It has been a very “up and down” couple of days and for many that read the normal Pets Alive twitter and Facebook, we haven’t been up to our usual light hearted tweets and posts.
I learned a long time ago that the thing that keep all of you coming back, and following us, and supporting us, is to feel good about what we do and why, and how, and to show you all that goodness. It makes us feel good too.
That isn’t to say there aren’t horrible things in rescue. There ARE. We see it every day, of course. But we don’t feel you need to be pelted with it. I’d rather show you the picture of that dog AFTER we loved him back into health, or that kitten after we cleaned her up and she is on her way to her forever home.
But sometimes bad things are going on that we need you to step up and fix because without you we are truly powerless. I can write a letter or call someone on the phone and that can mean nothing at all. But when we ask all of YOU to, and you DO, it is so tremendously powerful that it brings the opposition to it’s knees. Collectively we are very powerful and collectively we can implement change. Good change. Positive change. Read the rest of this entry »
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Legislation by kerry on Feb 16, 2012. There are comments.
WE NEED YOU AGAIN! CAARA back on the table (previously known as Oreo’s Law)
(Below written by John Sibley)
Though the ASPCA gives the occasional glimmer of hope, recent events remind me that they remain mired in a killing mentality and seek to preserve the status quo in sheltering, even fighting to expand the power of shelters to kill at will.
Recently the ASPCA convinced NYS Assemblywoman Amy Paulin to introduce their pseudo-shelter reform legislation. Embarrassed by the outcry in favor of Oreo’s Law (now CAARA), they immediately scrambled to write their own shelter reform law – one that they could claim made a difference for the better in the lives of NY animals while actually quietly blocking actual reform and expanding NY shelters’ power to kill.
The ASPCA co-opts meaningful shelter reform legislation largely by copying it but then including weasel words like substituting “may” for “shall”. So instead of requiring shelters to work with outside rescue groups, it simply says that they can if they choose to. Other meaningful reforms, like requiring shelters to scan for microchips, post found animals online, and make an effort to match lost and found animals are scuttled by including an exception if the shelter does not find it “practicable” to do so. Well, given the choice, they won’t find it practicable, which is why we need legislation that mandates it.
Most destructively and unbelievably, the ASPCA written legislation contains a clause that would, for all practical purposes, eliminate the legally mandated holding period for stray animals by allowing shelters to kill any animal who they found to be in “psychological pain”. This is nothing less than a declaration of war on feral cats, scared dogs, or any animal that found themselves scared and confused upon being brought into the chaotic shelter environment – or any animal they simply wanted to find a flimsy excuse to kill. Animals judged by laypeople with no training whatsoever to be in “psychological pain” could be killed instantly on admission to the shelter and bypass the legally required holding period to give their owners the chance to find them.
New Yorkers, we need your help – quickly. This bill, known as New York Assembly Bill A05449A, will face its first committee vote on Wednesday, February 15th. We haven’t much time. The first thing we need to do is to tell our elected officials that we will not tolerate an ASPCA encouraged increase in shelter killing in New York State.
Please visit New York State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin’s Facebook page and leave her a polite, personal comment asking her to withdraw her bill, A05449A, from consideration. Asw. Paulin is up for re-election in November and wants to be a champion of animals in New York State, and she probably would not want to risk her re-election on being dubbed Amy “Quick Kill” Paulin. You might also consider sending her a message on Twitter, although she appears to use that less. Also drop an email to ASPCA President and CEO Ed Sayres and ASPCA Board President Mary Jo White and let them know what you think of their organization’s legislation. Then visit the following four links to email key legislators to send them your thoughts:
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
Keep in mind that although you can use the text that’s been written for you, a heartfelt personal note always goes a long way.
Finally, support REAL change in the form of CAARA, which mandates REAL reform instead of making it optional. CAARA is trying to get the support of NYS Senator Patty Richie, Chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee, and her support would really help move the bill forward. Email her here and ask her to support this lifesaving effort – and you can read more about CAARA here and read the complete text of the bill here. New York’s animals deserve better than the deadly slight of hand of the ASPCA Quick Kill. They deserve the lifesaving provisions of CAARA.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Updates by kerry on Feb 14, 2012. There are comments.
