Drug use at ACC?

Check out this post by Urgent Part 2- Apparently ACC Director Julie Bank has been notified of drug use by her employees (employees who have in the past made life-ending mistakes by putting the wrong dogs to sleep!) and has yet to do anything about it!
Here's to hoping this outrage makes it on the news. The staff at ACC is already bad enough as it is, but for no one to care whether these mistakes happen (because they're all pittie strays anyway, right?), and for no one to seek out to correct these problems, is a real shame. I wonder how they would respond if a purbred dog was put to sleep days after arriving before its owners could find it, rather than just another stray? Every dog at ACC deserves a chance, and these low-life staff members are holding them back from that chance to survive.

Incompetence Running Rampant At NYCACC - PART 4 - Is Drug Use In Shelters Being Ignored?!?

by Urgent PART 2 on Wednesday, December 7, 2011 at 11:41am

Animal Care & Control of NYC is a place where dedicated volunteers and employees are fired for any attempt at all to blow the whistle on widespread negligence and neglect, or even just those that work too hard to get animals rescued.  In the past year alone, employees like Emily Tanen and unpaid volunteers like Rita Bar-Or and Jeff Latzer have been fired for little or no reason at all, with no thought given to the effect their absence would have on the care of shelter animals.

But what about employees who are part of the problem?  Shelter employees that get high at work, or come to work intoxicated while exhibiting disdain for the animals in their care?  Anyone who spends enough time at the shelter becomes very familiar with these people, but what is more shocking is that these people are in fact embraced by the administration.  Why would that be?  Because Julie Bank prizes a very certain quality in the staff she maintains: cold, heartless contempt for any notion of animal welfare.  As long as these people are not sticking their necks out for better care of the animals, all other issues of professionalism, responsibility and dedication do not matter; they will always have a job at ACC if animals matter as little to them as they do to Park Place management.

Urgent has been contacted by numerous rescue groups, adopters, volunteers and even a few staff about the condoned negligence that perpetuates in the mismanaged ACC shelter system.  We were also recently contacted by a concerned citizen of East Harlem who tried to do something about it.  This person (who for obvious reasons insists on anonymity) had inside knowledge of drug use going on at the Manhattan ACC, and even knew who was supplying it to employees. He spoke up about it to shelter administration, and like every volunteer or staff or rescuer who writes emails to shelter management with concerns about shelter animal treatment, he was ignored.  He even tried again, this time including every elected official whose email he could find.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: * *
Date: Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 10:10 PM
Subject: Your last chance before I go on TV about DRUGS AT THE HARLEM SHELTER
To: jbank@nycacc.org, mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov, info@animalalliancenyc.org, info@nycacc.org, rgentles@nycacc.org, sjaneczko@nycacc.org, TFarley@health.nyc.gov, bbdoniger@yahoo.com, KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us, Patrick.Nolan@us.penguingroup.com, quinn@council.nyc.ny.us, Adrian.Benepe@parks.nyc.gov, commaffairs@nypd.org


Dear Julie Banks,

Why didnt you respond to my email?  It was a very important email about 4 workers at the Harlem shelter who do drugs, and none of you bothered to respond to me.  Do you only respond to white people with lawyers?  You think since I live in the neighborhood where your shelter is that I don't matter as much?

I gave you a list of four people that work in your medical office that use drugs even though theyre supposed to be saving animals. (I copied it at the bottom of this email)  Doesnt that matter to you?  Since I wrote that to you, I read about your shelter on the facebook, and I saw all the shitty things you been doing instead, like killing the wrong dogs and firing your best worker. Why dont you fire the people that are high at work instead?  Two girls on that list I sent you were even talking shit about how proud they was to smoke weed during work!!!  Dont believe me?

If you dont answer this email and drug test these people, i'm gonna get this up on the internet on that Urgent website.  Trust me, you dont want that.  And remember like i said, if you tell them even a half hour before that your gonna test them, theyll pass, and go on being high treating dogs.

