They published “15 Key Insights From 2011 From 15 Key Thinkers And Writers.”
Here’s insight number 8:

“Most people assume that the ASPCA, one of the largest and most well-funded animal-rights groups in the world, who profess to prevent cruelty to animals, would be all for advocating that homeless cats and dogs not be killed at animal shelters. Not so. A big eye opener: The ASPCA has actively fought to prevent cities from establishing no-kill shelters and aggressively fights bills proposed in local city councils that aim to reduce the number of innocent animals being killed. Another shocker? PETA, does too. The true protectors of animals are not the bureaucracy-rich animal rights organizations, but smaller groups and individuals. Nathan Winograd, author of Redemption, and Stanford-law-educated ex-criminal prosecutor and corporate attorney, is the founder of a growing no-kill-shelter movement—and gets my vote for most important intellectual this year. His no-kill actions challenge the status quo by thinking beyond the box. He’s developed a creative and realistic plan that many cities are successfully using to save most of their homeless animals. New York City’s ACC, who murders hundreds of cats and dogs each week needs to reform and implement his ideas.”

What does this mean to us?  To those of us in the trenches of the no-kill movement?
Simple.

It means that OUR views, our passion, and our belief that no kill is not only the right path for all shelters, but that it is the ONLY path, is no longer some small grassroots movement and idyllic philosophy.

The fact that Forbes would publish such a statement means that we have now entered the “mainstream media” (Ryan Clinton’s words).  This article means much more than the statement it presented to the public.  This article means that the mainstream media is not looking upon our movement as a small bunch of crazy radicals.  Instead we are being taken seriously, we are being discussed, talked about, and written about, and that they look at Nathan’s book and his ideas and his statements as true, factual and realistic.

My friends, this is absolutely pivotal.

For quite a long time we have believed this, lived it, fought for it, defended it, embraced it, and convinced others of it’s truth.  Now, we are being looked upon and recognized as the leaders, as the way to RIGHT and the ASPCA, long heralded as the organization to follow and believe in, with all their money and all their power, can not stop people from looking upon them with disgust and shame and demanding change.

The ASPCA is still fighting and still arguing the facts but in fact, they have already lost.  They already lost their battle and soon they too will have no choice but to join the rest of us “terrorists” and “extremists” because the wave is swallowing up everything else in its’ path and it is time now to get on board, or drown.  Indeed I feel the ASPCA is drowning now in their own mandates and policies and change is now truly inevitable for them.

The masses have spoken.
The people have spoken.

People WANT no kill.

They want to BELIEVE in shelters that don’t kill animals and that if they bring an animal to a shelter that the animal will be well cared for and adopted to a loving family again.  I would bet there isn’t anyone you could poll that would say “no I don’t want that.  I want to see the animal killed or treated horribly and kept in a cage and not adopted”.  No one wants that.  I believe that everyone wants to see animals survive in shelters and get out of them.

The disagreement is just about HOW it can be achieved and IF it can be done, and Nathan, through his book Redemption has PROVEN to America how it can be done.  If you have not read the book – GET IT.  If you are a non believer and are wrapped up in old myths that there are too many animals and not enough homes – GET THE BOOK.  Read it.  Then come back and talk to us.

When I look back over the past five years, to the differences in kill vs no-kill, and the amount of change that has occurred in just five years it is a riveting view. I see all change for the better. So many kill shelters that Pets Alive used to work with are now no kill.  We have been a part of helping them to accomplish that.   The annual no-kill conference has been a huge part of that happening.  Nathan is truly a visionary of our time.

And whether you like Nathan or dislike him – that is irrelevant.  You can not argue with the facts. You can not question the impact that he has had on changing things in America. It has been his mission, and his goal, and his life.  Long after Nathan is gone from this world, the instruments he has put in place will still be implemented and I believe that when the United States becomes a no-kill country, that our children and grandchildren will look to him as the father of that change. A catalyst if you will.

You don’t even have to agree with all his points of views.  But you can’t deny that the man has done more for the no kill movement than any other organization or individual.  So when you look at the history of our fight for no kill you will see Nathan there.

You will see Ryan Clinton there. A huge force in this area and having a huge impact in Texas….and across the nation as he speaks and encourages and supports no kill.

You will see Bonnie Brown – the first to implement no kill on such a prodigious scale and pioneering the public/private partnership model.

You will see Best Friends there – one of the first to embrace no kill. Long before anyone thought it even possible, Best Friends started a no kill sanctuary and they were looked upon as completely crazy.  But they did it.  Taking in and saving hundreds and then thousands of animals a year as they built their network and reach.

But in addition to people, there have been other catalysts for no-kill.  There are many, but for me one of the BIGGEST – one that effected the most change, was the killing of Oreo in NYC, by the ASPCA.

This was an absolute key moment and catalyst in the no kill movement.

That one action resulted in the mass uprising of angry animal lovers all across the world. Not just in New York.  Not just in the United States.  We heard from people ACROSS THE ENTIRE WORLD that emailed, wrote, commented on blogs – OUTRAGED at the death of Oreo.

I used to think that Oreo’s death was a tragedy.  Indeed it was, however, Oreo died and that birthed an entire movement.  Oreo’s death launched an unstoppable wave of anger, and movement, and change, and involvement like never before seen.

It was said (and I don’t know if this is verifiable)  that Ed Sayres told his people not to worry. That after a day or so the furor over Oreo’s death would pass and people would move on. That didn’t happen. I want to say “Hey, how’s that working for ya Ed”?

Instead of it dying down, it launched a massive outpouring of anger, outrage, and fury. Hundreds of people canceled sponsorships to the ASPCA (at least that is what they emailed and told us) and so it impacted them financially as well. And it didn’t die down.  Out of that one event, even politicians got involved.  Micah Kellner helped sponsor a bill called Oreo’s Law.  Stating that an organization could NOT slaughter – oh, I’m sorry, murder ….wait, I mean, kill…., oh wait, they call it “euthanize” –  an animal if another organization has the room and qualifications to accept that animal into their facility.  Seems pretty smart, right?  And from Oreo’s Law sprang CAARA (Companion Animal Access and Rescue Act), and so far two states have already made it a law, and 5 others are working on passing it right now.

Not bad.
Oreo’s death was a pivotal catalyst. It was a marked event for our movement.
It was a defining moment in our history.  In the history of no kill.

Every movement had it’s key figures and leaders and every movement had it’s key events that changed the world forever.  Much like Lincoln being elected president was a catalyst for the abolition of slavery, much like the Wright brothers believing they could fly, much like Rosa Parks demanding equality, or Susan B. Anthony fighting for the right to vote, much like the bombing of Pearl Harbor or the attack on 9/11 – it all resulted in extensive changes and action.

Oreo’s death and the leaders that stepped forward in the aftermath, and the change that resulted as a direct response to that killing – was a catalyst for change, a marked event, a pivotal turning point.

I’m sorry Oreo was killed.  I always will be.
But now I can also look at that event as an amazing and radical stimulus.
Oreo’s death birthed a new world.

Welcome to that new world.
Keep fighting.
Because …know what?

We are winning.

Each day, each week, each month, we hear more and more success stories. We learn more about the good that people are doing and we watch as the “evil-doers” are verbally and legally attacked by their community for their killing. People flooding meetings to standing-room-only status, bringing law suits against their shelters, and standing up for what is right and good.  No longer backing down, but fighting to save lives. The “bad” is no longer covered up, but put out there with the press covering it, blogs light up across the internet with “do you believe this?? SIGN THIS PETITION”.

We rejoice that you are no longer tolerating it.
Good for you.

However it still seems that tiny people with small minds and with a wee bit of “power” are out there abusing it and trying to use it to do harm. Old-style shelter directors, animal hating animal control officers, town officials, co-op board members that seem to have nothing better to do than to continue to try to kill animals that their own communities want to protect and save.

On Tuesday we will be going to court to fight just such a situation.  Let me tell you about it.

Kimmee was a dog that we rescued from the CACC the morning she was scheduled to die for a URI (upper respiratory infection).

Kimmie was quiet, and shy and scared.  We took her in and with five days of antibiotics she was fine.  Ready to go into a home.  She was so timid and quiet that she became a volunteer, staff and kid favorite.  The children here would warm up to her, perhaps recognizing in her the things in themselves that they once conquered.  Volunteers eagerly walked this beautiful dog and staff spent extra time winning her over and helping her past her shyness.

Along came a couple that fell in love with her, and took her home.  For eleven months she lived with them.  She spent time with neighbors, children, at the dog park, in a dog day camp when they went away.  Everyone who came in contact with her stated the same thing. “Shy, but very sweet”.  No one had any aggression issues with her.  She never even lifted a lip at anyone.

But this week, something terrible happened.  A TV repairman came into the home and he leaned over to kiss her face.  Kimmee (now called Kaylee) responded by biting him. It was not a nip, it was a bite and the man needed stitches to repair his torn lip.  The owners returned Kimmee to us and explained what happened.  Everyone was surprised, including them.  Eleven months, not a problem.  The entire time she was here, never a problem.  Now she reacted to a situation that was scary for her and she bit someone.  We are not excusing this bite.  We are not saying that Kimmee is faultless. We feel terrible for this poor man – that had his face bitten in such a manner!  We feel terrible for the owners that had to return a dog they loved.  A bite is never something to scoff at and never something to not respect and take seriously.

But here is where the story goes bad.
The Animal Control Officer of Goshen, Laureen Sandstrom, has decided that Kimmee is a “Dangerous Dog”.  She is trying to stop us from ever allowing Kimmee to be adopted again. I called her and she was adamant.  I explained that according to New York State Law, she has no legal case to declare Kimmee a “Dangerous Dog” according to the NYS Dangerous Dog law.  She sarcastically told me that she has done this “tons of times before”. On Tuesday we will go to court to fight this.  Not only for Kimmee, but for all the dogs out there that this woman is declaring “dangerous”.  First let me explain the law to you to show you why this woman doesn’t even have a legal case. She is a woman that was given a tiny bit of power and instead of using it to help animals and protect their lives, she has tried to use it to harm them. She doesn’t even KNOW the law that she is trying to use against Kimmee.  Can you believe it?  She is trying to invoke DANGEROUS DOG Laws on Kimmee, but she doesn’t even know the law.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

Here’s the actual statute:
http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusnyagri_mkts_121.htm

1. Laureen, the Animal Control Officer can’t make the complaint. She didn’t witness the bite. The guy who was bitten has to:

Any person who witnesses an attack or threatened attack, or in the case of
a minor, an adult acting on behalf of such minor, may make a complaint of
an attack or threatened attack upon a person, companion animal, farm
animal as defined in subdivision twenty-four of section one hundred eight
of this article, or a domestic animal as defined in subdivision seven of
section one hundred eight of this article to a dog control officer or
police officer of the appropriate municipality.

By the way, she also has to ticket someone – the owners of the dog, before going to court.  No ticket has ever been issued!  Hmm.  Starting to wonder if the Animal Control officer of Goshen even KNOWS the law!  Are they given any training at all?

