A caring member of the public inquired about this puppy on the “Friends” of MAS FB page and was told the pup “did not make it to the adoption area”. Further inquiries seeking explanation remain unanswered as of this post. While I do not know the ID number of this pup or have access to his records, I understand that the hundreds of dogs kept in the stray area at MAS have very little hope of survival.
Because MAS wants it that way.
The city does not allow the public in to see and touch the stray dogs, like this puppy, so adopters can fall in love with them. The city does not list the stray dogs, like this puppy, online so that people can network them. The city selects a tiny percentage for the special “adoption area” and kills the rest of the stray dogs, like this puppy, without ever giving them the slightest chance of adoption.
So let’s not sugar-coat it with pretty words: the stray dogs, like this puppy, who do not “make it to the adoption area” at MAS are doomed to die at the hands of those paid to protect them from harm. They are not “put to sleep”. They do not “go to play at the rainbow bridge”. They are not “euthanized”. They are tied to the wall in the kill room and forced to watch other pets die before it’s their turn at the needle. Then they are tossed in the dumpster and taken to the landfill.
Many of the dogs in the stray area, such as this puppy, are dragged to the kill room on a chokepole. The suffer and die in anonymity, because the city orchestrates it that way. The only way we even know these pets ever lived is because of the webcams, which the city is now planning to remove.
Who are they really protecting by taking away the public’s only view into the stray area at MAS?
This poor puppy, who was beaten with a bat but who still wanted a person to hold his hand, was better off on the streets than at the pound. The cruel people who hurt this puppy are evil, no doubt, but they left him alive. The city workers at MAS did not. The bat wielding asshats left the puppy with hope of finding a loving owner. The city workers at MAS did not. Now this puppy has no hope of ever holding hands with a compassionate person. And all the city can come up with is removing the webcams.
Shame, Memphis. Shame.
Added: A reader sent me this grab from October 28. It looks like this could be the same pup, being taken to the kill room:
I tweeted and facebooked (do same):
#Memphis TN SHAME: When being hit with a bat is the preferred option http://ow.ly/7iXCU #pitbull #dog PlsRT
Did the “neighbors” go to jail???
What else can we do to close down this shelter or at least get rid of the morons that work there? I have written to the mayor and hooks but no reply (I didn’t expect they would reply). Who else can I write? Thank you.
Patricia,
Thank you for writing. I would suggest you keep writing, as long as you feel there is need for reform. Every week. Every day. Every hour if you can. They don’t like hearing from pet advocates demanding reform. I don’t like them killing pets.
They are totally disgusting there! When an animal is safer living on the streets instead of at a “shelter” should send up red flags that the system needs changed! Unfortunately they are not the only ones that would rather kill than aggressively seek adopters and fosters. The NYCACC (New York City) has had 157 cats and young kittens on their “Put To Sleep” list in 5 DAYS, leaving it to social media posters and rescue groups to do the work of trying to save them. Shameful!
We had this dog posted on our page. My question is, if anyone had called for this poor pup would they have even given someone info on him? If someone had seen him on our page and went there to see him in person, would the shelter have allowed them to? If they fell in love with him, would they have even allowed them to adopt him? Or would they just rather have one more dead dog to send to the landfill? This is what bothers me the most because this boy deserved a chance to feel love and they ripped that from him. They should not be able to choose which dogs get a chance to live and which ones don’t. Who are they to play God?
They would have just kept either ignoring any requests for him until he was dead or they would’ve come back and said they were sorry he had to be put to sleep.because of some ‘medical’ reason that made him unadoptable. Then they would’ve said there are many other animals at the shelter who need homes and invited the person making the inquiring to come by to see them. Those are the dogs THEY deem adoptable and the others are unworthy.
For the life of me, I STILL cannot understand why this doesn’t enrage enough people in Memphis and make them actually want to do something about it.
That is what is so disturbing in Memphis. Everybody in Memphis knows what is happening in that Shelter and nobody really gives a damn. Never in my entire life have I seen so many ignorant people in one City.