This is your last chance julie banks.  Next time you hear from me i'll be on channel 5


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: * *
Date: Sat, May 7, 2011 at 12:31 PM
Subject: HARLEM ANIMAL SHELTER WORKERS USING DRUGS
To: mbloomberg@cityhall.nyc.gov, info@animalalliancenyc.org, info@nycacc.org, jbank@nycacc.org


Dear Animal Care and Control,
I know for a fact that these four people work in the harlem medical department, and all use drugs all the time.  Sometimes they even use at work. You need to drug-test them right now, because theyre supposed to be helping the animals, and they cant do that if theyre high!  How do I know this?  I know the guy who sells to them.  I promise you, if you give them a drug test like all employees should get, and you dont let them know first, theyll fail. If you tell them even a half hour before, theyll pass (I've done it for jobs before, all you need is a drink from gnc).  But doing that when your supposed to save animals is just wrong.
Trust me, i'm not joking with you.  Don't put the animals at risk any longer!  And if this gets out and people know the vet tex are high, it will look very bad for nyc.
There names are:

xxxxxxxx


And still -- nothing.  The people he implicates are still at the shelter putting animals in danger, including one role of particular importance: a New Hope rescue liaison.  The unanswered emails from the whistleblower also names a shelter behaviorist, a lead vet tech assistant, and a vet assistant. 

The biggest mystery here is why the shelter does not follow through on its pre-existing drug policy of random drug tests, and mandatory testing after a bite incident.  A shelter staff source tells us that the New Hope rescue liaison was bitten last year, but bragged about never being tested or she surely would have failed.  A second source from the shelter staff sent us the attached photo of drug paraphernalia found in the shelter backyard, with a note explaining that it was common sight at ACC.



So Julie Bank, maybe you'll answer Urgent instead: how could you ignore these emails and continue to put the animals' lives in the care of openly irresponsible and "distracted" people?  Numerous staff named in these emails work in the medical department, and the Manhattan shelter is notorious for its rampant medical "mistakes" that leave dogs, cats and kittens found stiff in their cages for lack of care.  The homeless animals of NYC deserve better than this, and the citizens of NYC deserve oversight into who their tax dollars employ.

The NYC Govt needs to know that you are outraged. Please go to this link for contact information:
http://www.urgentdeathrowdogs.org/how-you-can-help/how-togroup1/act.html

Also, The New York State Dept of Health (not the NYC DoH) and the DEA would both be appropriate avenues to explore for complaints due to the involvement of controlled (Scheduled) substances. Those performing euthanasia MUST be registered with the New York State Dept. of Health to handle/administer scheduled drugs (see Section 80.134 of Title 10 regulations).

"The Department of State is committed to maintaining the integrity and competence of the licensees within its jurisdiction. Should a member of the public believe that a licensee has acted in an untrustworthy or incompetent manner, he or she may file a complaint with the Department's Division of Licensing Services. The complaint will be reviewed and an investigation will be commenced to determine whether the licensee should be disciplined. Both the licensee and the complainant are kept apprised of the proceedings.

A licensee who is found to be in violation of the law is subject to reprimand, fine, suspension or revocation."

A copy of the complaint form can be found here:
http://www.dos.ny.gov/licensing/complaint.html


Coming Soon - Part 5 - You won't want to miss it...

Rescue Spotlight: Pet Rescue of Mercer

So as you may remember, we moved to central New Jersey recently so that the fiance could get to law school and I could stay working in NYC. So far, so good. The dogs love the new place and our commutes are going good.

Sadly, moving means leaving behind a few things in New York, like volunteering at Animal Haven- which I haven't been able to do in a long time.

 Luckily, I found an amazing group in Hamilton, NJ called Pet Rescue of Mercer (County).

I begin with my orientation this Saturday and cannot wait to meet some of the beautiful dogs (many of them Pitties!) that they are helping to find good homes. Just take a look at Dutchess,  baby Gizmo, handsome Pooh Bear, Kelsea, and others.

American Shelter Dogs

This is Peter, an American Shelter dog sent to show you how easily a well-mixed dog can be mistaken for a pure-bred mix.

The American Shelter dog is a type of dog that is too well mixed to assign a predominant breed with any degree of certainty. Recent research has shown that shelter workers are wrong in identifying a mixed-breed dog's component breeds 87.5% of the time.

Many shelters (such as The Lewis & Clark Humane Society, The Humane Society of Charlotte, The Animal Welfare Society, Kitsap Humane Society, Multomah County Animal Services and Second Chance Pet Rescue) have recently begun to use the term because of how often they are simply guessing about a shelter dog's lineage-which can have unwanted consequences whether the label is desirable or not.

MCAS noted that a dog described as a Lab Mix may let down his potential adopters when they discover that he or she does not retrieve or enjoy water, but simply looks "labbish". In addition, this family may overlook a dog that does actually likes to swim and retrieve because he or she is labled a pit mix.

