Is this another internet hoax? It appears that rescuers (or at least people claiming to be rescuers) are posting in various online locations that pets at the Spalding Co Animal Shelter in Griffin, Georgia are in danger. The shelter, according to the rescuers, is slated to close for repairs and all unadopted pets will be killed on Wednesday. We have seen hoaxes of this sort before and I can’t help wondering if this is another one. (In fairness, I think these things sometimes sprout from an honest misunderstanding and then spiral.)
On the rescuers’ website for the Spalding Co shelter pets, here is what it says on the page for Urgent Cats:
NOTICE
SHELTER WILL BE CLOSING FOR REPAIRS.
ALL CATS MUST BE OUT OF THE SHELTER BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH BY 4 P.M. OR THEY WILL BE EUTHANIZED.
There is a similar message on the page for Urgent Dogs:
URGENTS LAST DAY
NOTICE
SHELTER WILL BE CLOSING FOR REPAIRS.
ALL DOGS MUST BE OUT OF THE SHELTER BY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH BY 4 P.M. OR THEY WILL BE EUTHANIZED. NO DOGS WILL BE HELD OVER.
Here is a rescue blog posting about the impending closure/mass killing. A photo album on Facebook contains the photos of a number of dogs that it says are from Spalding Co and will be killed Wednesday if unadopted. Part of the text on that page contains language copied from some of the above links:
SPALDING SHELTER IS VERY RESCUE FRIENDLY.
THE STAFF IS VERY CARING TO THE PETS HERE.
PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TO THE SHELTER STAFF, AS IT IS THEIR COOPERATION THAT MAKES POSTING THESE PHOTOS POSSIBLE. THANK YOU.
THANK YOU FOR RESCUING SPALDING PETS
There are a few things making me question the veracity of the story. I regularly scan Google for stories on animal shelters in Georgia and I have come across nothing on the need for immediate adoptions at this shelter. According to the rescuers, the staff at Spalding is “very caring” and “very rescue friendly”. Assuming this is an accurate description, surely the staff would be clamoring to the local media about this urgent story, encouraging the public to foster and/or adopt, running specials on adoption fees, etc. So why haven’t I seen a single story on this crisis?
At the very least, I would expect the very caring staff at Spalding Co to have updated their own website with an urgent plea for assistance from the public. And yet, their website contains no information (at least that I found) about the plight of these pets they intend to kill in two days.
I am posting this in an effort to find out if this is some sort of hoax. If it is, I hope we can help set the record straight and shut down the false rumors. If it isn’t a hoax, perhaps we can find out why the very caring shelter staff appears to be ready to kill every last pet in their care without reaching out to the media, without advertising special adoption promotions, and without even putting so much as a blurb about their intentions on their website. Surely it can’t be the case that the very caring staff is allowing local rescuers to do the scrambling for them while they sit back and watch the clock tick-tock down to Kill Everyone Day. Right?
Color me confused.
Update, 10-12-10: Thank you Laura Shenk for sharing some information from the county on this story. Please see her two comments. In short, it seems that “some” dogs are in danger of being killed due to the shelter renovations.
Count me among the believers, but I will look into it myself. When we were working on Grace’s Law, we were initially under the impression that Spalding had stopped using their gas chamber, so they didn’t appear on the early lists of gas chambers issued by the GVAW. About halfway through the campaign, we learned that they do, in fact still gas feral cats. And TNR is actually illegal in Spalding County. The reason for initial misconception was a very carefully-worded press release issued by Spalding County:
http://gvaw.org/Documents/PR%20-%20Animal%20Shelter%20Lethal%20Injection.pdf
This is a shelter that does not have adequate air conditioning and where animals routinely get sick with preventable diseases.
Look at this web address at urgent dogs
http://spaldingdogs.com/index.html
The site says “THIS SITE IS A COMPLIMENT TO THE SPALDING COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER SITE, IT DOES NOT REPLACE IT.
evidently the shelter relies on this volunteer site to get the word out. :(
I don’t know if it is true or not, but just in case I sent an email to the “shelter”, the county manager, and his assistant, and a general info. email for the county. The link to the shelter can be found in the blog, here are the email addr…esses for the others, if anyone else wants to contact them. I really think we should let them know that the mass murder of pets is no longer acceptable in our society.
twhalen@spaldingcounty.com,vmartin@spaldingcounty.com,info@spaldingcounty.com
I can’t help but wonder is this true as well, since it’s happening to often. However there are mass killings going on everyday all ove the country.
One of local shelters has the reputation as being No Kill, or at least low kill. Nope: they kill everyday. They kill for being a pitbull. They do not have a foster program. They kill over 50% of the animals that come through there. But they think they are the best and most caring people you can find. They are above all criticism and talk only about how much they care. It would not surprise me in the least if they pulled a stunt like this all the while claiming to be caring, rescue friendly people.
