Previous Post Rescinded.
First time here? Read the Oldest Posts and LOOK AT PICTURES at the links below. Words can't describe what rescuers saw once they hit the ground.
1. My own favorite Post: Click here
2. Best video footage: Click here
3. This blog has the BEST PICTURES so far of Katrina Animals. It is all pics and good ones Click here Warning pics of dead animals.
4. School shooting story WITHOUT ANY GORY PICS -- and ton of other great pics Click here
5. And this is one of our groups blogs --
Click here
6. Most amazing photography: I mean must see: Click here
7. To reunite pets with owners: Click here
8. Watch a Pitbull video Click Here
I recently put a post about euthanized dogs and had six quick comments that made me sway my decision to put it up. I obviously don't totally understand when and how and why dogs are euthanized so I retracted it. Someone with more knowledge than myself may may want to comment on it on this site. I don't personally have any experience on it. One comment reprimanded me saying that of course the breed Pits bred fopr fighting would need put down and how could I be so stupid to think otherwide. Well, I went to NO thinking crazy things about Pits and came away from it a changed person...We had dogs with scars all over them as some of the nicest guys in camp. I will admit those were quick expereinces and perhaps these dogs are dangerous to other animals and humans? Every thing I have written about I have felt I had first hand knowledge about and on this topic I just don't so I retracted it. People keep screaming at me for attacking the HSUS. Remember, I went to that camp as a proud member who sent my check off each month. I have simply pointed out specific mistakes rather than ever knock the entire organization. They have some great people.
Further, let be sure of the facts before we "demolish" an entire parish police department. As someone that had innacurate info put out about them I know the internet can be a very, very rumor oriented place. It is easy to guess who killed those animals in the school and easy to say it "must" have been the police...but lets be realistic, it could have been all kinds of people and we have NO let me repeat NO info saying it was any law officer. Let it be investigated by the AG before you fry someone.
posted by EricsDogBlog.com @ Monday, October 03, 2005
26 comments
26 Comments:
About pit bulls ... they have a terrible reputation and there seem to be lots of news items about them killing people and other animals in the poorer areas of DC-MD-VA area. I read somewhere (ASPCA web site?) that 60+ percent of the Katrina rescues were pits, and 95+ percent of all animal rescues were not spayed or neutered. It is hard to imagine that none of these rescued animals were viscious, or that great homes could be found for several thousand rescued pit bulls all at once.
Eric, have you read this? Damn Bad
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/pet/99552245.html
I had several people tell me it was like that in Haittesburg, but never in so much detail.
One thing I think (unless I hear otherwise) was that at least the animals at Lamar Dixon seemed well cared for.
Of course there are great pit bulls. Many of the pit bulls at L.D. have been evaluated by a leading pit bull rescue group -- Bad Rap --in CA. You can read about it on their website. AND, pit bulls are being sent out of the facility. My post that was deleted pointed out that it's not SOLELY HSUS or another group who decides whether or not a pit bull or any dog gets euthanized. It is mainly the determination of vets on site.
"Plus these dogs have a freakishly strong bite, comparable to that of a small bear, because of the anatomical design of their muslces and jaw. It sucks, but it's a reality to accept."
MYTH MYTH MYTH No dog has locking jaws. Pound for pound other breeds have more jaw strength. Dog aggressive dogs are not always human aggressive. There are pitbull therapy dogs, pitbull services dogs, and some fighting pitbulls can make good pets.
Eric,
I just want to thank you for all you've done and how you've kept others informed through your blog!
Also, a note on Pit Bulls. My husband and I worked at Lamar-Dickson for 5 days and interacted with many, many pit bulls during that time. We found most of them to be so incredibly sweet and desiring of human attention. However, from our experience, most were very aggressive to other dogs. They would be wagging their hind end for all they were worth, but as soon as another dog got within 10-15ft, you better have a good hold on the lease!
It really made me sad because when we were leaving, we were given the opportunity to foster a couple of dogs. I would have loved to get a couple of the sweet Pit Bulls out of there, but we just didn't feel comfortable.
Eric - thanks for trying to help the pitties. There's a lot of very uneducated and frightened people out there who refuse to believe anything other than the media. My girls play with the neighbor kids, like cats and other dogs. Gameness is NOT bred into them - it's brought out in "fight training" which basically is ABUSE. So - hooray for you and all your efforts.
My experience with most Pits was that they were the most loving little guys to all people but watch out if another dog came around....of course some seemed to love other dogs as well.
