The shelter is open until 7 tonight and people are coming in to look for their missing pets. Unfortunately, all the killing had to be done by 5. Hope no one shows up after work looking for a lost pet who was needlessly killed on banker’s hours.
- Photo from 2 days ago, showing how the white dog spent his final days of this life.
Memphis, please – stop the killing.
Attend the monthly meetings of the shelter advisory board and write your public servants. Demand reform at MAS including new leadership in the form of compassionate people committed to no kill. Demand that the city recruits those leaders and provides support for them when they get there.
***
Added:
Ugh, this is so disgusting and it continues to go on without regard to the fact that the web cams tell the tale and people are watching. Are they blatantly that stupid? Or do they revel in killing?
I thought I was beyond being shocked at the shelter atrocities across the US but sometimes it still stuns me
don,t blame the public blame the killers that are killing the dogs they made the choice to become killers,they are our nations next serial killers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In case it was vague, let me clarify that I’m being sarcastic when I say I blame the public for the spread of disease. Until MAS vaccinates upon intake across the board, implements standard disease prevention cleaning protocols, and uh – cleans the goddamn runs between dogs – I don’t see how the shelter leadership can seriously blame the public with a straight face.
So, when does this rise to the level of criminal behavior so the police can finally take some corrective action against these blatant killers?
Sick and Sad! When your elected officials come up for election, I think you should do a whole wall of these pictures. Let the public see what their tax dollars are paying for. It might wake them up. All of us Animal Advocates know the horrors, but the public must be made aware.
This is totally unacceptable…what do we have to do? March on Memphis? I’m there. I would love an open shot at Mr. Pepper’s big fat behind (with a .22 that is) so he can’t just SIT ON IT and not do his damned job! Sorry, but I am now bugged beyond repair by this situation. Do we March, or do we sit and bitch to each other? I live in upstate NY, and I’d be willing.
I was just practicing target shooting with the fiance last night..with pellet guns…but those suckers sting like no one’s business. Got a really cool AK 47 one that I used to turn a sand bucket into a collander before blasting it in half – but that would burn his arse for ya. If you’d like to borrow it….at least this way it isn’t a ‘real’ gun so I don’t think you’ll get in as much trouble.
I understand the fantasy threats of violence are born of frustration and heartbreak for what’s going on at MAS. But please, let’s not fantasize about violence here. Someone might take it seriously which would be really not cool.
I do understand…we don’t want to give them any “ammo” to use against us. And you are right – some of us are so far away that we feel our hands are tied and the frustration levels are getting incredibly high. Watching the disresepct shown to the animals is getting VERY frsutrating to watch and know that we can’t do anything – especially when no one responds to e-mails being sent. I apologize for adding an inappropriate comment – and I hope that everyone understands that I would NEVER really do anything like this. Taping faces on cans and shooting them is about as extreme as I get, and I haven’t even gone that far…yet.
If this is Matthew Pepper’s way of becoming no-kill…. I think he’s got it wrong. It’s No-Kill Mr Pepper, not kill all! This just sickens me, the dog that was turned in by his owner never had a chance! Do the people of Memphis know this is going on? Are they just blind or don’t care? I find it hard to believe that no one in Memphis cares or can do anything about this. It’s criminal Where is the so called rescue group that works with this shelter?
I have a photo to answer that last question. They are at the shelter, seeing everything that goes on first hand. I’ll add the photo to the post.
OMG! How can they even call themselves a rescue? The rescue that works with our local shelter has sometimes been there till 9 at night finding foster homes for dogs and cats on the kill list. I know this because I have run down there to pick a dog up. Shame on them.
The rescue groups DO fear the people at MAS. They can get them banned from pulling dogs if they piss off the wrong people. It has happened before to a group I volunteer with. Luckily they were able to get that overturned but it took articles in the Memphis Flyer and other places for anything to happen.
Carla- I have heard that some rescue groups fear those employed and volunteering for MAS – if they speak up and/or do what is in the best interest of the animals – they will be put in the “penalty box” and then they make it difficult for future rescues and adoptions…..As long as the current administration (including employees and some volunteers) stays the same- I think it’s a hopeless situation. My heart is so sad over all of this….can’t wait for the meeting next Wednesday- hopefully we will get the public’s attention!!