At Kitsap Humane Society, this exact situation did happen. Hershey was labeled a Chocolate Labrador Retriever (which is very likely, take a look!), but he was not a pure-bred lab. His family, expecting a lab in looks and behavior was surprised when he exhibited behavioral issues and returned him. Only then did the shelter do a DNA test on Hershey which showed that he was part Staffordshire Terrier (or Pit mix) which would require more diligent and specific training techniques than a regular lab.

While shelters may feel that they can get more pit-mixes adopted if they claim they are shepherd, terrier, or lab mixes-- they are actually contributing to a high return rate. Adopters need to know exactly what they are adopting based on the dogs' personality and train-ability- not on its looks.

So to reduce the number of returns, shelters have replaced the term "Mutt" with ASD (American Shelter Dog). The director of public relations and development at Kitsap said, "The ASD is our way of saying 'You can't judge a book by its cover.' When people come in to adopt an animal, they need to be focused on what's the best dog for their lifestyle, not what is the breed known for."

The point is not to mis-label pit mixes as ASDs, but rather to label pits as pits when they are clearly pits, and to refrain from calling a dog a pit-mix when it simply has a square-ish head, or a long-haired dog a German shepherd mix.

So far, the program appears to be working. The return rate at Kitsap has dropped from 5% of all adoptions to 3%. At Lewis and Clark Humane Society, they are even developing personality profiles to take the place of "breed" to help potential adopters find the right fit for them. They say, "So, instead of introducing you to a Pit mix, we will show you a brindle American Shelter Dog who is a bit introverted, but very playful. Or perhaps you would be interested in the medium-sized black American Shelter Dog with an agreeable and extroverted personality?"

Here are some American Shelter dogs available at participating shelters across the US for adoption:

                                                                                 

Ginger      

   Dixie



   Koda


                                                        

Clooney       

Heinz 

Shelter Dog Photographer's Blog

This blog entry by prominent photographer Traer Scott really touched me, and I decided to share it with you all.

Parvo and kennel cough are horrible illnesses that live in unhealthy conditions of packed and poorly-managed shelters and can sweep through shelters quickly - learn more about parvo in shelters here.

Death on Our Shoes

Thursday, 15 July 2010

"It is no secret that the dogs who end up in shelters are the unlucky ones. These are not the dogs that get to nose open Christmas stockings, or who trot down the street with designer collars. They are not the dogs who sleep under the crisp bed covers at night or ride gleefully with their heads hanging out the windows of cars. More times that not, these are the dogs  who are viewed as being expendable by their owners. They are the ones who get loose or get dumped and no one comes to look for them. Many shelter dogs have rarely seen the vet...or been given a simple $20 vaccination that protects them against Parvo. Their bad luck however,  is the only way in which these dogs are inferior. They are just as smart, just as loving and just as beautiful as any other dog. Sometimes, more so.

Last week, a quiet, faceless enemy swept through the shelter where I volunteer. This time the antagonist wasn't time, but a faint trace of bright red blood in the dogs' stools which became proof positive of Parvovirus. So far, the outbreak has left a body count of 21, all Pit Bulls.

Every single dog that I nurtured, named, photographed, wrote Petfinder bios for, played with and taught skills to, is now dead. The staff who fed, watered and cared for  these dogs all day, every day now goes to work in a quarantined facility that is oddly quiet yet full of ghosts.

There are so many things that make this devastating, not the least of which is the fact that at least 3 of these dogs had been at the shelter for almost 4 months, while myself and the staff tried desperately every week to place them. The trio survived several culls for space, almost constant confinement, a severe lack of mental stimulation and a level of stress that most human beings can not even fathom. They triumphed over all of this- just to be taken out by a virus that spread silently from one infected carrier...a virus that is almost 100% preventable.

When I first heard that the shelter was closed due to Parvo, my heart fell into my stomach, but I had no idea how widespread the infection would be. The next day, I received a list with ten or more infected dogs on it, the following day, another 6. One by one, all of these lives which we fought so hard to save, were extinguished.  All of this from a virus that hung in the air, clinging to our shoes and our hands, spreading evasively since late June.