My experience is limited but it did encompass about 50 of them that I saw in different camps.
I just hate it when people stereotype dogs by breed. I have a rottie and it is amazing how many people run when they see her with fear. This is utterly ridiculous of course as she is a trained therapy dog for children and is the most gentle loving dog you'll ever meet. So stop judging the pits please. It is all in how you raise them. I'm sure some of those rescued were bred to fight, but that is no reason to summarily label pit bulls or stereotype them. I worked with a lady who bred pit bulls and her dogs were angels. Unfortunately it is common to euthanize ANY breed who has been bred for fighting or being a particularly aggressive dog because it is almost impossible to undo that kind of aggressive training. There are those breeders who pay no attention to the proper methods of breeding, and sheer inbreeding alone can create an aggressive and unmanageable temperment which cannot be undone. As people, none of us want to be stereotyped, so let's give all our pets the same courtesy.
A big issue regarding Pitt Bulls / Rotties / Dobies is Homeowners Insurance. Many major companies WILL NOT INSURE if you have these breeds. Don't believe me?? Call them and find out before you decide to bring one home.
Date: September 29, 2005 1:15:58 PM EDT
Greetings all -
I am deeply saddened (and embarrassed for the person who initiated this
mess) that I am even engaged in an exchange such as this, but I feel
that a reply is necessary. To be honest, the message that was posted is
such a fabrication that I will not even justify it with a detailed
response to each grievance (I think this was already done quite
eloquently by the director of veterinary services in Hattiesburg, and I
will leave it at that. Please read that post if you are interested in
the details that were addressed in the initial post).
I will, however, comment on the things I feel to be most important; what
really went on in Hattiesburg, and the terrible impact that this
disastrous post & subsequent discussions have had on the relief effort.
I, too, was down in Hattiesburg at the same time as the accuser. I DON'T
RECOGNIZE THE OPERATION DESCRIBED IN HER POST. I don't think anyone else
who was there will agree with her impressions of what went on & short of
everyone else wasting their time sending their responses to this
ridiculous thing, I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.
I am a veterinarian who has been working with RAVS/HSUS for 5 years.
Since my first year of veterinary school, I have provided medical &
surgical services to animals in North Dakota, Ohio, Alaska, Tennessee
and Mexico and keep coming back for more. Why?? In short, I choose to
devote as much time as possible to THIS organization in particular,
because I have always been impressed by the organization's commitment to
individual animal welfare and effective incorporation of the highest
standard of care into the most rustic environments. This, combined with
a "teach a man to fish" approach to empowering communities to empower
themselves, makes RAVS/HSUS a unique, and respected organization within
the humane education/animal advocacy field. The husbandry, analgesic,
surgical and medical protocols of any RAVS/HSUS field clinic (INCLUDING
the temporary shelter in Hattiesburg) are consistently at, and
oftentimes above, the standard of care at any "regular" veterinary
facility in the United States. I have worked in many shelters and humane
societies, as well as general practices, am internship-trained, and
currently an emergency clinician at a large 24 hour multi-specialty &
referral hospital. I can assure you that the standard of care and
general husbandry of the animals down in Hattiesburg is not even worth
discussing, as it was appropriate, beyond adequate, and certainly
impressive for ANY facility holding 1000+ animals.
If the accuser (I don't know what else to call her, as she has chosen to
remain anonymous) thinks that she has a better way to house, walk, feed
and care for 1000+ animals in horse stalls in the Mississippi heat in
the middle of the biggest natural disaster ever to hit the United
States, I'd love to hear it. I would encourage the accuser to imagine
what it was like BEFORE she arrived on the 13th (I believe that was her
first day) - BEFORE there were any volunteers at all. BEFORE any food or
air-conditioning was provided for volunteers, BEFORE the bloody misting
tents that she was so concerned about. Imagine the hard work &
dedication of the ONE veterinarian and technician who processed 100+
animals PER DAY, and developed a large-scale functioning multi-species
animal shelter out of complete chaos.
As a veterinarian, I was constantly impressed by the astute observations
of the hard-working volunteers who were walking dogs & cleaning cages,
and timely reporting of health concerns. Lists were generated each day,
as volunteers brought health concerns to the attention of the vets.
