Note: The following is a combination of information gleaned from MAS records on Dog #A227027 and my personal assumptions based on the daily routines at MAS which are visible to the public on the webcams. The records were obtained by a TN resident who submitted the following request to the appropriate Memphis officials:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am requesting any and all records regarding the dog in the attached photo dated 6/2/11 at 9:58:32am. This request includes intake card(s), vet record(s), computer history, id #, euthanasia records, etc. Thank you for your attention to this request.
Monday, May 30, 2011: An Animal Control Officer from MAS responds to a call from the Memphis Police Department, impounding an emaciated female dog listed as a Pitbull, ID #A227027. The dog is placed in a cage in the stray area at MAS and presumably provided with food and water. No veterinary care is provided and no veterinary notes are entered into the record. No rescues are contacted. No pleas of any kind are issued to get help for this dog.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011: The emaciated dog is left in the cage while a worker hoses out the dog’s waste. She is presumably provided with food and water. No veterinary care is provided and no veterinary notes are entered into the record. No rescues are contacted. No pleas of any kind are issued to get help for this dog.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011: The emaciated dog is left in the cage while a worker hoses out the dog’s waste. She is presumably provided with food and water. Two notes are entered into the dog’s record: A technician notes that she is emaciated and “Referred to Mr. Pepper for disposition”. The shelter vet notes that the dog is suffering and she recommends “euthanasia as condition exceeds our available resources to treat at MAS”. No veterinary care is provided. No rescues are contacted. No pleas of any kind are issued to get help for this dog.
Thursday, June 2, 2011: The dog’s weight is noted as 40 pounds and she is killed by MAS. The shelter vet signs the final disposition record and dates it. The date appears to read “6/2/11” with an apparent attempt to alter the 2 into a 1.
No veterinary care was ever provided for this dog. No one was ever contacted to try and get her some help. She was left in a cage for more than 3 days in an emaciated state while workers hosed out her waste as she lay shivering. Then she was killed by the very institution the public pays to prevent Memphis’ pets from cruelty.
When I saw this dog on the webcam on June 2, I sent a screengrab of her to Matt Pepper with an offer to help. He responded that she had been “euthanised to prevent suffering”. After reviewing the dog’s records, it seems to me a more accurate description would have been “to prevent further suffering” since MAS had already allowed her to suffer for more than 3 days. And she suffered in an area of the pound off limits to the adopting public, out of sight from those who might have taken up her cause and offered to provide care for her. She had no one advocating for her right to live within the pound. And no one outside knew she was there – until it was too late.
More importantly, this dog may well have been saved, possibly with minimal veterinary care and a dedicated caregiver providing small, nutritious meals at regular frequencies. She was apparently able to walk on her own at the time she was killed, which is far more than many emaciated dogs who have been saved by rescuers are capable of doing. She should have at least been given the chance to live, even if MAS was unwilling to care for her.
Goodbye lil punkin. It breaks my heart to see you turn your face away from the direction you are being led at the very end, as if looking for someone to help you. There are people who would have helped you, if only MAS had cared enough to let anyone know you were in need. I’m sorry humanity failed you so cruelly. You will not be forgotten. You are loved.
WOW! This is absolutely heart wrenching – rest in peace lil punkin. Thank you for letting us know what really happened to this dog. Doesn’t this constitute animal cruelty/abuse?
I would imagine an owner who kept a dog in this state, under these circumstances would at the very least receive a notice from a Memphis ACO that the dog must be taken to a vet within 24 hours. If the owner failed to comply, I would guess the dog would be seized and the owner charged with cruelty. But I’m no expert. Maybe check with the Memphis city attorney, Mr. Herman Morris.
He’d probably have o check out the SC law first.
Oh, Shirley. I used to be one of those people who didn’t think any human was really good enough for a dog or a cat, one of the “irresponsible public” people. And I spend so much time now putting out examples of how wonderful the public really is, and how much they truly do care, and the extremes they’ll go to in order to help animals, and how the human race really doesn’t suck.