2. IF the guy who was bitten makes the complaint, THEN she can initiate the proceedings herself (but so far he hasn’t and she already told us we have a court date and time – um, based on what? He hasn’t made any complaint yet! Did she illegally file all the paperwork before she had a complaint?):

Such officer shall immediately inform the complainant of his right to
commence a proceeding as provided in subdivision two of this section and,
if there is reason to believe the dog is a dangerous dog, the officer
shall forthwith commence such proceeding himself.

3. Jurisdiction clearly resides with the municipal judge. That’s awesome for us. That means Laureen, the ACO officer has no authority at all. And it means that some board member, or town clerk can’t do it either. It has to be done by a sitting judge. Hopefully HE knows the law!.

Any person who witnesses an attack or threatened attack, or in the case of
a minor, an adult acting on behalf of such minor, may, and any dog control
officer or police officer as provided in subdivision one of this section
shall, make a complaint under oath or affirmation to any municipal judge
or justice of such attack or threatened attack.

4. The first thing that happens is that the justice has to decide if there is probable cause to believe the dog is dangerous under the law. In this case that is VERY shaky, but of course just like you can sue anyone you want, with our without reason, a judge can make a ruling and then it would be up to us to defend our side under law.

If he believes there is probable cause, Laureen has no jurisdiction in Wallkill – the town we are in, and the dog was legally surrendered to US. So now they have to get the Wallkill Animal Control Officer to try to seize the dog. We’re still not clear if a town judge can compel an officer of another town to do something, though it does look like the law says he can.

Thereupon, the judge or justice shall immediately determine if there is
probable cause to believe the dog is a dangerous dog and, if so, shall
issue an order to any dog control officer, peace officer, acting pursuant
to his special duties, or police officer directing such officer to
immediately seize such dog and hold the same pending judicial
determination as provided in this section.

5. Then there has to be a hearing within 5 days, and the “owner” needs to get 2 days notice. Burden of proof is on the person who makes the complaint to prove the dog is a dangerous dog.

Whether or not the judge or justice finds there is probable cause for such
seizure, he shall, within five days and upon written notice of not less
than two days to the owner of the dog, hold a hearing on the complaint.
The petitioner shall have the burden at such hearing to prove the dog is a
“dangerous dog” by clear and convincing evidence.

6. If the judge believes the dog is dangerous he has to spay/neuter the dog, chip the dog, and can do one or more of the following:

If satisfied that the dog is a dangerous dog, the judge or justice shall
then order neutering or spaying of the dog, microchipping of the dog and
one or more of the following as deemed appropriate under the circumstances
and as deemed necessary for the protection of the public:

Have the dog evaluated at the owner’s expense.
Confine the dog.
Restrain the dog in public
Muzzle the dog in public
Order that liability insurance be in force at all times.

7. Here’s the most important part. In order to kill or permanently confine the dog, at least one of the following special circumstances has to be true:

a) the dog, without justification, attacked a person causing serious
physical injury or death;

[NYS Penal Law section 10.0 defines "Serious physical injury" as physical
injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes death or
serious and protracted disfigurement, protracted impairment of health or
protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ.]

Don’t see it here.

(b) the dog has a known vicious propensity as evidenced by a previous
unjustified attack on a person, which caused serious physical injury or
death.

No, we don’t have THAT here either.

(c) the dog, without justification, caused serious physical injury or
death to a companion animal, farm animal or domestic animal.

No, don’t have that here either.

8. If the dog is deemed “dangerous” the owner has 30 days to appeal in County Court. So if they sentence the dog to death they have to wait 30 days to kill her. Pets Alive would appeal to county court in this case.

The owner of a dog found to be a “dangerous dog” pursuant to this section
may appeal such determination, and/or the court’s order concerning
disposition of the dog to the court having jurisdiction to hear civil
appeals in the county where the “dangerous dog” finding was made. The
owner shall commence such appeal by filing a notice of appeal with the
appropriate court within thirty days of the final order pursuant to this
section. Court rules governing civil appeals in the appropriate
jurisdiction shall govern the appeal of a determination under this
section.

9. If the judge orders death there is an AUTOMATIC stay with the appeal. Anything else has to be motioned for:

Upon filing a notice of appeal from an order of humane euthanasia pursuant
to this section, such order shall be automatically stayed pending final
determination of any appeal. In all other circumstances, the owner of the
dog may make application to the court to issue a stay of disposition
pending determination of the appeal.

10. Nothing else applies except we find this really cool:

A dog shall not be declared dangerous if the court determines the conduct
of the dog (a) was justified because the threat, injury or damage was
sustained by a person who at the time was committing a crime or offense
upon the owner or custodian of the dog or upon the property of the owner
or custodian of the dog; (b) was justified because the injured, threatened
or killed person was tormenting, abusing, assaulting or physically
threatening the dog or its offspring, or has in the past tormented,
abused, assaulted or physically threatened the dog or its offspring; (c)
was justified because the dog was responding to pain or injury, or was
protecting itself, its owner, custodian, or a member of its household, its
kennels or its offspring; or was justified because the injured, threatened
or killed companion animal, farm animal or domestic animal was attacking
or threatening to attack the dog or its offspring. Testimony of a
certified applied behaviorist, a board certified veterinary behaviorist,
or another recognized expert shall be relevant to the court’s
determination as to whether the dog’s behavior was justified pursuant to
the provisions of this subdivision.

We think we could easily argue that the dog THOUGHT she was protecting her family. We also think it’s cool that the law carves out exemptions for dogs doing their duty.

As luck would have it, Pets Alive just happened to have one of the nation’s premier experts in dog training, and behavior, at our sanctuary this week.  Pat Whitacre, lead trainer at the Best Friends Animal Society (one of the nation’s LARGEST organizations) has more degrees next to his name than most doctors, tons of experience, and even starred in a TV show on National Geographic.  He was on “vacation” at Pets Alive, volunteering.  We asked him to do a behavior assessment for Kimmee.

Guess how she did?
Great! The assessment is geared to get reactions.  Dogs that will bite, will be tempted into it during some of these tests.  While he found her shy, and anxious during some of the tests, she never resorted to biting as a response.  I won’t post the whole assessment but here is the summary (which we will present in court):

Summary: Kimmie is a dog who lacks confidence when faced with unfamiliar people or situations. Her bite in the home showed that the right/wrong conditions can produce an aggressive reaction. However, during a wide variety of conditions during this assessment she showed no aggressive behavior. Her history and today’s behavior do not indicate that she is aggressive by nature nor is she easily provoked into using dangerous behavior.
That being said, responsible pet owners should not put their pets or visitors in situations the pets cannot handle well. In Kimmie’s case, her comfort in a crate, provides a convenient solution for providing safety for all involved during potentially stressful circumstances.

We also contacted the Day Camp that Kimmee used to stay at when her owners went away.  He expressed surprise.  Said Kimmee was always shy but had never shown a single aggressive moment and came in contact with many people at the facility and played with as many as 40 other dogs.

So here is a case where a dog has never had a single negative incident on her portfolio, and one bite in her entire life illicits a knee-jerk reaction from this seemingly uneducated animal control officer to see that Kimmee is forever prevented from going to another home again, as long as she lives, or is euthanized.

And she claims she has done this “tons of times before”.  I’m glad she tangled with us now, and not some poor, distraught animal owner who didn’t know the law, or their rights.  I think now she has to be stopped and she has to be educated and she has to make decisions that are based in the best interest of the animal AND the person who has been bitten.  At no juncture do we take this bite as something to act flippantly over, or something that is not a terrible incident.  At no point do we think Kimmee should be adopted into a home with little children running about and lots of noise and commotion.  But that isn’t the situation here.  The situation here is that they want her confined forever, or killed.  Is that the right response to a dog that has been perfect her whole life and had ONE incident?

Absolutely not.

So we are happy to be the voice for Kimmee and we are glad to be.  The difference is that we KNOW the law and no longer will Laureen, the ACO, be allowed to walk over people and take away their dogs to be killed. We are sorry that she is so close minded.  When we tried to call her to explain this she didn’t want to hear it.  She didn’t even want to discuss it – just “see you in court”.  Yes Laureen, we will see you in court.  Please bring your best lawyers, because THIS is one dog you will not be sticking a needle into or forcing to spend her life with a muzzle on, and in a cement run.  THIS dog will be protected by Pets Alive.

Know your rights too.  What if YOUR dog bit someone.  Do you have to surrender the dog to Animal Control?  NO!  Do you have to sign her over to be euthanized?  NO! Can they take your dog from you without a court hearing?  NO.  Can your neighbors demand your dog be removed or euthanized if their child was bitten?  No. Learn the law.  Don’t ever give your dog up without a fight.

So we are very prepared for Tuesday. Wish us, and Kimmie, good luck. We need to stop Laureen from doing this anymore.  Here, she isn’t tangling with a home owner that is scared, upset and nervous.  Now she is dealing with us, and we aren’t going to lay down and go quietly.  We never do when the life of an animal hangs in the balance.

Ready?  Let’s roll.

What can you do?
Contact Justice Thomas Cione: nyawadira@gmail.com, 845-294-6477 – ask him to rule on the side of Kaylee (Kimmee) on Tuesday – a dog that has had only one negative incident her entire life. Please remind him that we like the job he has been doing so far for Goshen, and that he is running for re-election. Politely remind him that our community cares about our animals, and wants him to care, as well. Please ask him to re-familiarize himself with the Dangerous Dog Laws of New York State.  (Be courteous and polite at ALL times!)
Town of Goshen website:  http://www.townofgoshen.org

NOTE: THE COURT DATE HAS BEEN CHANGED TO OCTOBER 26.
PLEASE CONTINUE TO SEND LETTERS.
Contact Justice Thomas Cione nyawadira@gmail.com & courteously request he dismiss this case. He will decide about dismissal THIS week.
We are unclear if that is correct email for the justice, so please also fax your letter to him at: 845-294-4456, or call 845-294-6477

You can also contact the town supervisor. Tell him to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on this case. Ask him to drop the case fax: 845-294-6542

Update #2:
On October 26th we went back to court. The case was DISMISSED on a technicality. The ACO officer filed all the paperwork in the name of the dogs previous owners. I told her months ago this made no sense, as WE owned the dog now but she did it that way anyway. This came back to bite her in the butt as the judge advised that even if he ruled in her favor, he would have to instruct the previous owners to surrender the dog, which they would just respond that they didn’t OWN the dog and had no legal ability to surrender her. So in this time that we have had with her, Kimmee has lived with other dogs, been walked by children, men, woman and all sorts of volunteers, been dressed up in Halloween costumes and so on. She is NOT an aggressive dog. In fact there is tremendous doubt now that she actually even BIT the guy. More on that later. So the update is that the ACO refiled all the paperwork against Kimmee, but some other changes happened between the time the case was dismissed and the ACO refiled. More on that soon, and pictures to come.

The no issue dogs are no brainers, we can take them in, even senior ones, but so many of our requests are nothing like that and each day I have to turn most of these people away. We are a sanctuary, yes, but we also adopt out about 2000 dogs between our two shelters each year. A percentage of them are, of course, going to come back over the years for various issues.  So we will always have a source for these dogs that need a place to go and we always commit to our own dogs for life – that they will ALWAYS have space here and a safe place to go.

