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
Cindy Sanders, MAS Advisory Board sanders127@yahoo.com
Jackie Johns, MAS Advisory Board jjohns25@hotmail.com
Allen Iskiwitz, MAS Advisory Board allensribs@aol.com
A copy/paste collection of the e-mail addresses:
ac.wharton@memphistn.gov, janet.hooks@memphistn.gov, matthew.pepper@memphistn.gov, sanders127@yahoo.com, jjohns25@hotmail.com, allensribs@aol.com
Keep your letters succinct and respectful. Let the city leaders know that people from all over are condemning what is going on at MAS. 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, including this Akita who was never given a chance. Share this info with the many caring pet owners you know so that they can write letters too.
They have an Akita up for adoption on the FMAS FB page.
Gee, if only we could be allowed to ask questions on that page…
Exactly! The administrators of that FMAS page have never looked at the big picture- those that are not permitted to post/comment are the ones that can do what’s best for the animals at the shelter……
Should be 39 minutes? I think actually this is a lot longer than many animals get to live at MAS…
39 seconds from the shot of the worker putting the chokepole on the dog to the dog being walked to the kill room.
Ah. Gotcha. I can’t look at the photos that closely…they make me too angry.
Letters will go out tomorrow. Thank you Shirley for staying on top of this heart breaking story. This has to stop!!
I too will send e-mail yet again. While I still have not received any responses I’d be more than happy to e-mail away. I also want to thank you for sticking with this story. It’s rough for all of us to watch this and hear about it and feel like our hands are tied at the same time.
Humans will be judged by the Creator for the way they have treated His creations. I cannot imagine that this was fair and certainly not anything a shelter can condone, and still call itself a shelter. Did this dog badly bite a child? Wouldn’t he be quarantined if such a thing had happened? Obviously this was an ‘I don’t want the dog anymore’ situation and may the shelter employee who decided this to be his fate AND the owner be damned to Hell.
I have received a response from Cindy Sanders – MAS advisory board here it is-
Dear Tami,
Thank you for writing. The three members of the Board that I mention are IN COMPLETE AGREEMENT with you.
I am the Chair of the MAS Advisory Board and can completely assure you that the Board has steadfastly brought every single issue you have stated to the MAS Administrator, the Mayor, the City Council and the Director and Deputy Director of the Division.
Every single month we (well three of us, Jackie, Allen and me) arrive at the meeting with documentation regarding the kill rate, the fact the MAS Administrator fails to allow ALL animals the opportunity to be adopted, the bullying tactics of some of the volunteers, demands for the owner surrender form to tell the owner what is going to happen to their pet. We have brought this all to the public through news broadcasts, meetings, animal cruelty seminars (Jackie and I are former federal officers), telecast panel programs and seminars given to various citizen groups and schools. It took the Board three years to get the City to enable MAS to accept credit cards, many times when based on cash only to reclaim an animal, the owner returned the next day to find the animal had been euthanized. It took us 7 months to get MAS to use petfinder, and even that is a poor site, with few dogs shown, out of date photos and no cats listed.
Jackie and I also personally conduct a court watch to report on the animal cruelty cases in our city and county. Through this we also document the behavior and improper charging by the animal control officers…to the point where I was sued by a shelter worker for telling the way it actually is on the TV and newspaper.
The Board was the ONLY entity that consistently brings the concerns forward. The kill rate is horrendous, the smoke screens placed by the City Administration are quite believable for those not in the “know”.
We welcome the outcry from across the country. Hopefully the spotlight will help.
We, well the three of us, are thankful for you, your letters and your photos from the webcams. I keep saying the three of us because until recently the Mayor had allowed the Board to dwindle to us three and would not appoint others. He recently appointed two others when we threatened to go before the City Council. We have yet to see or hear their opinions. Jackie and I were appointed by the Mayor Pro Tem Lowery, not Wharton and Allen was appointed by the Mayor before that.
Again, I thank you for the letters. Keep them coming. We write all concerned weekly. The squeaky wheel…
Cindy Sanders
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. The situation is worse than I even imagined.