Wounds, fly strike, ear infections, diarrhea, vomiting, lameness, and
anything else that was observed by the volunteers were addressed in a
timely fashion. Several animals were given intravenous fluids and
medications and cared for in a separate ICU, created and staffed by some
of our finest licensed technicians and veterinary students. Animals with
infectious diseases were housed in separate isolation areas with
footbaths and appropriate standard biosecurity measures to prevent
disease spread. I personally set up the canine isolation ward and can
attest to its fine maintenance by volunteers, technicians and veterinary
students. Animals who required surgical intervention were sent to two
local veterinarians for care, and then returned to our facility for
post-operative sheltering. We even sent a pregnant mother to whelp
comfortably in a local veterinarian's clinic to provide an
air-conditioned, quieter environment for delivery. Other dogs who had
recently whelped lived in the director of veterinary services' RV in
hopes of reducing stress as much as possible. Thanks to VMAT's facility,
we were able to run bloodwork, fecal examinations and evaluate cytologic
samples from patients about whom we were most concerned. I personally
treated a dog with intravenous fluids, antibiotics, gastroprotectants,
pro-kinetics and a plasma transfusion - treatment that would have
required referral to a 24 hour facility had this dog been in the "real"
world. This dog also had a parvo snap test, fecal float + cytology,
PCV/TS, CBC, chemistry, blood smear & saline agglutination evaluation,
by the way. So, to the accuser's implication that the animals of
Hattiesburg were declined appropriate veterinary treatment or were
suffering in any way, I take personal offense.
As disturbing as the slanderous and fabricated nature of the accuser's
comments are, the negative impact it has had on the continuing relief
efforts is probably even more upsetting. When her comments were
initially posted, there were so many associated phone calls & emails to
HSUS that PEOPLE SEARCHING FOR THEIR ANIMALS WERE UNABLE TO GET THROUGH.
So, congratulations, accuser! You succeeded in creating such a mess that
the efforts of HSUS folks have actually been directed at trying to set
the record straight and deal with the slippery slope of the ol' rumor
mill, rather than help the animals. Good job. You must be so proud.
To all the volunteers who may be reading this: THANK YOU, THANK YOU,
THANK YOU - for your hard work, dedication, positive attitudes and
unbelievable willingness to pitch in & help wherever necessary. I
sincerely hope that this attack on our work in Mississippi only makes
your determination to help these animals stronger. Please don't let one
rotten apple spoil the whole barrel.
-Katherine Goldberg, DVM
P.S. Re. the accuser's comment regarding blankets: in case you have
forgotten what it felt like to be in Hattiesburg
it was HOT. A cool concrete floor was a dog's best friend.
It is sad to have someone make such terrible judgements about people volunteering and working in the awful conditions--shame on you. Here is a very different report from someone who volunteered at Hattiesburg and spent more than a day or two there:
Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:30 pm
Post subject: Reply with quote Report post
This may be long, but I am going to respond to each allegation in the email from the vet tech that worked at the Hattiesburg Shelter from Sept. 13 - 17th. Hopefully this will help people understand what really went on.
First let me say, that I am a "blue shirt", a volunteer, not paid staff. I was given the position of Vet Services Coordinator on September 1st. My duties were to oversee all the veterinary services at the Hattiesburg Shelter, including staffing, ordering supplies and setting policy for the veterinary care of the animals in our shelter. No policy was set without a group decision from our Incident Commander, my Staff/Lead vet and the lead VMAT vet, myself, plus the Mississippi State Vet, to make sure that we were meeting legal and state laws as well.
All of my decision making was based on one simple premiss, "If these were my personal animals, how would I want them cared for and sheltered during this disaster?" The second consideration is for the safety and well being of EVERYONE working within the Hattiesburg Shelter, be it a "yellow shirt", "blue shirt" or "scrub shirt" and anyone in-between. This included both the physical and emotional health for every living being at our shelter, animal and human. Was everything perfect? No, in a perfect world, there are no hurricanes, no animals left behind, no animals already in shelters, no people that have lost everything, no heat, no fleas, no disease, no sadness, everyone is on the same page and gets long, there is no need for discussion because there is only one perfect answer for everything........... reality check.......it's not a perfect world. This may be the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, that my friends is the reality of the situation and the reality we faced in Hattiesburg.
Let me also say that I know exactly which group this email came from, I have their names, email addresses and phone numbers on my deployment spreadsheets. I personally had several talks with them on site when they expressed their dissatisfaction at having to work at the shelter and were not allowed to leave to go out and run through the rubble to rescue animals. We needed them at Hattiesburg to provide medical and sheltering care for the 650 animals (at the time, but grew to more than 1000, total processed now is over 1700) We had field teams on the coast trained to do the rescues and transfer stations with air conditioned vehicles to bring the animals to Hattiesburg for Veterinary care and sheltering.