I think that most of you have followed the story of Gloria. Gloria was a cat that was abandoned at an ASPCA mobile clinic about a month ago. The ASPCA turned her over to the ACC in NYC. After three weeks the ACC put her on the kill list and Pets Alive pulled her. We discovered the following morning that this cat had a very severely broken leg.
It was a terrible thing to lay in bed at night and think about this cat suffering for so many weeks in so much pain, and no one doing anything for her. I can’t even imagine the pain and I keep hearing over in my head the little whimper she made as I held her when we we first got her here at Pets Alive. At the time we didn’t think too much of it, but by the next day, when we found out what was wrong with her, it was deeply unsettling to us all. With that fueling us, Pets Alive went on the attack. John Sibley, a regular volunteer at Pets Alive and also a web blogger who first told us about Gloria, also had a lot to say about the issue – check out his blogs here.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Animal Rescue by kerry on Jan 27, 2012. There are comments.
Everyone should now be aware about some of the internal changes at Pets Alive. Joy and Ken Carson (pictured on the right) will be leaving Pets Alive Westchester. Joy, the Executive Director and Ken, the Shelter & Facilities Manager move on to kick off Pets Alive Puerto Rico. Jenessa Taylor, formerly the Executive Administrator and Shelter Manager here at Pets Alive Middletown is stepping up to take over the reins at PAW (Pets Alive Westchester).
Jenessa is great, and she will do wonderfully. I know she has to be nervous right now. Westchester is a massive facility. Two to three times the size of Pets Alive Middletown in capacity for animals and staff and budget. It’s a lot to take on and I know that Jen has to be nervous about this. I know I would be. :) But at least for Jen a lot of the most difficult work there has been done. Read the rest of this entry »
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Why we do this by kerry on Jan 04, 2012. There are comments.
Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New
After one year as Executive Director of Pets Alive Westchester, I am leaving to take on the role of Executive Director of Pets Alive Puerto Rico. It’s a bittersweet transition for me.
While I look forward to the new challenge in Puerto Rico, I look around and see so much still to be done in Westchester.
Mostly I see the faces of the animals. I have come to love each and every one of them, and leaving them is very difficult. But I know I am leaving them in capable hands. Jenessa Taylor, the new Executive Director, is able to step into this role without missing a beat. She comes to PAW from Pets Alive Middletown, where she was the Executive Administrator working right alongside the President of the Board and Executive Director at Middletown. Jen has extensive knowledge and experience in handling the day to day operation as well as in keeping the long term goals on track. She knows that the top priority is to get these animals into loving homes and to ensure that their lives are enriched while they are still here. The staff at Pets Alive Westchester is a strong group of committed, capable, caring, compassionate people. Led by Jenessa, they will not only accomplish the goals already set forth, but with your support, they will take Pets Alive Westchester to places not yet imagined!
So go ahead – RING OUT THE OLD!
It has been such an honor working with you to lead this organization over the past year, and to be able to play a small part in helping to improve the lives of the animals at Pets Alive Westchester. Thank you all for being a part of PAW, and for all your support and encouragement.
Always remember that none of this can happen without you, so please give generously in 2012 of your time, your money and most of all your love. Thank you for loving the animals. Your love worked miracles in 2011. There are more miracles to come in 2012.
RING IN THE NEW!
Love,
Joy XOXOXO Read the rest of this entry »
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Updates by kerry on Jan 03, 2012. There are comments.
Some of you have asked me in person, or in email how is it we could work with the ASPCA on the Arkansas rescue when we have vilified them in the past, especially over Oreo.
I’m surprised that people don’t understand this.
Surprised that some of YOU don’t understand it, and I felt that writing a blog would help to overcome some of the misconceptions.
