Have a look at this donation plea from Best Friends Animal Society and tell me what your impressions are. Try to read it as John Q. Public might. Here’s the takeaway that I got:
Best Friends and Pets Alive have saved 125 Beagles who were having medical tests performed on them in a lab. Best Friends is taking those dogs who need the most rehab and is going to work with them for some indefinite period of time. It costs $250 per dog, per day to get these poor dogs the care they need so please give generously.
Does $250 per Beagle per day sound right to you? It doesn’t to me.
If JQP decides to clicky the link to donate, here’s what he’ll find:
Your contribution to the Best Friends Great Beagle Escape helps them get one step closer to families. To illustrate what your gift can accomplish, $500 provides overall veterinary care for 5 beagles; $250 gets one beagle to safety; $100 spays/neuters 4 beagles; $50 microchips 5 beagles with permanent ID; and $25 helps provide toys, leashes, and blankets! Any amount will help – we will use your donation in the area of greatest need!
Do these figures at all makes sense to you with respect to the “it costs $250 per Beagle, per day to take care of these dogs” claim? They don’t jive to me. As such, I wanted to see if I could find out any additional information about these 125 medically-experimented-on Beagles. Enter the local rescue in NJ:
Thirty beagles from a now-closed testing laboratory in Warren County were taken to St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center on Friday afternoon so they can be adopted.
[President of St. Hubert’s, Heather] Cammisa said she was told by former AniClin employees, who helped load the beagles in crates for transport, that all but one of the beagles were “naive,” meaning they had never been used for testing. The one beagle that had been used in testing is not expected to have any health problems.
The adoption effort in New Jersey involves St. Hubert’s and four other animal rescue groups: Mount Pleasant Animal Shelter in East Hanover, Noah’s Ark in Ledgewood, Monmouth County SPCA in Eatontown and Animal Alliance in Lambertville.
So hold up.
Best Friends didn’t take 125 Beagles. They took some lesser amount and several local rescues stepped up for the rest. Will Best Friends be sharing the donations with these local rescues?
All but one of these dogs were never used for medical testing. When I revisit the donation plea, I notice wording such as “…finally freed from life in a medical testing lab” and “There’s no telling what life in a laboratory was like…” Yeah I guess there’s “no telling”. At least Best Friends hopes no one would tell. Or use the Googlie.
According to Ms. Cammissa of St. Hubert’s, the Beagles in NJ will be up for adoption next week. This is as it should be to my mind. Dogs are not rescued in order to be held indefinitely and used for fundraising purposes. That’s not “rescue”. Sure there are special cases that come along but I can’t see how these dogs would qualify as special cases.
The beastesses look to be young, healthy and well cared for. They probably have no home life skills but hey, they’re Beagles, they can figure it out. And it puts them on the same level with the average shelter dog who was picked up roaming the streets – they’ll need to be introduced to a new life and taught basic house manners. Dogs generally do very well in these situations. The sooner they get into homes, the better.
How soon will Best Friends’ Beagles be up for adoption? Or will they be in “one step closer to families” fundraising limbo forever?
Anyone have any additional info? What’s your take on this situation?
Added, 2pm: I just spoke with a credible source who wishes to remain anonymous. This person strongly believes all the Beagles will be adopted out ASAP and not kept around for fundraising purposes. I’m very glad to hear that. Further, as far as this source knows, Best Friends has not taken any Beagles as of yet. They are all being cared for by Pets Alive and several area rescues.
Added, 7pm: This article says the dogs will be up for adoption shortly and that Best Friends will pay for their care:
All the animals were in good health, [Pets Alive Executive Co-Director Matt] DeAngelis said.
[…]
DeAngelis expected the dogs would be available for adoption soon. That’s led to a new greeting at Pets Alive: How about a beagle? How about two?
Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society has promised to pay the cost of caring for the beagles for the first four months. Pets Alive hopes to find new homes for the dogs during that time, but will continue to care for them if necessary.
I’m glad to see this report but it’s unclear to me if Best Friends will be paying the actual cost of caring for the Beagles or will they just hand over $250 per day, per Beagle, as their donation form requests. Further, I don’t know if Best Friends is paying for the care of Beagles at Pets Alive only or at all the rescues who have stepped up to help. And of course if BFAS receives more donations than are required for the care of the Beagles, I guess that’s where the “we’ll use it where it’s most needed” part comes in.