.
It came to me that when Animal Services or the City Attorney demands that anyone reduce the number of cats (or dogs) under his/her care by stopping feeding them, providing water or shelter, they are actually demanding that you commit criminal acts of animal abandonment and animal neglect, chargeable either as a misdemeanor or felony, in order to comply with a mere City permit ordinance.
In the Madow case, the Hearing Officer is demanding Madow to abandon his animals so they can wander off and die, in order to comply with City Ordinance 5150, which requires a kennel permit which the department refuses to give out, and to placate a complaining neighbor. The neighbor appears to be the felon, not Madow.
Lavato's demand is essentially to kill the cats by starvation, being hit by cars whike searching for food, and allowing complaining neighbors kill them.
My God, there is only one response to this kind of demand to commit a criminal act far more atrocious than violation of the kennel permit ordinance.
I urge that each of you who feels under threat of AS or CA demands to abandon and neglect animals, just refuse to comply and take the consequences.
Feed them and give them water, just not openly on the front law. Don't bait them. But no more.
Ron Mason and I are going to meet with Marc to access his situation and plan what can be done. Fortunateley, Marc has an international blog with a following all over the world. The whole world will watch this case as it unfolds.
.
Boks and Mayeda's Bogus Success Numbers
Ed Boks relies on statistics from Merritt Clifton, publisher of Animal People, to prove he is doing a great job.
Marcia Mayeda should give Clifton a big fat kiss on the cheek because he makes even her abysmal statistics look good by making huge errors in his calculations based on not knowing many facts.
Merritt uses the (stupid) statistical marker of city shelter success the number of animals killed per 1,000 population, rather than Winograd’s much more reasonable and common sense measure of the kill and live save rate.
Nathan considers saving the lives of 90% of the animals impounded to approximate no-kill.
Using Merritt’s criteria, NYC, which kills as many animals as LA, is basically no kill because its population is more than double LA’s. Divide 17,000 killed in LA with a 4 million population, compared to 17,000 killed in NYC with a population of 9 million, gives NYC less than half LA's rate (2.0 vs 4.3). Follow?
Boks on the other hand, uses Merritt’s ranking of LAAS’ performance of 4.3 killed per thousand (about 17,000 thousand killed in 2007), which gives a performance about 3 times better than the national average of 12.5 animals killed per thousand human population.
Boks does not use the kill and live save numbers and rates to show how well he is doing because they show he is not doing well (43% kill rate vs. 16% in San Francisco for example).
The Merritt/Boks measure is ridiculous. For example, if LAAS impounded 17,000 animals in 2007 and KILLED all of them, LAAS would have a kill rate of 100%, and have Merritt's kill rate of 4.3 animals killed per 1,000, which is 3 times better than the national average.
That is, kill everything that moves and, and by Merritt's measure, you are still doing a fantastic job.
Clifton’s methods and measures are ridiculous. Boks uses them, because they work for him; Bickhart, Kramer, Blackman and the Mayor neither understand or care. They accept Boks’ "proof" and give him an award for being the “lowest no-kill city in the country” according to Villarraigosa, who is English challenged.
Clifton made even a bigger error when it comes to Mayeda’s County killing machine.
Merritt simplistically, and incorrectly, subtracted LA City and Long Beach’s population from LA County’s total population of 10,000,000, which would leave Mayeda's County shelter area having a population of 5.5 million.
With 43,000 animal killed, County would have a kill rate of 8.5/1,000, well below the national average of 12.5.
In fact, Clifton made a huge error based on incomplete information, and when this was pointed out to him, he refused to recalculate or revise his conclusions. Sue Freeman directly confronted Clifton, Boks and Bickhart about Clifton's mistakes, but no one cared.
She asked Ed and Jim to remove Clifton’s numbers from the LAAS website because they were so wrong.
Clifton's mistake was that he did not take into account that there were 5 other shelter systems in the County that served the entire County area; he didn't even bother to find out even after Sue pointed out his error.
The other 5 shelter systems (other than LA City) serving the larger County area:
Pasadena Humane Society:Total population: 483,413.
Santa Monica Animal Control: (91,439; 2007).
SEACCA: The total population covered by SEAACA is 763,922.
Burbank Animal Shelter: (108,029; 2007).
Inland Valley Humane Society: Total population covered by Inland Valley Humane Society is 384,289.
San Gabriel Humane Society: Total population 245,000
Clifton uses 5.5 million population for Mayeda’s County operational area, giving a kill rate of 8.5 per thousand, when in fact, her operation only covers a population of 3.7 million, which puts the actual County kill rate at 12.5 animals per 1,000, 50% higher than Merritt reported. How can anyone trust statistics that are off by 50%?
When Sue Freeman pointed out Clifton's errors, Boks and Bickhart refused to make any changes or acknowledge that Merritt made mistakes and was a loser. Merritt's chief claim to fame is that he is the editor of Animal People with a readership of 30,000.
Clifton makes this kind of error throughout all of his calculations about animal populations, whether pets in Baltimore's pounds, or dogs in Calcutta. He does not grasp the concept of city/county/regional boundaries and lumps them all together and extracts whatever conclusions he wants.
I emailed Clifton, questioning his methodology and numbers. I did not offer any alternative methods or opinions. I expected, like all scientists and statisticians, he’d defend his methods by providing numbers and the theories he operated under. Here is Merritt’s response:
"I have no interest in your opinions.
"They are not supported by a significant record of accomplishment.
"That's the bottom line. What I do works, & has worked in many situations, involving many different species, around the world."
Merritt Clifton
Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE
P.O. Box 960
Clinton, WA 98236
Telephone: 360-579-2505
Fax: 360-579-2575
E-mail: anmlpepl@whidbey.com
A friend of mine emailed me:
“What is it that Clifton does that works?”
My response was, “What he does is get a lot of people to accept his numbers because neither he nor they have any idea of what he is talking about.”
I have challenged Clifton again on his methodology. When I get a response, I’ll post it. Don't hold your breath for a rational response.
In the meantime, just know that nothing that comes out of Merritt’s or Boks’ mouths has any credibility whatsoever.
Oh, added info. Merritt did respond in the comments below.
.
Marcia Mayeda should give Clifton a big fat kiss on the cheek because he makes even her abysmal statistics look good by making huge errors in his calculations based on not knowing many facts.
Merritt uses the (stupid) statistical marker of city shelter success the number of animals killed per 1,000 population, rather than Winograd’s much more reasonable and common sense measure of the kill and live save rate.
Nathan considers saving the lives of 90% of the animals impounded to approximate no-kill.
Using Merritt’s criteria, NYC, which kills as many animals as LA, is basically no kill because its population is more than double LA’s. Divide 17,000 killed in LA with a 4 million population, compared to 17,000 killed in NYC with a population of 9 million, gives NYC less than half LA's rate (2.0 vs 4.3). Follow?
Boks on the other hand, uses Merritt’s ranking of LAAS’ performance of 4.3 killed per thousand (about 17,000 thousand killed in 2007), which gives a performance about 3 times better than the national average of 12.5 animals killed per thousand human population.
Boks does not use the kill and live save numbers and rates to show how well he is doing because they show he is not doing well (43% kill rate vs. 16% in San Francisco for example).
The Merritt/Boks measure is ridiculous. For example, if LAAS impounded 17,000 animals in 2007 and KILLED all of them, LAAS would have a kill rate of 100%, and have Merritt's kill rate of 4.3 animals killed per 1,000, which is 3 times better than the national average.
That is, kill everything that moves and, and by Merritt's measure, you are still doing a fantastic job.
Clifton’s methods and measures are ridiculous. Boks uses them, because they work for him; Bickhart, Kramer, Blackman and the Mayor neither understand or care. They accept Boks’ "proof" and give him an award for being the “lowest no-kill city in the country” according to Villarraigosa, who is English challenged.
Clifton made even a bigger error when it comes to Mayeda’s County killing machine.
Merritt simplistically, and incorrectly, subtracted LA City and Long Beach’s population from LA County’s total population of 10,000,000, which would leave Mayeda's County shelter area having a population of 5.5 million.
With 43,000 animal killed, County would have a kill rate of 8.5/1,000, well below the national average of 12.5.
In fact, Clifton made a huge error based on incomplete information, and when this was pointed out to him, he refused to recalculate or revise his conclusions. Sue Freeman directly confronted Clifton, Boks and Bickhart about Clifton's mistakes, but no one cared.
She asked Ed and Jim to remove Clifton’s numbers from the LAAS website because they were so wrong.
Clifton's mistake was that he did not take into account that there were 5 other shelter systems in the County that served the entire County area; he didn't even bother to find out even after Sue pointed out his error.
The other 5 shelter systems (other than LA City) serving the larger County area:
Pasadena Humane Society:Total population: 483,413.
Santa Monica Animal Control: (91,439; 2007).
SEACCA: The total population covered by SEAACA is 763,922.
Burbank Animal Shelter: (108,029; 2007).
Inland Valley Humane Society: Total population covered by Inland Valley Humane Society is 384,289.
San Gabriel Humane Society: Total population 245,000
Clifton uses 5.5 million population for Mayeda’s County operational area, giving a kill rate of 8.5 per thousand, when in fact, her operation only covers a population of 3.7 million, which puts the actual County kill rate at 12.5 animals per 1,000, 50% higher than Merritt reported. How can anyone trust statistics that are off by 50%?
When Sue Freeman pointed out Clifton's errors, Boks and Bickhart refused to make any changes or acknowledge that Merritt made mistakes and was a loser. Merritt's chief claim to fame is that he is the editor of Animal People with a readership of 30,000.
Clifton makes this kind of error throughout all of his calculations about animal populations, whether pets in Baltimore's pounds, or dogs in Calcutta. He does not grasp the concept of city/county/regional boundaries and lumps them all together and extracts whatever conclusions he wants.
I emailed Clifton, questioning his methodology and numbers. I did not offer any alternative methods or opinions. I expected, like all scientists and statisticians, he’d defend his methods by providing numbers and the theories he operated under. Here is Merritt’s response:
"I have no interest in your opinions.
"They are not supported by a significant record of accomplishment.
"That's the bottom line. What I do works, & has worked in many situations, involving many different species, around the world."
Merritt Clifton
Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE
P.O. Box 960
Clinton, WA 98236
Telephone: 360-579-2505
Fax: 360-579-2575
E-mail: anmlpepl@whidbey.com
A friend of mine emailed me:
“What is it that Clifton does that works?”