Did the the owner know this would happen right away and not care? If it was because it bites, why not a muzzle. There are obidience schools. Some are run by Pet Smart and Pet Co, and are not expensive. The dog looks calm in the pic. He even walks with the shelter worker like he thinks he is just going for a walk. So trusting. Akitas are such beautiful dogs, I’m sure he could have found a home if given a little time. The shelter didn’t even try. How can they just lead him to the death chamber like that without even a pat on the head. They need more compassionate people there. They are so cold and unfeeling for a living, feeling creature. Makes me want to scream or cry, or both.
Sunday afternoon
Dear Memphis officials,
I sat in church today and listened to the sermon, about Lazarus being raised from the dead. My minister put a new spin on this familiar story for us today. He said, ‘In raising Lazarus, Jesus was willing to get into trouble to fight death.’ He challenged us to take the risk to fight death wherever we find it, and be ready to get into trouble along the way. Well, this isn’t much of a risk, but I feel moved to write to you today.
I’m very saddened and angered to know that animals surrendered to Memphis Animal Services are not given more of a chance to find new homes. The Akita dog surrendered to you on April 9th and walked directly to the killing room is a horrible example of an animal not given a chance. He was in your custody for 39 seconds while the decision was made to kill him. Given even a little time, a rescue group could have been found that was eager to work with and rehome this dog . For me there is no excuse for him to have been summarily executed, as I have to say he was.
Animal rescuers, like myself, who believe in the No Kill Equation want you to know that this solution to animal killing is not theoretical anymore. It is a proven method that requires no additional money or staffing, just a willingness to think and act in new ways where animal sheltering is concerned. Here is a brief summary of the No Kill Philosophy, which I urge you….no, I beg you to read and be willing to implement. http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/pdf/nokillprimer.pdf
Unlike Lazarus, we cannot raise this Akita from the dead, but we can use the occasion of his death to fight for change. I write to you as a representative of the No-Kill Nation, anxiously awaiting changes that will make the Memphis Animal Shelter truly a ‘shelter’ for animals.
Sincerely,
Donna Bloomer
volunteer animal rescuer
Wilmington, NC
How do we know that the Akita was walked straight to the killr room? I can’t see much of anything in that third picture… but is it not possible he was being taken to a kennel? I may be looking through rose tinted glasses, but I would find it amazing if he was surrendered and euthanized immediately – also there is an Akita up for adoption right now on Friends of Memphis Animals Services that looks just like this dog.
Anything is possible Lesley. We see only snapshots on the webcams and there is no way to know for certain what is going on in any of them. We can only draw conclusions based on the limited info we have since we have no way of getting questions answered from anyone who would know for sure. For all any of us knows, the dog was walked to the kill room, the photo snapped, and then the worker abruptly spun on his heels and took the dog to a kennel. I looked at the Akita on the FB page and that dog has a white blaze down her face which I don’t see on the dog in the above photos. But if you want to risk someone finding out where you work and stalking you there and reporting you to your boss for being pushy, please feel free to ask “Friends” about the dog.
I think that based upon these photos, which a reader just sent me, we can say pretty definitively this is not the same dog:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150151464072781&set=pu.73650772780&theater
” but I would find it amazing if he was surrendered and euthanized immediately” Take the glasses of Lesley. It is a daily event at this place. Owner surrenders have no holding period. In the front and out the back more often than not.
Sadly owner surrenders go down as soon as they come in the door at a lot of high-kill shelters–not just this one. It’s standard practice at many of them. Just another excuse to kill as quickly as possible.
I agree that I also think this is common practice at many high-kill animal shelters. As long as the people working in these place feel/see their main mission as a disposal until this will continue.
This video was so upsetting. If it only takes 40 minutes or less for an animal to be left at that shelter before it is arbitrarily killed with no evaluation, no behavior evaluation, no attempt to adopt it out or call rescues to find someone to take the animal, this place needs to close down. Shelter or pound, they need to take ten minutes to look into the possibility of finding animals a home. What kind of place is this? There have to be names and numbers for area rescues posted, and every attempt possible made to find homes before euthanization (just plain killing, actually) takes place.