And then I read these kinds of things and all I can think is, “I HATE PEOPLE.”
This whole freaking story is eating my heart out. It’s not just Memphis, it’s so many places, so many animals that people are ASKING to help. WHAT IS WRONG WITH SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE “SHELTER” INDUSTRY?????
/rhetorical question
It’s very difficult to try and wrap my brain around. I try to insert myself into the situation and think how I might have reacted. You know that scene in ‘Terms of Endearment’ where Shirley Maclain is running around the nurse’s station, yelling at anyone who can hear her because her daughter is in pain and they are several minutes late with the pain shot? That.
Many shelters have a God complex….they know best. When one of our dogs comes into a shelter, they could contact us and many do…but there are more that don’t….CAPA is so very important…forcing shelters to turn dogs over to licensed rescue orgs instead of killing them.
The shelter industry is a mess…and the dogs suffer for it.
I think this little punkin needs to be our “poster child” for getting the changes made that so badly need to be made. I’m with Christie when I read something like this, knowing it’s happening all over with daily frequency. I don’t like humans so much . . . and to think that there are so many humans who allow, hell, who make this happen makes me angry beyond belief.
You’re right – if this dog had been found in someone’s “care” like this, there would have been (should have been) charges filed. (Maybe not in Memphis – think the kitten who was set on fire and the police didn’t bother to file a report even)
Godspeed, little punkin. You had a lot more love than you ever knew in this world and will suffer no more where you are now. I’m just sorry you had to go through that.
Off to send an email to the boys – and I think the vet is as complicit as the rest of the crew. A foster home with small meals, careful monitoring, a lot of love . . . she could have survived.
I agree about the vet. From what we’ve seen and heard so far here, I suspect he only sees the favored few, and only in a separate room. There really appears to be no care beyond the most minimal given the animals in the back.
I also find it difficult to believe that any reasonably competent vet would countenance the hosing of the facilities, and especially of the cages in the isolation ward – from what I’ve seen on the webcams the blowback is considerable, and who knows what germs are being broadcast by it.
To my mind, the vet should have seen the dog upon intake. This is not a case of an injury hidden beneath mounds of matted fur – it’s plain as day this dog needs care. Instead, they let her sit there and suffer. When the vet finally does see her, she notes suffering and then does nothing about it. Everybody just goes home at 5 o’clock, cracks open a beer and turns on the tube WHILE A DOG IN THEIR CARE CONTINUES TO SUFFER. It’s not until the next day when they finally get around to killing the poor dog. Every minute of every hour that this dog sat in that awful grated floor kennel must have been excruciating. Starvation is reportedly very painful.
If we need a poster child doggie we have pictures much worse than Punkin. You know, now that I think about it, what exactly does Rebecca Coleman do? It appears to me that she doesn’t give any medical treatment to even the animals in the most extremely bad health. What exactly are our tax dollars paying her for?
If we need a poster child doggie we have pictures much worse than Punkin. You know, now that I think about it, what exactly does Rebecca Coleman do? It appears to me that she doesn’t give any medical treatment to even the animals in the most extremely bad health. What exactly are our tax dollars paying her for?
i feel that punkin is a good poster doggie because altho she was obviously an emergency case who should have been seen by a vet when she was brought in, she also seems to have been well enuf to have been adoptable with a couple weeks tlc that she didnt get but might have gotten if rescues and volunteers were allowed in the stray hold area… mas failed her at least twice so thats why i put up a facebook page for her at ‘punkin at memphis animal services’ — please like her page if you are on facebook, thank you
To Judith.
I just “liked” your page for Punkin at Memphis Animal Services
Thank you. Poor baby.
I had a little trouble finding it but did..
I was just thinking of all of the abused and neglected that we have seen in the last few years. I’m going to get a folder together and put pictures and small stories and/or descriptions. It may be able to be shown, at some point, to people who could help and perhaps a miracle will happen and SOMEONE in “power” who could do something…will “get it.”