My response was, “What he does is get a lot of people to accept his numbers because neither he nor they have any idea of what he is talking about.”
I have challenged Clifton again on his methodology. When I get a response, I’ll post it. Don't hold your breath for a rational response.
In the meantime, just know that nothing that comes out of Merritt’s or Boks’ mouths has any credibility whatsoever.
Oh, added info. Merritt did respond in the comments below.
.
City Attorney Refuses to Let Madow Give Cats Water. Result, a Dead Kitten
City Attorney Caused Drowning
Click for larger photo
As I mentioned in a previous post, Marc Madow was ordered by the City Attorney's Office to stop feeding or giving water to cats in his yard. He did have a birdbath they drank out of--those who were old enough to reach the water.
Marc also has a swimming pool. One of the kittens drowned last night because no water was available in bowls, and the kitten could not reach the birdbath.
This is the dead kitten's story from Marc Madow:
Thanks Ed for your additional two eMails from today. When I attended the hearing, the "officer" didn't offer me a business card or any other paper or document.
After I left I decided to call the office to see who I had been speaking with that had issued the oral ultimatum. The receptionist looked up my case and said that I had spoken with Mr. Ben Lovato.
I tried to double confirm by saying that he was the guy in the first office on the right on the ground floor and she said yes. I am therefore reasonably sure that he is the person who conducted the informal, voluntary hearing which I attended.
I do think that the commenter on your blog is absolutely right that they should go after or at least counsel the neighbors. I would consider the ongoing throwing of objects at animals something that an animal cruelty task force should address.
An horrible incident has happened overnight or early this morning directly related to the harsh demands of the City Attorney's Office. A young feral cat that was well beyond the kitten stage but not a full-grown cat drowned in our pool.
I hadn't thought of it before but this cat is too big to get nourishment from its Mother anymore but it is too short to drink out of birdbaths.
So, there was water in only two places for this poor creature after yesterday which was the first hot day in a while. There was the birdbath which it couldn't reach and the 40,000 gallons of pool water which it fell into and couldn't climb out of for the same reason that it couldn't reach the birdbath's water: it was too small.
When a full-grown cat falls into the pool it has always gotten out. This is another unintended consequence of our City's laws and discriminatory enforcement.
I'm attaching a photo of the poor creature as it was pulled out of the water. Feel free to use it wherever and whenever you like.
About my contact information, probably it would be fine for people to eMail me, maybe state that the ongoing battle is on Wilkinson Avenue in North Hollywood and you can share my cell phone (503) 703-0449 with your readers or whoever. Marc
I think it is about time that all potential members of the LASPAH take action. I'll try to find the phone number for that City Attorney's Office official, Ben Lovato.
Using LA City way of addessing email, Lavato's email address may be: ben.lovato@lacity.org, or benjamin.lovato@lacity.org.
Marc Madow's email adress: mbgallery@gmail.com
I did admonish Marc that he was partially responsible for not installing a pool cover long ago, or at least netting. However, this does not excuse City Attorney hearing officer Ben Lovato's discriminatory demands.
People Who Don't Deal With Animals Get Paid the Most
.
The below salaries are from a Daily News article. It gives the salaries of all LAAS employees.
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/citypayroll/
As you can see, the adminsitrative people who never touch an animal unless they have to, get paid the most--except for vets. Vets get paid better than some administrators, but pretty poorly compared to private practice.
I am glad the Chief Vet, Steve Feldman is paid enough to tend to his garden; hope he ets a city car too. Cynthia Hockman gets $92,000. I understand she is at West Valley now replacing Rao.
Interesting that Linda Barth gets paid more than Boks.
ANIMAL SERVICESASST GM ANIMAL REGULATNBARTH,LINDA J$154,491.12;
ANIMAL SERVICESGEN MGR ANIMAL SERVICESBOKS,EDWARD A$152,064.86;
ANIMAL SERVICESCH VETERINARIANFELDMAN,STEVEN$120,060.00;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR SYSTEMS ANALYST II PERINO,ROBERT C$115,508.16;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR MGMT ANALYST II GORDON,LINDA A$115,466.40;
ANIMAL SERVICESPERSONNEL DIR ICORE,RUSSELL H$106,216.56;
ANIMAL SERVICESDIR OF FIELD OPERATIONSBOWERS,WENDELL; L$98,553.60;
ANIMAL SERVICESDIR OF FIELD OPERATIONSBRAKEMEIER,HELEN H $98,553.60;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR MGMT ANALYST II FORLAND,JOHN S$98,115.12;
ANIMAL SERVICESVETERINARIAN II LEE,TERESA SY JIA$96,695.28;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR SYSTEMS ANALYST I BALL,DARA J$93,333.60;
ANIMAL SERVICESEMERGNCY PREP COORD I DEPPISCH,RICHARD A$93,145.68;
ANIMAL SERVICESVETERINARIAN II HOCKMAN,CYNTHIA L$92,091.24;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR PERSONNEL ANALYST I FARFAN,CLAUDIA YOLANDA$90,577.44;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST I BADGER ALSTON,PATRICIA A$88,447.68;
ANIMAL SERVICESVETERINARIAN II ROSARIO,MONIQUE D$86,735.52;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST II SANCHEZ,ANTHONY$78,947.28;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR ACCOUNTANT II MARTINEZ,VIRGINIA L$77,861.52;
ANIMAL SERVICESSYSTEMS ANALYST II ZHONG,TONY$74,771.28;
ANIMAL SERVICESEXEC ADMIN ASST III GOMEZ,MARIA EUGENIA$74,103.12;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST IIMOJICA,LAURA C$71,052.55;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST II POOL,ROSS E$71,032.72;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST II GARCIA,CATHERINE D$70,824.96;
ANIMAL SERVICESSYSTEMS ANALYST II LIM,DANG I$70,824.96;
ANIMAL SERVICESPAYROLL SUPERVISOR I CASTILLO,IRENE L$69,613.92;
ANIMAL SERVICES VETERINARIAN II, RAO, SUBAKAR.
$64,105.78 (This is prorated; he may have not beeen working during the two weeks data period that the Daily News used to calculate the annual salary. More likely he was making in the $92,000 range.
Boswell makes $59,000.
The below salaries are from a Daily News article. It gives the salaries of all LAAS employees.
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/citypayroll/
As you can see, the adminsitrative people who never touch an animal unless they have to, get paid the most--except for vets. Vets get paid better than some administrators, but pretty poorly compared to private practice.
I am glad the Chief Vet, Steve Feldman is paid enough to tend to his garden; hope he ets a city car too. Cynthia Hockman gets $92,000. I understand she is at West Valley now replacing Rao.
Interesting that Linda Barth gets paid more than Boks.
ANIMAL SERVICESASST GM ANIMAL REGULATNBARTH,LINDA J$154,491.12;
ANIMAL SERVICESGEN MGR ANIMAL SERVICESBOKS,EDWARD A$152,064.86;
ANIMAL SERVICESCH VETERINARIANFELDMAN,STEVEN$120,060.00;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR SYSTEMS ANALYST II PERINO,ROBERT C$115,508.16;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR MGMT ANALYST II GORDON,LINDA A$115,466.40;
ANIMAL SERVICESPERSONNEL DIR ICORE,RUSSELL H$106,216.56;
ANIMAL SERVICESDIR OF FIELD OPERATIONSBOWERS,WENDELL; L$98,553.60;
ANIMAL SERVICESDIR OF FIELD OPERATIONSBRAKEMEIER,HELEN H $98,553.60;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR MGMT ANALYST II FORLAND,JOHN S$98,115.12;
ANIMAL SERVICESVETERINARIAN II LEE,TERESA SY JIA$96,695.28;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR SYSTEMS ANALYST I BALL,DARA J$93,333.60;
ANIMAL SERVICESEMERGNCY PREP COORD I DEPPISCH,RICHARD A$93,145.68;
ANIMAL SERVICESVETERINARIAN II HOCKMAN,CYNTHIA L$92,091.24;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR PERSONNEL ANALYST I FARFAN,CLAUDIA YOLANDA$90,577.44;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST I BADGER ALSTON,PATRICIA A$88,447.68;
ANIMAL SERVICESVETERINARIAN II ROSARIO,MONIQUE D$86,735.52;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST II SANCHEZ,ANTHONY$78,947.28;
ANIMAL SERVICESSR ACCOUNTANT II MARTINEZ,VIRGINIA L$77,861.52;
ANIMAL SERVICESSYSTEMS ANALYST II ZHONG,TONY$74,771.28;
ANIMAL SERVICESEXEC ADMIN ASST III GOMEZ,MARIA EUGENIA$74,103.12;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST IIMOJICA,LAURA C$71,052.55;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST II POOL,ROSS E$71,032.72;
ANIMAL SERVICESMANAGEMENT ANALYST II GARCIA,CATHERINE D$70,824.96;
ANIMAL SERVICESSYSTEMS ANALYST II LIM,DANG I$70,824.96;
ANIMAL SERVICESPAYROLL SUPERVISOR I CASTILLO,IRENE L$69,613.92;
ANIMAL SERVICES VETERINARIAN II, RAO, SUBAKAR.
$64,105.78 (This is prorated; he may have not beeen working during the two weeks data period that the Daily News used to calculate the annual salary. More likely he was making in the $92,000 range.
Boswell makes $59,000.
What's Up with East Valley?
Someone on Craigslist said they had been to East Valley Sunday looking for a kitten and there were none.
Then there was a listing today that New Dawn Pet Rescue got a call yesterday from Maria at East Valley saying they were overrun by kittens and they were going to start killing them soon.
So what is the story? Did the Sunday visitor get the wrong information?
I just now looked at the list of kittens available at East Valley and there were only 9 kittens.
What's up? Where did the kittens come from between Sunday and Monday, and where are they now? Have they all been adopted?
Here are the two Craigslist listing, both listed today. One was about a visit to the shelter this past Sunday, and the other about receiving a call that EV was overun on Monday. The second listing from New Dawn stated 16 kittens were availble. This is West Valley and therefore of special interest to me. The listings:
Reply to: comm-679431847@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-05-13, 2:44PM PDT
1) I was there on Sunday looking for Kittens, they didn't have any, now I hear they are over run with kittens, so many they are going to be put to sleep? In 2 days? I'm shocked.
