Memphis Animal Services hasn’t reached out to rescuers regarding dogs on the kill list in the past.  Now they are, which is great.  Except they seem intent on burning out their local rescues faster than rescuers can reach for their TUMS.

Yesterday MAS sent out an e-mail plea for 7 coughing dogs on the kill list, in addition to the two I had on the blog. The e-mail included basic info on each dog and gave rescuers 2 hours to respond. Miraculously, rescuers were able to get the job done and save all 9 of these dogs.

Today, another plea to rescuers, again with only hours to respond. This time: 34 coughing puppies and 1 fear biter, all to be killed if not rescued by 5pm. Unlike yesterday’s crappy e-mail though, this one didn’t have info on the dogs because there were “too many to describe” and they “probably” don’t have any photos either. So what rescuers got was a list of ID numbers and an age range of 2 – 4 months for the group as a whole.

I wrote to the shelter and asplained that this was no good. Breed rescues had no way of knowing if their breed was in need. Potential fosters didn’t know if they’d be taking on a 2 month old female Cockapoo or a 4 month old male Pitbull. And there was nothing to share or crosspost – just a list of ID numbers.  And worst of all, they would burn out their rescuers in short order by forcing them to remain in continual crisis mode.  I didn’t receive a response to that e-mail so I had a desperate idea and e-mailed again. If someone would simply hold a puppy with his cage card up to a webcam, I would sit at my computer and screengrab every one of them so there would at least be something to share. No response to that e-mail either.

I can’t help but mention the fact that this morning, all the workers left the new guy to clean the cat room by himself while they went outside in front of the lobby.  They hung out there for about a half-hour while the new guy worked.  When the place opened at 10am, there was garbage all over the few areas the public is allowed in and the cages weren’t finished being cleaned.  I’m wondering how many puppy pictures could have been taken by all those workers in that 30 minutes this morning.

But wait – there’s more!

A reader sent me this from the “Friends” FB page:

Christ on a bike.

Here is a sample photo of the puppies to be killed.  Your actual puppy may differ in size, shape, color, breed, length of coat, temperament or gender.  Please allow us to select for you.  Thank you for shopping the Puppy Death Channel.

So now it’s past 5 o’clock.  I don’t know if any of these 35 dogs were saved but it would shock the snot out of me if they were.

Oh yeah and tomorrow it’s Bring Your Dog to the Game Day at a local sporting event.  So the public will be bringing their pets to the park.  And “Friends” is promoting on their FB page that the shelter will be bringing a bunch of dogs there too.  Dogs from the shelter.  The shelter that has dozens of dogs so contagious that they can’t be allowed to live beyond a few hours.

Let’s unfurl the Blame the Irresponsible Public banner.  I think it’s going to be called on to work overtime.

Second before, second after, blah – the usual cautions…

Adopt a shelter Pet! *yank*

Incoming dog, apparently injured and unable to walk - broken leg? Something else?

Injured dog taken straight to the kill room.

Another dog on a cart taken to the kill room.

Scared pup on a chokepole.

Civil disobedience.

Incoming dog gets dragged around the shelter while the ACO looks for an open spot.

Does not want to be here.

Same dog as previous shot, 15 seconds later. Pancaked.

Noooooooooo!

GET IN THERE!

I have written to Memphis city leaders expressing my general concerns over the abuse and needless killing at the shelter.  I have written separately to advise of the abuse of a cat in labor at MAS, to question if dogs and cats are made to watch other pets being killed, and to inquire where dogs on the kill list are being stashed so that workers can avoid being seen dragging them to the kill room on the webcams.

Aside from a couple of replies from members of the shelter advisory board, I haven’t received any responses.  Nothing from the mayor, the shelter director, the division director or anyone else empowered to effect meaningful change.  If city leaders care nothing about the abuse and needless killing of shelter pets, don’t they at least care that thousands of people are condemning their city for its cruelty and vowing not to spend money there until real reform is enacted?  Do city leaders care about anything in Memphis at all?

Wait a minute – hold everything.  This just in from Mayor Wharton, in response to someone posting the Scars of Your Love video on his Facebook page:

There are babies dying and gang shootings and jobs-jobs-jobs so STFU about the pets at the shelter bitchez!  Because we can’t be concerned about the abuse and killing of shelter pets AND other stuff at the same time.  That’s crazy talk.

Also:  MSN will fix things (it won’t), a new building will fix things (because shiny floors transform lives!) and the irresponsible public, blah blah.

The number of animals put down is an issue.  Right.  Especially for the thousands being needlessly killed every year.  You could call it a major issue for them.