I also wonder how many behavior issue, and aggressive dogs people believe that we can house without going under? We don’t warehouse these dogs. All of them have to get out every day and be walked and exercised and have training sessions to help them overcome their issues. We don’t receive any government or state funding. How can we afford the trainers, the staff and the expenses (food, veterinary, utilities, housing) for so many dogs with issues? The answer is that we can not. We can’t afford to house only behavior dogs, we have to have a lot of very adoptable dogs to cycle through here as well because financially we can’t survive otherwise. So once all our “behavior issue runs” are taken up, we have no more slots unless we adopt one or one passes on. People never seem to really understand. We get nasty emails “YOU CALL YOURSELF A SANCTUARY and I ask for help and you won’t help!” Sigh. People think we can take in every behavior issue dog and every aggressive dog and every dog that needs to live alone. I wish we could. And if every person that wanted us to TAKE a dog actually DONATED to us, then we’d actually be able to take many more, but ah, I digress.

But still, we feel for all of these animals that are often victims of ignorance, misunderstanding, boredom, lack of training, lack of stimulation or lack of love. It isn’t their fault.  We want to help the dogs.

So we do try to help, even if it isn’t taking the dog in here.
We offer free training sessions and advice from Misa, Marcos, or Juan our dog trainers.  Even Pat Whitacre from Best Friends helps us on his own time by handling some calls for us to try to help. Or we try to give them other things they can do to help, or places they can try, or ways they can work around the behavior. We try to always respond to every request, even though it is very time consuming and very discouraging sometimes.  Because I never sleep well at night wondering what happened to them.  If we didn’t take them, what has happened to them? I guess most times I don’t want to know. But I can’t help but think about it, worry about it and lay awake wondering what else we could do.

Recently I came in contact with a woman named Maura. She emailed me this (I changed all the names to XXXX to protect the stupid and ignorant):

The subject was: IN NEED OF HELP
XXXX from XXXX Shelter gave me your contact info, I need some advice. I volunteer at the XXXX Animal League in XXXX. We have a young female pit named Jules who came in as a stray, running down the street with a choke chain and a chain leash. She was very scared when she first got to the shelter.

The President of XXXX, said that the dog lifted her lip and did not back away from the front of the kennel – she felt as if she was possibly aggressive. When I came in to walk the dogs on day 3, she was very cautious. I sat in her outside kennel, fed her treats and in five minutes had her out. She has been incredibly awesome with me and every person I have introduced her to. She does not seem to like dogs.

The problem is that the President of the Shelter has had her assessed and the assessors do not recommend adoption for her. Their experience was totally different than my experience and I totally disagree with their assessment of her, but I have no say in this situation. As it stands since she cannot/will not be adopted out from us and area rescues will not take her since the assessors said she should not be adopted, she is out of options and is slated to be euthanized.

Our President said I could reach out to sanctuaries as a last resort. Today Best Friends Sanctuary in Utah called regarding Jules. I talked to them and later our President talked to them as well. They have a Community based Program that they use. XXXX said that they were sending out an email blast to see if they could find a foster home for her.

The problem is that XXXX emailed me that she has not changed her mind about Jules. She said that they will not pursue this but that I could pursue it. Best Friends Sanctuary is going to send a list of foster homes which hopefully we can place Jules into for further assessment. XXXX will not let our shelter be involved in this. We have a glimmer of hope, but XXXX is backing out on being Jules sponsor.

Do you have any advice for me on this at all or anyone who would sponsor her? I feel like I am blind and now I am not attached with anything and I am trying to save Jules. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks you for your time. This is a video of her in the yard. http://www.youtube.com/user/Roeymojo#p/a/u/0/rXVW0qlRFU8
I am desperate at this point. Maura

I wrote back to her:

Hi Maura,
First let me thank you for being the voice for this dog.
They have no voice.
They are executed every day by people like the shelter director you speak of, many without ever being given a chance.

As you can imagine we get many requests to take dogs in and at this time we are completely full for behavior issues and can not take in another dog.
That said if you find a reputable rescue to take her, Pets Alive will donate $250 to the rescue that will house and care for her – as long as they are a responsible no-kill organization.

I would also suggest you contact Animal Farm Foundation and ask them for help. Not necessarily to take the dog, we are all so inundated with such requests, but they specialize in pit bulls and may have additional advice for you.

I know that you are not going to want to hear this but the best way to save that dogs life is to go to the media. You may be unliked by the shelter after this but ask yourself if it is worth that dogs life. The answer is yes. Go to the media – call your local cable news and your local newspaper. WITHOUT emotion or drama, explain the situation. Offer to send them pictures of you with the dog. Tell them the story. If they cover it – you will get a lot of attention and a likely potential adopter. It will also give the shelter pause – and make them not be so quick to kill the dog if people are “watching”.

So please get the media involved, talk to Animal Farm Foundation (http://www.animalfarmfoundation.org) about additional ideas, and keep fighting for this dog.

It is unfair for a dog to be tested when they are in a strange place, frightened and alone.
So please continue to defend this dog and to fight to save his life.

Please keep me posted and if there is any other way you think we can help, I would be happy to help.
We can also have you speak to our own canine behaviorist if it would help you.

She wrote back:

Kerry, Thank you so so much for your email. It has been a long few weeks and I have felt alone trying to do this. There has not been much response in Jules favor, but I might have a lifeline. A humane society in NH is coming to assess her this week. If they believe she is the dog that I see, then maybe just maybe they will take her and she will have a chance. They do have foster homes which would be the best scenario. I will let you know how that goes. Thank you for the $250 donation offer as well – I am sure if she ends up going to this society, then that will be very helpful. Again I will let you know. At this point, all I am asking is for you to keep your fingers crossed that this works. The options are slim, so I am hoping beyond hope that this works out for her. And honestly for me, because I love her so. Thanks again Kerry. I wil be in touch. Best, Maura

At this point, Maura has contacted various organizations. Everyone has said no. Who would blame her for giving up, sighing, saying she had done her best, and crying softly as Jules was euthanized. But she didn’t. The story continues. Maura didn’t give up. She continued to fight for Jules and to contact everyone she could, and speak to everyone who would listen. A few days later I got this email from her:

I wanted to update you on Jules. Today I drove her to NH where she is being transferred to the Salem Animal Rescue League in Salem, New Hampshire. Through friends, we were lucky to have SARL notice Jules. Their Kennel Manager and Dog Assessor Eric Vose came down on Wednesday to meet and assess Jules. Jules was wonderful. SARL’s Director decided the next day after talking with Eric that they would love to take responsibility for Jules. They have a lot of experience with strong breeds and think that with some training and hopefully a foster, that Jules will shine. I, of course, agree and I am beyond happy to know that she will have that chance that I so wanted her to have. So instead of taking her to a vet to have a needle placed in her leg, I am taking her to NH for a new lease on life. For all the times we cannot win these victories…we won this one. Thank you for your advice and your help Kerry.

If Pets Alive can donate the $250 for Jules to SARL, I know they would appreciate it. Let me know what if there is something I need to do to help with that. Thank you again for your supportive email – it came on a bad day and it really helped.

Here is a pic of Jules before she left looking back over her shoulder at me – and then in the truck on the way to NH.

I’m so impressed with Maura.  No-Kill animal shelters shouldn’t be the only ones fighting to save the lives of animals.  YOU can do it too.  You SHOULD do it. You CAN do it. PLEASE do it.  Don’t accept the status quo.  Don’t accept it when someone tells you that “this animal must die because there are no other options”. Of course there are other options.  Of course there are things you can do.  That we can all do.  We don’t have to accept the death of any animal.  Be that animal’s voice.  You may be the only thing in the world standing between him and death.  You may be the only person in the world speaking for him or her.  Don’t give up.  Fight. Don’t give up. Fight. Fight for that dog or cat.  Let them know that their lives have worth.  That they won’t just be a statistic. That you will be the one to take up their cause.

We can not do it alone and we can not do it without you.  Together we can have a tremendous impact on the killing.  Together we can stop it completely.  BELIEVE IT.  Believe.  If someone like Maura, with no authority, no experience in this, and no contacts could reach out and safe Jules’ life, then why can’t we all?  BELIEVE.

I did contact SARL too.  First to verify that they were a reputable organization before I made my donation to them.  Second to thank them for taking Jules. The director there, Lisa, could not have been nicer. She answered all my questions politely and promptly.  She even gave me a great update on Jules.  How well she was doing, how she was a little nervous in the beginning and now doing so wonderfully.   She said: “Jules is awesome.  She was a little afraid here the first couple of days, but she seems to be settling in.  We LOVE her.  Hope to find her a good home soon.”

I got back to Maura to tell her that we had touched base and made the donation.  I asked her why she went through so much to save ONE dog.  This is what she said:

I fought for her because she deserved a chance. The dog I saw was not what others saw, but I knew I was right about her. The people that spend time with the animals know them better than anyone – people forget that. I knew I had to live with my actions and so I had to try every avenue to save her. I know I cannot save them all – but it is not about them all, it is about the one in front of you right now that has stolen your heart.

Thank you Maura.  And although Jules could not verbally tell you that, I know that Jules sings your name in her heart every single day.  As long as she lives, she will have you to thank for seeing her worth, for not giving up, for taking a chance, for loving her.

My hat is off to you.  You have my deepest respect.

Well. I hate to burst your bubble.

No. Mostly they don’t get saved.  FUTURE dogs may get saved from this fate by breaking up these rings and putting the leaders behind bars (thank goodness), but the actual dogs involved – what happens to them?

Well. By and large they get euthanized.

Best Friends had to FIGHT tooth and nail and even go to court to save the lives of the Vick dogs. And recently in NYC over a dozen dogs were taken to the CACC and the owners arrested and all but one was euthanized.

So it isn’t peaches and cream for these “saved” dogs.  It is ala PETA  ”save” them to just kill them.

And mind you, I am not suggesting leaving fighting rings going.  Absurd.  We need to slam these people into the ground, slam them hard, and then ride over them with trucks. So don’t think for a second I am suggesting that we don’t stop these fighting rings.  I’m just saying that there HAS to be another option for these dogs other than just killing them.

Pit bulls are NOT bad dogs.  In fact pit bulls tested better than 130 other breeds for temperament!

Look at some stats:

1. In temperament tests by the American Temperament Testing Society, statistics show the pit bull has an 84 percent pass rate. This temperament test pass rate is higher than the beagle. 84% pass a VERY difficult temperament test. 84%.
2. Pit bulls are extremely intelligent. They love to please their masters and this can make them readily trainable – this is why they are often used in fighting rings – they are so easily and quickly trained. The intelligence of the pit bull has made it possible for them to serve in law enforcement and drug interdiction, as therapy dogs, as search and rescue dogs and in the military.
3. Pit bulls do not have “locking jaws” or more bite pressure per square inch.  In fact tests done with pits, german shepherds and rotties showed that pits had the LEAST bite pressure! Here is a link to some other pit bull myths debunked: http://www.realpitbull.com/myths.html
4. Farmers Branch, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, has kept accurate records since 1980. During a 7 year period from 1980 through 1987, this is what was recorded. Total bites: 1,593. Pit Bulls accounted for 30 bites, or 1.89% of the total. Other studies tend to show the same results and because of so many mongrels that have similar features and the unfair lumping in with the Pit Bull Terrier, it seems reasonable to assume that the figures are actually much lower. In a 1993 study, in Palm Beach County, the bites were ranked by severity from 1 to 4 and the animal that was recorded as having inflicted the greatest number of severe bites was the domestic short-haired cat.  Seriously.