So I will not comment on this case, but I can definitely see it happening.
How about someone actually CALL the shelter and ask them directly? Much quicker and more accurate than a blog posting asking if anyone else knows.
Also just because a shelter page doesn’t say anything, that doesn’t mean squat. Shelters don’t always keep their web pages up to date ya know.
Here is the phone number:
(770) 467-4772
I would call myself, but its 1:40 in the morning right now….
My vote on this one goes to Fake. If you look carefully at the blog several animals “last days” have already passed and yet there’s still a link to contribute to their “care”. Not only that but if they ALL die tomorrow (Oct 13) why do the contributions continue until Nov 6? This looks like another person/group abusing people’s good nature to want to help animals to me. In a strange sort of way, I hope I’m right on this for once (I usually hate to see this sort of thing but the alternative is so much worse.) :(
I don’t know why you would consider the threat to kill all animals a hoax. The threat to kill animals in a particular shelter happens every week. Even tiny, rural shelters will give their animals only one week or less for placement or threaten to kill them if they are not rescue. Trust me, they carry out their threats to kill. There is no need for a created crisis such as renovation plans for “rescue friendly” shelters to kill every single animal under their roofs. It is not a story for the media because it happens in this country every day in hundreds of shelters.
I admitted I don’t know if it was a fake or not since I don’t live in the area. However I have seen many FAKE claims that animals will die if people don’t send money to support them, and they always use urgency as an excuse. The clues I went by were the dates that didn’t coincide, the “rescuers” requesting money did not appear in any way to be affiliated with the shelter, and that they would continue to accept “donations” for specific animals long after they were supposedly destined to be killed.
Spalding has a long history of being an underfunded gassing shelter. When it says a dog will be available until 4:30 it means that at 4:31 that dog won’t be available. However, the shelter staff works hard at getting these dogs and cats out safely.
The edict to clear out the shelter comes from management which tmakes it direction from an uncaring county government that has been pushed into making improvements at the shelter. My guess would be that unless rescue steps up for these dogs and cats they will become the collateral damage of any improvements being considered.
The bottom line is advocates have to stop remaining silent about e problems at the shelter and develop a coalition to push forward with a No Kill Initative to prevent these situations in the future.
Two of my beagles – “Beagle” and “Casey” are survivors of The Spalding gas chamber. Beagle was a 4:29 rescue in 2001 and Casey was a one year old beagle who had a kicked in eye – he wasn’t even advertised for adoption cause “no one would want one eyed beagle” – well, except me. You can see pictures of Beagle and Casey on my Facebook page.
@Valerie: Are you in Georgia? I have heard most of the national breed rescues do not maintain presences in GA due to restrictive laws, is that true?
I hate when TNR is illegal. It was illegal in many counties and towns around here but we are slowly getting those laws changed. Not like it really stops most people from doing it anyway.
Not sure if it is a hoax but not sure how many shelters would advertise doing such a thing. Bad for donations and public support *eyeroll*
@Kelley. There are national breed rescues of all kinds here in GA. I was involved for several years with one. The animal laws depend on the county and I do not know of any that are so restrictive that breed rescues or any rescues can not do their job. Some individual animal control shelters can be difficult to deal with but most will work with rescue.
Yes, I am in GA. There are numerous rescue groups in GA. I sent email invitations to about 400 or so when I was organizing the ‘Building No Kill Communities’ seminar that took place in Douglasville in April. As I recall, most that I contacted were local groups, not necessarily associated with national breed rescues. The GA Dept of Ag requires rescues to be licensed and inspected and recently raised the fee substantially, and recently Coweta County decided they should require state licensed rescues to be licensed and inspected by their AC as well, so some places are more ridiculous than others, and some shelters, like Carroll County, are pretty hostile to rescue, which is why you tend not to see them on rescue email lists or FB pages. They just kill most of the animals.
I never thought the Spalding mass killing was a hoax. It is interesting to see how the County is trying to spin this, though.
I haven’t had anything but negative experiences with the staff at Spalding. The prisoners are caring and will help you with animals, but the staff didn’t care who I was pulling.
Link to news story about his, I hope this works for everyone, I copied it to FB, and then to here. If not, search Griffin Daily News for it.
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.griffindailynews.com%252Fview%252Ffull_story%252F9858769%252Farticle-County-animal-shelter-must-partially-close&h=f451a&ref=nf
Good work finding that buried story Laura – it never showed up on my Google Alerts or searches. It does seem to confirm the closure (which it describes as a “partial closure”) but doesn’t specifically say every pet in the place will be killed Weds.
Here are the replies to my requests for info. I’ve got to get to work, and will have no computer access until this evening, so anyone concerned about the dogs should attempt to contact this woman, or the shelter, and get the info. needed to network the dogs.