I am so saddened and angry at this needless loss of life. Angry because these dogs didn't deserve to be there in the first place and even angrier because if any one of them had been current on their shots, they would still be alive.
Over the past 15,000 years, we have succeeded in domesticating and thouroughly dominating a species that now is completely dependent upon us to survive. The gray wolf, which the dog was once domesticated from, hunts for it's food, breeds autonomously, possesses natural immunities to disease and lives a life completely free of and in fact,  antithetical to, human existence. Dogs on the other hand, have been bred for millenia to serve humans: as companions, workers and protectors. They are utterly subservient to our treatment and rely entirely on us for food, shelter, affection, amusement and good health.

All they really require is the most minimal of care and compassion and we continue to fail them.
We allow them to breed rampantly and then kill 4 million every year in shelters because there isn't enough space; we make them into designer breeds like Labradoodles and Cockapoos because it's a charming mix while 30% of the homeless dogs in shelters are pure breds; we abuse them, neglect them and even fight them until the death.
Don't we owe these ancient companions more respect? We show more reverence and good will to the very least and most despicable of our own species while constantly using and abusing the faithful creatures that have been at our side for centuries.

I write this in memory of Sasha (pictured), Huckleberry, Bandy, Tiger, Summer, Damon and all of the dogs who were needlessly lost last week due to public enemy #1, ignorance."

Animal Haven

This is the work of a fanTASTIC shelter here in NYC.



So glad we found Animal Haven, which helped us find Winnie, which helped me understand the needs of pit-mixes, which helped us find Bruno- who completed our family!!!

Miami-Dade Shelter Crisis

A deadly outbreak of distemper in a Miami-Dade Animal Shelter has led to a mad rush to adopt or rescue dogs before they will be put down. Due to the severity of the disease, the shelter officials face the tough reality of needing to basically "cleanse" the facility by removing or killing all of the dogs.

View more videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com/?__source=embedCode.

Thankfully this has led to overwhelming response from the rescue community- but the dogs will not have homes- rescuers are taking home many more animals than they can possible handle to bide their time and hopefully save them from being exposed to the virus or being killed for having it.

Officials have waived the adoption fee for dogs, but as of Friday night, 100 dogs were adopted, but 180 still need rescue and "one way or another- all the dogs need to do" before the shelter is set to be "sterilized".

Read more here and here
Donate here

The Miami-Dade shelter website provides a list of adoptable dogs, but it is unclear if these dogs are actually still available and why there are only 16 listed.

This golden retriever, known only as "this dog"  is apparently among the dogs that are available and need rescue:

Thoughts on Rescue:

This weekend I volunteered at the Shelter longer than usual (most of Sunday), answering phones and helping potential adopters and new volunteers- which is a lot of fun, but also sometimes disappointing.

Here are the three types of people that made me sad about Animal Rescue:

1) People who want to get rid of their Pit Bulls:

When people call the shelter to relinquish a dog- if it is a pit bull they are advised to fill out a form on the website, if it is not a pit bull, the request goes right to the intake manager. We already have a lot of pit bulls and pit bull mixes, but to keep people coming to the shelter and adopting dogs, it can't be full of pit bulls, which I understand- it is just so sad that people mostly want to relinquish pit bulls.

2) People who don't care about the pets they have:

While answering the phone, I encountered a man who wanted to give up his cat- I advised him to fill out the form on our website for relinquishment and he responded with "no, I want to get RID of a cat, like I don't want this cat no more." How do people like this get animals in the first place!?  Just talking to him, I wished we could have taken the cat right away so that it didn't end up being abused or dropped off somewhere. :(

3) People who don't care which dog they adopt:

A family with three little boys came in looking for a dog- I asked for some details about what age/breed/type of dog they were interested in. They really were open to anything, but wanted to see the 8 week old puppy in the window right away. I showed Floret to them and the boys were very exited, but they were easily distracted by all types of dogs that came in and out. Almost as soon as I explained that puppies get adopted very quickly, the father filled out the adoption application and sent the picture of Floret to his wife, who promptly called and told him a pit mix was not an option because they are "ferocious" and "outlawed in a number of states." (Does this puppy look like she will ever be ferocious to you?) 

Floret:

I told them that I love pit bulls, but that we always have puppies at the shelter and they could either wait to see Iris who was coming back from the adoption van, or wait a a few days until the right puppy came through.