Sorry, posted the comment above.
The rescue groups DO fear the people at MAS. They can get them banned from pulling dogs if they piss off the wrong people. It has happened before to a group I volunteer with. Luckily they were able to get that overturned but it took articles in the Memphis Flyer and other places for anything to happen.
The March in Memphis, that has a nice sound or The No Kill March in Memphis, even better.
I believe that many animal “shelters” kill owner released pets as soon as they come in. I know that the shelter I volunteered at did when they were full and that was nearly always.
This is just so sad. The text is blurred from my tears. When will all this killing end?
Mr. Pepper was at a Louisiana shelter before Memphis and was praised for shelter improvements. Now I am wondering if it was just for killing them faster.
dig a little deeper.
My post when Mr. Pepper was hired by MAS:
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/matthew-pepper-new-director-of-memphis-animal-shelter/
Yes he apparently went from wiping out one shelter population to the next. Is he on the HSUS or PETA payroll TOO by any chance? Sounds right up their alley to hire a killer to kill the animals…you know, anyone elsemight actually care and find homes for the poor dears.
These screenshots with captions need to be printed out and submitted to all officials at the meeting. It’s one thing to hear Mr. Pepper say the right things to them, it’s another to see what’s really going on.
Those of you who are going to the meeting – can I donate to cover the costs of high quality prints? A picture is worth a thousand words and Mr. Pepper can only spin so much with the evidence right in front of your eyes.
I’m putting up a page (under the PAGES header on the sidebar) for links to the MAS posts containing primarily screenshots. Anyone who wants to print them out can visit this page for convenience:
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/memphis-animal-services-links/
If we did do the “March on Memphis” thing, I would come all the way out from Arizona to do this because this needs to stop. Just make sure that it’s definite because I dont have a lot of money to re-book airfare and hotels and stuff. Let it be known through Facebook.com/NoKillMemphis and all of those other places people from there can go to if they are interested. The more, the better.
Oh how heartbreaking! While I know things aren’t going to be better when I check in here, It’s heartbreaking to see that things are actually getting worse every day.
Here’s a reply I received after complaining. Might want to contact this”lovely” woman.
“Thank you for expressing your concern to us. We invite you to visit the shelter at your convenience to witness personally the sweeping improvements under Mr. Pepper’s leadership. We work with a variety of rescue societies to find homes for the animals in the shelter. We, however, are in desperate need of concerned Memphians such as you to assist us with placement of the animals in our shelter. Let us know if you are interested in becoming a partner in our fight to find homes for our community’s defenseless animals.
Respectfully, I am
La Sonya Harris Hall, Ph.D.
Deputy Director, Division of Public Services and Neighborhoods
“
ooh – a cut and paste response signed in brown ink. I see city officials are taking these complaints very seriously.
I am not sure she even knows where the shelter is- what horse poop!
You will only get canned responses from these people. When I emailed Keenon McCloy, she was director of public services and neighborhoods, she would email me back the most utter bs canned responses. It would infuriate me.
So the Director, Janet Hooks, couldn’t be bothered with responding so she had her Deputy Director send it. Well, on a happy note at least you have received a response. I am still waiting from my e-mail assault to hear back from 1 person that should be responding to things about this shelter. The Mayor hasn’t bothered, Director of the shelter hasn’t bothered, director of public services & neighborhoods has bothered, no response from the link with the webcams…not one damn word from ANYONE about a single VALID point, of which I have raised MANY.
I have chosen to e-mail Channel 24 instead with all the information I have on the shelter and directing them to this blog for more information. I am BEGGING Channel 24 to attend the meeting on 4/13 with a reporter AND cameras to record the proceedings. I think if they get this on tape and air it on TV maybe, just maybe it will show the general public of Memphis about what is going on in MAS.
I have heard mention of a “walk on Memphis” and other suggestions. My fiance makes a trip to Florida at the end/begininng of each month and since I home-school — if the demonstration cooresponds with his trip I think I am going to suggest we take the family and drive so that we can be a part of it. Some of the kids may be young but they are NEVER TOO YOUNG to learn about things like this and to stand up for what you believe in. I think it’ll be a good learning experience for the kidddos and would LOVE to attend. (I’m already cleaning out the house and planning a BIG yard sale…I’ll just use the money we make for the trip instead of working on the new fence and things we wanted to do around the house. I think the lives of these animals are more important than the fence that can wait another year or so to get redone.)