--------------------
Reply to: NewDawnPetRescue@yahoo.com
--------------------
Reply to: NewDawnPetRescue@yahoo.com
Date: 2008-05-13, 1:51PM PDT
2) Hi everyone. I got a call yesterday from the East Valley Animal Shelter, telling me that they are up to their eyeballs in kittens. Maria (one of the shelter employees) over the phone told me that "it's an emergency" and that they are going to start euthanizing soon, because they simply don't have room for all of them. So I took 16 BABY kittens from them.
Three different litters. None have their Moms, but all are eating wet food on their own. They're all using the litter box, too. I have black & white ones, grey ones, grey & white, tabby, tabby & white, and one orange one. They are all very cute and very sweet. $55 adoption fee per kitten to make sure they go to good homes.
Please send an e-mail to NewDawnPetRescue@yahoo.com I will send you a short adoption application. First come, first serve (upon approved adoption application). Please also include in your e-mail a day and time that you would like to come meet them. Thank you so much for your interest in adopting a rescued kitten!
The photo above was of 3 on her listing. Please adopt.
The photo above was of 3 on her listing. Please adopt.
I Want to Apologize
.
Ron Mason often said LAAS was always friendly and cooperative with him until 2 days before the October 11, 2007 raid. Then everything changed and two days later he was raided. Why, no one is sure. I am still convinced the Animal Planet show had something to do with it, but also persistent complaints by neighbors.
There is now another potential Mason event that appears to be building in North Hollywood, again with a man who has taken care of several ferals that came onto his property, gotten them fixed and rendered veterinarian services.
He has had frequent visits over a long period of time, with, he says, very amicable relations over that period, just as they were with Ron Mason.
However, due to neighbor complaints, the City Attorney has become involved in an informal hearing demanding that this man, Marc Madow, himself with a major blog, get rid of all the cats but three.
However, Madow stopped feeding the ferals on his property some time ago, and stopped supplying water in anticipation of trouble. Now, cats drink out of a birdbath located on his property or drink water and antifreeze from the street.
Six of the cats have been poisoned and died during the last couple of months, possibly by a next door neighbor who constantly complains about his cats to police and LAAS. One cat was run over while searching for food off his property.
Madow says ACOs have always been cooperative and worked with him. However, I assume soon authorities will "Pull a Mason" on Madow.
Therefore, I want to apaologize to LAAS in general. I said they either do nothing or bring the world down around someone, as with Mason.
My experience with Officer Pro and the semi-offical responses from an apparent ACO saying they don't have the discretion to just seize animals and they don't want to impound them when they look healthy or are not abused, reinforce my new found understanding that they are not the bad guys.
It appears that in general they bend over backwards not to endanger or impound animals. What happened to Mason was because of orders from above.
Marc tells his own story on his own blog with a video about his complaining neighbor who had installed nine (9!) video cameras watching and photographing Madow's property. The neighbors have thrown pipes and other heavy objects at the cats. They also threw a metal pipe over a nine foot hedge into his year when he was outside with his girlfriend. When the cops came, the son of the neighbor threw a pipe at the officers. For some reason, the son was not arrested and the cops told Madow that a report was on record about the entire incident in case he needed proof of harassment in the future.
Madow has complete medical records for all the cats plus copies of all written correspondence about anything related to the cats. He has copies at a separate location. I have not gone into with him exactly what he ha sin the totality of his paperwork.
However, the City Attorney's harsh demand he get rid of all the cats--which are not his as he is not feeding them outside, giving them water in water bowls or providing shelter other than a property that cats can come on to, they are not legally his in any fashion. In addition, any cats that do come on to his property are caught and taken in for S/N. Most of the cats have the tell-tale snipped ears.
See Madow's blog for the full story. Keep tuned for this ongoing story.
http://earthblog.net/eb-articles/cat_tribunals01.html
I may be forced into starting a new organization: The Los Angeles Society for the Protection of Alleged Hoarders (LASPAH). I hope you realize this is a joke.
Ron Mason often said LAAS was always friendly and cooperative with him until 2 days before the October 11, 2007 raid. Then everything changed and two days later he was raided. Why, no one is sure. I am still convinced the Animal Planet show had something to do with it, but also persistent complaints by neighbors.
There is now another potential Mason event that appears to be building in North Hollywood, again with a man who has taken care of several ferals that came onto his property, gotten them fixed and rendered veterinarian services.
He has had frequent visits over a long period of time, with, he says, very amicable relations over that period, just as they were with Ron Mason.
However, due to neighbor complaints, the City Attorney has become involved in an informal hearing demanding that this man, Marc Madow, himself with a major blog, get rid of all the cats but three.
However, Madow stopped feeding the ferals on his property some time ago, and stopped supplying water in anticipation of trouble. Now, cats drink out of a birdbath located on his property or drink water and antifreeze from the street.
Six of the cats have been poisoned and died during the last couple of months, possibly by a next door neighbor who constantly complains about his cats to police and LAAS. One cat was run over while searching for food off his property.
Madow says ACOs have always been cooperative and worked with him. However, I assume soon authorities will "Pull a Mason" on Madow.
Therefore, I want to apaologize to LAAS in general. I said they either do nothing or bring the world down around someone, as with Mason.
My experience with Officer Pro and the semi-offical responses from an apparent ACO saying they don't have the discretion to just seize animals and they don't want to impound them when they look healthy or are not abused, reinforce my new found understanding that they are not the bad guys.
It appears that in general they bend over backwards not to endanger or impound animals. What happened to Mason was because of orders from above.
Marc tells his own story on his own blog with a video about his complaining neighbor who had installed nine (9!) video cameras watching and photographing Madow's property. The neighbors have thrown pipes and other heavy objects at the cats. They also threw a metal pipe over a nine foot hedge into his year when he was outside with his girlfriend. When the cops came, the son of the neighbor threw a pipe at the officers. For some reason, the son was not arrested and the cops told Madow that a report was on record about the entire incident in case he needed proof of harassment in the future.
Madow has complete medical records for all the cats plus copies of all written correspondence about anything related to the cats. He has copies at a separate location. I have not gone into with him exactly what he ha sin the totality of his paperwork.
However, the City Attorney's harsh demand he get rid of all the cats--which are not his as he is not feeding them outside, giving them water in water bowls or providing shelter other than a property that cats can come on to, they are not legally his in any fashion. In addition, any cats that do come on to his property are caught and taken in for S/N. Most of the cats have the tell-tale snipped ears.
See Madow's blog for the full story. Keep tuned for this ongoing story.
http://earthblog.net/eb-articles/cat_tribunals01.html
I may be forced into starting a new organization: The Los Angeles Society for the Protection of Alleged Hoarders (LASPAH). I hope you realize this is a joke.
Best Friends Catnippers
.
This is the URL to a Best Friends spay/neuter day. Unfortunately, neither the email or this flyer say where it is:
http://editor.ne16.com/bfas/catnippers_may.pdf
I do know one man who is taking two older kittens to be spayed.
Best Friends; please send address.
This is the URL to a Best Friends spay/neuter day. Unfortunately, neither the email or this flyer say where it is:
http://editor.ne16.com/bfas/catnippers_may.pdf
I do know one man who is taking two older kittens to be spayed.
Best Friends; please send address.
Breeders Support Winograd?
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I hear SOME breeders are supporting Winograd because they think he does not oppose breeding and because of his statement that there isn’t pet overpopulation.
Only goes to prove people perceive what they want to.
I edit medical rebuttals. There is no such thing as objective fact. All “fact” depends on the motivation of the fact finder. A doctor who gets paid by an insurance company finds different “objective facts” than someone who treats the patient. So you can find whatever you want in any position anyone takes about anything. Look at the Bible. Everyone has a quote that supports any position anyone wants to take about anything; just ignore the context, such as who said it in what situation and in what era.
One can read lots of things into Winograd, and also what I say, that are not there except in the minds of some readers.
First, Nathan says there is not an overpopulation problem. This does not mean animals are not being killed in shelters. It means animals are being killed in shelters because of poor management, lack of caring and the belief that there are too many animals to be placed. The belief, the myth of overpopulation, prevents overcoming the status quo. If you think killing is inevitable, it will be.
But to take that to mean he supports breeders or that he thinks breeders can do anything they want, is ridiculous and shows the bias and lack of critical thinking that seems rampant in the animal rescue/welfare world.
He meant that there is a myth grasped with a death grip by many involved in sheltering, that there are not enough homes for all the animals brought into shelters, and therefore many animals that are not sick or injured need to die due to lack of space.
If we had good shelters across the country with a 90% save rate we would not even be discussing this. But we do not, and in the meantime we have an unnecessary death problem until no-kill becomes the prevailing practice.
Nowhere does Nathan defend professional breeders; it is some of the breeders that read a green light into Nathan—at least I think. If Nathan receives lots of money or book promotions from breeders, that is a different story.
I am not a Nathan apologist. I really don’t care what his position is about breeding. I am not his follower and he is not my guru.
I still support Hillary even though I think she is a phony and panderer, and I think her gasoline tax rebate idea stupid, because I think she has a better chance of beating McCain than Obama and we share enough of a common vision for me to want her as pres vs. McCain. This concept is apparently too complex for some of the commenters out there who continually attack Winograd (and me) because they or others misunderstand or deliberately distort what he or I say.
I oppose puppy and kitten mills, the fly by night operations where the animals are not cared for and the burnt out moms disposed of in shelters and maybe sick pups and kittens too.
But one of the most beautiful souls I ever met and who taught me more about cats than anyone at any time was formerly a breeder. Wilma loved animals and taught everyone around her who would listen about how to take care of them. Wilma spent her whole life feeding ferals, doing TNR and teaching people how to love and care for animals. I would not oppose anyone like her from breeding animals and placing them, as she did, ever so carefully in loving homes.
I strongly oppose the kind of operation I saw in Northridge and the stories on TV and on the Internet regarding the abuses committed by breeders. I find this cruelty to animals an abomination. I am talking about puppy and kitten mills.
I work in an area of mental health care that is filled with mills; the insurance mill and the provider mills. Some are much better than others. Yet, even among all this crap there are those who really care and bend over backwards to help people. I do not damn a whole class of patients who take workers comp help, nor the system as a whole. I do oppose the ground feeders who care only for a buck, which may be a larger or smaller percentage of breeders.
I do oppose those breeders who fight regulation because it hurts their business or because it increases the fees they pay, because all breeders, no matter how conscientious, as some point do cause some animals to go to shelters or put them in bad homes no matter how hard they try. They are part of the problem and also all businesses require monitoring to prevent greed that causes suffering. But good breeders leave a light foot print because they do love animals.