So here you have a great breed of dog and the answer every time they are “saved” is to kill them.  Best Friends proved that the Vick dogs could be rehabilitated from fighting dogs to loving pets. Take a look for yourself: http://network.bestfriends.org/news/postdetail.aspx?np=22444

So what is the point of this blog? Well we were contacted about two dogs. The headline says:

Dogs held as evidence to be killed after 3 years.
Here is the link to the story.
Please read it. I’ll wait.

Done?
So the summary is that these were two dogs that were confiscated from a drug ring. THREE years ago. THREE. They were provided NO human contact other than what it took a few minutes a day to feed and clean. They were housed in a tiny cement run. No walks.  No sunshine. No love. No affection. NOTHING. Food. Water. Clean-up. One of them has taken to playing with his metal food bowl for a little stimulation. They were given disgusting names. Big Head is the name of one. Wild One is the name of the other. Brilliant.

And so the case has wound through court for three long years and these dogs sit. Waiting for humans to process paperwork and red tape and press charges against the creatures that tormented them. And they sit. And wait. Three. Long. Years.

Here are some news articles about the case:

1. Dog-fighting – 3 dogs seized, Enfield, NC
2. Dog-fighting ring busted in Halifax County
3. Dog Fighting Ring Busted In Enfield

Some key points:
>>Evidence at the scene indicates this wasn’t the first dog fight at the location. Authorities found two other enclosed fighting pits on the property. Investigators discovered the skeletal remains of two dogs near the ring and it appeared others had been buried in the woods. Dried blood was splattered on the walls of the rings and authorities recovered dogfighting paraphernalia at the scene. Each of the dogs likely will be euthanized in the coming weeks, Richardson said, because they are too aggressive for adoption. <<

But only one was (and that was due to severe injuries). The others were held as evidence, and here is the thing. They weren’t aggressive – at all. There is a volunteer at this facility – she reports that the dogs are very affectionate. Whenever they are presented with the opportunity to interact with a person, they do so with gusty enthusiasm. She says that they lick your fingers and your face.

No one has stepped up to take them. Best Friends has their hands full with all the dogs they currently have. They can’t take them. And honestly, we can’t either. We have over 185 pit bulls at our Westchester location. We have over 30 at our Middletown location. I am telling every single person that asks about surrendering a pit to us “No, I am so sorry. We love this breed but we have SO MANY right now, we just can not take any more.”

I will admit, I do not want to take these two either. I am sure that they will need some time, some rehab, a lot of attention and a lot of care. I am sure that they will be with us for a LONG time, stopping us from helping OTHER dogs because they will be taking up that space.

But I’m stuck now.
We SAW them. We have been asked to help. We are responsible now to not turn our backs on them now that we have read, understood and digested their story.

These dogs have NEVER had a life.
Never.
They have been bred to fight.
They have lived a life of hell.
Then they were “saved” to live a life of isolation, solitude and boredom.

We can’t turn our backs on them.
I am asking you to help us.
We  need to buy more runs to house them.
We need to provide our staff more hours of overtime to spend extra time to work with these dogs and teach them what love is. We need to get them here. provide for them, for likely a very long time. We need to RENAME them and give them a decent name!!! We need to make sure they are medically sound. We need to shower them with toys and stimulation. These pictures are the “before” pictures. Let’s give these boys some “after” ones too. Happier. Loving. A real LIFE.

I am appealing to you all to help us.
Please make a donation so that Pets Alive can TAKE these dogs, HELP these dogs and fight the powers that be that feel euthanasia is the only answer. It isn’t.

YOU know it. WE know it.
Let’s stand together to make a difference.
Perhaps the one thing you will do in your life that makes an impact – is to help us to help these dogs.
Donate now to Pets Alive.
We simply can not afford to continue to save lives like this, without your support, your help, and your love.

These dogs were sequestered from life. We need to commit to them.
Without that commitment – they will die.
They will die after being used to fight. They will die after spending years locked up away from life.

We thank you…and I am 100% sure, that THEY will thank you.
And when they get here – come down and meet them. Watch as they change, unfold, and learn to love.
You will be the part of something GREAT. Something wonderful.
Take our hand, be our partners. Save a life today.
Together we can show these two dogs that there is GOOD in the world.

P.S. The two people that donate the MOST to help these dogs will be given
not only our appreciation but the right to pick their new names.

This is just the first step of getting this bill passed.

Truly none of us felt it would be a problem, initially, to get it through this first committee.  It was later we thought we’d have the true battle.  But we underestimated the ASPCA – they have done this before, we were neophytes.  They recognized that the best way to make sure it never saw the light of day was to influence the first committee to can it…and they did.  They didn’t actually shut it down, they were just able to get it “tabled”, which meant that months ago they just all agreed NOT to vote on it until next session.

So in that time, we estimate that 16,629 number of animals have died in New York Shelters as a result.

Well here we are again.

It’s been presented back into committee, and immediately Best Friends has come out against it.

We EXPECT the ASPCA to come out against it.  After all, the very name “Oreo’s Law” is forever a blight on their organization.  For those of you that have lived in a cave the last year, Oreo was a dog that suffered abuse every day of her life. She was finally tossed from a six story building and she miraculously survived.  She had broken bones and a broken spirit, but with care and surgery she survived.  A true Miracle Dog.  But she didn’t like other dogs and so the ASPCA deemed her unadoptable and they killed her.  They murdered her even though Pets Alive stepped up and agreed to take her here.

I mean here is a dog that was in pain, multiple surgeries, in a strange and scary place, and we said let’s give her some time in a sanctuary with some peace and they said something like “nah, we know best, we’re gonna murder her”.  And they did. (I don’t think that the word “euthanasia” should ever be allowed to be applied in cases like this).  Even though we have a track record of saving and rehabbing HUNDREDS of dogs much, much, much, worse than ones with a little dog aggression.

But here is the good part of Oreo’s death if there is such a thing. The community was UP IN ARMS and OUTRAGED.

Here was a dog – a true MIRACLE – that had known nothing but abuse her entire life and survived the “un-survivable” and the ASPCA, the group we give our money to to “speak for the animals” and to protect them – they decided to kill her even when there was another option.

So people were outraged and they demanded something be done and so Oreo’s Law was birthed.  And Oreo’s Law says that if a rescue that is a 501(c)3 and has no past record of any sort of animal charges against them, that if they step up and can help by taking a dog from a euthanasia list of a shelter (we still have to pay that shelters adoption fees!), then they should be allowed to do so.

If we had this, then Oreo would probably be in a loving home right now being pampered and shown love for the first time in her life. Instead she is dead, and in a landfill because the ASPCA decided that even though they raised a ton of money from her “miracle story”, that she wasn’t worth giving more than a couple of months of time to.

So enter Oreo’s Law.
Enter the ASPCA crushing it and lobbying against it – as expected – (we did offer to change the name if they would support it) and then enter Best Friends – the champions of no kill, the group that pretty much, in my mind, started the entire no-kill movement.  They decide that we can’t win against the ASPCA.  They tell us that they are starting a huge fund raising campaign in NY this year and they will be raising money here, and they can’t do it without the ASPCA’s support and backing.  And they won’t support Oreo’s Law because they say that going against the ASPCA would be political suicide.

I am not telling you that I SUSPECT this. I am not telling you that I think this is what happened, I am telling you that they SAID this on the phone with me, and Nathan and others.

It was devestating.
Best Friends.
My hero’s.

The people we modeled the entire Pets Alive organization after, the people that saved our ass when the previous director and founder  of Pets Alive got brain cancer, made terrible decisions down here, put animals in danger and then she died leaving no plan in place for any of them.  When we came here and saw what had happened we called Best Friends, and they came and helped and put us on our feet.  My heroes.  I read their magazine cover to cover.  I cry happy tears when animals I know were adopted there, and I went out there many times to visit and work at their amazing facility in Utah. I know many of the founders and consider many of the staff my friends. I want to be clear – I LOVED this organization with EVERY breath. LOVED THEM. BELIEVED IN THEM.

I was dumbfounded. How could BF not support this.  I couldn’t believe it.  We wrote a few blogs about it.  You can read them here:

• Paying it Forward – written by Kerry (me)  and
• Best Friends, Welcome to New York – written by Matt.

They betrayed us.
They betrayed the animals.
They chose political alignments over animals lives.

I still can not believe it.
As I write this, I sit and I say this can’t be true.  IT CAN’T BE.  I love that organization.  I LOVE them.  Please this can not be true.  Please.

But it is.

As shocking as it is, they have lost their way.
They choose politics now over lives.
They have become one of the big names.
The big players.
And they lost their mission.

Let me tell you that Michael Mountain – their PAST CEO – DID support Oreo’s Law.  HE IS TRUE to his heart and to his mission. He is truly what the animal movement should be about.  You can read his letter and many other letters of support here: http://petsalive.com/oreo.html

Because even after they trashed Oreo’s Law, and as a result it was defeated in committee (or “tabled”), we still worked with Best Friends.  We did the Beagle Rescue with them.  We still support many of the things they do.  They still do great things.  They helped us save all those beagles (they footed the entire bill) they recently saved 200 dogs in a situation in Arkansas (we took 8 of those dogs here), and their outreach in helping people with dogs and cats is amazing.

They do a great number of mass rescues and their Help Desk helps countless others place animals and get help for animals that need it.  Of course they raise money too from these ventures, although I do not hold that against them – it would be stupid to spend thousands of dollars and NOT publicize and get PR for what you are doing and not try to get the money out of that publicity. Let’s face it, they aren’t stupid and I don’t begrudge them that. EVERY rescue or shelter will highly publicize the good that they do in the hopes of support from the community. We NEED it to continue our missions, so as I said, they do many great things, but of course they also raise a lot of money from them as well.

But once again, Oreo’s law is put forth and they refuse to support it.

But here are the disconnects. They supported the Delaware law which was MUCH, MUCH tougher.  The Delaware law wouldn’t even allow a shelter to euthanize an animal if it had an empty available FOSTER home, an empty kennel, or ANY other option – wow!  How awesome is THAT law!!??  We have tons of shelters here killing animals before the weekend “in case” lots of animals come in.  What if none do?  You just killed dozens of animals for no reason.  So in Delaware, this comes out and Best Friends supported it!!!  They issued a statement and congratulated Delaware animal lovers and publicly supported the law.  So what is the difference?

They SAY (and this is NOT true) that Delaware had a provision that the shelter could inspect the rescue group and Oreo’s Law does not. They said that was what the difference was. HELLO!  HELLO!  PAY ATTENTION NOW. Oreo’s Law was rewritten to appease Best Friends on this issue – they told us if we rewrote it to include this issue they would support it!  THEY PROMISED US!  SO WE DID!  Oreo’s law gives shelters the ability to inspect the rescue group when they have reason to suspect that the animal might be put in harm’s way.  Yet THEY claim that “the language has not changed since last year…” Not true.