Erica, I like your style! WPTY 24 always does an outstanding job covering and uncovering all that involves MAS – I sure hope to see them at the meeting, next Wednedday.
Erica– I really like your priorities and what you have to say. I applaud you. Bless you.
I am close with Channel 24. They will be there.
THEY ARE AT EVERY MEETING.
They are monitoring this site for the past two weeks. They KNOW.
Do not waste your energy on trying to recruit them. They already are.
Jeni is the reporter to go to. She is the one that reports on MAS and does a fine and damn good job.
Believe me, you only want her. The other reporters (even from that station) tend to take the shelter’s side and do sweet shelter reports.
Ethel – I wasn’t aware that they are that involved. Hopefully I raised more valid points for them to follow. I do know that the pressure of them promoting change can be spread out to the community better than any of us can do on our own.
Beth & Jessica – I really wish I could do more to help. Right now I find that letter writing seems to be my forte and so I do it with all my heart and pray that it helps raise awareness with just 1 person – it will help. (And Jessica thansk for the blessings – much appreciated!)
We call LaSonya the “Queen of Platitudes”.
We also have her ranked quite high on the “I could give a damn about animals” scale.
She, Pepper and Hooks – NONE bothered to actually go to the shelter on that Saturday.
She wrote the false email to the City CAO stating that they were working with rescues to get the animals out. A lie. The rescues were not called until AFTER the dogs were killed – 90 that Saturday.
If pictures are being taken why can’t something be
done about all the killings of these poor animals.
City leaders must be in support of this brutality or it would have been stopped already. How sad for those poor animals.
Ok, sorry Shirley I went overboard on the violence thing…just venting. So, there are at least three of us for what i have come to call “Rescue MOM” (=Rescue March on Memphis. Now, I don’t have any money and I have about 50 animals to care for, which my DH would take care of while I was gone. I do not do facebook, so contact me at my website http://www.welcomehomesanctuaryinc.weebly.com. I think if we could go down there and show support, the local group(s) would feel LESS fear of these assholes.
We all need to vent at some point…and frustration with MAS IS getting high as they are in kill mode and NOTHING is safe there right now – except everyone’s jobs that is.
We need to find out if we need to apply for a permit to have any type of demonstration in Memphis. We don’t want to give them a reason to toss us all in jail and ‘quiet us’ so that they don’t have to deal with the fall out from a peaceful demonstration.
We also need to make sure that the news channels in Memphis are made aware of the demonstration so that it is being covered on the news, so those residents that fail to see the real problems within MAS not only have a chance to come out and show their support but maybe it will help wake some people up. I’ll try to look into if we need a permit or not and let everyone know as soon as I find out.
Great! Now, here is the thing: we can likely get a permit; we definitely need to alert news media as soon as we know what our plans are. ANd for the record: I have been arrested before for CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE and have not problem with it if that is what it takes to make the local news down there. There is NO SHAME in this, as long as we are as peaceful as Gandhi, we do not need to be ashamed or afraid that we would look like kooks. And, to add to that, because this is so important to me, if that eventuality came to it, I would further be willing to go on a spiritual FAST as Gandhi used to do, to stop the killing and bring attention to this. Thank you, Shirley, for closing in on the permit thing. Erica: do you actually have contact with Ch.24? Don’t let them know about RESCUEMOM yet, but get cozy with a GOOD reporter there who perhaps cares about this issue, OR is looking for some big ‘scoop’ to carve out a career with. If you all are interested in voice-to-voice, contact me at my website and I will give you my phone or vice versa.
Peaceful demonstrations are sometimes unavoidable, but they are not in vain if planned right. One thing we would need to decide is WHERE to do this. At the shelter gates would be a good choice unless it is out in the stix, or maybe even if…
Channel 24 is on board. No need to waste your efforts. Let us focus on the other parts.
In Memphis you do not need to have a permit if there will be less than 25 people present and if they stay out of the street.
I hope this will be larger, much larger.