Why "blue shirts", "yellow shirts" and "scrubs"? We did this to provide easy, visual clues for everyone. If the vet staff (scrubs) needed a shelter volunteer (yellow shirt) or visa versa, they could, at a glance know who was who. If a sheltering volunteer or Vet staff needed a question answered or had an issue they felt needed attention from the staff, they could look for a "blue shirt"" and know who they were talking to. The reason everyone had to have an HSUS badge on at all times were to make sure that everyone wearing an HSUS shirt was supposed to be there, not just someone who snagged a shirt and decided to go "shopping for dogs" or show up at the canteen for free food. I cannot speak for the person in charge of shelter staff, but my instructions and rules for my Vet staff was that they were to do everything possible to care for these animals and if that meant cleaning cages, walking dogs or feeding them, if they had time from their duties as vets and techs, they had better get in there a pitch in. I would not and will not tolerate egos or holier than thou attitudes from my Vet staff, myself or anyone else on the compound. This was not the time, nor the place for those types of attitudes for any reason. We had literally hundreds, upon hundreds of amazing volunteers helping the animals. The worked themselves to the bone and put their health at risk to care for the animals. On that point, I will address the allegation that "HSUS was making a movie about reuniting owners with their dogs-one or two reuniting incidents had occurred. A misting tent was set up to provide a cool, comfortable environment for HSUS staff involved in making this movie." There might have been a TV station there, but HSUS had no film crew there making any movie at this time or any other time.
The misting tents, there were two of them, one set up between Barn C and Barn S and the other set up between Barn D and the horse Barn, were set up, per orders from the "blue shirts" and the safety officers from the Colorado Springs Fire Department. They were set up for the purpose of protecting the volunteers and staff from the heat. We were having 10 - 20 per day going to the medic tent for fluids or other heat related issues. No film crew in their right mind would walk into a misting tent with a $10,000 digital HD camera and risk getting water on it! Try misting the electronics of your computer or camera with water and see what happens! In my "other life" I am an underwater videographer and I know what even a drop of water can do to my camera if it seeps into my housing. Very expensive repair or I have to buy a whole new camera. No fool would every walk into the misting tent with their camera. End of story. The TV station may have been standing outside of the tent, I'll give you that. My question is this, why would this volunteer carry a dog all the way to the misting tent to where the film crew was? By her own admission, they were hosing off the animals to clean them and keep them cool. Which is a decidedly more effective method of cooling them off, than carrying them to the misting tent. I suspect she wanted to get on TV as one of the "heros" carrying this poor animal to the misting tent, better yet, he had cuts all over which made the scene even more pitiful. Why didn't she grab a hose, give him some ice water or take him to the vet to check him out? Why did she head directly for the cameras? As for the tents only being for the Staff to keep them cool and clean.......give me a break! After the tents were set up, I noticed that the volunteers were still not using them, they were sitting on coolers or in chairs by the catering truck (which was there to make sure everyone had food and drinks!),or on the ground outside the barns, so I asked the catering staff if I could take every chair and cooler and drag it to the misting tents to that if anyone wanted to sit down, they HAD to sit in the cooling tent, if they wanted cold drinks, they HAD to go to the cooling tent. They were so busy doing a great job, they had to be forced to take care of themselves! Gotta love "em!
As for the food issues for the animals. We had tons of food available to the animals. One shortage at first was the I/D, since most of the donations came from wonderful people that bought the same food they fed their pets and loaded onto trucks and brought down. But most folks, don't have the diarrhea problems we had in the animals coming in from stress, drinking foul water or other conditions. We knew we needed more I/D and other special diets so we order hundreds of cases of these and asked for donations of these foods to cover that need. It could have been that since we originally had a shortage we were trying to reserve that food for critical animals. I know that on the first day I arrived and was put in charge of ordering meds for the clinic I placed a HUGE order for fluids and other meds to treat the diarrhea I knew we would encounter. We had the meds and fluids on hand from day two and the food came later. I take full blame for not having enough special diets on hand from the beginning, but my first thought was meds to treat the problem. That was corrected as soon as the issue came up. Like I said, it's not a perfect world, nor am I a perfect person.