I also want to say I have never run into so many irrational people with no concept of truth or telling the truth outside of Workers Comp until I got involved in the animal community.
I have never run into so many people so quick to judge others as faulty. God, give Winograd a break; give Boks a break; give me a break. The only one who does not deserve a break is Marcia Mayeda, not only because she is incompetent, but because everyone in County Administration and the Supervisors are covering for her.
Some people in the animal community make the most outrageous statements and regard them as truth without providing any proof whatsoever. They just say it is so and they attack anyone who disagrees.
I hear SOME breeders are supporting Winograd because they think he does not oppose breeding and because of his statement that there isn’t pet overpopulation.
Only goes to prove people perceive what they want to.
I edit medical rebuttals. There is no such thing as objective fact. All “fact” depends on the motivation of the fact finder. A doctor who gets paid by an insurance company finds different “objective facts” than someone who treats the patient. So you can find whatever you want in any position anyone takes about anything. Look at the Bible. Everyone has a quote that supports any position anyone wants to take about anything; just ignore the context, such as who said it in what situation and in what era.
One can read lots of things into Winograd, and also what I say, that are not there except in the minds of some readers.
First, Nathan says there is not an overpopulation problem. This does not mean animals are not being killed in shelters. It means animals are being killed in shelters because of poor management, lack of caring and the belief that there are too many animals to be placed. The belief, the myth of overpopulation, prevents overcoming the status quo. If you think killing is inevitable, it will be.
But to take that to mean he supports breeders or that he thinks breeders can do anything they want, is ridiculous and shows the bias and lack of critical thinking that seems rampant in the animal rescue/welfare world.
He meant that there is a myth grasped with a death grip by many involved in sheltering, that there are not enough homes for all the animals brought into shelters, and therefore many animals that are not sick or injured need to die due to lack of space.
If we had good shelters across the country with a 90% save rate we would not even be discussing this. But we do not, and in the meantime we have an unnecessary death problem until no-kill becomes the prevailing practice.
Nowhere does Nathan defend professional breeders; it is some of the breeders that read a green light into Nathan—at least I think. If Nathan receives lots of money or book promotions from breeders, that is a different story.
I am not a Nathan apologist. I really don’t care what his position is about breeding. I am not his follower and he is not my guru.
I still support Hillary even though I think she is a phony and panderer, and I think her gasoline tax rebate idea stupid, because I think she has a better chance of beating McCain than Obama and we share enough of a common vision for me to want her as pres vs. McCain. This concept is apparently too complex for some of the commenters out there who continually attack Winograd (and me) because they or others misunderstand or deliberately distort what he or I say.
I oppose puppy and kitten mills, the fly by night operations where the animals are not cared for and the burnt out moms disposed of in shelters and maybe sick pups and kittens too.
But one of the most beautiful souls I ever met and who taught me more about cats than anyone at any time was formerly a breeder. Wilma loved animals and taught everyone around her who would listen about how to take care of them. Wilma spent her whole life feeding ferals, doing TNR and teaching people how to love and care for animals. I would not oppose anyone like her from breeding animals and placing them, as she did, ever so carefully in loving homes.
I strongly oppose the kind of operation I saw in Northridge and the stories on TV and on the Internet regarding the abuses committed by breeders. I find this cruelty to animals an abomination. I am talking about puppy and kitten mills.
I work in an area of mental health care that is filled with mills; the insurance mill and the provider mills. Some are much better than others. Yet, even among all this crap there are those who really care and bend over backwards to help people. I do not damn a whole class of patients who take workers comp help, nor the system as a whole. I do oppose the ground feeders who care only for a buck, which may be a larger or smaller percentage of breeders.
I do oppose those breeders who fight regulation because it hurts their business or because it increases the fees they pay, because all breeders, no matter how conscientious, as some point do cause some animals to go to shelters or put them in bad homes no matter how hard they try. They are part of the problem and also all businesses require monitoring to prevent greed that causes suffering. But good breeders leave a light foot print because they do love animals.
I also want to say I have never run into so many irrational people with no concept of truth or telling the truth outside of Workers Comp until I got involved in the animal community.
I have never run into so many people so quick to judge others as faulty. God, give Winograd a break; give Boks a break; give me a break. The only one who does not deserve a break is Marcia Mayeda, not only because she is incompetent, but because everyone in County Administration and the Supervisors are covering for her.
Some people in the animal community make the most outrageous statements and regard them as truth without providing any proof whatsoever. They just say it is so and they attack anyone who disagrees.
LA Called Puppy Mill Capital of USA--Videos
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Puppy mill videos and stories in Southern California.
S. California called the puppy mill capital.
Time to go after the breeders, no?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wNUfMrXsCU
http://lcanimal.org/cmpgn/cmpgn_ban_puppy_mills.htm
http://cbs2.com/goldstein/Puppy.Mills.David.2.711981.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyZdkCi-JzQ&feature=related
Puppy mill videos and stories in Southern California.
S. California called the puppy mill capital.
Time to go after the breeders, no?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wNUfMrXsCU
http://lcanimal.org/cmpgn/cmpgn_ban_puppy_mills.htm
http://cbs2.com/goldstein/Puppy.Mills.David.2.711981.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyZdkCi-JzQ&feature=related
PHANTOM BREEDER LAUGHS AT LAAS & LAPD
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The Phantom Breeder moved his huge 4' X 5' PUPPIES FOR SALE sign and sales operation 2.5 miles down Nordhoff, from Reseda to Woodley. Basically he is laughing at Animal Services and the LAPD, because he knows that the enforcement side of LAAS and LAPD is a joke; they will do nothing because they do not care, unless they want a PR bust of a hoarder for an Animal Planet program.
The shelter workers are getting a lot of positive feedback sent to this blog, and I have seen exemplary employees and volunteers myself at West Valley. But enforcement seems to be the weak link.
They either do nothing, or they bring the world down around your ears as with Mason. They "Pulled a Mason" on Mason who never was charged even for not having a kennel permit.
How can these two guys, who may or may not have 1) a Los Angeles business license; 2) a breeder's license, and 3) a kennel permit, not have been stopped and checked before Yesterday when I and a commenter complained to West Valley?
Do not AS trucks and cop cars go onto Norhoff at all? Do the cops and ACOs just ignore this and similar operations? Does there have to be multiple citizen complaints first?
When I first called WV, the ACO told me they had received complaints from all over "that area," meaning Tampa/Reseda and the CSUN area, but, he said nothing had come of those complaints. That is why I was pleasantly surprised that Pro showed up and questioned the two men for some time.
But now, a mere day later, the Phantom Breeder moved his operation down the street knowing LAAS and LAPD will no nothing, not even check licenses.
From a commenter:
Well, the guy and his black Astro Chevy Van was peddling his pups on Nordhoff again---this time near Woodley. He was there all day, with his stupid sign, pointing to a home where he got rid of one of the shepherd pups for a good $700 bucks.
Right on the street.
Called LAPD--it was the Mission Hills district.
Officer said there is absolutely nothing that can be done, unless the guy is selling them on a street corner, or at some sort of gas station, on public property.
If he's selling the pups on somebody's lot of front lawn, the LAPD would have to get a complaint from the owner of the property before they could get out there to cite him for selling without a vendor's license.
Called SPCALA and left a message.
Also called the Spay/Neuter Task Force and left a message w/ the guy's license plate.
This after getting guess who on the phone again today at you know where, and couldn't get an update, even though I put in the call yesterday about the same situation.
There is nothing anyone can do as far as checking out the kennel conditions without an address.
You can't just give the phone number, or a cell, or a license number because, as I've been told by the lieutenant regarding a different situation, they're not the FBI.
We need an address and we need a report that the dogs are being abused or neglected. Without that, we have nothing except to hope for the best for all of those puppies that will continue to be overbred until the mother is no longer good for anything and she gets shot somewhere, or dropped off at the shelter cause she's had too many litters and she's good for nothing anymore.
Assholes do it all the time. Makes you want to beat your head against the friggen wall.
Well, the LAPD is helpless!! Tisk, tisk.
But where there is the will, there is a way.
I guess they never heard of "Pulling a Mason" even though they invented it.
What you (Boks/ACTF/ACOs/LAPD/County Health) did to Ron Mason, you can do to these two guys, but they are counting on you ignoring their shady operation just as you have been doing for months.
Next time I see the Phantom Breeder I'll post photos of their sign, faces, truck, truck plates, and the puppies, and post them. We'll help Ed catch the baddies or hear their excuses why they are helpless or why they are not the FBI.
But in the end, it means nothing. This blog may put a bug up their butt on this one item, but they will continue to ignore many other acts of cruelty.
By the way, who would be stupid enough pay $700 for a puppy sold on a sidewalk with no return address?
I know there are a lot of stupid people out there because we got Bush for 8 years, but please, stupid enough to pay $700 to someone with no address?
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The Phantom Breeder moved his huge 4' X 5' PUPPIES FOR SALE sign and sales operation 2.5 miles down Nordhoff, from Reseda to Woodley. Basically he is laughing at Animal Services and the LAPD, because he knows that the enforcement side of LAAS and LAPD is a joke; they will do nothing because they do not care, unless they want a PR bust of a hoarder for an Animal Planet program.
The shelter workers are getting a lot of positive feedback sent to this blog, and I have seen exemplary employees and volunteers myself at West Valley. But enforcement seems to be the weak link.
They either do nothing, or they bring the world down around your ears as with Mason. They "Pulled a Mason" on Mason who never was charged even for not having a kennel permit.
How can these two guys, who may or may not have 1) a Los Angeles business license; 2) a breeder's license, and 3) a kennel permit, not have been stopped and checked before Yesterday when I and a commenter complained to West Valley?
Do not AS trucks and cop cars go onto Norhoff at all? Do the cops and ACOs just ignore this and similar operations? Does there have to be multiple citizen complaints first?
When I first called WV, the ACO told me they had received complaints from all over "that area," meaning Tampa/Reseda and the CSUN area, but, he said nothing had come of those complaints. That is why I was pleasantly surprised that Pro showed up and questioned the two men for some time.
But now, a mere day later, the Phantom Breeder moved his operation down the street knowing LAAS and LAPD will no nothing, not even check licenses.