I’m with you, Debbie and Peter. I can not wrap my head around the ignorance and lack of action from the people of Memphis. WHY do they not insist that MAS improve their shelter? Why do they let the abuse continue?
I agree – I just don’t get it! It’s no secret what happens at MAS day in and day out. And very few locally do anything about it. God bless those few who do step up and save the ones they can.
RIP, handsome pittie boy – you deserved so much better. I’m sorry that being hit with a bat was “better” than being taken to a “shelter”! And, thank you Shirley, for saying it the right way – this boy (and so many others like him) are being KILLED! There is nothing good or merciful about their deaths.
No one does anything because:
“My God people they are JUST DOGS!!” “Who cares?!?” “Why don’t you put half as much effort into CHILDREN as you do damn dogs??”
That is the majority of the responses ANY time there is a story about MAS or any animal!
Peter Masloch nailed it when he said: “Never in my entire life have I seen so many ignorant people in one City.”
The ignorance does not end with just the shelter… it’s EVERYTHING in this city.
Yell, scream, write, protest, cry, fight… do whatever you want… THIS city will NOT change ANYTHING EVER… because they do not want to. I hate to say it, but you will be fighting this losing battle for the rest of your days… you will not win. No one will. The animals will continue to suffer… the children will suffer… the good citizens will suffer until they move away… and Memphis will remain a pathetic joke worth nothing.
Yes, they would rather have one more dog to send to the landfill. This is a link to the Chairman of the Animal Advisory Committee spouting off his mouth about pit bulls. Disgusting man and disgusting poison to be spreading around
http://www.wmctv.com/
No wonder Memphis is the way it is.
The MAS influence me to continue going to school to get a degree in animal field so I can open my own rescue group and treat animals with love and a chance to live. MAS should be ashamed of themselves. I believe in karma. For them to treat those animals they will suffer later in life.
I am upset with all this horrible posting why the mayor isn’t doing anything about it. He also consider taking the webcam out. If that’s the case the dogs have a better chance surviving as a stray than being in that place call MAS a place that suppose to take care of animals but killing them instead.
Shared on Facebook.. this just is so wrong…
My local shelter has 24 adoption kennels and 96 nonadoption kennels. The dogs in the nonadoption area do not leave the building. When kennels need to be cleaned, they are hosed out with the dog inside the kennel. Those who are not claimed within the hold period and are deemed “adoptable” are moved into the area accessible by volunteers and the public.
I was once involved with the pull of a dog from the nonadoption area. She had been deemed not suitable for adoption because she was fearful and did not make eye contact. This was in the wake of her running loose near a busy interstate for days and then being caught with a catchpole. She was lucky to have been spared. Were it not for the persistence of the woman who originally saw her near the interstate, she would have done her time “in the back” and died as scared, if not more so, than she was near the freeway.
This particular dog was the driving force behind a fundraiser to buy 100 cot-type beds for the nonadoption area. The shelter has a huge budget but it took donations to get dogs up off of the cold, wet floor. Why bother to make a dog comfy when his days are numbered, right?
MAS is the worst of the worse but is by no means unique from so many others.
Orwelllian. That’s the only way to describe this whole nasty, shameful, infuriating mess. Black is white. Death is merciful. Scared is unadoptable.
OMG this makes me cry so hard, and just when you think MAS cant get any worse they do. These are evil people no souls. i will light a candle in memory of this puppy, he will not be forgotten.
Plenty of citizens in Memphis DO care and are doing all the same things everyone on this page is doing or suggests that we do. It is not working. It is like taking on Tony Soprano. If someone has any suggestions as to how to change things when every single person in charge of the shelter does not care, including volunteers, advisory board members, etc., and they fight all of the animal advocates with every fiber of their being…and go against our wishes just to say “nanny nanny boo boo tail”..outside of driving through the building with a tank in a hostile takeover…what can be done? Please tell us and we will do it.
Calling the mayor will never matter. Emailing certainly doesn’t matter. But if it makes you feel better, go for it. Sometimes just venting is soothing to the soul. I send emails and letters daily. I have been banned from the Mayor’s FB page and when they hear my voice at his office they do the fake message taking in the air, I can tell.