As for adopting or fostering animals. When animals come in that had already met the holding requirements in a MS shelter before the hurricane and all the paperwork was correct and available, these animals were sent to HSUS shelters outside MS first, then we dealt with animals that had paperwork that we felt was not correct and tried to deal with this. Many of the shelter animals had lost their paperwork in the storm surge and these were placed on hold until we could process them, photograph and micro-chip them and get the information entered into a main database of Chameleon Software, which is an excellent program used by shelters to tracks animals in their shelters and beyond. No animal was allowed to leave the shelter without being entered. No animal went to anyone that was not an approved shelter or foster before they were entered into our system. No animal was allowed out without the contract being signed that agreed to the holding period and adoption rules. Animals that had clear cut owner surrender papers, which we followed up on with a phone call to the owners to verify, we allowed to go first to fosters or approved shelters. Most of these animals were processed the first week. The remainder had to be processed and recorded so owners would have every chance to find their pets. Once we were sure this was done, we sent them to approved shelters. Before the animals were loaded onto the transport trucks (only AC equipped trucks) or an AC equipped cargo plane, the paper work was reverified and where that animal went was entered into the central database to keep track of the animal. If this were your pet, would you not want the same thing done so you could find him or her? I would. None of these animals were allowed to be adopted until they met the 30 holding period from the date they leave the Hattiesburg shelter. Period, end of story. I don't care if you sent in $25,000 or a million, you can't buy or steal someone's dog. I am sure that if we explained to this man that donated the money, he would understand. Obviously he loves animals and if he see one of the dogs on the PetFinder site that he falls in love with, he can contact that shelter and let them know he wants to adopt that dog when the holding period is up and we will gladly get the dog to him. No problem. If it were his dog lost, I'm sure he would want things to be the same, so he could find his pet. If Wayne Pacelle (President and CEO of HSUS) wanted to take an animal, he'd have to follow the rules, just like anyone else and that goes for the president of the United States the same as it does for a shelter volunteer or the Vet staff or a "blue shirt". Deal with it. Did we have problems with some Pit Bull "shoppers", yes and we asked for help from the Sheriff, the National Guard, etc. We asked the SART team for help with security and they hired private security until we could get the Air Force National Guard in and set up check points and patrol 24/7 the grounds to protect the animals and the staff. Yes we did have some security issues, but we dealt with them the best we could with the resources at hand. The only thing we didn't have at the end of all this were tanks at the entrance. We took the security of the animals and volunteers extremely seriously.
The bedding was in short supply at first and we did NOT have washing machines or dryers, so only dogs that had medical issues or were otherwise in need of soft bedding had it at first. That was corrected later when asked for more donations of bedding. There may have been a large pile, but we had roughly 650 animals there at the time and if we had only 300 needing blankets, that needed to be changed at a minimum of 2 times per day, that would be 600 blankets per day, 4,200 blankets per week. Let's say that one small folded towel takes up 1 sq. foot. That would mean that one weeks worth of towels and blankets would fill up a house that is close to 5000 sq. feet, one days worth would fill up a large studio apartment. Just how big was that pile that she saw?
Now for the dogs only being walked once per day. The dogs were walked several times per day. At a certain point the heat became a real danger to both the animals AND the volunteers. It was our choice to limit the walks to early morning and the evening to prevent that animals from becoming dangerously overheated as well as the volunteers. We corrected this situation when we put up chain link dog runs that we covered with tarps for shade. Then the extra walks could continue in a safer enviroment for both the animals and the volunteers. Celery Head admits several times that heat was an issue, that is true. We also had seperate areas for walking the owned pets from the Pet Friendly Barn, the Shelter Dog walk and the Isolation walk area. This was done for the safety of all the animals as well. I personally requested the dog runs to help the dogs be dogs and have a place where they could safely be off leash and goof off for a while. Volunteers were in there all day throwing balls or toys or just playing with the dogs. The runs were for protection from the heat, to help eleviate the stress of being in the shelter and it was more fun for the volunteers to be able to play with the dogs rather than keep them on leash all the time.
Another reality check.......Dogs poop in cages, they pee in cages. You know what they say, --I have a Potty Mouth-- happens. Many, many dogs and cats arrived with open sores, cuts, etc. How does she know the sores were from urine burns?? If this were true or she suspected it, why didn't she go to a Vet or the barn manager and make sure it was dealt with accordingly. I was there the whole time and I never heard anyone report this. Why didn't she come to me?? Why didn't she come to the shelter manager, why didn't she have her friend, the vet deal with it? You can complain all day long, that is easy. I might suggest next time she spend more time dealing with the problem rather than complaining.