From a commenter:
Well, the guy and his black Astro Chevy Van was peddling his pups on Nordhoff again---this time near Woodley. He was there all day, with his stupid sign, pointing to a home where he got rid of one of the shepherd pups for a good $700 bucks.
Right on the street.
Called LAPD--it was the Mission Hills district.
Officer said there is absolutely nothing that can be done, unless the guy is selling them on a street corner, or at some sort of gas station, on public property.
If he's selling the pups on somebody's lot of front lawn, the LAPD would have to get a complaint from the owner of the property before they could get out there to cite him for selling without a vendor's license.
Called SPCALA and left a message.
Also called the Spay/Neuter Task Force and left a message w/ the guy's license plate.
This after getting guess who on the phone again today at you know where, and couldn't get an update, even though I put in the call yesterday about the same situation.
There is nothing anyone can do as far as checking out the kennel conditions without an address.
You can't just give the phone number, or a cell, or a license number because, as I've been told by the lieutenant regarding a different situation, they're not the FBI.
We need an address and we need a report that the dogs are being abused or neglected. Without that, we have nothing except to hope for the best for all of those puppies that will continue to be overbred until the mother is no longer good for anything and she gets shot somewhere, or dropped off at the shelter cause she's had too many litters and she's good for nothing anymore.
Assholes do it all the time. Makes you want to beat your head against the friggen wall.
Well, the LAPD is helpless!! Tisk, tisk.
But where there is the will, there is a way.
I guess they never heard of "Pulling a Mason" even though they invented it.
What you (Boks/ACTF/ACOs/LAPD/County Health) did to Ron Mason, you can do to these two guys, but they are counting on you ignoring their shady operation just as you have been doing for months.
Next time I see the Phantom Breeder I'll post photos of their sign, faces, truck, truck plates, and the puppies, and post them. We'll help Ed catch the baddies or hear their excuses why they are helpless or why they are not the FBI.
But in the end, it means nothing. This blog may put a bug up their butt on this one item, but they will continue to ignore many other acts of cruelty.
By the way, who would be stupid enough pay $700 for a puppy sold on a sidewalk with no return address?
I know there are a lot of stupid people out there because we got Bush for 8 years, but please, stupid enough to pay $700 to someone with no address?
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Did Officer Pro Do Enough?
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There has been a small group (3) of Hispanics selling puppies on Nordhoff Street near Lindley for several weeks now. I never stopped, not knowing what the law was about selling puppies in a yard, closely abutting the sidewalk and the public tree lawn where people gathered to check them out. The cage was maybe 5 ft from the sidewalk.
Curious, I called West Valley, both to test their phone answering and response times, as well as checking on what the law was.
After 8 minutes and 41 seconds I talked to someone at West Valley who didn’t know what I was talking about. But he knew he didn't know, and I was bumped up to an ACO.
Explaining the situation, the ACO said they’d send someone out.
First, I was quite pleased I didn't have to wait 30 minutes as has been alleged happened to others--at least not this time and not at West Valley. I guess West Valley is beginning to grow on me.
I stopped by 30 minutes later, and sure enough, there was an Animal Control truck and an ACO Officer talking to the Hispanics. Again, someone had been sent out immediately. No pain, no wait.
I didn’t know what the law was, and what the officer told them, so I questioned him when he returned to his truck.
His name was officer "Pro." He said he told them they cannot sell on the streets and that Animal Services drove by that location all the time. He told me he got all their information. I don't know what that meant, but since he spent a considerable amount of time with them, I assume he got a lot of information.
Pro was a pro. Professional in appearance, friendly, informative.
But, as I was leaving, I asked myself, "Why didn't Animal Services stop these guys 3 weeks ago?" They had been selling the puppies there daily for the three weeks, and an AS truck must have driven by at least 10 times in 21 days.
Nordhoff is a main drag and the shelter is located one mile North on Plummer and about 1.5 miles West.
They even had a huge sign propped up over the lawn and sidewalk saying, “Puppies for sale,” and a truck saying "Exotic Pets" was parked at the curb by the puppies. There was no way to miss it. Also, the ACO I finally talked to on the phone said they had had many calls about this operation popping up all over the neighborhood, which I would surmise they would have investigated that area for some time.
I asked Pro whether they had a license, either an LA business license, or any specific to selling animals to the public. He seemed surprised and told me he did not ask. Pro did say, “You’ll not be seeing them around here again.”
I asked myself, couldn’t Pro have done more than just chase them away to set up operation a dozen blocks away? Why didn’t he check for licenses? Couldn't they have been cited if they didn't have a license? Could the puppies have been impounded?
As it was, they appeared to be selling six, 3 to 4 month old Golden Retrievers kept in a small 4 X 4 cage. At least they had an awning over the cage.
Since I didn't know, I asked a friend what should have been done. He responded:
“Pro didn't want to do his full job. He didn't want to write a report, didn't want to impound the animals, plain and simple. Easier for him to tell them to just move.
"They needed a breeder’s permit if they were bred in the city. They needed a dog kennel permit if they were kept at his house. He needed a pet store permit if he was selling them. No matter what it's illegal to sell them on public property or in front of someone else's property. He needed a USDA permit to breed or sell mammals. As they were over three months I think, they all needed dog licenses. And, coming soon, they'd need to be spayed or neutered."
Actually Pro did take an extensive amount of information and I assume wrote a report. Also, the puppies were actually being sold on a front yard, even though the sellers and buyers were milling around on the sidewalk and tree lawn. Therefore, the property itself might have been the kennel. The truck with the sign Exotic Pets sure indicates a retail operation located elsewhere.
My concern was not whether it was an illegal operation, but what would happen to the puppies? How did they fare in the hands of these guys selling them? Could they have been impouned? What would happen to them if they were and taken to West Valley? Since they were small and not Pitbulls, I assume they would have at least a 90% save rate.
If anybody knows the law and department policies, please leave a comment.
.
There has been a small group (3) of Hispanics selling puppies on Nordhoff Street near Lindley for several weeks now. I never stopped, not knowing what the law was about selling puppies in a yard, closely abutting the sidewalk and the public tree lawn where people gathered to check them out. The cage was maybe 5 ft from the sidewalk.
Curious, I called West Valley, both to test their phone answering and response times, as well as checking on what the law was.
After 8 minutes and 41 seconds I talked to someone at West Valley who didn’t know what I was talking about. But he knew he didn't know, and I was bumped up to an ACO.
Explaining the situation, the ACO said they’d send someone out.
First, I was quite pleased I didn't have to wait 30 minutes as has been alleged happened to others--at least not this time and not at West Valley. I guess West Valley is beginning to grow on me.
I stopped by 30 minutes later, and sure enough, there was an Animal Control truck and an ACO Officer talking to the Hispanics. Again, someone had been sent out immediately. No pain, no wait.
I didn’t know what the law was, and what the officer told them, so I questioned him when he returned to his truck.
His name was officer "Pro." He said he told them they cannot sell on the streets and that Animal Services drove by that location all the time. He told me he got all their information. I don't know what that meant, but since he spent a considerable amount of time with them, I assume he got a lot of information.
Pro was a pro. Professional in appearance, friendly, informative.
But, as I was leaving, I asked myself, "Why didn't Animal Services stop these guys 3 weeks ago?" They had been selling the puppies there daily for the three weeks, and an AS truck must have driven by at least 10 times in 21 days.
Nordhoff is a main drag and the shelter is located one mile North on Plummer and about 1.5 miles West.
They even had a huge sign propped up over the lawn and sidewalk saying, “Puppies for sale,” and a truck saying "Exotic Pets" was parked at the curb by the puppies. There was no way to miss it. Also, the ACO I finally talked to on the phone said they had had many calls about this operation popping up all over the neighborhood, which I would surmise they would have investigated that area for some time.
I asked Pro whether they had a license, either an LA business license, or any specific to selling animals to the public. He seemed surprised and told me he did not ask. Pro did say, “You’ll not be seeing them around here again.”
I asked myself, couldn’t Pro have done more than just chase them away to set up operation a dozen blocks away? Why didn’t he check for licenses? Couldn't they have been cited if they didn't have a license? Could the puppies have been impounded?
As it was, they appeared to be selling six, 3 to 4 month old Golden Retrievers kept in a small 4 X 4 cage. At least they had an awning over the cage.
Since I didn't know, I asked a friend what should have been done. He responded:
“Pro didn't want to do his full job. He didn't want to write a report, didn't want to impound the animals, plain and simple. Easier for him to tell them to just move.
"They needed a breeder’s permit if they were bred in the city. They needed a dog kennel permit if they were kept at his house. He needed a pet store permit if he was selling them. No matter what it's illegal to sell them on public property or in front of someone else's property. He needed a USDA permit to breed or sell mammals. As they were over three months I think, they all needed dog licenses. And, coming soon, they'd need to be spayed or neutered."
Actually Pro did take an extensive amount of information and I assume wrote a report. Also, the puppies were actually being sold on a front yard, even though the sellers and buyers were milling around on the sidewalk and tree lawn. Therefore, the property itself might have been the kennel. The truck with the sign Exotic Pets sure indicates a retail operation located elsewhere.
My concern was not whether it was an illegal operation, but what would happen to the puppies? How did they fare in the hands of these guys selling them? Could they have been impouned? What would happen to them if they were and taken to West Valley? Since they were small and not Pitbulls, I assume they would have at least a 90% save rate.
If anybody knows the law and department policies, please leave a comment.
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Just passed 25,000 visitors today.
There are an average of 167 visitors a day, and each visit lasts about 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
LA City and County don't visit like they used to and the federal government hasn't visited in a long time. They are probably looking at the new generation of "animal terrorist bloggers," such as http://lacdacc.blogspot.com.
The monthly visitor totals have not varied much since February. Guess I need to add porno to build readership.
There are an average of 167 visitors a day, and each visit lasts about 2 minutes and 45 seconds.
LA City and County don't visit like they used to and the federal government hasn't visited in a long time. They are probably looking at the new generation of "animal terrorist bloggers," such as http://lacdacc.blogspot.com.
The monthly visitor totals have not varied much since February. Guess I need to add porno to build readership.
PETA Needs an ALF Watchdog
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Many of us have supported both PETA and their methods in the past. Three years ago I found out about their position on euthanasia of shelter pets and found thgem hypocritical. The below is from Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/134549
PETA and Euthanasia
Even among animal lovers, killing unwanted pets is a divisive issue.
By Jeneen Interlandi Newsweek Web Exclusive
Daphna Nachminovitch still remembers the rerelease of the Disney classic "101 Dalmatians" and the tragedy that followed. First there was a spike in sales of the famous spotted breed.