So did they not BOTHER to read it because they don’t care? Did they not bother to read it because they don’t want to have to support it because it puts them at odds with the ASPCA? Or did they read it, know this and put forth misinformation to make themselves look not so heinous and let you, the readers, read their statement and say “Oh!  Well, that makes sense”.  Well I am telling you that they are either IGNORANT, or they are LYING.

They told us they would support it if we changed the wording.  We did.  They lied.  They say that the wording is the same.  It is NOT.

Then they said that they do not get involved in any legislative issues, that they always stay “neutral”. But, um…hello… by NOT supporting it they aren’t “neutral” and they DID support Delaware.  So Best Friends, why the spin?  Why the lies?  What are you doing and WHY, WHY, WHY?  Do you care that animals are killed every day as a result of this? Almost 17,000 since Oreo’s Law was tabled. Part of those deaths, rest with you.

OK so let’s move on.  They keep spinning it. Here is yet ANOTHER reason they gave for not supporting it. “Rescuers can be hoarders”.
But if that is true, then why support the Delaware law? Delaware Rescues are NOT hoarders, but NY rescuers ARE hoarders?

And wait, just last week The CEO of Best Friends wrote a whole blog trashing PETA because PETA says that no kill organizations are just hoarders in disguise and he trashed that comment (RIGHTFULLY SO) and said that rescuers and no kill organizations are NOT hoarders and that “hoarding is a mental disability that may be linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Animal hoarders are no friends of no-kill, and Best Friends and others in the no-kill movement have led the way in exposing and bringing hoarders to justice.”  Hmm.

Also what is the percentage of hoarders that are rescuers?  I know hundreds of rescues. Truly HUNDREDS. There are a few I’m not crazy about.  True.  But the percentage of them that are hoarders?  Out of the HUNDREDS I know?   Ummm.  None.

And if everyone is worried, REALLY, about hoarders?   Then wait a second.  The ASPCA brings in $80 million dollars a YEAR. They pay their CEO $500,000+ a year. Wouldn’t that be THEIR job?  To track down “fake rescues” that are really “hoarding” and shut them down and help the animals?  Wait.  Isn’t that what the ASPCA is SUPPOSED to do?  American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  Isn’t that their job? So why are we worried about hoarders?  We have an organization with $80 million buckaroos every single year at their disposal.  Are you telling me they can’t hunt down, sniff out, or follow up on reports of hoarding in NY?  Why would we need Oreo’s Law to do that, we already HAVE an organization that is charged with handling that, and we give them a TON of money to do it.  Hey, ASPCA instead of wasting money fighting Oreo’s Law and instead of wasting money killing miracle dogs, how about you go hunt down some hoarders and shut them down, so good rescues can get on with their good work?

Gregory Castle goes on to say, in this blog, that “PETA believes that all pit bulls should be killed upon entering shelters, rather than be adopted by the public. Why? Because PETA believes that there is a chance that someone with bad intentions might adopt a pit from a shelter and use him/her for fighting or tie him/her out in the yard to serve as a macho guard dog”.

Gregory disagrees with this. But wait…are you all following me here?  He disagrees with Oreo’s Law because say SOME dog, maybe 1% of dogs or cats might wind up with a hoarder or a bad person, we should not save the other 99%.  So he disagrees with PETA when they say the exact same thing, yet he says this in his rebuttal of Oreo’s Law.  Oh the hoarders will get the animals.  The sky is falling!

Here is a news blast for you.  Take a look at ANY newspaper classified section. Go to the front of ANY supermarket or Walmart store, go to your local Craigslist.  See how easy it is to get FREE animals?  Why in the world would hoarders go through the trouble of establishing a non-profit, getting a 501(c) 3, developing a rescue – JUST so they could get dogs from euthanasia lists in shelters in NY?  I’m sorry but please, this is so absurd.  It doesn’t hold any water.

Any how much of this has happened in California where there IS an Oreo’s Law?  Have they seen an outbreak of hoarders saving dogs and cats from euthanasia? Um…no.
Has it happened in Delaware? Are there TONS of hoarders now? Umm..No.
So why is New York supposed to be different?

And let me tell you that by writing this email, I am committing suicide for my organization.

Read that again.
I am committing suicide for my organization.

Why? how? Because recently I asked Best Friends for help with our Elmsford location.  We took over another shelter that was failing miserably. They had over 1000 animals there. They were all living in horrible little cages.  We used the practices Best Friends taught us, and we went in and set things straight. We have a LONG, LONG way to go there, but no animals live in cages and 500+ have been adopted, placed with other organizations, and so forth.  But we need help there. It is a huge nut to crack, and fix, and we could desperately use Best Friends resources and help.  We might fail if they don’t help us. But I was warned.  They would help us, but not if I did this.  Spoke out against them again like this.

And as I write this, the blood in my veins goes cold, with fear over that threat.  Without their help, Elmsford may have to close down.  We can’t fail there, what would happen to all those animals? We CAN’T fail and we have such HUGE plans for the future for that place – to do mass rescues and really make an impact for animals.

But I would be no better than what they are doing if I chose my alliance with them, and what they can do for us, over the lives of animals.

Because that is what they did. They chose the alliance with the ASPCA over the lives of animals.

So don’t think I didn’t think long and hard before I wrote this.
I did.
It hurts me to write this, believe it or not, and it tremendously hurts my organization.

But if I choose to stay quiet, and I choose my relationship with them, over what is RIGHT, then I do exactly what I’m so disgusted with them about.

And there are other blogs about this as well, about the terrible disappointment we all feel in Best Friends:

• Nathan Winograd:  “With Best Friends Like These….”
• and Yes Biscuit’s! Best Friends and Oreo’s Law Redux

So do as you will Best Friends.
Pull your proposed support from our Elmsford project.
I won’t hold that against you, but forever I will hold against you choosing the ASPCA over what is right.

Oreo’s Law is right.
You are wrong.

Choose LIFE.
Choose LIFE and LIVES over alliances and politics.

There is still time to make it right.
Will you?

At the end of Gregory Castle’s PETA blog it says this:
“PETA, please let go of the dock and get on-board the No More Homeless Pets boat. We’d love to have you with us.”

I say:

“Best Friends, please let go of your alliances and get on board to save lives again. We’d love to have you with us.”

Everyone knows by now about our experience with the ASPCA as we tried to save Oreo, a dog that suffered a life of cruelty and brutality.  She was thrown off a six story building, had surgery, recovered, and then was killed by the ASPCA – even though we agreed to take her here.

We then went after the Jersey Shore Animal Center for their ridiculous  policy of  killing all FIV+ kittens and cats. We all know FIV+ cats can live perfectly normal and happy lives. It is also VERY difficult to spread, and kittens who test positive, often test negative for the disease after a retest once they are six months old.

We have gone after hoarders, the CACC,  publicly denounced shelter directors that kill animals rather than take alternate options for them.  We fight against archaic policies that result in animal deaths and we argue with shelters that want to kill dogs and cats rather than develop programs to help them get adopted.

We don’t just FIGHT and yell though. We work with shelters that WANT help and we try to take in their overflow, show them how to develop programs to get more adoptions, we help train their staff and we give them our policies, adoption contracts – anything that can help them get on their feet and stop the killing.

So we are no strangers to both fighting the injustice, and helping those that want to be helped.

Recently we came across Katie — just another dog in a long line of dogs that were abandoned. Katie’s story is a little different though.

Some volunteers of Pets Alive were alerted to Katie. She is a female pit bull mix, about a year old.  She was left in the freezing cold, tied to a tree. They went out, got her, brought her home and tried to find her a forever home.

Well it turns out Katie doesn’t like other animals. She has to be an only dog.

All our volunteers are volunteers because they love animals, which means that most of them HAVE animals. Fostering her was quickly not becoming an option.

Dog aggressive dogs are difficult to adopt.
Many people have other dogs already, or they at least want to be able to take their dog to the dog park or other places.

Pit bulls can also be difficult to adopt. Pit bulls still have that terrible stigma that they are “vicious baby killers”.   The reality is that pit bulls are one of the very FIRST family dogs (Petey from the little rascals was a pit) and they are some of the best dogs you can get for kids. Really! They usually love children and are VERY social dogs.

So here we have Katie. Doesn’t like other dogs. And a pittie.
Let’s put aside the pittie thing because for once that doesn’t come into play here believe it or not!

Enter the Port Jervis Humane Society.
They agree to take in Katie.
I want to start by saying there is a great person there. Lisa who works there helped Katie in a million ways and really worked with our volunteers on trying to save Katie. Lisa was a total love and really kind and friendly and offered every bit of assistance that she could.

Our volunteers are overjoyed.
They promise to continue to network Katie, and work as hard as they can to find her a home.
Our volunteers are good on their promise.
I see their Facebook pages every day – dozens and dozens of them posting for her, calling all their friends, trying to find her a home.
And they do!

Three different families step up and say “I’m interested! I will go and meet Katie and see if she is a good dog for me”.

They call the Port Jervis Humane Society, and the director, Bill, has decided that Katie is “unadoptable”. She is dog aggressive he says and therefore she can not be adopted. She can only be placed back in the owners hands, or a rescue may pull her, or she can be killed there, but she can never be adopted.

Huh?
Wait.
What?

We have three potential adopters.
We have a dog that wants to go home.
and we have….
a shelter director that says she should die instead of letting her be adopted.

What?
What did I miss?
Wait, let me go back and re-read that, surely I missed something.
::running finger over text as I read to be sure to not miss any words::
Nope.
I got it.
Bill thinks that Katie has to be taken by ANOTHER shelter or rescue, or she needs to die because she doesn’t like other dogs.
So our volunteers, pause, get silent, and say, “um…why?”
He says “shelter liability”.

AHA!
There it is!!
Bill will not adopt out a dog because he tells people that the shelter is liable if that dog eats another dog sometime in the future after they are adopted.

OK, and most people will hear that, indeed our own volunteers did, and they go “OH. How awful”.

Um. hello?
Wait, don’t go away on me now.
Bill – that is total MALARKY!
How do you sleep at night throwing out such utter nonsense?

You’re liable?
Your shelter is liable?
OH PUHLEASE!
Stop!
I just snorted milk out my nose.

What law school did you go to, Bill?
Can you show me where it says that anywhere?
Are you trying to get us to believe that if you adopt out a dog, and that dog bites another dog, that the owner of the other dog will find out where the dog was adopted from and come back and sue YOU?

How then can Pets Alive adopt out dogs with bite histories on HUMANS? Dogs that actually bit HUMANS. We adopt THEM out (relax everyone, we offer full disclosure on all our dogs, no one would adopt a dog with a bite history without being made very aware of it).
How could we do that?
How come we haven’t been sued before?

And what if one of our cats scratch someone?
We might have to start declawing every cat so that we aren’t liable, or maybe we need to euthanize them all so that we don’t get sued if they scratch someone. Better off dead than a chance of us getting sued. I mean, what if that cat scratch gets INFECTED???? ::SHUDDER::

And Bill – OMG!!! Bill, we better attach catheters to ALL our dogs. What if one of our dogs urinates on someone’s couch?!! We might be liable Bill! We might get sued for the cost of that couch!