Ms. Shenk:
No, it is not true. I am unsure of the source of your information,
but the closure at the Spalding County Animal Shelter is partial
only; no cats will be affected and only a percentage of the dog
runs. The closure is at the order of the Georgia Department of
Agriculture and every effort is being made to place the affected
animals in homes prior to the deadline set by the State’s inspector.
A press release was issued to local media on the day we were told by
the State’s inspector that we had to close the runs which was
carried on the local radio station and printed in the Griffin Daily
News.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
Virginia Martin
Public Information Officer
Virginia C.S. Martin, Esq.
Interim Assistant County Manager
Spalding County, Georgia
770-467-4242 (o)
678-628-9486 (c)
Ms. Shenk:
I am unaware of requests for funds through Facebook. Could you direct me to the particular page where you found that?
Animal Control is currently doing a count to see how many dogs are at the shelter who still need to be placed. As soon as I have than information, I will let you know. Unfortunately, there is a danger that some dogs might be euthanized if we cannot find placement for them before we have to close the runs. I hate that idea as much as anyone, so any help finding homes for them is most definitely appreciated.
Sincerely,
Virginia Martin
Virginia C.S. Martin, Esq.
Interim Assistant County Manager
Spalding County, Georgia
770-467-4242 (o)
678-628-9486 (c)
Again, thanks Laura.
So it sounds as if Ms. Martin is refuting the rescuers’ information that all the cats need to be out by Weds – at least that’s my interpretation of her “no cats will be affected” comment.
Further, I take it that “some” dogs are also safe at the shelter during the partial closure and “some” are at risk for being killed when the runs they are in have to be repaired, starting Wednesday. This would seem to refute the rescuers’ claim that ALL dogs must be out by Weds or they will be killed.
Assuming Ms. Martin’s information is accurate, the crisis surrounds “some” dogs (possibly 48 as suggested in the article, assuming one dog to a run?) who will be killed tomorrow if not adopted. Besides the buried story in the local paper – which I would hardly describe as an urgent plea for the public to adopt (which is the type of media blitz I think is needed here), is the shelter running any specials, going on the local TV news, camping out at Petsmart, etc? What is the shelter doing to save these dogs from being unnecessarily killed tomorrow?
This is similar to the response I got:
Due to work that has to be done at the Animal Shelter, Spalding County is under a mandatory closure of some of its dog runs; no cats will be affected immediately. There are 60 runs for dogs; 48 of them must be closed. The closure is at the order of the Georgia Department of Agriculture and every effort is being made to place the affected animals in appropriate situations prior to the deadline set by the State’s inspector, which is tomorrow.
As of 10 am this morning, we have 13 dogs available for adoption and 7 who have been adopted and are waiting to be picked up; also, we have 10 rescue-only pit bulls.
Unfortunately, there is a danger that some dogs might be euthanized if we cannot find placement for them before we have to close the runs. Our press release last week included a request for good homes for these animals, and any help with getting the word out would be appreciated.
Additionally, we will have to have all of the animals out of the shelter before the necessary work begins, but it has not been scheduled. I am hopeful that we will be able to adopt out all of the remaining animals before that time, so euthanasia will not be necessary.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Sincerely,
Virginia Martin
Public Information Officer
Virginia C.S. Martin, Esq.
Interim Assistant County Manager
Spalding County, Georgia
Well, I don’t know if anyone looked at the actual Petfinder listings for the shelter but they are clearly marked… – MUST BE OUT BY WEDNESDAY 10/13 – SHELTER CLOSING – ALL ANIMALS MUST BE OUT!
This is not from some random website, its the shelter’s Petfinder listing.
Here is an example….
http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/17589546
Hi, I just called her. The pound will be closing. The cats now, as I understand it, do not actually all have to be out immediately by 4 pm Wednesday but they do have to leave asap whether by rescue or adoption or pts because once full closing takes place, then no new animals in and none can stay during sandblasting and rehab work. Please understand that we rescuers who try to help the kittens and cats at this pound do know from past experience that once the dog kennel area is closed, the community does not enter the pound to browse the cats nor do rescues come to pull cats. We only end up with more cats being abandoned or trapped.
Ms.Martin requested any questions or comments please feel free to contact her directly.
Thank you all for your passion and for caring about these animals,
Barbara Lowe
Winging Cat Rescue, Inc
I was trying to get a dog from there , and was promised the ladies from GA would get that dog to me. Three or four days later , I was to find out someone else got the dog. I also am one of them posting all the dogs individually on my facebook page , not just spalding but what rescues call high kill shelters, have been told by a foster’er that any that say high kill or by gas or heart stick are high kill shelters and cruel ppls (that is put nicely) what you have just copied was put on there page , after i started bad mouthing them for the loss of that dog i wanted ! After i checked several times if he was still there and if the rescuers and ppl in spalding were still (doing chip in on net and the such for me to get said dog) and was told yes. Then he went to some one else . Well i was mad to say the least and crying ,so ya i had foul mouth about them on my wall, hence the ad you have stated!