We can NEVER GIVE UP.
diane – THANK YOU for liking the facebook page, it didnt come up when i first ‘searched’ for it on facebook either, i think it may be because there are only 17 likes… im hoping those 17 will also ‘share’ something from the page so that it gets more ‘likes’… here is the facebook url for Punkin at Memphis Animal Services: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Punkin-at-Memphis-Animal-Services/175809685813433
@Diane McManus: The people ‘in power’ never give a rats ass. It those of us who CARE that have to make it stop. Please, everyone, I am not trying to be snotty (although I may be under a bit of stress right now) but stop DREAMING that Wharton et al. are going to miraculously have a change in heart, and turn around and do the ‘right’ thing. They are NOT. WE have to lead the way. And right now they must be feeling pretty safe and secure, because all they see here is talktalktalk. Stand up and SCREAM even if your voice SHAKES!!! Repeat: They (wharton et al.) WILL NOT DO THIS FOR YOU OR THE ANIMALS< THEY DO NOT CARE< WE MUST BRING ON THE CHANGE.
diane — i think the folder of ‘poster doggie’ type pictures from the webcam is an excellent idea, i would want to post it on punkins page as well as on fix memphis page and fomas page as well as wherever you were thinking to post it – maybe send it to media outlets — i agree with morgana that the current powers that be are hopeless/worthless; but punkins facebook page, your photo essay, the fix memphis facebook page, and certainly the yesbiscuit blog as well as other similar efforts can awaken the media and the voting public — it takes a long time but it eventually works as in fix austin et al… if i was in memphis i would picket mas in a lady gaga costume or, well, something outrageous enuf to get attention… but im not so i have to depend on the mightier-than-the-sword word — in spite of all the bad stuff i still believe justice will prevail – um, eventually…
Well I’m typing in a meat dress, if that helps.
Judith. Please feel free to share the album with anyone or on any site you choose. I gathered the photos from Yes Biscuit.
If the vet is like everyone else in the city her email should be rebecca.coleman@memphistn.gov. She is the one medically charged with taking care of these animals. Why doesn’t everyone email her too? She is supposed to walk through and check on the animals daily and say what they need. Looks like she is just as guilty as anyone or even more if dogs are not getting medical care they need. She is supposed to be a vet??? What is she doing all day? They can’t be adopting out enough animals to take all day everyday spaying and neutering. Surely she is accountable for medical suffering. Take it to the press that the vet is not doing her job. How can a vet see this and not do anything about it? Does anyone ever see her on the webcams looking at the animals? If she is seen, then she is responsible for nothing done to help these animals. Even if not on camera looks like she is the one responsible to see they do not suffer medically. She might be a big piece of dogs suffering at this shelter. She is a vet and she is doing nothing????
In response to the “vet” at the shelter Rebecca Coleman.
Before Ernie was indicted, I think it was, I kept calling for the removal of Rebecca Coleman. I tried to get information on one of the animals. It came back with the wrong year. I asked for it again. It didn’t come back at all.
I kept calling for the removal of Rebecca Coleman. I started getting strange, unsigned emails. Some of us finally figured out who we thought it was. When I told the sender that we suspected it was she…..(will leave the name out here) I didn’t get anymore emails.
Then the city started over with a new director and I dropped it to see what the city would say about her. The city was giving her glowing reports. Just in recent weeks, in my opinion, she has shown herself to be uncaring and certainly there were multiple cases during Ernie’s time.
Like all of you, I’m just so sick of all the excuses. We keep going over and over the same territory, the same frustrations. They just expect us to shut up, go away and never mention it again. I’m tired of it.
HELLO!! “we the people”!! Does that ring a bell for anyone in office !?
I read something on one of the posts here a minute ago about a boycott. It was worded where it sounded like that idea had come and gone. Has it?