Then, in the months that followed, shelters took in hundreds of Dalmatians from disillusioned pet owners around the country. "As soon as the puppies outlived their cuteness and the kids didn't want to scoop the poop anymore, the dogs were dumped in shelters," says Nachminovitch, vice president of cruelty investigations for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). "Many of them had to be euthanized, because there was simply no place for them to go."
But what many animal lovers don't realize is that PETA itself may have put down some of those unwanted Dalmatians.
The organization has practiced euthanasia for years. Since 1998 PETA has killed more than 17,000 animals, nearly 85 percent of all those it has rescued. Dalmatians may no longer be the breed of the day, but the problem of unwanted and abandoned pets is as urgent as ever.
Shelters around the country kill 4 million animals every year; by some estimates, more than 80 percent of them are healthy. In recent years those grim statistics have split the animal rights community.
Ironically, PETA has emerged as a strong proponent of euthanasia. (The group is better known for its public condemnations of everyone from fashion designer Donna Karan for her use of fur to the National Cancer Institute for its animal research.)
In defense of its policy PETA has insisted that euthanasia is a necessary evil in a world full of unwanted pets. But while the group has some well-known allies, including the Humane Society of the United States, a growing number of animal rights activists claim to have found a better, more humane way.
"Over-population is a myth," says attorney Nathan Winograd, whose recent book "Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America"" chronicles the rise of the no-kill shelter movement. "With better outreach and public relations, we can find homes for virtually all of the healthy animals we are now killing."
As proof he points to a string of communities across the country whose shelters have managed to stop euthanizing all but the sickest animals.
Bonney Brown, executive director of the Nevada Humane Society, says that in 2007, the first year her group went "no-kill," her shelters managed to save 90 percent of the 8,000 animals they took in.
Among other strategies, the organization ramped up its volunteer force, from 30 to 1,700, expanded its hours so that people could come in after work and engaged in extensive media outreach.
"On balance, people love animals," says Brown, pointing out that animal causes are one of the fastest-growing segments of American philanthropy.
"The biggest challenge has been convincing them to trust their local shelters. And with a little initiative we are finally starting to do that."
Shelters in Virginia, New York and San Francisco report successes similar to Nevada's, and communities in more than a dozen states have announced no-kill goals and added legislative mandates to their agenda.
King County, Wash., passed a law requiring area shelters to achieve an 85 percent save rate by 2009. San Antonio, Texas, is aiming for zero kills by 2012. And Ivan City, Utah, saved 97 percent of its shelter animals beginning in 2006 when the animal control ordinances were rewritten to prohibit the euthanasia of healthy animals.
Those successes have not persuaded PETA or its allies. The group argues that in order to maintain their no-kill status these facilities simply turn away animals that are unlikely to be adopted, often leaving them to fates worse than death. "No one hates it more than we do," says Nachminovitch. "But we would rather offer these animals a painless death than have them tortured, starved or sold for research."
PETA isn't the only group to take that stance. "No-kill is a noble goal," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. "But the sheer number of animals make it almost unachievable."
Instead of zero kills, PETA claims to be shooting for zero births. "Focusing on the animals that come into shelters is like emptying a river with a teaspoon," says Nachminovitch. "By investing in spay and neuter programs, which are where a lot of our resources go, we can stop unwanted births and prevent four times as much suffering."
But Brown and others insist they have achieved no-kill without turning animals away, and on a fraction of PETA's $30 million budget. "With the resources at their disposal, PETA and the Humane Society of the U.S. could become no-kill in no time," Winograd says. "Instead they have become leading killers of cats and dogs, and the animal-loving public unwittingly foots the bill through taxes and donations."
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Many of us have supported both PETA and their methods in the past. Three years ago I found out about their position on euthanasia of shelter pets and found thgem hypocritical. The below is from Newsweek.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/134549
PETA and Euthanasia
Even among animal lovers, killing unwanted pets is a divisive issue.
By Jeneen Interlandi Newsweek Web Exclusive
Daphna Nachminovitch still remembers the rerelease of the Disney classic "101 Dalmatians" and the tragedy that followed. First there was a spike in sales of the famous spotted breed.
Then, in the months that followed, shelters took in hundreds of Dalmatians from disillusioned pet owners around the country. "As soon as the puppies outlived their cuteness and the kids didn't want to scoop the poop anymore, the dogs were dumped in shelters," says Nachminovitch, vice president of cruelty investigations for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). "Many of them had to be euthanized, because there was simply no place for them to go."
But what many animal lovers don't realize is that PETA itself may have put down some of those unwanted Dalmatians.
The organization has practiced euthanasia for years. Since 1998 PETA has killed more than 17,000 animals, nearly 85 percent of all those it has rescued. Dalmatians may no longer be the breed of the day, but the problem of unwanted and abandoned pets is as urgent as ever.
Shelters around the country kill 4 million animals every year; by some estimates, more than 80 percent of them are healthy. In recent years those grim statistics have split the animal rights community.
Ironically, PETA has emerged as a strong proponent of euthanasia. (The group is better known for its public condemnations of everyone from fashion designer Donna Karan for her use of fur to the National Cancer Institute for its animal research.)
In defense of its policy PETA has insisted that euthanasia is a necessary evil in a world full of unwanted pets. But while the group has some well-known allies, including the Humane Society of the United States, a growing number of animal rights activists claim to have found a better, more humane way.
"Over-population is a myth," says attorney Nathan Winograd, whose recent book "Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America"" chronicles the rise of the no-kill shelter movement. "With better outreach and public relations, we can find homes for virtually all of the healthy animals we are now killing."
As proof he points to a string of communities across the country whose shelters have managed to stop euthanizing all but the sickest animals.
Bonney Brown, executive director of the Nevada Humane Society, says that in 2007, the first year her group went "no-kill," her shelters managed to save 90 percent of the 8,000 animals they took in.
Among other strategies, the organization ramped up its volunteer force, from 30 to 1,700, expanded its hours so that people could come in after work and engaged in extensive media outreach.
"On balance, people love animals," says Brown, pointing out that animal causes are one of the fastest-growing segments of American philanthropy.
"The biggest challenge has been convincing them to trust their local shelters. And with a little initiative we are finally starting to do that."
Shelters in Virginia, New York and San Francisco report successes similar to Nevada's, and communities in more than a dozen states have announced no-kill goals and added legislative mandates to their agenda.
King County, Wash., passed a law requiring area shelters to achieve an 85 percent save rate by 2009. San Antonio, Texas, is aiming for zero kills by 2012. And Ivan City, Utah, saved 97 percent of its shelter animals beginning in 2006 when the animal control ordinances were rewritten to prohibit the euthanasia of healthy animals.
Those successes have not persuaded PETA or its allies. The group argues that in order to maintain their no-kill status these facilities simply turn away animals that are unlikely to be adopted, often leaving them to fates worse than death. "No one hates it more than we do," says Nachminovitch. "But we would rather offer these animals a painless death than have them tortured, starved or sold for research."
PETA isn't the only group to take that stance. "No-kill is a noble goal," says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. "But the sheer number of animals make it almost unachievable."
Instead of zero kills, PETA claims to be shooting for zero births. "Focusing on the animals that come into shelters is like emptying a river with a teaspoon," says Nachminovitch. "By investing in spay and neuter programs, which are where a lot of our resources go, we can stop unwanted births and prevent four times as much suffering."
But Brown and others insist they have achieved no-kill without turning animals away, and on a fraction of PETA's $30 million budget. "With the resources at their disposal, PETA and the Humane Society of the U.S. could become no-kill in no time," Winograd says. "Instead they have become leading killers of cats and dogs, and the animal-loving public unwittingly foots the bill through taxes and donations."
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Combined Kill/Live Save Rate SF/SPCA & SFACC
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This page posts the 2006 kill/save rate using Maddies statistics, both separately for each organization and combined.
They have a combined save rate of 83%.
This page separately posts the statistics for impound and disposition by input characteristics; i.e., feral cats, healthy, sick, etc.
There combined impound animals are 1/6 of LA, but with proportionately, 1/12 the number killed.
http://www.sfspca.org/stats.shtml#acc
.
This page posts the 2006 kill/save rate using Maddies statistics, both separately for each organization and combined.
They have a combined save rate of 83%.
This page separately posts the statistics for impound and disposition by input characteristics; i.e., feral cats, healthy, sick, etc.
There combined impound animals are 1/6 of LA, but with proportionately, 1/12 the number killed.
http://www.sfspca.org/stats.shtml#acc
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Awful Undercover Video of West Coast Chocken Farm
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This is the kind of stuff that not only turned to vegetarianism, but also impatient for this kind of cruelty to end whatever the means. Whatever the means.
Eric Bailey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 6, 2008, 8:30 AM PDT
An animal protection organization is throwing back the curtains on the West Coast's largest distributor of eggs.
They are releasing a hidden-camera video that shows chickens being mistreated by handlers and locked in cages so small the birds can't spread their wings.
http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-eggs-poultry,0,4314838.story
The footage, shot covertly by an undercover investigator with the group Mercy for Animals, shows workers kicking and stomping on chickens and snapping the necks of sick hens. It also shows birds left with untreated wounds and crowded into cages, sometimes amid rotting corpses.
WATCH UNDERCOVER VIDEO
Officials with the animal protection group said the video was shot this year at Gemperle Enterprises, a Turlock farming outfit that supplies giant NuCal Foods Inc., the biggest supplier of eggs in the western United States.
Nathan Runkle, executive director of the Chicago group, said animal protection activists believe such abuse is probably the rule rather than the exception for an industry that they contend puts profits ahead of humane treatment.
"Unfortunately, we believe this abuse is likely rampant across the country," Runkle said. "As long as these birds are treated like egg-producing machines, the abuse will likely continue."
NuCal Food referred calls to Chris Myles, a spokesman for the Pacific Egg and Poultry Assn. Myles said the association condemned many of the "graphic images and activities depicted in this film," calling them "in violation of our high standards for animal welfare."
He said the vast majority of egg and poultry farms in California operated in a humane and ethical manner.
The owner of Gemperle Enterprises said the animal group was using grainy and suspect video footage to make accusations that run counter to the policies and practices of his operation.
"What I saw on that video is not what our company does," said Steve Gemperle, a second-generation owner of the egg producer. "We do not accept any abuse of farm animals. It's against our values and morals."
