The group Urgent Death Row Dogs on Facebook has reported on the death of a dog called Hero at NYC ACC’s Brooklyn pound. Read the complete sad story here.
It starts with Hero, a healthy 10 month old puppy, being impounded by NYC ACC. After 10 days, he caught the URI that all pets there seem to get and was placed on the kill list, where all pets with URIs seem to go. A rescue and an adopter stepped up to save him:
When the rescue called to inquire, they were told an adopter was coming to see him and, if he was not adopted by them, he would then be available for the rescue. While the rescue stood-by waiting, the adopter was making the 3-hour trek to Brooklyn. What they saw when they arrived was “horrifying.” A shelter employee had to carry – yes, CARRY! – poor Hero out to meet the potential adopter. He was so sick he could not stand. The adopter was obviously shaken by the sight yet still wanted to help Hero. She asked to adopt him and bring him straight to a vet. Anyone could plainly see that Hero was DYING. This is the part that blows our minds… the shelter REFUSED to release him because there was no vet there to give Hero his rabies vaccine– a vaccine which is actually contraindicated (and rendered ineffective due to high body temp) in sick animals. Even though he was on death’s door, they said the adopter had to drive an additional 3-hours the following day and that poor Hero would have to lie in a cage, DYING, for another night… another night without much-needed medical care.
We all know how this story ends. Hero is dead. He died in his cage while waiting for someone, ANYONE, to save him.
Well done to all those keeping the machine that delivers suffering and death to animals in NYC pounds well-oiled. The Mayor’s Alliance and Maddie’s Fund will no doubt be delighted that Hero died in his cage while the irresponsible public tried to save him since he won’t be listed in the KILLED category, making their numbers look sparkly. Add Best Friends to that list since, yay NYC, “well on its way” to being no kill blah.
There is a petition asking that an investigation be opened into Hero’s death.
If you are in NYC, please attend the next NYC ACC Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, June 28th:
125 Worth Street
2nd floor Auditorium
NYC, NY
10 AM to 11 AM
I just don’t understand. I never will. Heartbreaking.
OMG. Im horrified by this as we all should be. This beautifull boy suffering a painful drawn out death without care. Shelter protocol is to euthanize all animals who contract Bordatella. It cannot be treated in boardings facilities or large groups of animals…but this does not have anything to do with the neglect of this dog. If he was that sick they simply shouldve transferred himto the rescue for treatment sooner than they even considered it. A rabies vax is never given to a sick animal… i hope the investigation will retrain the staff and prevent this from happening again.
URI in dogs is being treated in no kill shelters all over the country. There will be 2 workshops at the No Kill Conference this summer called Shelter Medicine for Non-Veterinarians and this is one topic that will be included.
http://www.nokillconference.org/seminars/
My little dog Bertie was initially scooped off the street in a Central Valley town, starving, and picked up kennel cough in-shelter there. The Berkeley/East Bay Humane Soc., a no-kill shelter, pulled him and nursed him through. It took awhile, that’s all.
“It cannot be treated in boardings facilities or large groups of animals”
Wrong. It sure as heck can and in better places routinely is.
And these are the people that are supposed to be helping animals and get paid for it. SHAME ON ALL OF YOU !!!!!!!!!!!! rip Hero, I’m sorry you never got to know real love in this life.
This is beyond belief! If a breeder, or just one of us pet owners allowed this to happen we would be called abusers. Yet this hell hole place did this and it gets away with it! WTF??? The adopter was going to treat the dog’s illness. The rabies shot was contraindicated. So instead of sending the dog out – the let him die? I am so angry…signing petition and getting off here for a while, this is just too much for me today!
This is standard operating procedure for NYC ACC. These are the same folks who let Robert sit in a cage, paralyzed from recent injury and unable to urinate for three days.
How there is not an uprising of volunteers forcibly taking over that place is completely beyond me.
Sounds like typical bureaucracy…
So sad and so unnecessary.
In Louisiana another reason some shelter pets die with people already having paid to adopt them is because many of the animal shelters here require any adult pet be spayed or neuter and vaccinated before being released — great idea, BUT sometimes the animal is too sick and dies because they insist on operating on a sick animal instead of allowing the person adopting to take the animal home and caring for the animal until she or he is better before being spayed or neutered! Where is the compassion and the common sense?