Hi Diane- I believe collectively we can facilitate change. My comment about the Memphis Boycott was meant place a time around my communication with them and was not intended to say that we should stop at one email. I have since sent additional emails to them and I’m sure I’m not alone. I do get your point, though. We are the ones who need to continue to have a voice or nothing will change.
Don’t vets have to take an oath to “do no harm”? She should lose her license and her privilege of “practicing medicine” (not that she’s doing much of that).
Can we (out-of-staters) file a complaint with the Tennessee licensing board? Any thoughts on that?
Yes, they do have to take an oath, here is the oath and this vet failed miserably. I cried reading this specific blog story. I wish so badly I was there in that moment to take that baby away and home with me and give him the life he deserved. Why don’t people like us all over this blog run our shelters? :(
http://i56.tinypic.com/allu9h.jpg
Consistent aren’t they? Why in the world did they think this dog was white when they picked it up? it’s listed as tan later and it is obvious in the picture that it’s tan.
thank you to the person in tennessee who filed the freedom of information act request, it may be too late to help punkin but her story needs to be known; im hoping many more foa requests can be submitted because there is nothing more likely to wake up the general public than personal stories of particular animals; public outrage once awakened can force change; and id like to see punkins face on the proposed billboard with a link to her story; i will put up and maintain a facebook page for her if that will help
im so sad for punkin, giving my little beagle-bassett an extra hug in her name
Judith,
Thank you for offering to put up a FB page for her. I think that would be a wonderful tribute and helpful in spreading awareness of her story.
the webpage is up now, called ‘Punkin at Memphis Animal Services’; i guess i need the picture emailed to me in order to put it on the profile pic – judith dot eggleton at gmail dot com
the fb page is up now, please click the LIKE button at ‘Punkin at Memphis Animal Services’ —
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Punkin-at-Memphis-Animal-Services/175809685813433
Thank you for creating that page Judith.
i got the picture put up on fb too, and the link to the web cams
Lil Punkin, we will fight for you and others like you. You will NEVER be forgotten. We love you. Save a spot at the Bridge for us we’ll see you then.
It seems to me that everyone here is a devout animal lover (kind of a ‘duh’) but all involved at MAS are typical government workers doing exactly as they are required to do – no more, no less.
THE LAW
We seem to forget that all the law is for is to force compliance with the barest (minimum) acceptable behavior. That’s all. The law never shows us the proper way or a better way, only the bottom rung on the ladder of behavior. Don’t glorify The Law, it doesn’t deserve that credit.
Isn’t that what those city workers are doing in all those pictures, the minimum? If that’s what Mayor AC Wharton expects from his employees then that’s all Memphis citizens will ever get. That’s a failure of senior management.
The problem clearly is at the top of the food chain – a lazy, uncaring mayor who thinks ‘The Law’ is all that has to be expected of people. So much for good government, right? That surely is not a city I care to ever visit; I wonder if the police force or other city workers are just as lazy and uncaring as is the MAS staff?
They appear to be following The Law, the minimum. And that makes Memphis a bottom-rung city. Want a higher standard? Memphis citizens will have to find better management in my opinion.
I agree. A while back I sent an email to the MAS Advisors and Mayor during the Boycott Memphis campaign. I received an email from one of the members stating that a few of the board members (I believe it was 3 of them) have brought these issues to the Advisory Board and Mayor with little success. What do you do when the people who have the power to change things don’t? I can’t stomach one more story about Memphis. They may be following the law, however, laws are meant to reflect the needs of society. It’s clear to me that our perceptions/definitions of animal cruelty have changed greatly as we have seen pets added to protection orders and increased penalties for abuse and cruelty. Memphis is severely lacking in their ability address this issue and is need of better leadership.
Dawna: The answer is ACTION. Bring it to their doorstep, and keep doing it until the message is received.