Coming a few months after a similar video exposing mistreatment of cows at a Chino slaughterhouse prompted a nationwide beef recall, the footage is being made public today at a news conference to promote more humane treatment of penned farm animals.
The California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which is on the November ballot, seeks to ensure that farm animals are not kept in cages or pens that allow them virtually no movement.
Mercy for Animals also is asking Merced and Stanislaus counties to launch a criminal investigation into Gemperle Enterprises, which operates in both counties. Although federal law does not regulate treatment of egg-laying chickens, state animal-cruelty regulations prohibit the mistreatment of the birds, Runkle said.
Over eight weeks in January and February, the group says, its investigator worked as a maintenance worker for Gemperle Enterprises, which employs about 180.
The group said the video showed sick and crippled birds deprived of veterinary treatment or proper euthanizing, and chickens deprived of food and drink, lacking proper care, living in filth that included rotting corpses and layers of feces.
Workers are seen on the video handling the birds so roughly that in some cases the chickens suffered injuries described by the investigator as broken bones and blunt trauma.
The birds are kept in mesh enclosures called "battery cages," sometimes more than six to a space no bigger than the drawer of a filing cabinet, Runkle said. Inside those close quarters, the fowl are unable to spread their wings or move much at all, he said.
In a letter to the Merced and Stanislaus county district attorneys, Runkle said the evidence supplied by the investigator "reveals a pervasive pattern of neglect that blatantly violates the standard of proper care and attention required for animals under California law."
The letter quotes animal health experts saying that injured poultry with no hope of recovery should be euthanized immediately.
After viewing the footage, Dr. Ned Buyukmihci, a UC Davis emeritus professor of veterinary medicine, told the group that the manner of treatment was "cruel by any normal definition of the word" and violated the "norms of conduct with respect to animal welfare and veterinary care," according to the letter.
Runkle said the group chose to infiltrate Gemperle Enterprises at random.
For the owners of Gemperle, it marked the second time in little more than two years that an animal rights group apparently gained surreptitious access to one of their facilities and shot video. In 2006, an activist working independently shot footage inside one of Gemperle's farms that was aired by KGO-TV in San Francisco.
"They won't stop until they destroy animal agriculture," Gemperle said.
Gemperle said it was unclear whether the new footage truly was shot at one of his family's farms, but said the mistreatment violated his company's policies.
eric.bailey@latimes.com
.
What crap--violated the company's policies? Officially Hitler had no connection with the Jewish genocide either. They never check what is going on on their farms? They should be politicians, as they have the same contempt for truth.
.
This is the kind of stuff that not only turned to vegetarianism, but also impatient for this kind of cruelty to end whatever the means. Whatever the means.
Eric Bailey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 6, 2008, 8:30 AM PDT
An animal protection organization is throwing back the curtains on the West Coast's largest distributor of eggs.
They are releasing a hidden-camera video that shows chickens being mistreated by handlers and locked in cages so small the birds can't spread their wings.
http://ktla.trb.com/news/ktla-eggs-poultry,0,4314838.story
The footage, shot covertly by an undercover investigator with the group Mercy for Animals, shows workers kicking and stomping on chickens and snapping the necks of sick hens. It also shows birds left with untreated wounds and crowded into cages, sometimes amid rotting corpses.
WATCH UNDERCOVER VIDEO
Officials with the animal protection group said the video was shot this year at Gemperle Enterprises, a Turlock farming outfit that supplies giant NuCal Foods Inc., the biggest supplier of eggs in the western United States.
Nathan Runkle, executive director of the Chicago group, said animal protection activists believe such abuse is probably the rule rather than the exception for an industry that they contend puts profits ahead of humane treatment.
"Unfortunately, we believe this abuse is likely rampant across the country," Runkle said. "As long as these birds are treated like egg-producing machines, the abuse will likely continue."
NuCal Food referred calls to Chris Myles, a spokesman for the Pacific Egg and Poultry Assn. Myles said the association condemned many of the "graphic images and activities depicted in this film," calling them "in violation of our high standards for animal welfare."
He said the vast majority of egg and poultry farms in California operated in a humane and ethical manner.
The owner of Gemperle Enterprises said the animal group was using grainy and suspect video footage to make accusations that run counter to the policies and practices of his operation.
"What I saw on that video is not what our company does," said Steve Gemperle, a second-generation owner of the egg producer. "We do not accept any abuse of farm animals. It's against our values and morals."
Coming a few months after a similar video exposing mistreatment of cows at a Chino slaughterhouse prompted a nationwide beef recall, the footage is being made public today at a news conference to promote more humane treatment of penned farm animals.
The California Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which is on the November ballot, seeks to ensure that farm animals are not kept in cages or pens that allow them virtually no movement.
Mercy for Animals also is asking Merced and Stanislaus counties to launch a criminal investigation into Gemperle Enterprises, which operates in both counties. Although federal law does not regulate treatment of egg-laying chickens, state animal-cruelty regulations prohibit the mistreatment of the birds, Runkle said.
Over eight weeks in January and February, the group says, its investigator worked as a maintenance worker for Gemperle Enterprises, which employs about 180.
The group said the video showed sick and crippled birds deprived of veterinary treatment or proper euthanizing, and chickens deprived of food and drink, lacking proper care, living in filth that included rotting corpses and layers of feces.
Workers are seen on the video handling the birds so roughly that in some cases the chickens suffered injuries described by the investigator as broken bones and blunt trauma.
The birds are kept in mesh enclosures called "battery cages," sometimes more than six to a space no bigger than the drawer of a filing cabinet, Runkle said. Inside those close quarters, the fowl are unable to spread their wings or move much at all, he said.
In a letter to the Merced and Stanislaus county district attorneys, Runkle said the evidence supplied by the investigator "reveals a pervasive pattern of neglect that blatantly violates the standard of proper care and attention required for animals under California law."
The letter quotes animal health experts saying that injured poultry with no hope of recovery should be euthanized immediately.
After viewing the footage, Dr. Ned Buyukmihci, a UC Davis emeritus professor of veterinary medicine, told the group that the manner of treatment was "cruel by any normal definition of the word" and violated the "norms of conduct with respect to animal welfare and veterinary care," according to the letter.
Runkle said the group chose to infiltrate Gemperle Enterprises at random.
For the owners of Gemperle, it marked the second time in little more than two years that an animal rights group apparently gained surreptitious access to one of their facilities and shot video. In 2006, an activist working independently shot footage inside one of Gemperle's farms that was aired by KGO-TV in San Francisco.
"They won't stop until they destroy animal agriculture," Gemperle said.
Gemperle said it was unclear whether the new footage truly was shot at one of his family's farms, but said the mistreatment violated his company's policies.
eric.bailey@latimes.com
.
What crap--violated the company's policies? Officially Hitler had no connection with the Jewish genocide either. They never check what is going on on their farms? They should be politicians, as they have the same contempt for truth.
.
Clinton on Hunting
Clinton: My Dad Taught Me How To Shoot
By Eric Kleefeld - April 12, 2008, 10:45PM
"You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught be how to shoot when I was a little girl," said Clinton.
People enjoy hunting and shooting because it's an important part of who they are. Not because they are bitter."
She later added, however, that she is not herself an expert with firearms: "As I told you, my dad taught me how to shoot behind our cottage. I have gone hunting. I am not a hunter. But I have gone hunting."
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By Eric Kleefeld - April 12, 2008, 10:45PM
"You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught be how to shoot when I was a little girl," said Clinton.
People enjoy hunting and shooting because it's an important part of who they are. Not because they are bitter."
She later added, however, that she is not herself an expert with firearms: "As I told you, my dad taught me how to shoot behind our cottage. I have gone hunting. I am not a hunter. But I have gone hunting."
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Villaraigosa Announces LA is "The lowest No-Kill" at Genesis
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Villaraigosa said LAAS had the lowest kill in America:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/04/30/razzi-vid-mayor-villaraigosa-chats-up-las-animal-policies/#comment-86332
No wonder Villaraigosa is being considered for VP by Hillary. They are equally adept at dodging sniper fire in Bosnia.
Villaraigosa said LAAS had the lowest kill in America:
http://www.ecorazzi.com/2008/04/30/razzi-vid-mayor-villaraigosa-chats-up-las-animal-policies/#comment-86332
No wonder Villaraigosa is being considered for VP by Hillary. They are equally adept at dodging sniper fire in Bosnia.
ABANDONED CATS AT LAX EXPANSION
From: Catherine Borrego
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:45 AM
Subject: Lax expansion program abandoned pets!!!Urgent!!!!
Hi rescue friends. This email is a plea to the cat rescuers to help in this situation
I was in the neighborhood that has been designated as the new LAX expansion area. It was suddenly apparent that this area was spotted with pets left behind. The neighbor hood homes have been purchased by Lax and are either unoccupied or have already been demolished for land clearing purposes. The cats are numerous. I have befriended one mama cat who is in bad shape and will adopt her immediately. But there are too many to list.
One drive through the area at dusk will show the task at hand. I know there is a group of kitties that have been fenced in with no way out and they looked like they were in hunting mode.
Many of the cats are pets and are as sweet as punch and many are or are now feral. The one thing we may have in our favor is time. We could collect them over the next few months.
Mary and I will do our part to rescue the dogs. This email is a plea to the cat rescuers to help in this situation. This cats will become land fill or will ultimately scamper to safety of the 405 freeway or Century Blvd.
The quadrant border of the neighbor hood is La Cienga Blvd - Airport Blvd, Arbor Vitae-Century Blvd. This is Westchester of Inglewood. Right on the border.
Please circulate to all rescue partners. I would be glad to assist anyway I can.
Thanks Cathy
Mary Chatman: maryslittlelambs@ca.rr.com
Catherine Borrego: cborrego@murad.com
Boks and Merritt Underestimate County Kill Rates
.
This post is something all LA County activists should look at and follow up on with Sue Freeman.
A day ago Ed Boks sent out a pre release showing County was killing 8.5 animals per 1,000 residents and LA City was killing 3.7 per 1,000.
Boy did Merritt Clifton and Boks get it wrong about the per 1,000 residents kill rate for the County. They both did Mayeda a HUGE favor.
Merritt, seconded by Boks, assigned the County a kill rate of 8.5 compared to LA City, with 3.7. Even by these stats, County was killing at a rate 230% of LA.
Don’t show this to the Supervisors, their eyes will glaze over.