A rescue group I volunteer with had a dog die after spaying several years ago. This was in the state of MO and it was at an animal shelter. Supposedly the dog was not sick but I doubt it as a young dog would not just die!
Another horror story from NYC ACC. This precious dog deserved so much better. Is there no one who can stop the carnage?
SHAME ON ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE.
What a sad story, unfortunately, this same thing happens everyday, all over the country because the people in the communities with those places, and the volunteers that try to make things better and more compassionate for the animals, feel like they can’t fight city hall. We can all fight city hall. Blogs like this one, emailing, telephone calls to mayors’ offices and city council members, voting the dopes out, all of those things can eventually make things better. But it will take time and we need to start now, not tomorrow, not when we have more knowledgable and compassionate government officials in office, but now.
This four paws angel is in God´s lap in Heaven !! That´s for sure. The people who murdered him will get God´s punishment ! That´s for sure too !
And today, another one. From FB Urgent Part 2:
“Yesterday we learned that Hero died in his cage without proper medical care. Today, we find out that poor Rocco was destroyed, sometime last night or this morning, while a rescue waited to take him. The reason?? He was “too sick.” WHY ARE THEY LETTING THESE ANIMALS GET SO SICK? Does the ACC know what MEDICAL CARE is? What good is the STAR [emergency medical] fund if they do not use it? Animals should NOT be dying of URI’s that they caught AT the shelter. Are you paying attention NY? Who will be at the board meeting next week to speak for these poor defenseless animals that are now dead?”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=460152380664313&set=a.439889042690647.108734.152876678058553&type=1&theater
As for NYACC’s meeting announcement, it reads like a manual for suppressing public participation. If you want to speak, you must sign up in a particular way. You will only be allowed to speak in the time after the board has concluded all its other business. You will be allowed to speak for two minutes, no more.
And judging from the videos of previous meetings, Bank and the board never respond when members of the public speak. They just sit there.
They probably forbid attendees to bring signs into the meeting, too, which is too bad if true, because after watching the Michigan Democrats’ video of the best signs at the recent Vaginagate rally, I can only imagine what the ones at a NYACC meeting might say . . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svYrVSsCU_M&feature=player_embedded
And now, according to a comment at aspca.org, 15 of the dogs seized in a dogfighting arrest were taken by the ASPCA to NYACC:
JO 93626, JACK 936271, GETTY 936272, BLUE 936276, RONNIE 936276, LEO 936282, BETTY 936283, LISA 936284, JOHN 936286, GABY 936287, SWEETIE 936288, ELSA 936289, KATTY 936290, DORA 936291, TARA 936293.
http://blog.aspca.org/content/aspca-rescues-50-dogs-bronx-dog-fighting-case
Left my comment. Amazes me how many of the commentors are drinking the ASPCA kool-aid.
I left a comment. That is not rescue when all the ASPCA did was move them to a kill shelter!
my comments were removed . . . hmmmm
I cannot find mine either! I guess they do not want people to know to research the financial information on both them and PETA and for people to donate to the local rescue groups who rescue animals from the kill shelters. I was just trying to educate the masses!
Just tried to send another comment and it said my comment has triggered the spam filter. Guess they don’t want to hear from me anymore. Must be the freedom of speech is NOT alive and well at the ASPCA. Good thing I don’t donate any money to them. Probably don’t want that, either.
hehehe
This report was apparently bogus. According to the ASPCA, all the dogs are being cared for at an ASPCA-staffed emergency shelter. I apologize for providing this information without seeing it verified first.
So sad and awful. That poor sweet face will be haunting me now. RIP Hero, you deserved better. Signed the petition.
OMG… NOO.. this is so wrong… I’m signing the petition…
There is a protest being held tomorrow 6/23 in NYC! Here is the information:
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=bkweaniab&v=001Z75pTKZtbgtRnPVgx5GthL9lGJXySxw1fSigPdgwPLCqjxi9iu6ZMtldqzC7KyfCwpswoeWMONnR-cS_1uCl72SD8NF1UPLyoqyCzqYMGBc%3D
I hope they have a good turnout. Will be keeping my fingers crossed that something good comes from the murder of these precious animals.