Iris:

Guess what- he told me to scratch out Floret's name on the adoption app and put in Iris'. They weren't even going to wait an hour or come back to meet Iris before adopting her. Wow. Luckily, both Floret and Iris have 4 or 5 applications so they can go to the very best homes. :)

A few positive thoughts:
While volunteering, I did see a pit bull and a geriatric Spaniel admitted- it is amazing how much traffic Animal Haven gets on weekends and how many animals they can help-what a great model for a Shelter!



Atlanta-Bound!

With the prospect of our whole family moving to Atlanta, GA in the next year, I began searching for Pittie Rescues and Resources in the Atlanta area, and I was so excited with what I found:

The Atlanta Humane Society looks like a great network that puts on exciting fundraisers and events to help the animals. It reminds me a lot of where I volunteer-Animal Haven here in New York, except much bigger and with a lot more resources.

Also, the Atlanta Bully Rescue is an amazing shelter that saves bully breeds specifically - even if they are abused and need intensive mendical care and treatment. ABR is no-kill, with the exception of human-agressive dogs, un-rehabilitatable dogs, and dogs suffering from illness. All the dogs get "house-time" so that they can begin their path to being real house dogs right away. Like me, the fantastic founders of ABR dream of purchasing a farm for their shelter with ample room for the dogs. Because space at ABR opens only when a dog is adopted, they are in need of fosters-If you are in the Atlanta area and can help, please click here: ABR

Here is an important note about Pit Bull Overpopulation from ABR founder, Whitney Horne:

"Atlanta Bully Rescue, like many of the other animal shelters in Georgia, is always full with a waiting list of dogs that need a spot at our rescue. On average we get 20-30 requests a day asking us to take in pets that need a home. We get about 10 applications in a month and about 2 are approved and result in an adoption. For the most part we take in strays found by friends, neighbors, or us. We require that these dogs go to Animal Services first. We try and concentrate on taking in strays found in East and South Atlanta. Many of these dogs come from backyard breeders that had to learn the hard way how hard and expensive it is to breed dogs, especially responsibly.

There are thousands of pit bulls in Georgia in need of a home. It’s an epidemic that many people don’t realize until they find a stray pit and try relentlessly to get it into a no kill shelter.

Sadly, many people want these dogs so they can use them for backyard breeding, as a status symbol, or worse… The key to fighting the overpopulation of pit bulls is having them fixed. Finding them responsible homes is not always easy. I hate to say it, but these dogs are better off being euthanized with their dignity than going to an irresponsible home. Sending them off to a new home unfixed is taking a horrible risk that the dog will end up living a miserable life with a backyard breeder. We will be happy to help you with resources to get a dog fixed for free or under $70. There’s no excuse for rehoming an unfixed pet, you are just adding to the problem, not the solution. Feel free to also use the questions on our application to screen potential adopters and please check vet references.

No one should ever feel bad about taking a stray to animal control. At least you took the time to take a dog off the streets that would have otherwise almost inevitably met a horrible fate. The more dogs we get off the street, the less unwanted litters we will have to worry about finding homes for.

If you have a pit that is human aggressive, please for the sake of the breed, have them euthanized. Human aggression is not a trait of pit bulls. Trying to keep or find a home for a human aggressive pit bull is taking a huge risk that you will add to their bad reputation. It is not safe to rehome ANY breed of dog that shows signs of human aggression. You cannot train out human aggression!

We appreciate anyone’s efforts to help out a homeless dog but we beg you to do it responsibly if you really want your efforts to make a difference in the severe problem of pet overpopulation, especially pit bulls."

(This is Kudzo, one of ABR's available Pit mix puppies! Click here for more info on Kudzo)

A special plea for Missy

UPDATE: Missy is safe- she has been saved by a rescue and will hopefully find a good home in time.

This special dog really touched my heart and after all she's gone through in her life, I would hate to see her live out her few remaining days lonely in her cage, only to die cold and alone at the shelter. What really got to me was that Missy had clearly been so neglected that, as the volunteer decries below, she had simply given up.
If her story touches you too, you can adopt her through a rescue group, and you can find such a rescue group by leaving a comment on her facebook page: (Urgent Part 2: Missy)


Here is Missy's description from Animal Care and Control:

FEMALE, WHITE / BLACK, PIT BULL MIX, 1 yr
STRAY - ONHOLDHERE, HOLD FOR DOH-NHB
Reason STRAY
Intake condition NONE Intake Date 12/20/2010, From NY 10458, DueOut Date 12/30/2010,