There were NO applications that individual volunteers filled out. The stack of papers she saw in Barn C were lost and found reports, which were coming in more and more daily. We had an entire staff whose job was to sort through hundreds of these and try to find a match for the lost report from the hundreds and hundreds of dogs and cats and horse, and pigs. etc. at the Hattiesburg shelter.
"Every morning between 4 AM and 4:30 AM a group of HSUS workers got up and left the tent. Although I did not witness this, i was told what they got up to remove any dead dogs and cats who had died during the night. I CAN verify that, indeed when we started out for the day, there were empty cages. When I inquired abou the empty cages, i was told the they probably moved some of the dogs here or there." She states she walked around and didn't see the dogs. Dogs were routinely moved to other areas for various reasons, some small dogs were moved to wire crates to make room for larger dogs that needed the room in the stalls, some cats were moved into a quieter location to reduce stress, some dogs and cats went into an isolation area, some were transfered to local vets in order to provide better, safer conditions for their ongoing medical needs. NO ONE got up early in the morning to remove dead animals, ever. Most of the vet staff was sleeping in my RV or in the tents directly behind my RV (I had them do this incase we had an emergency in the middle of the night, I would know where to find them) We have records of all animal deaths and there are only a few. These animals were critically ill when they arrived and we did everything possible to save them. I have records on each and every animal in our shelter, I have nothing to hide, they have nothing to hide. I am glad they took the 18 year old Yorkie and the sick little pup and helped make her last days full of love and care. But, would it have been better to take him to a full service veterinary clinic for 24/7 ICU care that was available in Hattiesburg or even just 1.5 hours away in Jackson or put him a car and drive him 17 hours back to Virginia. If it were me, I would have gone to the closest Vet clinic and gotten that animal on IV fluids, with a pump, IV antibiotics immediately, not drive 17 hours with her. I would had her sitting in my lap, receiving lots of kisses and hugs and singing songs to her while she was at the ICU, not in the car. Her friend, the vet, thought the drive would be better. But that is just my opinion, they chose another course for her.
It is not a perfect world, it is one tough place to survive for every living being. I cannot make anyone feel or think the way I do, I've learned in my 47 years that all I can do is do my best and lead by example. It is also my opinion that 99% of the volunteers and staff at the hattiesburg shelter were amazing wonderful people who were truly there to help the animals and wanted nothing more than to give all they had to make this work and went home confident that they did an amazing job helping the animals during the largest natural disaster in U.S. history. I refuse to allow one small group of sour grapes to spoil the whole bunch. I cried as many tears as anyone over these animals, I was as frustrated as anyone that things took longer that i wanted, but in the end I am convinced that during some of the toughest times any of us have ever faced, we set up one --heck-- of a shelter. I, for one, can sleep well at night knowing we did out best. I hope that I have answered many of the questions that have come up from the other email and that many of you can now have some peace about what went on there. It is my opinion that this person wanted recognition and attention more than she wanted to help the animals. But that is my perception and my reality. You choose your own. In the mean time, I beg you to spend more time actually helping the animals and less time in chat rooms or message boards spreading rumors about a situation that you were not there to actually witness.
Consie
Vet Services Coordinator
Hattiesburg Shelter
09/01 - 09/25
What happened to these?
Anonymous said... Eric,
You've beginning to sound like the very arrogance you've accused the HSUS of i.e.,....'saving the day' (your words). You've done incredible work but your mounting arrogance is destructive, devisive, and an insult to the very people, and organizations such as the HSUS, who, despite what you think, are working just as hard as you to save these animals and reunite them with their familes. Everyone will learn from this very painful experience. And to think that no animal will be euthanized as a result of this tragedy is naive.
For the sake of this relief effort, please, tone down the slander....frankly, its demoralizing.
1:44 PM
Anonymous said... "measly" 3000 animals? When they are scared, skittish, trapped behind bars, trapped behind locked doors, trapped in poisoned water that burns skin?!
That's 3000 more than would have been rescued without their help.
Stop your stupid moronic crusade against the HSUS, Eric Rice. Just because you decided, wihout animal rescue training, to go to Nola and play Mr. hotshot rescuer and the HSUS didn't bow down and kiss your pimpled axx.