I recommend a Saturday. The most highly visited day of the week at MAS, the day most people are off work, so more people able to protest and a typically slow news day, so more stations free to cover.
your website? I would like to speak with you.
http://www.welcomehomesanctuaryinc.weebly.com
Morgana – I don’t have any special relationship with channel 24…but I sent them a nice lengthy e-mail in regards to EVERYTHING on MAS. Ethel says they are already on board..and even suggested a specific reporter (Jeni) to cover the story. I have yet to hear back from them, but am more hopeful in hearing back from them than I am on ever hearing back from anyone dealing with MAS!
I’ll do whatever I can to help, money is an issue – but I am willing to have a large garage sale to pay for my family to come down there and do what we can to help. I do agree with Ethel that a Saturday would be the best – while we don’t want to stop people from saving the animals that can and should be adopted we DO need to do this on a day that more people can come AND in a place where it is going to make the most effect on the community. I think something important is to get the No Kill Memphis group on Facebook involved in whatever we eventually decide to do…you know the whoel strength in numbers thing. Which leads me to believe that we SHOULD apply for a permit since we REALLY want more than 25 people there. I don’t know if they count kids but if you count my family alone that’s 7 people, so I suggest we err on the side of better to be safe than sorry in this case. No need to cause ‘problems’ when we’re looking to cause other problems for the shelter. Pepper CAN’T make us leave if we have a permit – which would be better for us.
I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I can – probably Monday…as our weekend is being spent getting ready to clean out the house for the garage sale.
Yes, if a permit is required it is necessary to have it. Be on notice that police can pull a permit as soon as the demo starts if they so desire. Saturday is a good idea, and perhaps we need to talk about WHERE precisely. If at the shelter gates, I would not want to be responsible for people NOT going in. On the other hand, if people are coming out empty-handed because there ARE NO animals to adopt (they’ve been killed, ie: by Pepper&Co.), then that might be the place to do it. Shirley, have you found out about the permit? A permit might actually tell us where we can and cannot demonstrate. A really busy intersection not far from the MAS is also a good choice. Finally, we have to decide WHEN. This month? Next month? Next week? Some of us are coming from far away, and need the chance to get there. Thoughts?
how about doing it at graceland maybe they don,t know what is going on!!!! at their own shelter!!!!!
Graceland…hmmmm. Now that IS private property which could cause some problems, but here’s a question for those of you who live in Memphis: is there a main, public road that leads to Graceland, or a shopping center near there? That would be a good place to demonstrate. BTW, if Ch.24 is monitoring this site, what do you think about this? Are you ready to interview the folks who are ready to descend upon your town?????
I think it’s best to let local peeps handle the details like permits and such. I know we have some readers from Memphis so hopefully they will chime in with details on any planned protest.
Ok, local peeps, waddup?
I thought about doing something outside of the shelter so that prospective adopters know whats going on, and they wouldnt get the adoption money, and then maybe a lack of money may change their ways, but I didnt know if that would work because 1. couldnt they arrest you for getting “in the way” at a place of business or something? and 2. then the prospective adopters wont buy an animal from there, which is sad for the animals, it punishes them. So I didnt know what to do about that.
i,m asking all elvis presley fans to boycot memphis,tennessee until this shelter stops their cruelty to animals and stops killing adoptable dogs and cats.i as an elvis presley fan will not return to memphis ever again until the cruelty and killing stops.
Not a bad idea, Carla. Is there an organization of Presley fans that we can talk to about spreading the news of a boycott to Memphis until Pepper&Co. are replaced?
That would be great!
Wharton hates to not get the tourist dollars.
Just to prove that you people can’t decipher the whole story from a series of web cam photos (even though many of you sit around and watch them 24 hours a day), the photo of the MAS volunteer above with the caption “A volunteer watches a family walk their yappy dog around the cat room” is actually a photo of a volunteer getting a family acquainted with a MAS dog that they were interested in adopting. If you have ever been to the shelter you will know that the puppy/small dog area is in the same area as the cat area. And are you really making threats against Matthew Pepper on a public blog?? How does that make you any better than the MAS staff/volunteers that you are criticizing ?
You missed the point Dana. Dogs should not be in the cat room.