I am terrified at the thought of what would happen if a dog jumped up on someone’s car and scratched the paint. OMG. I might get sued and I might be liable for the cost of the car.
I think I better just kill all the dogs and cats here. I really can’t take the chance that any of the above can happen.

Doesn’t all this seem ridiculous?
But this happens every day. Saying a dog that is dog aggressive and therefore unadoptable is saying the same thing as all the above that “seem” more ridiculous to you all, but it isn’t.

Look, ANYONE can sue anyone else over ANYTHING. You don’t even have to be sane. You can be a complete nutjob and sue your neighbor for something you invented in your head. You won’t WIN, but you can sue. One more thing, Bill. If you DID get sued…there is ONE thing that works in our favor. That dogs are considered “property”.

So even if Katie actually KILLED another dog sometime in the future (which would be utterly horrible and I’m certainly not in support of that and would be horrified at the thought) all you could be sued for was the “value”of that “property”. So someone could sue you over the VALUE of their dead dog. The “replacement value”. See? Archaic laws and rules and policies are still on the books. This is one of them. That our dogs are just “property”. In this particular case though, if you’re so worried about your liability, then you only have to worry about the “value” of the dog. What they paid for it. That is “IF” they manage to win such a case. And again, why would it be against YOU as the shelter, and not the OWNER of the dog?

See?
Your argument really holds no water.
It is absurd.
So are your policies.
Get over them now.
Adopt dogs that are dog aggressive.
Trust adopters.
Trust people.
Explain the dog needs to always be kept on a leash and in a yard.

We have adopted HUNDREDS of dog aggressive dogs.
Know how many times we have been sued?
ZERO.

Choose LIFE Bill.
Choose HOMES over death.
If people are knocking on your door to take home a dog and give it a good life, LET THAT DOG GO HOME.

We took Katie here to Pets Alive.
Thank you for housing her until a “rescue” could come and get her.
Today she has an adoption appointment.
Wish her well.
Next time, consider BEING that rescue.
Adopt her out.

Choose LIFE.

Oh…by the way. I just came back from the kennel.
Katie was just adopted.
Here she is about to go home – to her new LIFE.
LIFE.
Choose life.

The No-Kill Conference was overflowing with people who have actually DONE it…actually taken their major city or metropolitan area from killing animals to NOT killing animals. One of my favorite parts of the No-Kill Conference was Nathan Winograd (“New York doesn’t NEED a Nathan Winograd” – Jane Hoffman) asking speaker after speaker “After you decided not to kill animals anymore, how long did it take to become no kill.” This confused most of the people he asked. “Uh…it was instant.” “One day.” “That same day.”

Jane Hoffman and the Mayor’s Alliance and the organizations who are reliant on the money that comes from the Mayor’s Alliance (Maddie’s Fund money) have been at this for YEARS and the CACC still reportedly kills at least a thousand animals A MONTH.

That means that at the CACC alone they kill three times as many animals in a year as my entire state (Connecticut) does.

If you want to see all the arguments the other side has for continuing to kill animals, I am reproducing an email we received recently. Embedded in this email are all the arguments the Mayor’s Alliance and the ASPCA are using to keep Oreo’s bill from passing and to keep control over the lives of the animals in New York city, deciding who will live and who will die. Please read through the email and we’ll talk about it afterword. It is actually in response to my blog Best Friends Welcome to New York. Here it is:

This sour grapes is astonishing.

Or maybe it isn’t….maybe its just sad.

I work with a no Kill rescue that pulls and places over 600 NYC Companion animals every year with just a handful of volunteers.

And frankly, I wouldn’t leave a rescued hamster at Pet’s Alive. It was a horrific hoarding facility before BF spent all that time and money in rehabilitating not only the facilities, but the hoarding mindset that was entrenched there. The especially painful thing is that Pets Alive has reverted to some really awful practices that lead to death after death of the animals in their care….all while they point fingers at other shelters that do their killing more honestly and directly. But dudes, death is death. And withholding medical care from sick animals in your care is imposing a truly horrific death on those poor captive animals.

Which I guess is why, rather than keep on watching cats in your care die of stress induced dehydration and anorexia, you are implementing the release NON FERAL domesticated cats (most of whom have been living in cages for years and have no survival skills) out into….well, the streets, basically.

Nice job! You don’t have to take direct responsibility for the deaths, but you wash your hands of the responsibility.

Watching the battle between you and Mayor’s Alliance is like watching two pigs in the mud calling each other “dirty”.

I can’t fault Best Friends for wanting to distance themselves from the failure they had in getting you guys to do the right thing.

Since Oreo’s law would have forced the city to hand over dogs and cats to facilities like yours, I was against it as well. And, as I said, I work with an exclusively no kill rescue. None of the local NK rescuers I know feel any differently than I do, about Oreo’s law, nor about Pet’s Alive.

The national PR campaign has been brilliantly run, however. I have to give you that.

Arguments against Oreo’s Law and against no kill in general can be distilled into the following:

1. Why can’t we all just get along? So we see things a little differently (we want to kill animals and you don’t). Stop pointing that out to everyone. We are supposed to be in this together. I actually had someone tell me at the no-kill conference that “we are on the same team.” I said “Really? I’m on the team that doesn’t kill animals. What team are you on?”

2. You suck. You are hoarders, crazy people, idiots, bullies, terrorists, Republicans. And everyone knows it.

3. You’re just doing this for your own gain. You just want publicity, money, recognition, etc. What we find really ironic is that this is usually said by people who take donations from people and then pay themselves salaries of several hundred thousand dollars.

4. We know better than you. Who do you think you are, daring to suggest that there is a better alternative than killing? This usually starts with some inflated credentials of the person making the excuse and then is normally followed by excuse 2 – You suck.

5. We don’t kill animals — we end their lives. This was started by an HSUS killing technician that was giving a killing seminar at one of their conferences. The idea is that the kill shelters do the best killing, but it’s not really killing. It’s helping healthy, adoptable animals by ending their lives. That’s not a joke.

6. Moral relativism. Some animals are better off dead. One animal’s life is more valuable than another’s. And they are definitely better off dead than with you.

Notice something very important. All the arguments are about either US or THEM. They are not about the animals and their lives.

So let’s analyze this email using those arguments.

This sour grapes is astonishing.

So I’m confused already, and I’m 5 words in. Sour grapes? Aside from the fact that this person is leading their debate argument with a hackneyed cliche, where are the sour grapes? Sour grapes is an expression originating from the Aesop Fable The Fox and the Grapes. It refers to envious behavior, especially pretending to not care for something one does not or cannot have.

What are we envious of? Best Friends? The Mayor’s Alliance? Hardly. I’m guessing this is a combination of excuses 1 – Why can’t we just get along and 2 – You suck.

I work with a no Kill rescue that pulls and places over 600 NYC Companion animals every year with just a handful of volunteers.

Uh oh. Credentials are being whipped out. Expect the one two punch…excuse 4 – We know better followed by excuse 2 – You suck.

And frankly, I wouldn’t leave a rescued hamster at Pet’s Alive. It was a horrific hoarding facility before BF spent all that time and money in rehabilitating not only the facilities, but the hoarding mindset that was entrenched there.

Bang…there it is. Textbook. We suck. And I don’t even know where to start. Just look at this sentence, the terrible sentence structure and use and the pretzel logic that ties itself up into knots. I understand why this person would go out of his or her way to mask their identity. Wow.

1. What’s your beef with hamsters? Made me think of PJ and the Empty Cages Collective. They SAVE hamsters.

2. It was a “horrific hoarding facility.” Facilities can’t hoard. Yes…Sara Whalen in the last few years of her life, developed brain cancer and things went downhill. And yes, BF did spend that time and money “rehabilitating” the place. I’m not sure how you rehab the mindset of a dead person…Ouija board? Seance? Channeling?

Okay, so this person sets it up that Best Friends “fixed” the hoarding problem, right?

The especially painful thing is that Pets Alive has reverted to some really awful practices that lead to death after death of the animals in their care….all while they point fingers at other shelters that do their killing more honestly and directly.

We have? What practices would those be? How many animals have we killed? Death after death? Wow…someone needs to fill me in. Ready folks? Here’s a statistic for you. Since Kerry and I took over, here are the number of animals euthanized that weren’t suffering:

0. Zilch. None. Nada.

So I ask this person to come forward and provide the proof to back up the statements. This is, of course, excuse 2 – You suck with a little of 4 – We know better. But to be fair, we have made baseless anonymous accusations against organizations that are definitely actionable (that means can be sued over). Oh wait…that would be YOU.

I want you all to pay very close attention to the end of this paragraph. This is 5 – We don’t kill – we end lives rearing it’s ugly head. Can you possibly imagine someone making the argument that they kill better than we do? That’s exactly what this says: shelters that do their killing more honestly and directly. That’s what we want to fight for…honest and direct killing. Sigh. We’re not even in the same universe here, let alone on the same planet.

And withholding medical care from sick animals in your care is imposing a truly horrific death on those poor captive animals.

Which I guess is why, rather than keep on watching cats in your care die of stress induced dehydration and anorexia, you are implementing the release NON FERAL domesticated cats (most of whom have been living in cages for years and have no survival skills) out into….well, the streets, basically.

Huh? We do what now? We withhold medical care from sick animals? That would come as a surprise to Janet, our medical liason, and to the cadre of vets we paid $150,000 to last year to care for our animals. It’s on the 990. See for yourself.

And we’re what? Releasing domesticated cats on to the streets? We are? Where and when? Let’s see one shred of evidence of any of this.

Yawn.

My mind wandered as I was reading this prattle and for some reason I thought of the scene in Ghostbusters (one of the greatest New York City movies of all time) when Bill Murray is trying to convince the mayor that there are some serious problems coming:

Dr. Peter Venkman: Or you can accept the fact that this city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr. Raymond Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor– real wrath-of-God type stuff! Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddmore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

Nice job! You don’t have to take direct responsibility for the deaths, but you wash your hands of the responsibility.

Huh? What deaths? Who’s hands?

Watching the battle between you and Mayor’s Alliance is like watching two pigs in the mud calling each other “dirty”.

I can’t fault Best Friends for wanting to distance themselves from the failure they had in getting you guys to do the right thing.

We’re fighting with the Mayor’s Alliance? Where? And again…first hamsters then pigs. What’s your beef with pigs now?

Best Friends is distancing itself from a failure? They are? So that was a DIFFERENT Best Friends we worked with to save 120 Beagles on Independence Day? You know, the video that was viewed by 50,000 people? If you combined ALL of your loyal supporters of all time, supporters who believe in you and sustain you and spend their hard earned time and toil to help you, would it add up to anywhere near 50,000?

Since Oreo’s law would have forced the city to hand over dogs and cats to facilities like yours, I was against it as well. And, as I said, I work with an exclusively no kill rescue. None of the local NK rescuers I know feel any differently than I do, about Oreo’s law, nor about Pet’s Alive.