Hiring attorneys to fight the city is expensive. Many of us just do not have an extra $10-20,000 laying around and getting people of this city to donate is like finding the Hope Diamond in a gumball machine. Could the supporters of this blog help us out financially? Could the over 100,000 people on the No Kill Nation fork over a whopping dollar each? If they want to make a difference in Memphis, that will do it. I have set up Chip Ins for this and posted them on their page and NOT ONE DOLLAR has ever been received. NOT ONE.
We live in a city where `50% of the people are low income and 20% are at poverty levels or under. I believe over 60% didn’t even graduate from high school (need to check these stats, I’m going by my horrific memory). The scum of this city produces pit bulls faster than a pack of 100,000 rabbits in the spring. MAS slaughters dozens of them daily. And many more than that die in dog fights every day. Another few dozen are hit by cars. Then we have some set on fire and beaten with bats and hung in trees.
In a city full of savages, how to we get them to locate their heart? In a city run by corrupt folks who think that people who care about animals like we do are nutty, how to you get through to them? They laugh at us and call us the crazy animal folks. We are here dealing with these people daily and to say it is frustrating is the understatement of the century. They will not work with anyone and they seem to ENJOY going against the wishes of animal advocates. Even the Gestapo volunteers. What in the name of all that is holy can be done when you are going up against an entire city of people who do not freaking care? Hire the mafia?
Do you have a plan of action? Could you tell us what you’ve done so far and where you met resistance which required you to seek out an attorney? Could you explain what the donated funds would be used for specifically? I understand you are saying you need to retain an attorney but what will the attorney hopefully accomplish for you? I think this kind of info would need to be provided in order for people to consider donating to your ChipIn.
He/she ALREADY TOLD you.
Write letters to the city, call city officials, protest the city (have had 2 in the last couple of months), BEG the media to cover the issues, go to the shelter time after time trying to help as many dogs or cats a possible (but local rescues have limited space and are ALWAYS full), and ON AND ON.
And even media coverage doesn’t do much. The city has NO shame and does NOTHING different unless they are faced with an undeniable scandal (Hogan would be an example, and even after that, nothing else has changed at MAS).
For the most part, the city officials continue to deflect, claiming it is a “community” issue.
So for those of you who are NOT in this area, stop asking us what we are doing – we have BEEN doing! And stop telling us what to do because we have ALREADY BEEN doing it.
If you want to COME here or MOVE here and join in the fight, PLEASE do.
I would happily donate to a chip in, even just the bad publicity and hopefully the airing of a few truths about Mayor Wharton would be worth it. I’m gunning for the bastard. Send him to Australia and I’ll introduce him to some of our special wildlife ;) We have an octopus here that can paralyse you within minutes and there is no anti venom- your only hope is that someone you’re with is able to keep up the CPR for hours or until the ambulance arrives. I’ll take him to a nice deserted beach and I promise to give him CPR that matches the calibre of his efforts for the animals (yes I’ve been fantasising about this lol).
I agree with you MAS Sucks, sending mail and phoning is a bit like a bird launching itself at its own reflection. I doubt anything even gets read we may as well write our letters and flush them down the loo. However I read a while ago about another Mayor over there that got charged with animal neglect because he was enabling/didn’t do anything to stop the abuse at his shelter. I’ve often wondered if Mayor Wharton is not guilty of the same crime, particularly because of all the mail he has received regarding animal abuse which he has not bothered to investigate (well not by anyone neutral anyway- I think he got one of his mates in recently didn’t he? The guy who was calling for the Mayor when he had the car accident?) What needs to happen is someone needs to go in undercover and film for a week or a month. With the cameras gone they’ll let down their guard even more than they do now.
I have never seen the chip in though :( Do you mean you posted it on the NKN page? That would have gone into their notes section I think, unless you posted it in a thread, and I for one rarely bother to look there. You might be better off advertising a chip in on some of the smaller pages and allow the animal networking community to do what they’re good at. Do you have an attorney in mind? We have a group of lawyers here in Australia who have banded together to fight for tougher penalties for animal cruelty offenses. I could email them on the off chance they know someone in Memphis that could help you if you want?