For those of you not concerned with elections, poll numbers and empty promises, please join us in taking action.

Memphis area residents:  The next meeting of the shelter advisory board is Wednesday, May 11 from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM at the Benjamin Hooks Library (3030 Poplar) in Conference Room A.  The meeting is open to the public and if you wish, you may address the board.

Everyone:  Please join our letter writing campaign.

No matter where you live, you can make your concerns about the shelter known to the following individuals:

Mayor Wharton: ac.wharton@memphistn.gov
Janet Hooks, Director, Public Services and Neighborhoods: janet.hooks@memphistn.gov
Matthew Pepper, Director, Memphis Animal Services: matthew.pepper@memphistn.gov
MAS Board: MASBoard@memphistn.gov
Cindy Sanders, MAS Advisory Board sanders127@yahoo.com
Jackie Johns, MAS Advisory Board jjohns25@hotmail.com
Allen Iskiwitz, MAS Advisory Board allensribs@aol.com

City Council

Bill Boyd Bill.Boyd@memphistn.gov

Bill Morrison bill.morrison@memphistn.gov

Myron Lowery Myron.Lowery@memphistn.gov

Janis Fullilove janis.fullilove@memphistn.gov

Barbara Swearengen Ware swearengen.ware@memphistn.gov

Harold Collins harold.collins@memphistn.gov

Wanda Halbert wanda.halbert@memphistn.gov

Joe Brown Joe.Brown@memphistn.gov

Shea Flinn shea.flinn@memphistn.gov

Kemp Conrad Kemp.Conrad@memphistn.gov

Edmund Ford Jr. edmund.fordjr@memphistn.gov

Reid Hedgepeth reid.hedgepeth@memphistn.gov

Jim Strickland Jim.Strickland@memphistn.gov

A copy/paste collection of the e-mail addresses:

ac.wharton@memphistn.gov, janet.hooks@memphistn.gov, matthew.pepper@memphistn.gov, MASBoard@memphistn.gov, sanders127@yahoo.com, jjohns25@hotmail.com, allensribs@aol.com, Bill.Boyd@memphistn.gov, bill.morrison@memphistn.gov, Myron.Lowery@memphistn.gov, janis.fullilove@memphistn.gov, swearengen.ware@memphistn.gov, harold.collins@memphistn.gov, wanda.halbert@memphistn.gov, Joe.Brown@memphistn.gov, shea.flinn@memphistn.gov, Kemp.Conrad@memphistn.gov, edmund.fordjr@memphistn.gov, reid.hedgepeth@memphistn.gov, Jim.Strickland@memphistn.gov

Keep your letters succinct and respectful. Let the city leaders know that people from all over are condemning what is going on at MAS and refuse to spend their vacation dollars in a city which tries to sweep cruelty under the rug.  Remind them there is a viable alternative:  make Memphis a no kill community.  Include a link to this primer on no kill.

Please use your voice to speak for all the pets at MAS – living and dead.  If you’ve already written – thank you.  If you are concerned that city leaders have done nothing to effect change – write again.  Let them know we are still watching and still horrified.  Share this info with the many caring pet owners you know so that they can write letters too.  If you need bullet points for possible items to include in a letter, here you go:

Summary of Concerns at Memphis Animal Services

• The killing of pets who are not medically hopeless and suffering nor have they been declared a danger to society by a qualified party.
• The killing of pets when there are empty cages at the shelter.
• The killing of pets who have never been made available to the public for adoption, rescue or foster.
• The killing of pets due to disease outbreak without ever making a public plea for help with quarantine to save lives.
• Failure of the shelter to vaccinate all incoming pets as per standard disease prevention protocol.
• Failure of the shelter to remove dogs and food from cages during cleaning as per standard disease prevention protocol.
• Failure of the shelter to utilize their Chameleon software to interface with PetHarbor so that every pet is viewable online by the public.
• Failure of the shelter to properly train and/or enforce humane handling of pets by the staff.
• Failure of the shelter to implement a TNR program so that the number of feral cats in the community can be reduced over time.
• Failure of the shelter to keep cats separated from the sight, sound and smell of dogs in order to reduce stress and make the population less susceptible to disease.
• Failure of the shelter to provide daily aerobic exercise for dogs for social stimulation and in order to reduce stress and make the population less susceptible to disease.
• The attempt to subvert the mayor’s intent of transparency by placing dogs on the kill list out of sight of the webcams and avoiding the normal, previously used routes to take them to the kill room so the public can not see how they are handled.