A-HA! So here we are at the core of this “argument.”

That paragraph encapsulates just about all the excuses above. We suck. They know better which lives should be saved and some animals are better off dead then with us.

Oh and by the way…all of the NK rescues agree. ALL of them? In the whole state or city of NY? Does that include the ones that call us every day and beg us to take their animals? The ones like Empty Cages Collective and the many, many others we work so well with? Or does it really just include YOU and the other stooges that need the money that is on the table more than you need to stick to your ethics and your morality?

That’s ok. We’ll do it without you.

So…who wrote this? Honestly I really don’t care. It’s someone who doesn’t have the stones to identify themselves. Someone who has used an email address that appears nowhere else on the Internet. This is basically an anti Pets Alive rant. And it’s not even original. At first I thought it was the nutjob we had to throw out of the cat house because he was, well, crazy. But there are too many big words and not enough grammatical errors.

I traced the IP address to a Roadrunner POP on 89th St. between 2nd and 3rd. Interestingly enough that’s where the ASPCA’s Roadrunner would terminate, as well as a building on 83rd St. that houses Blackstone Investments, where Jane Hoffman’s husband works and an address with which her name is connected. Hmmm. (I’ve been doing this since 1993. I will always find a thread to tug on.)

Here is my challenge to the writer of this letter. I will have them picked up in the city and driven to Pets Alive. Nice town car. They can sit in the back and be a big shot.

They can get the tour and they can present the evidence of all the accusations they have made.

That day they can either apologize and start working with us to end the killing of animals in New York, or we will admit that they are right.

Easy deal. Never happen. I’ve made it a dozen or so times and not a single person would take it. I’ll even throw in a network camera crew to film the entire event. If “all the groups in New York” agree, then all of you should get together and take me up on the offer. You can get rid of us once and for all. Yeah. I thought so.

So let’s get to the important part of this blog. How to counter these arguments. These arguments are non-sensical and designed as sleight of hand to move the debate away from the facts and on to us. That’s called ad hominem, which means insulting or belittling one’s opponent in order to invalidate their argument.

So how do you invalidate these arguments? Simple…

Keep the Oreo’s Law argument as a debate about right and wrong.

Here:

Opponent: Well, Pets Alive is Satan. Living and breathing and walking the earth.
You: Do you think it’s right to kill an animal when there is another alternative?

Bang. Right between the eyes. That’s all this debate is.

It’s about what’s right. It’s about saving the lives of animals. When they use scare tactics get them to admit they believe only THEY know what’s good for these animals. Good equals right. So killing them is sometimes RIGHT.

NEVER. Killing an animal when there is another alternative is WRONG. That resonates time and time again. It’s, like Oreo, black and white. Simple. All the smoke and mirrors in the world will never change that. Oreo is NOT better off dead. She is better off in a brand new run with our trained employees and volunteers caring for her and loving her. But she’s dead. So she can never get better. Killing her was WRONG.

Morally WRONG. And you have not only the right but the OBLIGATION to point that out. Don’t let them bully you.

What I find absolutely fascinating about the other side saying that only THEY know which organizations are best for these animals is language that a horder would use to justify hoarding. Just for giggles I included the language from the New York City Bar Association, one of Jane Hoffman’s puppet organizations that outlines some of the reasons Oreo’s Law could never work below:

The Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, Inc., founded in 2002, is a coalition of more than 160 animal rescue groups and shelters that are working with the City of New York to place shelter animals. The groups and shelters are vetted and meet minimal requirements. The Mayor’s Alliance reports that 1,500-1,700 animals each month in New York City alone are sent to rescues by Animal Care & Control.

The Proposed Legislation may well undermine a collaboration already working to save New York City’s animals. It would be advisable to evaluate whether similar collaborations or transfer arrangements exist or could be established in New York State before passing legislation that does not require and enforce standards for humane care and treatment or otherwise establish that the 501(c)(3) is indeed a “responsible” and reputable” alternative.

Hoarders. Hmmm. Only they know who is responsible and reputable, and saving more animals will undermine their coalition who have taken eight years and need another five to solve the problem other communities have solved instantly. There’s a word for that…failure.

Fight for Oreo and the other innocents who will lose their lives because of people who place their egos and money in front of doing the right thing.

Lock and load.

I left the conference with the same familiar feeling…so honored and proud to have the privilege of working on this team and an overwhelming sense that we need to do more.

This time was no different, except that we arrived home with four cats from the DC shelter and a sweet, precious little girl with a shattered pelvis from the Baltimore shelter. She followed us home. Really. Kerry’s email to staff had me roaring…”Ok. Look. We’re coming home with four cats and a dog that needs rehab and/or medical attention. And one of the cats may be sick. None have heartworm tests and aren’t spayed or neutered. Before you say anything just shut up.” We are total saps. We arrived after hours and of course Janet and Jen and Juan stayed to make sure we got in and the animals got attention.

They will, of course, have all their tests and get altered and shake whatever they may have before they go on to their forever homes, happy and healthy.

Being at the conference allowed Kerry and I to talk with other people who do what we do, face the same problems we face, make the same mistakes we make. We love it. We love it when other shelters invite us in, other organizations ask to come see us, people who are starting sanctuaries ask for our advice. We learn from all of it, and if we take even ONE thing from the sessions and the one-on-one conversations we are thrilled. I know at one point I ran out of paper from taking notes, and my mind is still spinning from all the great stuff that was flying around in my head that whole time.

Advocating a no-kill position can be difficult and dangerous, and makes you a target for other people’s guilt, indifference and ignorance.

One of Pets Alive’s expansion plans (the seed of which was ripped off from Best Friends and/or Michael Mountain, which most of our greatest ideas are) is to put together what we’ve called the Pets Alive Local Advocate Network.

Best Friends has its Ambassador program, which conjures pictures of guys in top hats (or gals in business suits) wearing sashes, sipping wine and politely discussing merits. The program has been very successful in fulfilling its mission.

We had something different in mind. An advocate is someone who argues a position on someone’s behalf — someone who pleads the cause of another. We’re looking for soldiers — people who understand that no matter how it is fought this is a war of life and death.

We are going to put together a training program and you’re going to help us spread the word about no-kill and you can be sort of a cross between Superman and a tape recorder. But you don’t have to wait for us to put it all together — you can become a no-kill mercenary on your own.

So many people came to me at the conference who paid their own way and had no sponsoring organization. They did it because “they want to do something. Want to be active in saving animals.” Well guess what? You’re ALREADY a mercenary. And today I’m going to give you the universal weapon for fighting people who are against no-kill. Lock and load.

The other day we played a game called Who’s the hypocrite? Today’s game is more of a puzzle. Below are a bunch of statements from a bunch of people. Please read them and tell me what they have in common:

We had several issues with the bill. One was the language around who would be approved to claim an animal from a shelter. The Kellner/Duane Bill allowed any animal 501(c)3 to do so, but excluded competent rescues that weren’t federally tax exempt…We also felt the reporting requirement in the bill was unrealistic for some small rural shelters to meet.

Ultimately we believe it made no difference, with regard to its passage, whether or not we supported the bill. We had some issues with the bill and the way it was written, but more to the point was that without support from two of the biggest organizations in the region (ASPCA and the Mayor’s Alliance), the bill simply wasn’t going to pass.

Francis Battista, Best Friends, in their statement on Oreo’s Law.

I was very saddened to read Nathan’s blog today. While the words were mostly polite, he really tried to shine a negative light on BF because of their decision to remain neutral over Oreo’s law. I believe in the work that you do, therefor I trust in the decision you made.

Debbie Hunsinger posting on the Best Friends Facebook page that same day.

My family & I are long time supporter of the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter & will continue to do so. The folks at the shelter work very hard raising funds & taking care of our furry & feathered friends.

Maureen K. defending the Jersey Shore Animal Center for intending to kill 5 FIV+ kittens and their mother.

Okay. Let’s stop here for now. I have tons and tons more, but let’s lay the foundation. So what do these three statements have in common?

Here’s the first one. They are all different ways of debating the same question. All of your battles, regardless of with whom, where and why are about the answer to this question:

Should an animal be killed when there is another alternative?

In the cases above, each person is attempting to frame the debate in such a way that it denies a discussion of that question. Whether it is intentional or not it is irrelevant. Your job is to be the advocate for the animal whose life is being debated, whether by proxy, straw man or right out in the open.

When you understand your job it’s easy. Then you need to find the person who controls the life or lives in question and get them to understand that question and realize the magnitude of making the wrong decision.

This is ABSOLUTELY not about whether the organization saving the dog is a 501(c)(3) or has to fill out too much paperwork to save the animals, or even if the biggest groups support the killing (Francis Battista), not about prior good deeds or the tone of the argument (Debbie Hunsiger), and not about how long they have been working, whether or not you support their actions or help them raise money to continue those actions (Maureen K.).

This is about what is right and what is wrong. This is about whether it is WRONG that Oreo should be killed when there is another alternative (Francis Battista and Debbie Hunsiger), or whether a mother and her kittens should be killed because they have a disease which is neither life-threatening nor debilitating (Maureen K.).

THE ARGUMENT IS ALWAYS, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT ABOUT THE LIVES OF THE ANIMALS.

So, Francis Battista, why have you decided to kill Oreo?
Well…there are people who might want her that don’t have a 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS. Also, the paperwork is too much for some of the smaller rescues. Oh…and the ASPCA thinks she should be dead. So kill her.

See…the ludicrousness of the argument shines through when you frame it in those terms.

Let’s try Maureen’s.

Maureen, why should we kill those FIV positive kittens and their mother?
Well…I am a supporter of the shelter and have been for years. They work hard to raise money. And they take very good care of the ones they don’t kill. So let them kill the rest.

Again…you can see how nonsensical the argument becomes.

Be a missle. Move right past the chaff that gets thrown out there and hone in on the moral argument that they are all afraid to debate you on — right and wrong. Life and death. Black and right. While they may claim, like Ed Sayres, that No-Kill doesn’t have the moral high ground, reporters, supporters and the general public knows the truth. This is an innocent life in danger of being needlessly extinguished. Want to try a few more?

Obviously New York is not California and a law that might work in California won’t necessarily work in NY. Not to mention the process for passing a law is different and the stakeholders are different. Not to mention that California’s law is not named “Oreo’s Law”: Words do matter and the proponents of Oreo’s Law WANTED this to be a divisive attack on ASPCA. I’m even suspecting that at some point the proponents stopped caring about passing the law at all… there were many things they COULD have done that they chose not to do.

Emily S., Absolute lunatic on YesBiscuit! after Oreo’s Law was shot down.

When California passed a law like this in 1998, they knew the risk of having animals end up in the hands of some criminal, terrible people. They decided so many animals were dying in shelters, that they should risk it.

The California law was passed in 1998 as part of a comprehensive effort to save adoptable or treatable animals in shelters that refused to release them and instead euthanized them. The California law is not limited to adoptable and treatable animals but guided by that goal.

It is not the same desperate situation in New York in 2010. Mayor’s Alliance working with more than 160 rescues moves 1500-1700 animals from the New York City shelters each month. The rescues are vetted.