MAS Sucks & jcs NAILED it again!
MEMPHIS DOES NOT CARE!
Never have… never will. The few who DO care are seen as crazy animal activists. Crazy animal activists don’t care about anything else, besides worthless animals! We hear this day in and day out. And on the RARE occasion that the media DOES cover a problem at MAS, *THIS* blog is almost always mentioned, and in a very negative manor, just to further prove that we are all crazy animal activist! The local media here LOVES to create bad guys and in the animal world here, YOU, Shirley are the bad guy… not MAS! The media has deemed it true… so it just must be.
So the few of us here who do care will continue to write letters, have protest, cry, adopt when we can, network as much as possible, cry some more, and accept our roles as crazy animal activists.
When TAXPAYERS are supporting ANY form of “city government” services, it is INEXCUSABLE that the majority of the poor strays/abandoned/surrendered are not visible to the public! ( And USUALLY adopted or rescued!!!)
I just HAVE to inquire what the intelligence quotient is on these fools………….SOMEBODY has to get in there and oust these rejects. I’m in Missouri, but if I can do anything to help, I’ll be glad to!!!
Better check some staff out for THEIR more-than-likely venture into the dog fighting realm…
Oh I just thought I should qualify my statement above for the benefit of anyone wondering. Any statement I make is entirely of my own volition. Shirley of YesBiscuit has never incited me to violence and I don’t really have any intention of snuffing out Mayor Wharton’s last breath. I just have this recurring dream where the Mayor is lying on the beach with a blue ring octopus on his chest unable to breathe and I’m dancing around him with rings on my fingers and bells on my toes and a big grin on my face, saying “I believe Mayor Wharton, I BELIEVE!!!” I promise to get psychoanalysis if MAS stops harming the animals they’re supposed to care for.
I have noticed many photos in the news with the Occupy Wall Street Movement – a lot people are walking their dogs while protesting –
The dogs need a sign that reads “Occupy Animal Control”
Just checked out the FofMAS facebook page. Leona’s post is no longer there. Did they delete and ban you too Leona? If they did you can join The Banned by Friends of Memphis Animal Services Club. That’s where the cool kids hang out.
Love your imagery, Mel.
MasSUCKS – so sad. Would LOVE to see some kind of successful occupation, but don’t know how to pull that off. Just more media, more pressure, and maybe a sympathetic/animal-loving lawyer who can push this stuff on his/her own time?? THAT would be great!! Good luck!
Makes you wonder–are the employees of these places would-be serial killers who get just enough of a kick torturing and killing these helpless creatures to prevent them from graduating to humans. Who are the “animals”? Who hires them? What government agency oversees this nightmare? And who elects them?!? Look to yourselves!
When it comes to an election, the less than 1% of the population of Memphis who care strongly about animal welfare/rights can not beat out the 60% who do not. The people being elected are not “animal people” because the majority of voters are not either. Sadly, this is not an area that concerns the majority of the citizens of Memphis. That is why our fight is particularly difficult.
Here is an example of the kinds of things we deal with….I contacted city officials, advisory board members, FoMAS, etc., asking why MAS would be closed to the public for adoptions but would be allowing owner surrenders. They danced around the subject, refusing to answer of course. I sent emails volunteering to work at the shelter 7 days a week until the new shelter opens, so that adoptions could continue. I said I could probably round up 20 or so people to help as well, said they could pack, move, do whatever they needed to do without interruption and we would assist the public with the adoptions. NOT A SINGLE RESPONSE TO THIS OFFER.
While I did receive a response, it was basically “come to Yappy Hour and tell your friends to come out to adopt or foster”. Like I don’t already do that daily. I mean, come on, who doesn’t take someone up on an offer to work for free 7 days a week adopting out animals so they are not euthanized? What person…forget animal lover because that is not who we are dealing with, think strictly business person….what business person chooses to ignore an offer to reduce THEIR numbers so that THEY look better?