This was just sent to me:
Dear Fellow Animal Advocates,
I hope you don’t mind that I am sending one email to you as a group.
I am the Chair of the MAS Advisory Board and can completely assure you that the Board has steadfastly brought every single issue you have stated to the MAS Administrator, the Mayor, the City Council and the Director and Deputy Director of the Division.
Every single month we (well three of us, Jackie, Allen and me) arrive at the meeting with documentation regarding the kill rate, the fact the MAS Administrator fails to allow ALL animals the opportunity to be adopted, the bullying tactics of some of the volunteers, demands for the owner surrender form to tell the owner what is going to happen to their pet. We have brought this all to the public through news broadcasts, meetings, animal cruelty seminars (Jackie and I are former federal officers), telecast panel programs and seminars given to various citizen groups and schools. It took the Board three years to get the City to enable MAS to accept credit cards, many times when based on cash only to reclaim an animal, the owner returned the next day to find the animal had been euthanized. It took us 7 months to get MAS to use petfinder, and even that is a poor site, with few dogs shown, out of date photos and no cats listed.
Jackie and I also personally conduct a court watch to report on the animal cruelty cases in our city and county. Through this we also document the behavior and improper charging by the animal control officers…to the point where I was sued by a shelter worker for telling the way it actually is on the TV and newspaper.
The Board was the ONLY entity that consistently brings the concerns forward. The kill rate is horrendous, the smoke screens placed by the City Administration are quite believable for those not in the “know”.
We welcome the outcry from across the country. Hopefully the spotlight will help.
We, well the three of us, are thankful for you, your letters and your photos from the webcams. I keep saying the three of us because until recently the Mayor had allowed the Board to dwindle to us three and would not appoint others. He recently appointed two others when we threatened to go before the City Council. We have yet to see or hear their opinions. Jackie and I were appointed by the Mayor Pro Tem Lowery, not Wharton and Allen was appointed by the Mayor before that.
Again, I thank you for the letters. Keep them coming. We write all concerned weekly. The squeaky wheel…
Cindy Sanders
and please feel free to contact me. I know quite a bit about MAS.
Even shelter workers who do not like the idea of putting down a dog or cat without giving it a chance have it drilled into them that the shelter only has so much space. Strays must (in many places) be held for a certain amount of time before the shelter can legally do anything with them, unless the health of the animal warrants immediate euthanasia – some of the hit-by-car cases, for example.
If the kennels are filled with animals that the shelter cannot put up for adoption/rescue or euth, there is the dilemma of where to put new owner surrenders. The options are usually immediate euth, or pulling another animal already evaluated and placed up for adoption and killing that one. The shelter where I used to work did not pull based on time limits but on “adoptability” – pits and obvious pit mixes were right away, sick animals (including things like ringworm) were next, other bully breeds, puppies without vaccinations, black labs, other labs, touchy little dogs, old dogs, heelers – not always exactly in that order, but close. The pits and puppies would often get done even if we had room (so many of the puppies would break with distemper if we tried to adopt them out). Oddly, adult GSDs would have to be extremely aggressive for us to put them down. I saw *many* good dogs get put down because of the “what else can we do?” belief. Often, the staff members were too exhausted to try to come up with solutions.
It is all well and good to push for no-kill legislation – and I hope people will continue to do that! – but it takes involvement by the whole community to provide other options beside killing. You can’t just write a letter and feel like you’ve done your part. Write the letters, push for better staffing – sometimes having just a couple of extra people gives the time to do good adoptions, more adoptions, and more outreach to rescues. Foster if you can, or help transport. I can’t think of any of my co-workers who LIKED killing animals, but they were all so entrenched with the idea that that is the only practical way to make space – and when you have 5 people staffing a shelter of 400 animals on a Saturday when you get 50 more in…well, your options can look pretty bleak :-(
But Emily, this is clearly not the case at MAS where it is obvious from the webcams that there are many open cages every single day. MAS has the potential to save 90%+ of their pets but instead cherry pick a few pets to offer to the public and kill the rest. If there was life saving legislation (such as CAPA) in place in TN, MAS – and all the other shelters in the state – would have no choice but to reduce their killing.
