 days of their surrender.

Also under this proposal a dog warden or other officer who has probable cause to believe that a dog is a pit bull dog, may apply for a search warrant. With the search warrant the officer will have the authority to seize the pit bull dog and surrender it to the dog warden to be killed.

There are so many things wrong with this bill. First and foremost — IDIOT…PIT BULL IS NOT A BREED. Secondly, isn’t this America? The courts have held that animals are property. Coming in like Nazi Stormtroopers and seizing people’s property seems kind of against that quaint piece of paper we don’t hear much about anymore — the Constitution. I love the fact that they paper over this by making the dog warden apply for a search warrant, which will be rubber stamped if there is “reasonable cause” to believe the dog is a “pit bull.” What a joke.

Seizing and killing dogs just because they are a certain breed is un-American and unfair.

Luckily we have courts to overturn these stupid laws. Um….not in Ohio. The geniuses on the Ohio Supreme Court have already upheld a law banning the ownership of “pit bulls” in Toledo. Here’s how it reads:

No person or organization or corporation shall own, keep, harbor or provide sustenance for more than one vicious dog, as defined by Ohio R. C. 955.11, or a dog commonly known as a Pit Bull or Pit Bull mixed breed dog, regardless of age, in the City of Toledo, with the exception of puppies commonly known as Pit Bull or Pit Bull mixed breed for which the owner has filed an ownership acknowledgement form in person with the Dog Warden of Lucas County, prior to reaching seven (7) days of age. The ownership of these puppies must be transferred according to Ohio R. C. 955.11 before they are three (3) months of age. Additionally, this section requires that all vicious dogs, as described in the Ohio Revised Code, or dogs commonly known as Pit Bull or Pit Bull mixed breed dogs are required, when off the owners’ premises, to be securely confined as described in Ohio R.C. 955.22 and muzzled.

(b) Any vicious dog, as defined in the Ohio R. C. 955.11, or Pit Bull which is referred to in Ohio R. C. 955.11, which is outside the premises of the dog owner, shall be kept on a leash and muzzled until the dog’s return to the premises of ownership.

So anyone who owns a “pit bull” has to keep him muzzled anytime they leave their house. And the courts say this is okay, because the government has “legitimate interests in protecting citizens from dangers associated with pitbulls.”

Dangers? As someone from Ohio pointed out, here are selected risks in their state:

Fatal Dog Attacks in Ohio as Compared to Other Selected Risks:

Fatal dog attacks: 1
Struck by lightning : 3
Farm animal-related deaths: 4
Bicycle-related fatalities: 18
Child (<10 yrs.) drowned: 21
ATV-related deaths 30
Automobile accident fatalities: 1,379

So there are 1379% more auto accidents than dogbites. Toyotas are the most likely to cause accidents. I think they should seize people’s Toyotas and crush them. What’s the difference really?

I know we have supporters in Ohio. Write the idiots you elected and let them know how stupid this law will be. In fact, anyone can do it. Just go to the Ohio General Assembly website. One last thing. Remember how I said Pit Bull wasn’t a breed? That’s one of the biggest problems with this legislation. Take a look at all of the dogs on this page. Not a single one is a Pit Bull.

If they lived in Ohio they’d be either muzzled or dead. The breeds, from the top picture:

American Staffordshire Terrier, Tyrone “The Yutz” Yates, Presa, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Bulldog, Boxer, Alpha Blue Blood. The pictures are from the website Find The Pit Bull. He comes to a great conclusion. “So where is the pit bull? He is at home…but you can bet that the media will blame him for any and all dog attacks in his neighborhood.”

Meet Phantom. She’s an American Staffordshire Terrier. She was saved from euthanasia 6 years ago and is living the high life at the DeAngelis house. If I lived in Ohio I’d be looking at real estate listings right now.

Let’s end this ignorance and stupidity.

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