Punkin was a “pitbull” and MAS seems to assume that nobody wants to rescue or adopt one of “those.” Maybe her condition was a “meh” to them given the general level of abuse that pitties endure. But if they think the
Irresponsible Public feels the same way about a starved pit as they do, maybe they haven’t heard about Patrick. Is that even possible given the international publicity he received? In fact the Irresponsible Public has responded with an outpouring of care, concern, donations and adoption offers nationally for starved dogs who aren’t pits, too. I don’t know whether MAS is an equal opportunity abuser when it comes to starvation, but at least one of the 3 dogs they intentionally starved in 2009 was a lab/pit mix (not sure of the other 2). Pepper has dismissed the public’s concern for the dogs in the stray area with a contemptuous, “Most of them are pitbulls.” MAS, stop discriminating against ALL the dogs in the stray area.
I was just thinking of Patrick, too…another Pit Bull. The love and concern for him came from all over the world. The latest starving dog that we have seen at the “shelter” would have been able to get a home in no time. People respond to an animal who is obviously in such need. There were requests to help the dog but instead, the dog was killed. I just don’t understand.
Patrick is, indeed, known all over the United States, as well as countries all over the world. The Memphis “shelter” is also known all over this country and will be known all over the world before it’s over. It has already started.
I think I gave the shelter a fair chance. I enjoyed the few times I went out there. That’s where I got my sweet Bella Rose. I liked being with the volunteers and loved the animals. I had planned to continue to volunteer when they move to Appling. At this point, though, I would probably be asked to “take a break’ too.
I just read the emails between Shirley Thistlethwaite and Matthew Pepper regarding the starving dog who recently came to the shelter. By the time I finished reading them I felt as though my blood was boiling. I feel as though shelter and city officials are just daring us at this point. That’s very sad but we all know that the work to improved the conditions at the shelter will never stop.
I don’t have all the answers to all the problems at the “shelter” and I’m not saying that I do. One thing that is pretty much a no brainer though is that when an animal is in the “care” of the “shelter” they should be handled with compassion. I’ve seen some horrible pictures on the shelter cam that showed the opposite and I’ve seen pictures which “couldn’t be taken out of context.”
The “shelter” needs to be privitized.
Has someone given this information to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office? It is on record that MAS contributed to, and even increased the suffering of this dog, just like they did in 2009. The records and the photo should be sufficient to have them investigated again.
I’ve just jumped into this blog in the last week and so I’m behind the discussion on what’s occurred at MAS in the past. I had no idea that it was this bad.
From what I’m reading, nobody in the government leadership seems to give a rat’s behind what’s going on there. But what has actually been done beyond emailing and letter writing about the conditions there? And have those efforts produced ANY results at all?
I would think Tennessee Law would play some part in governing what goes on at MAS. To take it out of the Memphis officials’ hands, has anybody considered filing a complaint with the Tennessee Attorney General’s office? Or even perhaps one of the “BIG” animal groups? I just think this hasn’t been brought to the attention of the right place yet. I don’t know who that would be or how to go about getting it to them, but there has to be something that will focus light on MAS and FORCE a change. Of course, there’s ACC in Manhattan/NY that’s in a mess, too, and the outcries and negative publicity hasn’t seemed to have any effect there. :(
this is a very sore spot for me. the “pit bull” thing.. i have a breed very clsoe to “pit bulls’ and i constantly fight the owners of my breed and even clubs who post My dog is NOT a “pit bull” as if that gives them some protection fro harm like Punkin endured.. I shout all of the time IT DOES NOT PROTECT YOU TO THROW OTHERS UNDER THE BUS.. This killing of this dog ( and the others) makes me sick..but the ‘public” thinks Oh well it is just a “pit bull” who wants one.. they are killers..and baby eaters. read any blog ( or many of them) where shelters say .. we NEED adoptable dogs.. all we have is “pit bulls’ as if they were throwaways like some sort of trash. Patrick is only one example .. i am glad he is saved but so many others like Punkin are not.. due to mdia hype.. i blame the media for BSL and the ignorant attitude toward a dog that is loyal and a wonderful companion > I blame ignorant politicians who press the idea of “pit bull madness” and I blame the HSUS and other organizations that have in the past and some even now that call for the killing of “pit bulls’ as necessary to ‘protect the public”
Punkin is just one in a long long list of “pit bulls’ who have taken the long walk to their death.. many of them “just because of the way they look” .