I have given up on the hope of locating a heart in these people, so I am trying to appeal to them in another way, pointing out how this affects our CITY. They will never actually care about the animals like we do, its not happening, not now, now ever….but they should at least care about the reputation of the city that they represent.
MAS and FoMAS had the opportunity to work OVERTIME to increase adoptions before the move to set a new tone for the new shelter and our city, to show they are serious about change…but instead they chose to CLOSE for adoptions completely. We know the tragic outcome this will have as far as the unfortunate pets still in the building at 7:01pm on November 3rd,…but the sad truth is that while we care – they simply do not.
But as representatives of this city, shouldn’t they at least care about the reputation of our city and how it will be affected by what will be known as the “massacre before the move” for years to come?
My heart breaks for the people who are trying and the animals who suffer and die.
And, yes, the powers that be should care about Memphis, Tennessee and the impression people have of the city. Seems to me that with the reputation the city has now, it’s surely not going to attract the kind of people most cities would want to attract. Just so sad . . .
The corrupt politicos who run Memphis and FoMAS care about one thing–holding onto their power in an increasingly untenable situation. They aren’t going to let go or change until forced to do so. That day will come–it’s inevitable. I hope it comes soon. In the meantime, their refusal to do the right thing is shameful. But they’re beyond caring about anything or anyone except themselves. And too ignorant or delusional to realize how the world sees them now.
If YesBiscuit and friends can place so many random dogs from the stray area–even a feral dog–then it’s obvious that most of the dogs being held there are adoptable or at least viable rescues. They are being killed daily because the shelter is run by killers and killing apologists–no other reason.
Meanwhile the rest of the country is happily moving toward no-kill or low-kill as “pounds” are converted to adoption centers where the emphasis is on saving lives, not killing for convenience. And every day Memphis falls farther behind, clinging to unsustainable and cruel practices. The new building is a failure already–we don’t need web cams to see that.
The irony is that the powers-that-be don’t get it on a practical level. Implementing the no-kill equation not only saves lives but also saves money, makes the city look progressive (something they’re dying to achieve but can’t pull off), makes the city a more desirable place to live–in short, is an economic plus and a PR dream come true.
There was a movie I watched once, I think it was in the late eighties or early ninties. It was a Disney movie, and I can’t remember the name of it. It was about this boy, I think he was supposed to be 15 or something, who got a job at the town’s animal shelter. Part of his job was to move animals from the adoption cages to cages in this other room, which was the kill room. This boy didn’t know that the animals were put down (I guess he was niave, perhaps) he only knew that once they went into that room, they left the shelter. He would say to them “you get to go to Florida and see the beach!” and stuff like that. Then finally, the vet tech broke down crying and told him to stop saying that, didn’t he know what really happened to these animals?? And the boy was horrified when he found out that these animals were killed.
The boy then put a bunch of animals in a wagon and pulled that wagon all over the town going door to door looking for homes for these animals so that they could live. I don’t remember how the movie turned out. But I wish it would be shown on TV again. I think society could learn a lot from that boy.
This was on Facebook tonite. Can we please get someone to help this poor dog?// It absolutely breaks my heart. The dog is so emaciated, it is horrendous. I don’t know what to say……
Suzanne Cappetta shared Kelli O’Brien-Vedder’s photo.
Okay we HAVE to save this dog, and not allow him to be another dead dog statistic..I called Detroit Animal Control he is there (picked up from a hardware store as a stray) and there is a 5 day hold on him before they can release him “if he is suitable for adoption” to the Detroit Humane Society. A/C told me they will NOT work with rescues if the dog is not “suitable” for adoption (look at him, do you think he will make the cut??) I said I would be willing to pay for his medical care during 5 day hold, they said no. This dog will not make it 5 days. Animal Control number in Detroit is 313-224-7125. I have offered to TAKE this dog into Rescue care if they will release him and allow him a chance to live. Please crosspost, we cannot allow him to just die when so many people are willing to help him.
By: Kelli O’Brien-Vedder
http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/wayne_county/public-outcry-over-emaciated-dog-#ixzz1d9POzgMY Is this the dog you’re talking about Denise?