So the system was chaotic, and could have been better. Welcome to a disaster zone, imbecile. The important thing is that lives were saved. Maybe not to your oh so superior and know it all specifications, but then I guess only you are perfect.
I don't f*ing care that your nose is out of joint, you're slandering good people, who, by the way, are still there..
How's that nice hot shower in Baltimore, Eric? How's that comfy bed? How's the AC?
1:51 PM
Anonymous said... And I see you're back to your blackmailing tactics. "I threaten to pay money unless the HSUS talks to me, because I can't stand it when they ignore me. Oh, that mean old vet who has nothing better to do than deal with an enormous, unprecedented disaster zone was MEAN to me! Waaaahhhhh!"
Grow up.
1:53 PM
First I would say that two people made very detailed points that Haittesburg was not as described in that Craigs List link. I have to say they convinced me. These were tough situations and not everything was perfect. Thanks for your side of it.
----------To Anonymous. Why are you anonymous by the way?
Give me a break. Your curse,scream and even HSUS has stepped up and admitted they made big mistakes. BTW- the only reason your posts got lost was because I listened to your comments and took down my own post.
You seem to say that I should have stood by and watched and not written about any of this?
Disaster Zone -- isn't that what the HSUS says they are trained to do?
I was there and so were hundreds of others who were treated like complete sh** when we left our jobs and lives behind to come help. All HSUS had to do was welcome us. They didn't do that until they realized just how in over there heads they were.
I sat and talked to a lady in charge (very high up and I don't want to out her). This was weeks after the storm and she couldn't figure out what to do with the list of call ins. This was
Your outnumbered by to many people who saw what went on. God I have not been that hard on these people.
Again, I have been specific in my complaints. 1) No tracking of animals 2) Not using the list of desperate people that called 1800humane1
3) Arrogance
Do you really mean to say they should not have to be able to tell an owner where his animal is if they took it? But can get away with sending them to Petfinder where it might be listed? Or that they had no responsibility to get the list of owner call ins into the hands of rescuers within hours after getting a call about an address? Or that someone who showed up to volunteer shouldn't get treated like some being from another planet?
Trying to play rescue hero am I. All I did was write a little blog for family and friends.
Rescue training? This was the biggest pet crisis in the history of the world. The reason I went was because I recognized from day 1
I am picking on HSUS? Surely they can handle little ole me in B'more. They are the biggest animal lobbying firm in the country and have had for worse detractors than me. I think they will be ok. Blackmail? With a blog? That is the power of the Internet. They should get use to it. People want Immediate feedback and when all they get is no answer they turn to wherever they can get info. HSUS could have controlled all of it by being nice first off to volunteers that showed up and then not sugarcoating how well eveything was going. People saw right through it. And I can't tell you how rude some people were. (many were not but it only takes a few)
I'll ask another questions of HSUS then....Why is Jane Garrison a volunteer running rescue? Who at HSUS has the final responsbility for a disaster rescue operation of this size? Who should have gotten that list in the field?
Tell me specifically how I tell people to find animals they lost because they are emailing my by the dozens asking what LASPCA number they call because it was spray painted on the side of the house. I sent 10 people to Lamar Dixon and you should call them to see how well the system worked. Disaster is no excuse for not tracking what animals came in.
In your most recent post, you state
"People keep screaming at me for attacking the HSUS. Remember, I went to that camp as a proud member who sent my check off each month. I have simply pointed out specific mistakes rather than ever knock the entire organization"
Yet in your previous post, you do indeed knock the entire organization
"Because the people like HSUS and LASPCA who could have told the story did not. Everyone knows what they put out was complete propaganda. God I got emails from SPCA and HSUS asking me for money the entire time. Even today the websites give no clear idea of what went on acting like they "saved the day" They tpok out a few thousands dogs at a cost per animals that is going to be insane and have now lost most of them. HSUS- Stop sending me donation requests in my email every 4 hours."
The comment about donation requests every 4 hours is particulary outragous. At one point donation requests for you were being posted every few minutes on Nola.com and other forums.
These attacks on the HSUS and ASPCA greatly damage your credibility. In fact, you come off as someone who is exploiting the situation for his personal benefit.
Kitten Rescue: You've made some great points/suggestions.
I have been on the HSUS' mailing list for some time even though I'm Canadian and have always told everyone how much I respected them for the hard work that they do. I was also going to donate money after the news broke about Hurricane Katrina although I'm glad I waited.