Thank you for taking up her cause. She did not deserve this death.
Exactly. First they come for the pit bulls, then they come for any dog who looks like a pit bull, no matter the breed, then they come for the Rotties, and Shepherds, and Akitas , and Huskies, and Chows, and Shar Peis, and Dobermans and any other breed someone has decided is dangerous.
People need to wake up and realize that breed bans are unacceptable no matter if it is “your” breed or another.
they’re already coming (back) for the GSDs… one of the recent bans that passed includes GSDs.
Any chance of the owners of other breeds waking up that these laws are a threat to all?
As our beautiful black sisters in the South say…………Aw HELL naw!!
Where was the ban on German Shepherds?
Alice et al: I hereby declare that the love of a pibble is a RIGHTEOUS thing!
In the original note made the day after she was brought to the shelter they never mention that she was emanciated, nothing. For an organization that’s had an issue with starving animals why is there no note about her condition? There is no record that she came in in this condition. Her “review” date was the 3rd so when they got her they thought it apropreate to make the decision to adopt/euthanize her days later. Why did they change their plans? Did it take them that long for them to notice her condition? Or Maybe she came in skinny but not emanciated. Maybe she was sick and lost weight while at the shelter. Maybe she didnt eat because she was scared. Maybe they gave her to much food all at once causing her to eat to much and then throw up. Making it hard for her to put on weight and instead she got worse. Maybe they euthanized her to hide their neglect. Maybe they didn’t catch that something was wrong till it was to late.
She wasn’t emanciated enough on the 30th to make note of it. Why was she so emanciated on the 1st-2nd that she was required to be put down?
For a organization under public scrutiny their records are lacking. They should be covering their butts and documenting everything so they can prove their innocence. The lack of notes about the dog being emanciated when they got her leads me to believe she wasn’t.
That’s an interesting take. Wouldn’t put it past most kill shelters to kill a dog or cat to cover up their own neglect.
My thinking was that they didn’t mention the emaciation because the original intake person simply didn’t care and didn’t think it was important to mention. She was just going to die, right? So why bother making a note about something they have no interest in rectifying?
Then a different person came in and was simply a more thorough record keeper and made mention of it.
I’ll go with this guess. Punkin looked to me like she’d experienced long-term starvation, not like a thin dog who’d stopped eating for a couple of days.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if some of MAS’s intransigence over records might be due to their being poorly kept and incomplete.
Guess it’s just how I think but if I got accused of starving dogs I would take better care in making sure my records showed every emanciated dog that enters the building wasn’t by my doing. The vet and Mr.Pepper must know about that previous incident. They probably got a talking to about it. I bet no one really wants bad press. Why didn’t they talk to staff about how to make sure MAS doesnt have a repeat incident. Even if it’s a false accusation.
All we know about her former situation is that someone called the cops and MAS took her. Was she an abuse case? Was she abandoned? Was she running on the street? We don’t know but someone was worried and called the cops.
I agree she should of been given veterinary attention the moment she entered the shelter. She should of been sent to a rescue that takes animals in such rough shape. Heck it would of been better if the cops showed up not an ACO. They may of gotten her help like Sydney ( http://www.noahs-arks.net/RESCUE/SYDNEY.html ) in SC not ignored her and put her to sleep. They failed her.
They also fail at protecting themselves. Their records are lacking information, they don’t prove they did do diligence or followed protocol. You can come up with a million what ifs and questions. All which look bad on them. If your gonna do a bad job at least cover your butt.
Hopefully this is the straw that breaks MAS’s back.