Have you ever read Pets Alive mission statement? Oh don’t bother to go and look for it, let me post it here for you:
Our mission is to improve the lives of companion animals everywhere by any means possible, including rescue, adoption, advocacy, collaboration, intervention and education.
That’s our mission statement. Short and sweet. Read the rest of this entry »
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Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 18, 2011. There are comments.
This week, there was an amazing article in Forbes Magazine.
They published “15 Key Insights From 2011 From 15 Key Thinkers And Writers.”
Here’s insight number 8:
“Most people assume that the ASPCA, one of the largest and most well-funded animal-rights groups in the world, who profess to prevent cruelty to animals, would be all for advocating that homeless cats and dogs not be killed at animal shelters. Not so. A big eye opener: The ASPCA has actively fought to prevent cities from establishing no-kill shelters and aggressively fights bills proposed in local city councils that aim to reduce the number of innocent animals being killed. Another shocker? PETA, does too. The true protectors of animals are not the bureaucracy-rich animal rights organizations, but smaller groups and individuals. Nathan Winograd, author of Redemption, and Stanford-law-educated ex-criminal prosecutor and corporate attorney, is the founder of a growing no-kill-shelter movement—and gets my vote for most important intellectual this year. His no-kill actions challenge the status quo by thinking beyond the box. He’s developed a creative and realistic plan that many cities are successfully using to save most of their homeless animals. New York City’s ACC, who murders hundreds of cats and dogs each week needs to reform and implement his ideas.”
What does this mean to us? To those of us in the trenches of the no-kill movement?
Simple.
It means that OUR views, our passion, and our belief that no kill is not only the right path for all shelters, but that it is the ONLY path, is no longer some small grassroots movement and idyllic philosophy.
The fact that Forbes would publish such a statement means that we have now entered the “mainstream media” (Ryan Clinton’s words). This article means much more than the statement it presented to the public. This article means that the mainstream media is not looking upon our movement as a small bunch of crazy radicals. Instead we are being taken seriously, we are being discussed, talked about, and written about, and that they look at Nathan’s book and his ideas and his statements as true, factual and realistic.
My friends, this is absolutely pivotal. Read the rest of this entry »
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No-kill by kerry on Dec 14, 2011. There are comments.
In this “business” we see it all the time. Really well meaning people that get in over their heads. I’m not speaking of hoarders. Most psychologists feel hoarding is more of a mental disease than a controllable impulse.
I’m talking about well meaning rescuers that have let their hearts lead the way and they put their logic and their finances aside to try to help “just one more”.
I’ve seen so many cases where people were living in absolute squalor, all their resources gone, all their money gone, their homes in foreclosure and still much of the rescue community looks at them like they were heroes.
“They gave their WHOLE lives to the animals”.
I’m not impressed.
These people don’t impress me. I pity them. Not only that but they are HURTING us, our no-kill movement, they make us all look bad and “suspect”, and they are not good for the future of the animals in their care. Read the rest of this entry »
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Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 11, 2011. There are comments.
This week, Pets Alive will be heading down to Arkansas to help out another rescue. The story is a sad one. This organization has been around for many years. They have done their best, with very little, in a rural area. In this area, for many people, animal lives are not highly valued and dogs are often dumped on the side of the road when they are not wanted. The kill rates in local shelters there top 95%.
So with very little, Jim and Peg tried to help. They ran into trouble a few years ago – the usual that we see so often. Too many animals, not enough resources. Another rescue stepped in then, taking 65 dogs from them with their promise to slow down or stop rescuing, as Peg had become sick with a cancer that would be terminal. Somehow the rescuing didn’t stop. Perhaps they tried, but Jim said every time he went to the mailbox there would be a box of puppies and he couldn’t just leave them there.
So here we are a year later, Peg has very little time left and Jim is desperate for help. It is a small community and the Southwind Animal Hospital (Justin and Dr. Corey Key) that have always cared the the animals there, were worried. They reached out to Pets Alive and asked us to help.