Plus my daughter my have seen me crying for days , and i have only been out of hospital for stroke , couple of weeks befor trying to get the dog name Grant. I think she may have emailed shelter directly, (mad) And beings she worked at shelter befor she nows how they are. She may have layed into them for me.? Anyways shortly after board members or what ever started adding more and more dogs to the urgent list! I know cause i check the site everyday for Grant. Was to begin with 59 dogs that i posted. Then the ones that didn’t get out first week, plus more, to total 27 on that urgent list to be put to death. After this adding they then said what you stated that they were closing but if look in the chit chat after scrolling down on a dog? that was a vote to close the doors! Not mandatory! Get the idea? They mad .
I own http://www.spaldingdogs.com.
I want to know who owns this blog.
This is NOT a hoax.
Hi Donna,
I am the blog author and the county’s PIO, Virginia Martin, has responded with information (as you can see in the comments). If you have any information to add, please feel welcome to do so. We all want to get the most accurate information possible.
Hi yes you can email me privately, I am registered on wordpress.
If you want the proper information please go directly to the GA DOA and ask about the Spalding Mandatory shutdown ordered by the State. Also contact the County Animal Control Manager who has all of the information given to him by the DOA. The State mandates and the County has to follow.
Also here is the latest last night 11 pm newscast from TV station reporter and you can see that Ms. Martin has another take on what is going on at Spalding.
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/25375282/index.html
The original news link from from Atlanta alive 11 news. You can see how the interim county asst. manager has changes in wording also.
http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?aid=124414&storyid=158036#/News/The+Clock+Is+Ticking+For+Seven+Dogs+Who+Need+Homes%2C+Now%21/49906865001/50317397001/633086574001
Thanks for the links Donna. For those of us stuck at work and unable to watch videos, can you summarize the main point of what’s said? What is the change in wording you refer to?
Sigh…once again the state of GA news media totally overlooks the other half of the pet population abandoned to die in animal controls.
Not a single mention of kittens or cats still at the pound which includes Scratch the most wonderful turkish van white/black mix male adult cat.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/25375109/detail.html
Scratch’s video
http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/17589546
see the man in the orange shirt petting him? Not allowed to show his face because he is a community service worker/inmate from the nearby facility. His first day on the job he remarked, “I never cared much for cats…”
So look at him now! He wishes he could adopt this cat and actually wished our rescue could hold onto Scratch for several months til he’s paroled.
We are rescuing this cat this morning and sending him to clinic to be combo tested, vaccinated, microchipped and neutered.
We even have a video of Scratch getting along with the office pound dog!
I think since the dogs are all safe, you can see the videos when you get home. Main point is all dogs are safe. Thank you. D
ALL DOGS ARE SAFE AT SPALDING SHELTER NOW, HAVE ALL LEFT THE BUILDING. HERE IS THE URGENT WEBLINK:
http://spaldingdogs.com/id32.html
AND SAFE WEBLINK:
http://spaldingdogs.com/id31.html
NOTICE:
ALL OF THE DOGS HAVE LEFT THE SHELTER WHO ARE BELOW. WE WILL BE PUTTING THEM SAFE DOWN BELOW AND ALSO PUTTING THEM ON THE SAFE PAGE.
THANK YOU ALL WHO PARTICIPATED IN GETTING THE DOGS OUT SO THE SHELTER COULD BE REVAMPED.
NO DOGS WERE PUT DOWN AT ALL…………..ALL SAFE AND OUT OF THE BUILDING INTO ADOPTERS OR RESCUERS LOVING ARMS. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN.
Volunteer Website Owner
One last comment regarding the urgency at the shelter. FBers were working on the dogs. All of the dogs had rescue pending, even though they were not listed as such on the spaldingdogs.com website. The shelter depends on this website to keep up-to-date as the shelter does not update their website other than 2-3 x a week normally. The dogs on FB listing all had rescues and just needed funding. Here is a running account of all of the dogs. The 7 or 8 at the bottom of the photos, click and you can follow along with what transpired regarding the rescue. This has been ongoing since last week regarding the push for rescues to come forward. This FB posting goes on every week by volunteers and posters, crossposters, etc. The reason for the fast push was that the DOA had mandated being shut down.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19639&id=1715220496&ref=mf#!/album.php?aid=19639&id=1715220496&page=4
Here is the final of who pulled all of the dogs whether for themselves or for other rescues and adopters. An the Atlanta 11 TV story of today regarding all of the dogs from the shelter being pulled.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/lifeislabs
Just thought I would leave you with the final completion of the Spalding A.S. rescue completion of the stories.