Somebody needs to do something about that vet! She is the one ultimately responsible for the health of the animals there. Did she just walk by this dog day after day? She evidently made no notes about it or offered any assistance to the dog except to ok to kill it. What kind of a vet is she? Anyone local have any input about her??? Why does she still have a license?? Was she hired after they had the raid they had there? Whatever, she needs to go, and she needs to be held accountable for the condition of this dog. If it was that bad off it should have been euthanized when it was taken in if they could not help it. To just let it suffer in a cage is beyond excuse. What is hers???
Before, during and after the raid, I was in hopes that Rebecca Coleman, the “vet” would be shown the door but she, so far, has not been.
All I can say is that just in the last two weeks, I have been aware of two dogs in the “care” of the “shelter” and “Dr”. Coleman.
They were in severe physical distress and apparently ignored by the staff and the “vet.”
The shelter needs to be privatized.
Punkin was a girl, not an “it”. Let’s try to use language that supports our caring about these animals and tells the truth about what is happening to them.
No insult intended to anyone, but as long as we refer to living beings as “it”, it becomes easier for folks to discount the emotional and physical pain and suffering they are capable of feeling.
. . . steps off of soapbox now
THANK YOU db! About time ya’ll realized that language is VERY important and to objectify a living being makes it really easy to dismiss them and kill them.
A dog does not get this thin in 3 days. It takes weeks. So she came in emaciated. If she was in such bad shape that she needed to be euthed after three days, why not just euth her on intake? If the prevention of suffering was the reason, this only makes sense.
Looking at the picture, I see a skinny dog, but up on her feet, and moving along with a man walking at a normal stride which implies she is recoverable given proper care. Some dogs do shut down in a shelter environment, or another alien stressful situation. I saw that with my Katrina bunch. 2 were bone skinny and had been at the shelter for 3 weeks prior to their release to us. It was just depression and fear, they had adequate food offered but could not eat. Both gained weight, muscled out, trained up and did very well in my foster care and their subsequent forever homes. I blogged Cooper here: http://dogsbeerandchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/04/cooper-rescue-gone-right.html
This is not a shelter. It’s doggy Auschwitz. I wonder what the cat room is like.
I watch the webcams on the cat rooms sometimes, on and off for hours. I’ve never seen anyone interact kindly with any of the cats. Ever. If they’re ever groomed or cuddled or played with, it happens off-camera.
I posted this before in another thread and someone replied that the volunteers do work with the cats. Since, I’ve watched for it. I’ve still never seen it. I won’t believe it until I do.
@Diane: Saginaw MI just banned a bunch of breeds including GSDs
http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2011/06/dangerous_dogs_ordinance_and_o.html
Just to be clear, the ordinance in Saginaw, is not a ban. They have additional restrictions and requirements for 5 breeds, but it is not an actual ban
thanks for the correction, but BSL is BSL so the essential point remains
Thank you Emily :)
The BOYCOTT MEMPHIS thing is STILL going, and so is the petition!
Morgana. Where is the petition? I’d like to sign it.
It is on the Care2Petition site.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/MEMPHIS-STOP-THE-KILLING-NOW/
Has anyone seen this about a pittie picked up be the ACC turned into MAS and now has gone missing??? The owner is frantically trying to figre out what happened to her family dog:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=2185334042034&set=o.140376379369449&type=1&theater
It sickens me.
Yes, Jo Ann,
We have all seen it. We are posting this story on our Facebook walls everyday, as well as groups and pages relating to Memphis Animal Services. Why should we pretend like we are just going to let another atrocity be dropped. Please join us.
Oh man..I dont know whether to cry or throw-up after reading that and seeing her picture. RIP sweet baby. :( And Pumpkin is the perfect poster child for MAS because seeing her looking back at the camera, like its a final plea for help, while the worker is dragging her on a CATCHPOLE and not paying attention to her is heart-wrenching indeed.
If the picture alone doesn’t break your heart, you have a heart of stone.