Could we take some animals? Read the rest of this entry »
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Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 08, 2011. There are comments.
There is a lot of confusion about Pets Alive and Manos Por Patas and what happened and why Chrissy is no longer working with us. We will state for the record that the previous director of Manos Por Patas was the ONLY member of the organization. The sole director and sole board member. When she could no longer run Manos Por Patas she appointed the Pets Alive board as the NEW board of Manos Por Patas and then she resigned, effectively turning over Manos Por Patas to Pets Alive. Once that was done, Pets Alive legally filed a DBA (Manos Por Patas - Doing Business as Pets Alive Puerot Rico), filed our by-laws with the state, and filed all the other legal paperwork to take over the charity. All donations received for Pets Alive Puerto Rico went to the EIN for Manos Por Patas (DBA as Pets Alive Puerto Rico).
Chrissy Beckles was a volunteer with our organization, and with Manos Por Patas. For over a year we had a very amicable relationship, at one point even offering her a paid position which she opted to not accept for various reasons. When we disagreed on some basics philosophies, Chrissy decided to start her own rescue. We were glad to see her continue rescue and glad to continue to support her doing so. Personally we have great admiration and respect for Chrissy. She is a passionate, loving person with a generous spirit. While Chrissy and Pets Alive no longer share a common dream, we do share a common goal, and that is to save the lives of dogs in Puerto Rico who are abandoned and abused. I know I speak for everyone at Pets Alive when I say that we wish her nothing but success in this mission.
However, the problem was that her new rescue was started under the Manos Por Patas name and was raising donations with that EIN#. This is not legal, as Pets Alive is legally responsible for all donations to that EIN. We are responsible for your tax receipts, we are responsible for claiming those donations on our 990’s, and responsible for many other federal regulations. We asked her to stop raising money under that EIN and things didn’t go well from there.
We HAD discussed turning over the name and EIN to Chrissy and allowing her to continue to run as Manos Por Patas, and all of us resigning, and leaving it to her alone, but in the end this was not possible as our organization had to at least complete the year and file our 990’s and handle all donations legalities, and then we found out a bunch of other legal issues that made it very complicated to now separate from that EIN and “DBA” (Doing Business As). Our board voted to continue running Pets Alive Puerto Rico under the current EIN – JUST AS WE RUN PETS ALIVE WESTCHESTER under the EIN# of the Elmsford Animal Sanctuary (Central Westchester Humane Society.) That TOO is a separate EIN from Pets Alive Middletown. We have DBA there as well.
We are very sorry that there has been confusion about this and some people do not understand all these issues and believe that somehow we have done something unscrupulous. I assure you that this is not so. Pets Alive works closely with many other organizations. We always do. As for “stealing ideas”, we don’t even understand that accusation. At Pets Alive we give ALL our ideas to ANYONE that can use them. Recently we came up with the Christmas morning pet delivery idea, and asked YesBiscuit! and other bloggers to blast it out so other shelters could make use of the idea. We share every single one of our legal forms, applications, adoption contracts, waivers and anything else we can think of with other organizations and tell them “Don’t recreate the wheel – take our logo off and slap yours on and use our stuff!”. So I’m unsure what ideas we supposedly stole, but I assure you that if we have an idea you want – TAKE IT!! USE IT! SAVE ANIMAL LIVES! If we stole yours (like our calendar idea we first saw at Boxer Rescue and we loved it and used it) then we apologize if we have somehow overstepped in some way but we use any great idea we see and we encourage others to use ours. TOGETHER we can save more lives, and any idea we have taken, or given, we hope has been to that effort – to save lives.
So I hope that clears up misconceptions.
This blog will now be closed for comments because this is the last comment we will make on this issue. So far in all the years we have operated, have we ever lied to you or steered you wrong?
No. We are upfront and honest with you. At this point our reputation and our history should speak for itself. So we address this, this ONE time and will make no further comment on it.
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Animal Rescue by kerry on Dec 03, 2011. There are comments.