Medical Behavior Evaluation MILD

A VOLUNTEER WROTE: 13 month old Missy is a very special dog looking for a very special adopter. This person should be looking for a family member, as Missy is extremely loving and devoted to the people who show her kindness, but they should also realize that the best kind of love is the love that heals--the kind of love that tells a helpless animal "it's okay. You are home now". Missy is barely out of puppyhood, but she has already seen too much suffering. She was found in the Bronx-- filthy, distended nipples, with dried blood on her coat. She sits in her cage with her back to you most days, as if she has already given up on trying to compete with the other dogs. She looks exhausted, even sleeping. When I opened up her cage and offered her the leash, she turned to look up at me, questioning. "Do you mean me?" her eyes asked, and I used every cell in my heart to send her assurance that I did. Out on the walk, she brought tears to my eyes because she was so happy, so content, and walked a pony trot with her mouth wide open in a smile , and when we came back she was so different, so alive and so grateful, licking my fingers and wagging her tail. Since that night, I've thought a lot about how little dogs like Missy need to be happy, and how absurd and unfair it is that an animal this wonderful could be denied such a small patch of security and love in a world so big and abundant. Can it really be that no one wants this shining soul? Missy was originally placed on an observational hold, but can be released to a rescue now---a somewhat noteworthy triumph, because it means someone thought she was worth a second chance. I hope you agree. Please save Missy today! A bath, a warm bed, and some time will yield a fantastic animal who worships the ground you walk on.

See her Video here.

Medical Summary
SCAN NEGATIVE BRIGHT, ALERT, RESPONSIVE, HYDRATED CAME IN WITH POLICE SLIGHT TARTAR VERY DIRTY COAT WITH OLD BLOOD ON THE COAT SEEN CLEANED WITH NOLVASAN NO OBVIOUS BITE WOUNDS SEEN SOME SMALL WOUND ON THE RIGHT MAXILLA SEEN BCS 3/5 DISTENDED MAMMARY GLANDS A LITLLE DULL NOSF
Weight 42.0

What? Excuse you... I am not a pit bull!

Sadly, despite their sweetness, Pit mixes have trouble getting adopted everywhere. The result has been resorting to different names for pit mixes looking for homes.

The no-kill-Shelter where I will begin volunteering on Saturday has a lot of trouble adopting out dogs the moment they label them with "Pit-mix" on their website. Our pit-rotteiler-bulldog-chow-terrier mix, Winnie, came from Animal Haven and was labeled a Lab/Shepherd Mix.

We completely understand the need to do this- and I have watched the Animal Haven website so much that I have seen dogs go from "Pit Mix" to "Shepherd Mix" in an attempt to get them homes.

For example:

Notice that not one of these dogs is labeled a pit-mix. I know that Cha Cha, whose puppies have all found homes, has been at the Shelter for months (more than 3?), which is extremely rare for Animal Haven, which usually places dogs within a matter of a 2-3 weeks. The team has tried everything with these three dogs, such as changing their pirctures and giving them cute sweaters, to get them some attention. Luckily, they won't be put down just because of their size and pit-bull characteristics; if a home is not found in a certain length of time, they will go to another rescue group with more expertise. Cha Cha gets lots of attention from volunteers and is given as much stimuation as possible while she waits.

I have found that Animal Haven is more willing to label a dog a "pit-mix" when it is a small puppy because people are much less afraid of a baby. Although I have a feeling that once they grow up, if they are still at the shelter, their breeds might change to something like a "lab mix" or a "boxer mix" perhaps. See below:

Is this ethical? Well it has been done at a lot of shelters and even the DNA testing we have used don't even have a category for Pit-bulls. I guess they figure that they don't want to sell someone a $80 DNA test just to have them find out something they didn't want to know. Insted they tell you that your dog is a "American Staffordshire Terrier," which a lot of groups have tried to encourage lately.

The frustrating thing to me is that while some groups actively avoid the word "pit," Animal Care and Control seems to embrace it. Even when a dog doesn't even look much like a pit bull, it is a "pit mix." 90% of the dogs are pit mixes, and I'm sure they could come up with some creative names that might help save their lives. This is especially important because AC&C allows you to put in a "pure-bred request" so that if a Golden Retriever for example happens to come in, they will let you know. Adding that a dog might be a "Boxer Mix" would bring in all of the boxer-people just to look, which is all these sweet dogs really need to get adopted.

