Background info:
HSUS Rescues 44 Dogs from AL Home – Where are they Now?
and
Tracking the Dogs “Rescued” by HSUS from AL
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I received this comment from a reader who saw it posted on the FB page of the NC HSUS group in a discussion about the AL “hoarding” situation and HSUS “rescue”. It appears to be from HSUS staffer Sarah Barnett:
Sarah Barnett Also […] to address the issue raised on YesBiscuit – we never had a press release on our website about this, we sent out a targeted release to the NC area, to encourage people to go and adopt from the shelter.
If Ms. Barnett – or anyone – got the impression that “the issue” I was raising on this case was about a website press release, please let me eviscerate that notion here and now.
The Issues:
HSUS went into Marshall Co, AL without involving the county’s sole ACO, took 44 dogs who appear to have been adequately cared for, labeled the owner a “hoarder”, and then engaged in what one commenter appropriately referred to as dog laundering. The dogs were distributed to other southern states, who already face serious challenges themselves, without even attempting, so far as I know, to get the dogs into rescue in AL.
Further, HSUS refused to answer where they sent the dogs and it took a small army of volunteers (Thanks to all who have been helping!) to find that information out. Of the dogs we’ve been able to track down, several are confirmed dead or suspected to be dead. Again, we can’t get definitive answers in some cases.
In response to the many requests for information, HSUS staffers have been posting tidbits of info online describing the dogs as “unsocial, inbred, unvetted, unaltered and […] were in fact injuring and killing each other”. If this information is accurate, it boggles the mind to think that HSUS took these dogs and sent 10 of them to Lincoln Co Animal Services – a gassing facility in NC – where they would be “walked every day by volunteers”. HSUS then sent out a press release encouraging the public to adopt the dogs which, in their words, “had developed true pack behavior”. HSUS further alleges that one of the dogs bit someone at the shelter and had to be killed. Again, if accurate, this borders on criminal negligence to this layman’s mind.
To recap what the Web of Sleuth has learned to date:
44 dogs “rescued” by HSUS from a home in AL early this month
10 dogs sent to Lincoln Co Animal Services in NC – a gassing shelter with a high kill rate. They killed 3 of the dogs shortly after arrival. After the local paper published an expose on flagrant mismanagement at the facility, HSUS asked other NC groups to take the surviving dogs. Four went to Humane Society of Charlotte including a pregnant bitch. Three went to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg shelter. Their kill rate is about 65%. 2 of the 3 are listed on Char-Meck’s site – Daisy (ID#A797513) and an unnamed male (A797514). The 3rd dog remains unaccounted for. (Searches for pets with ID #s A797512 or A797514 come up empty.)
10 dogs went to PAWS Atlanta, all remain in quarantine.
10 dogs went to the Nashville Humane Association. I had a very brief phone conversation with a gal there yesterday and she said none of them are up for adoption but when they are, they’ll appear on the group’s website. She said she doesn’t know where the other dogs went.
14 dogs remain unaccounted for, possibly with a rescue group in Nashville.
Anyone with info on the whereabouts of those dogs, please share.
If any of the original 44 are in need of assistance, I will gladly refer readers to the appropriate links.
Additional reading:
Humane Watch – December 27
KC Dog Blog – December 27
Pet Connection – December 27
Examiner – December 24