You know, for a shelter that “has to kill for space”, there’s an awful lot of empty cages on the webcams, tonight…
This just plain makes me mad. I would email but Im afraid that since I am so mad, it will just be confrontational and it will get us nowhere. Plus, IF they write back, they will spin some “yeah we are concerned for these animals too” type of BS anyway. Since the mayor elected him cant he fire him too ? I mean theres got to be some way of getting him out there that doesnt require anything short of simply quitting. How did they get Alexander out?
They got Alexander out by having sheriff’s deputies raid the shelter before dawn after the mayor finally had enough with the complaints of documented abuse. Alexander fled the state and a fugitive alert was issued for him. He was ultimately charged with animal cruelty (along with a couple others) and has not been to trial yet.
Actually the Mayor (Wharton) was not in office during the months leading to the raid. He was busy running a campaign and being County Mayor to do anything. And as I understand it, Mayor Wharton was never approached until the raid was getting ready to go down.
It just so happens that his first day as Memphis Mayor and the MAS raid happened the same day.
But, you know, he took credit. Any he counts on many in Memphis thinking he did the raid. Could not be further from the truth.
And as for the Mayor firing Pepper. He is pleased as punch with the job Pepper is doing. Supports him at every turn.
Thanks for the replies…ugh, so essentially this new mayor isn’t upset with Pepper like the old one was with Alexander. Hopefully more people from Memphis can call the mayor’s office to complain and he will get annoyed enough too (lol). I could always call, but as soemone outside of TN and wouldn’t be paying TN taxes, they wouldn’t take it seriously. I’m going to post reminders to do this on the No Kill Memphis wall I guess.
So upset Memphis is even in the driving range from where I was looking for an akita, mine got to live 11 yrs before he passed away in his sleep. I would have taken this baby and it could have lived a long and happy life with me. Its sorry he was never given the chance. Humane society my rear please what’s humane about 39 secs, the time it takes you to walk him to the back. I do rescue, I work at a shelter and this absolutely ticks me off its just three of us and we work around the clock finding dogs homes screening people, vet referencing. I have been known to deal with potential adopters at 11 pm. We haven’t put a dog down since November. Whatever happened to compassion and having passion for the job you are doing if it is that easy to put a dog down maybe you should hire new people I would have fought to get him out. I cannot express my disappointment enough. We like to come to Memphis and vacation to the zoo and such but after seeing this I will NEVER see Memphis the same.
Maybe you need to let the mayor know that you won’t be visiting . . . in another thread someone “in the know” said that the mayor doesn’t care about animals but does care about money and the reputation Memphis has. I won’t go there PERIOD!
Yes, I think that everyone that is writing/emailing should also state that they will NOT be visiting Memphis again until this shelter has been reformed and the kill numbers lowered and heading for no-kill!
Can anyone point me to an article I read a few months back about how saving shelter animals lives saves city tax money? I think it was about Austin Texas and the amount of animals saved by the rescue groups that the city didn’t have to pay to kill. Thanks!
Since the Memphis mayor (and possible the other city leaders also) only seem concerned about money, then showing them how they can save money by working with animal rescuers and increasing adoptions might be the way to help them decide to make changes.
Sorry to drag out the replies to this blog post. Memphis resident Linda Reed has stated in a comment on the No Kill Nation facebook page that she has called and talked with shelter staff, and they gave her information about the dog. Her info. is that the dog was owner surrendered for purposes of euthanasia specifically ‘due to age and blindness.’ Her comment gave me an opportunity to share the no-kill philosophy and how it applies to gravely ill and vicious dogs….this dog appeared not to have been either. She is of the opinion that when a shelter is faced with an owner demanding their pet be killed, they have to comply. Your response?
THANKS,
Donna B.
I think every shelter has an obligation to protect the lives of pets. Unless the dog is medically hopeless and suffering or been deemed a danger to society by a qualified party, I think the shelter protocol should be to offer alternatives such as pet retention counseling or an offer to have the owner relinquish ownership of the dog to the shelter.