Too bad every dog can't get a DNA test to help show their genetic diversity. Too bad people are so focused on breed and so un-focused on heart.

My visit to AC&C-Manhattan

Last night I visited Animal Care and Control - Manhattan to see it for myself, visit with the dogs and talk to some of the staff. I was really pleasantly surprised at how happy and well-cared for the dogs seemed despite their circumstances. Maybe that's just because the unhappy ones were stashed out of sight. I had made a list of dogs I wanted to visit and half were presumably in what one employee described as "the sick ward." Although I had trouble imagining that half of the dogs were ill, I chose to assume that they were all being taken care of.

When a man came in looking for "Milo" who he'd seen on the website and asked the employee is he was still there, the man replied "Yes" while shaking his head "no." It seemed like a defense he'd picked up over time to tell people the dogs they were looking for were either no longer around or waiting to be put down. It seemed like a cruel joke and he apologized, saying to the man, "Sorry, I was just trying to be cheerful. I really don't know unless you have an ID number."

(Save Whitney here.)

After some prodding questions about how long the dogs stay and where I could find the ones at risk, I was told that "well it could be anywhere from 3 days to 2 months," and "I don't know anything about that." I was confused but realized something very sad was going on here. All of the dogs had been admitted within the last few days; they had so little time to be found  and rescued. These dogs who looked so happy and full of life had to be put down regularly, and the staff who clearly knows a lot about this process, was simply not able to talk about it anymore.

Most of the dogs I saw had been picked up off the street so they didn't seem to mind their spacious warm cages, food, water and friendly visitors. One (named Bear) was even being adopted on the spot. I remarked at how cute he was and his new owner said triumphantly that Bear was coming home with him. This made me really happy as I quickly did the math in my head and realized that at least 2/3 of these great dogs would probably find homes.

(Save Angelica here.)

Not surprisingly, all but 2 of the dogs in the whole place were pit mixes. It was like heaven for me as I walked through wishing each and every one of them could come home with me. They wiggled their bums and wagged their tails, their eyes brightened up and they licked my hands through their bars. Some jumped and romped around seeming to say "Please pick me!" I felt sad for the ones who looked too tired or scared to even try to sell themselves; they had been worn down by the constant barking or constant visitors or the brusque nature of the employees who couldn't possibly comfort them all.

One dog was being admitted while I was there. He was a tiny tiny white pit mix named Lex. When the employee tied him up to the wall while he went to ready his cage, the dog shook and quivered by the wall. I knelt down to hold him and he jumped into my arms and licked my face all over. This lucky guy was destined to find a home, I thought. He was the smallest adult pit mix I'd seen and so charming.

Here are a few pictures I was able to take of Lex, along with a few I got of his neighbor, Tyson. Lex and Tyson are exact opposites- and show the diversity of this great breed. Tyson was 70 pounds and probably mixed with a Great Dane, while Lex almost looked like a 30 pound white bunny rabbit. Somehow their outward appearances can change so much, but their dispositions could not be more similar. Both were wiggely waggely mushes.

(Lex is not yet on the ACC website)

(I could barely get a good picture of Tyson- he was jumping and wiggeling so much!) Save Tyson here.

These are some of the other dogs I saw, Whitney, Angelica, and Rexxi. All as sweet as could be- especially Rexxi-truly a cat in a dogs body who purred and rubbed herself against the bars seeking scratches)

(Save Rexxi here.)

The glass IS half full

When I started this blog, I thought about all the ways I could show what is happening to Pit bulls in the US-- how we bring them in to this world, abuse them, and take them out of it. The pain that many dogs face at the hands of their owners is not something I could turn my back to.

But so many organizations have made it their goal to educate and reach people about this injustice. I decided to focus more on a "glass -half- full" approach.

Over the next few months I will be learning as much as I can about the New York City shelter system and posting these adoptable beauties in hopes that they will melt some hearts.

I'll start by sharing a few dogs with you who desperately need their forever homes. All the dogs I have posted are dogs that have been said to have good temperments and sweet dispositions.

This is Spot, she is just a baby who had babies of her own. She was found emaciated in the Bronx. To learn more about this darling, click here.

 

This darling girl, Alexia, was found as a stray on the West side- Click here to learn more.

This is Sarah, who has been at Animal Haven (a no kill shelter) for a while, which is confusing considering how adorable this little girl is. Click here for more.