Laura Allen of the Animal Law “Coalition” on Oreo’s Law.

So let’s use our newly minted skills to identify and counter what’s being said here, starting with Emily S. I chose her because I’ve had “debates” with her if you want to call them that. She is not very intelligent and not very logical. If she were someone who actually held the key to the life of an animal I was trying to free I would definitely go around her and work on someone else. The idea in a public debate is to engage her and let her show everyone else what you already know.

So, Emily, why should we continue to kill dogs by not passing Oreo’s Law?
Well, just because it saved thousands of dogs in California it won’t work in New York. And the way they PASS the law is different in New York. And there are different PEOPLE involved in saving animals. And using the name Oreo in the title of the law is mean. In fact, I think the people who are proponents of this law didn’t really want it to pass because they didn’t do MANY things they could have done to get it passed. So keep killing animals because words have consequences.

So how do you counter what Emily says? Picture yourself with Ted Koppel on a split screen with Emily on Nightline. She says what she said above. What would you say? Shrug. I’d say “there is ten years’ worth of data on the Hayden Law in California that proves it works. We can save so many innocent lives by trying it here, and what’s the down side?”

Now…picture your Mom or Dad or grandparents watching Nightline. Which side do you think connected with them — someone whining about the title of the bill, or someone getting right to the moral argument here, which is all about right and wrong. And we threw in risk and reward as a bonus. There really IS no downside. See how easy it is to win?

Again, every debate, whether it is one on one or on the national news, needs to be torn down to its foundation — that killing innocent animals is morally reprehensible. Period. It would be very difficult to get someone to disagree with that, most times even your opponent. That’s why they will go off and start talking about the number of words on the page or the way you are presenting your argument or which way you should part your hair.

Shine the light of truth on them and hold their feet to the fire until they are forced to defend a position that even the most uninterested observer understands is the wrong side. WRONG. Get it? No wishy washy crap about moral equivalence. WRONG. That’s the sword you need to wield.

My opinion of Laura Allen and the Animal Law “Coalition” changed dramatically during the battle for Oreo’s Law. As a quick aside we don’t subscribe to the “let’s all get along” Kum Bay Ya method of saving animals. If you stray over to the WRONG side of things, meaning that you’re no longer advocating for the lives of these animals, then you need to be called on it and given a chance to come back into reality.

Laura Allen was given many chances, and she’s too intelligent not to realize that she has misrepresented many things about Oreo’s Law. Misrepresent is a nice way to say LIE. So let’s take a look at her stuff.

So Laura, why should Oreo’s Law not be passed and 25,000 animals a year be killed?
Some of the animals may end up in the hands of bad people, and California was willing to take that chance in 1998 because many animals were dying in shelters, but not so in New York. The Mayor’s Alliance is doing such a great job we don’t need to save the rest of the animals that don’t get saved.

And the law in California was only a PART of the effort to save more animals. If we can’t do the rest of the stuff they did we might as well keep killing animals. Oh, did I mention that the Mayor’s Alliance is doing a great job?

Sigh. I call these arguments “Chinese Food Arguments.” They seem like they’re going to fill you up but you just go hungry an hour later.

So…you say that the California law had the potential to put animals in the hands of bad people. Uh…it’s been on the books for 12 years. Has it? Where are the statistics that can either prove your argument or destroy it? My guess is that since you conveniently leave them out we can guess the answer.

And we need a comprehensive plan for saving animals. Great. Draw it up. In the meantime let’s save some animals with Oreo’s Law. And if the Mayor’s Alliance was actually doing its job New York would be No-Kill.

Why can’t we have both? Who died and left Laura Allen and Jane Hoffman of the Mayor’s Alliance the Mayors of Dogtown? Again…shine the light of the truth on this cockroach den and they scurry off in all directions. The fact is that this law will save 25,000 animals. Do you want to be on the side of the animals or not? Right or wrong? Life or death?

Keep the argument where it needs to be and you will always win.

I have like ten more that I collected but I’m going to save them for another time. Instead I want to show you what happens when you call these people out. This is the kind of stuff you get back:

Pets Alive has started a viscous [sic] campaign against the Jersey Shore Animal shelter, a non for profit shelter in Brick NJ. They are using bully tactics, threats, inciting the public to engage in terrorist activity against the shelter and generally trying to control the Rescue Community with THEIR philosophies. Pets Alive, for those of you not aware, are KNOWN throughout the legitimate Rescue community as bullies and ignoramuses concerning animal behavior, which I have studied for 20 years. You see in Rescue, Great Dane Rescue does NOT dictate policy to Schnauzer rescue and so on. Mr D’Angelis seems to feel he has the right to create the standard for all rescues in this country. Please feel free to call or e-mail him through the website and let him know your rescue is working just fine without his input. Unfortunately though if you contact them, and after my conversation with him recently, please use small words and keep things simple. His Co-President is not the brightest bulb in the batch either. A high school diploma might be of some help to her lack of civilized language.

As someone who has worked and donated all training and behavior work to rescues for twenty years, this is unprecedented. But the egos of the President (who is apparently anatomically inadequate since he threatens and bullys’ women) and his organization of HOARDERS are apparently fooling the public with scam after scam. Including Rock Star Rob Thomas, who is handled by the same management as my cousin and is now being made aware of Mr D’Angelis’s and his ship of fools, and their Mel Gibson rants at the women at Jersey Shore. Threatening women????? Gee, You must all be sooooo proud. Will you be invading playgrounds next???

Rescue work is all volunteer and involves many judgement [sic] calls. The last thing we all need right now is some fat guy with an even bigger ego telling REAL rescues what is in the best interest of the BIG PICTURE. He has scammed the public into believing his hoarding operation is actually working.

I have worked with the Jersey Shore Animal Shelter for over 10 years now. They have a 95% rate of successful adoptions. They are true pioneers in rehab and finding forever homes. I myself have certified several hundred of their dogs for Therapy Dog work. My school has been featured on national TV, published articles on behavior and received two awards from the Governor of NJ for our work with Therapy Dogs and Autistic children. Some of these dogs have come from the Jersey Shore Animal Center and with REAL rehabilitation (not just the weekly petting sessions offered by Pets Alive) are now serving the community. These people do good work and as non profit volunteers, only an inadequate piece of scum would pick on them. I beg the public to do your research about the Pets Alive rescue and you will see that the liars in this case are Mr D’Angelis and his assistant who I didn’t feel had the brains enough to learn her name.

Sigh. I was going to excerpt this email but it’s too perfect not to show in its entirety. So where do I start?

Remember, this is about us insisting that these ignoramuses not kill six cats just because they are FIV positive. That’s it. This was about those lives. We got that message across and the shelter got inundated with phone calls and emails and faxes and it all got covered by their local paper and tweeted around the world.

And they made the same mistake most others do when faced with this…they don’t realize that they are representing wrong in an argument about right and wrong and right is getting ready to kick their @ss all over the universe. For some reason this is where they get arrogant and say some equivalent of “it doesn’t matter what the truth is…we are going to do what we want.” That’s loser talk.

So..let’s get back to this guy. “bully tactics, threats, inciting the public to engage in terrorist activity.” Yes, we wrote letters, made phone calls and sent faxes. And we encouraged our supporters to do the same. That makes us terrorists. I would call that the definition of the word advocate. So…uh…do you still support the killing of these cats who could have a forever home?

And oh my God…we are guilty of “trying to control the Rescue Community with THEIR philosophies.” Uh, again, that is what being an advocate means. And while I was flattered by this man inadvertently attributing the no-kill philosophy to us, we are not the initiators of No-Kill. Oh, and speaking of that — do you plan to kill those cats when homes could be found for them?

Not only that, but we are are KNOWN throughout the legitimate Rescue community as bullies and ignoramuses concerning animal behavior, which I have studied for 20 years. Wow..ignoramuses. The expert dog trainer can’t spell vicious, but he can get ignoramus right. Now tell me…if we’re known throughout the rescue community, why do we get emails from, on the average, 500 rescue groups a week asking us to take their behaviorally challenged dogs? Oh, and by the way — are you still going to kill those cats? And how many behaviorally challenged dogs have your shelters killed that didn’t need to be killed? But let’s stick to this case first.

“Mr D’Angelis seems to feel he has the right to create the standard for all rescues in this country.” This one I LOVE. I am NOT dictating the standard for any rescues. The Creator of the universe did. He (or she) created a right and a wrong. Killing is wrong. Killing innocents is very, very wrong. And you are on the side of the killers. And incidentally, do you still intend to kill those innocent kittens?

I will leave out the personal attacks on my intelligence and sexual prowess. Shrug. If you can’t debate the facts this is what you turn to.

Please feel free to call or e-mail him through the website and let him know your rescue is working just fine without his input. Hmmm. Isn’t that bullying and using terrorist tactics and inciting and blah blah blah? I guess only if even one person does it. No one did. And I was just wondering…do you still plan to kill those cats for no reason?

The last thing we all need right now is some fat guy with an even bigger ego telling REAL rescues what is in the best interest of the BIG PICTURE. He has scammed the public into believing his hoarding operation is actually working.

Um. Sorry, but the ONLY thing we need right now is someone to tell the “rescue” in this case what is in the best interest of the animals for which they are morally responsible. Uh. Don’t kill them. Do we need to draw you a picture. That IS the big picture, little picture, only picture. And yawn, yes. I have scammed the public into believing we save 1200 animals a year from being killed at shelters like yours. Ya got me. Now please don’t kill those kittens.

The next paragraph is a chest thumping resume about how he’s been doing this for decades blah blah blah has been on TV and is friends with the governor. The President sends me a Christmas card. So what? In fact, if he’s so knowledgeable this email should never have been written and he should spend his time getting on the right side of this, which is DON’T KILL THOSE CATS.

Some of these dogs have come from the Jersey Shore Animal Center and with REAL rehabilitation (not just the weekly petting sessions offered by Pets Alive) are now serving the community. These people do good work and as non profit volunteers, only an inadequate piece of scum would pick on them. I beg the public to do your research about the Pets Alive rescue and you will see that the liars in this case are Mr D’Angelis and his assistant who I didn’t feel had the brains enough to learn her name.

Yes..we just pet the dogs. That’s our secret. That’s how we take in aggressive dogs, get them rehabbed and get them adopted. Dogs that, if left in his hands and the hands of those he works with would be dead. Period. End of conversation. And they do, after all, do good work. Not sure how the animals they kill would perceive their work, but that’s a detail. And also, could you please not kill those kittens?

Yes, do the research. That’s how we doubled our donations this year and are expanding like crazy to SAVE MORE ANIMALS like the kittens they are trying to kill.

But the worst part of this for Kerry is in that paragraph where he called her my assistant. I laughed for hours.

Tell me…would you allow this man to work with your dog? I certainly would not.

We saved the kittens and the mother, and we are hopefully going to sit down with these people and help them stop the killing of the animals in their care. It was obvious to me that some members of the board are appalled by this just as we are, even if the guy that sent me that email thinks killing is perfectly okay.

We are going to publish a kind of handbook on advocacy that shows you step by step how we achieve success. But remember it all falls back on one thing. The real terrorist here is the truth.

Right and wrong.

Saddle up.