I am really, really disappointed and saddened about how things haved played out at Lamar Dixon. From my own experiences of checking out Petfinder and seeing photos where you couldn't even make out the details of animals because the photos were of such poor quality and lack of details provided, to the updates at the HSUS website that made one think that all was going so well because they made it appear they were on top on things when the reality appears to be mismanagement by HSUS as well as the ASPCA.
To know that that each group had the money to properly shelter and care for these animals as well as provide half decent accommodation for the hundreds of volunteers that spent their own money to get there to help out but weren't taken care of (except for a couple of weeks), is disconcerting. How the HSUS could pull out at the end of Sept. when there are still animals that need rescuing means they will not be getting any donations from me in future. I'm now totally disillusioned with them as I honestly thought they were a wonderful organization and always deserving of support. Unfortunately, I feel alot different about them now and sincerely wish that was not the case.
Eric your attitude is admirably magnanimous. I hope that it was not "peace officers" who did this and it would be terrible if the real perpetrator got off scott free because the investigation focused on the wrong party. But given the conduct of the officers in SBP during Katrina and in the weeks afterwards - if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.
Welcome to the wonderful world of animal rescue: not enough money, not enough time, not enough space, not enough volunteers and too many animals: it all leads to inadequate measures, dead animals, and infighting.
You simply can't blame organizations that have too few resources. To say we need people to "do more fostering"--it's a ridiculous statement when foster homes are already overwhelmed. I've worked in rescue for years. People ask if I'm helping with hurricane Katrina pets. Well, gee, I've already got three foster dogs, 10 cats, 5 rabbits and tortoise. So no, I'm not "helping" with those animals--I have the desire, but not the resources. My animals will continue to need homes long after HK is a memory.
One solution: microchipping. Possibly mandatory microchipping--certainly it should be encouraged far, far more than it has. If everyone microchipped their animals, and had at least one source on the chip be someone outside the city, it would be soooo much easier to find the homes. $20.00 for a chip--get yours today.
I visited Lamar Dixon when it had gotten down to 1500 dogs. All the cute fluffies were shipped out and what remained were a lot of dogs that were lumped under the name "pit bull." For sure some were, but most were just mixed breeds and some were others entirely. No one was interested in my take on their breeds--I'm an AKC judge and have been in dogs all my life.
I even saw a Catahoula with the notation "pit bull" as its breed. Very sad to see that in La. since that is a native breed.
All the time I was there, people were taking the dogs out of their crates and walking them, passing by each other, or standing talking. No one seemed to have a problem with these dogs and they didn't seem to have any problems with each other.
We were repeatedly told that dogs, mostly pits, were stolen early on out of Gonzales by people representing themselves as "breed" rescue folk. So that is why they couldn't release dogs to pure-bred rescues like ours--Akitas.
Typical of the entire operation--here we were willing to take Akitas out and foster them in a neighboring state and were turned away. Finally they decided we could take dogs if we took 20. Well, there never were 20 Akitas there! Nor did I have a vehicle to transport that many dogs safely.
So instead, some of the Akitas I was going to see about fostering passed right by me on IH-10 going west as I was going east. It was a convoy for Marin Co. SPCA. So now those dogs are in Ca. Kinda ironic, I guess.
Anyway, one of the only good things to come out of this, I hope is that people from all over the country maybe left La. with a very different opinion about pit bull-type dogs than they had when they went there. Most of the dogs that are left there, I'm sure will be PTS. Where would they go? Who would take them to adopt out?
Pitbull rescues have taken as many as they could absorb, and still hundreds are left. Maybe if they've managed to change some of the hatred directed at the breed as a whole, they'd say their lives are worth it? Maybe people will come to realize that they are, like people, just dogs, and like people, some are wonderful, some are okay, and some are the dregs. Except fewer of them are dregs!!!
Regarding the dog aggression in some pit bulls...well, lots of breeds of dogs are dog aggressive, not just this breed. Owners should know something about the breed before they get it and they have a duty of care to make sure the dog is trained not to be aggressive or allowed to be so.
I've had Akitas for years and they don't always get along with other dogs. Many terriers besides pit bulls don't play well with others. The list is really too long to list, but it's easier to pick on pits. I'd like to point out that always included with the list of pit-bulls are their look-alike cousins, Saffordshire bull terriers, which are much smaller, American Staffordshires (AKC Breed, which Pit Bulls are not), and even Colored and White Bull Terriers--Patton owned one and it went everywhere with him--even to war.
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