However, Sue Freeman, a well-known LA animal community person, pointed out whoever did the stats merely subtracted the LA City and Long Beach populations from County and based the County kill ratio on a population of 5.1 million people.
In fact, Sue pointed out, there are many areas in LA County that are under contract with non-County organizations, and the real population they alone serve as animal control, is really 3.6 million, raising the true County kill ratio to 12.0/1,000, better than TRIPLE LA City!
Merritt has responded to Sue that this was irrelevant to the problem in Long Beach and he was more interested in “trends.” You think he’d be more interested in which agency is doing better than another agency rather than the trend of one agency vs. another. He focused on Long Beach even though LB only killed 6,000 animals vs. a combined 58,000 for LA City and County combined.
He said the real problem from his perspective, is the higher rate of cat kills in LB compared to County and LA. Yet, LB killed only 4,500 compared to LA and County with 35,000. How much is Ed and Mayeda paying this guy? I'll post his email and my responses to his illogic later.
Sue did point out that Santa Monica has a 1.6/1,000 population kill rate, which may be the best in the nation.
Please contact Sue for all of her stats and reasoning.
supurr@rescueguide.com
This post is something all LA County activists should look at and follow up on with Sue Freeman.
A day ago Ed Boks sent out a pre release showing County was killing 8.5 animals per 1,000 residents and LA City was killing 3.7 per 1,000.
Boy did Merritt Clifton and Boks get it wrong about the per 1,000 residents kill rate for the County. They both did Mayeda a HUGE favor.
Merritt, seconded by Boks, assigned the County a kill rate of 8.5 compared to LA City, with 3.7. Even by these stats, County was killing at a rate 230% of LA.
Don’t show this to the Supervisors, their eyes will glaze over.
However, Sue Freeman, a well-known LA animal community person, pointed out whoever did the stats merely subtracted the LA City and Long Beach populations from County and based the County kill ratio on a population of 5.1 million people.
In fact, Sue pointed out, there are many areas in LA County that are under contract with non-County organizations, and the real population they alone serve as animal control, is really 3.6 million, raising the true County kill ratio to 12.0/1,000, better than TRIPLE LA City!
Merritt has responded to Sue that this was irrelevant to the problem in Long Beach and he was more interested in “trends.” You think he’d be more interested in which agency is doing better than another agency rather than the trend of one agency vs. another. He focused on Long Beach even though LB only killed 6,000 animals vs. a combined 58,000 for LA City and County combined.
He said the real problem from his perspective, is the higher rate of cat kills in LB compared to County and LA. Yet, LB killed only 4,500 compared to LA and County with 35,000. How much is Ed and Mayeda paying this guy? I'll post his email and my responses to his illogic later.
Sue did point out that Santa Monica has a 1.6/1,000 population kill rate, which may be the best in the nation.
Please contact Sue for all of her stats and reasoning.
supurr@rescueguide.com
Animal Services to cut 35 ACTs-AMMENDED
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Two days ago Boks presented his budget proposal to the Budget and Proposal Committee.
Animal Services is cutting 35 ACT positions and not hiring 8 already budgeted. I think. Every time anyone mentioned a number, another person gave a different number. I did notice that whenever Ed gave a number, someone challenged it. I guess no one believes anything he says anymore.
Hours are being reduced to 40 hours, 10 am to 6 pm. Linda Barth insisted that 6 days a week X 8 hours was 40 hours. Maybe they plan on shutting down another day each week.
Four supervisory positions would revert to ACT positions. I missed the part about whether ACO personnel would be affected and couldn't find it re-running the tape.
I really, really hope this allows Ed to get rid of the deadwood rather than reduce by seniority, which is probably the case. The good people he hired since he came may be ousted.
As part of the budget cut, the Northeast Valley shelter will not be opened as a full service shelter. Instead, it will house the LADP/LAAS Gestapo, the Animal Cruelty Task Force, and evidence animals. Ed says he thinks this will be well-received by the animal community.
He also says the facility will be used to temporarily house animals from rescue groups whose own houses/shelters are filled up. This will be staffed by volunteers. Adoptions will still take place at the facilities but surrenders will not be taken.
Adoption fees for dogs would increase from $91 to $117 per dog. He was asked whether he thought that would negatively impact adoptions. His response was at $91, LA was adopting more animals than any other municipal shelter in the country, and he says we are the fifth lowest kill shelter system in the country using his murder per thousand criteria. He insinuates we are almost there.
He concluded from this "observation" that the $26 raise would not much impact adoptions, and if it did, he could go to Council next year to ask for a decrease. How the hell he could conclude it would not uch impact adoptions is beyond me.
You know what is going to happen, don't you? Adoptions will decrease and next April he will go to Council and blame them for the fee increase which dropped adoptions. Also, he will blame Council for not opening the NE Valley shelter and the loss of 35 ACT due to budget cuts they passed, for the increase in euthanasia. But he will still say then that caused only a slight increase in the kills per thousand stats.
Then Villaraigosa will give Ed an award for something or other.
The Boks presentation; it is about 2/3 of the way through the meeting:
http://lacity.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=18&clip_id=3380&caption_id=4703251
By the way, every time I see Rosendahl, the more convinced I am he is an idiot. See for yourself. He is plain out nuts and has this stupid idea of having a boy scout like volunteer force go house to house to collect fees. Remember, this is the idiot that thought going from door to door to check for spay/neuters was an invasion of privacy.
Two days ago Boks presented his budget proposal to the Budget and Proposal Committee.
Animal Services is cutting 35 ACT positions and not hiring 8 already budgeted. I think. Every time anyone mentioned a number, another person gave a different number. I did notice that whenever Ed gave a number, someone challenged it. I guess no one believes anything he says anymore.
Hours are being reduced to 40 hours, 10 am to 6 pm. Linda Barth insisted that 6 days a week X 8 hours was 40 hours. Maybe they plan on shutting down another day each week.
Four supervisory positions would revert to ACT positions. I missed the part about whether ACO personnel would be affected and couldn't find it re-running the tape.
I really, really hope this allows Ed to get rid of the deadwood rather than reduce by seniority, which is probably the case. The good people he hired since he came may be ousted.
As part of the budget cut, the Northeast Valley shelter will not be opened as a full service shelter. Instead, it will house the LADP/LAAS Gestapo, the Animal Cruelty Task Force, and evidence animals. Ed says he thinks this will be well-received by the animal community.
He also says the facility will be used to temporarily house animals from rescue groups whose own houses/shelters are filled up. This will be staffed by volunteers. Adoptions will still take place at the facilities but surrenders will not be taken.
Adoption fees for dogs would increase from $91 to $117 per dog. He was asked whether he thought that would negatively impact adoptions. His response was at $91, LA was adopting more animals than any other municipal shelter in the country, and he says we are the fifth lowest kill shelter system in the country using his murder per thousand criteria. He insinuates we are almost there.
He concluded from this "observation" that the $26 raise would not much impact adoptions, and if it did, he could go to Council next year to ask for a decrease. How the hell he could conclude it would not uch impact adoptions is beyond me.
You know what is going to happen, don't you? Adoptions will decrease and next April he will go to Council and blame them for the fee increase which dropped adoptions. Also, he will blame Council for not opening the NE Valley shelter and the loss of 35 ACT due to budget cuts they passed, for the increase in euthanasia. But he will still say then that caused only a slight increase in the kills per thousand stats.
Then Villaraigosa will give Ed an award for something or other.
The Boks presentation; it is about 2/3 of the way through the meeting:
http://lacity.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=18&clip_id=3380&caption_id=4703251
By the way, every time I see Rosendahl, the more convinced I am he is an idiot. See for yourself. He is plain out nuts and has this stupid idea of having a boy scout like volunteer force go house to house to collect fees. Remember, this is the idiot that thought going from door to door to check for spay/neuters was an invasion of privacy.
Linda Barth pointed out the volunteers would need a SWAT team support in some areas of the unfriendlier areas of the city. Man, he is an idiot. How was he able to maintain a TV talk show for seven years in Santa Monica?
Santa Monica's Shelter Stats
A week or so ago Ed Boks sent out an email comparing LAAS's kill stats with County, but especially Long Beach, where he asked rhetorically, "I wonder what is going on there." Long Beach was not doing well at all.
Ed says Santa Monica and Glendale stats were not included in his figures. Why?
I called my old friend, Don Umber, head of SM's shelter. I asked for his stats.
Santa Monica runs a tiny shelter compared to LAAS, about 2-1/2 percent of LA's impounds. However, it is a public shelter, taking all pets no matter what their condition.
I agree SM is a wealthy suburb, but it has animals coming in from nearby communities that would be considered County, such as Culver City as well as from LA.
Also, SM has a large Hispanic/black population south of Olympic and Pico, as well as elderly and poor in the Mid City area and North of Wilshire area.
SM is extremely heavy in rental apartments, including rent controlled apartments. These are the people being driven out by anti rent control forces to apartments that do not accept animals. Lots of homeowners are driven out because of foreclosures, as the average home in SM is extremely expensive.
Most of the renters driven out are low income, middle age, to elderly who have been in their apartments for 10-20 years. Most have multiple animals. This is where most of the owner surrenders come from according to Don.
The houses are in the Ocean Park and Hispanic/black areas around SM Community College.
SM has a population of 88,000, or 2.2% of LA's population. Therefore, SM's impound rate is a little higher than LA's.
Here are the stats sent to me by Don. They are from the Annual Rabies Control stats sent to the County.
Adoptions:...............48.0%
.
Return to Owner.....35.0%
.
Died in Shelter.......0.1% (Get that, 1/10th of 1%)
.
Killed.......................15.0%
The figure do not add up to 100% because I rounded the figures.
.
Impounds:
Captured...................36%
.
Owner surrenders...15%
.
From public.............48%.
In Santa Monica, if the shelter killed 50 fewer cats, they would be well within Winograd's definition of no kill and better than the Reno or Charlottesville no kill shelters. Even now, the save rate for dogs is 96%, better than any Winograd shelter or the well-funded San Francisco SFSPCA.
However, Don is reluctant to toot his horn as people everywhere know how good SM is at placing pets, and they are bringing in animals from other cities by people claiming they found them in Santa Monica.
Most of the cats killed are ferals or elderly/ill. Less than a dozen neonatals were killed last year, even though he said it was a horrendous kitten season. Makes you wonder why LAAS had so few neonatals impounded and killed. Maybe LAAS was dumping them on Santa Monica.
Santa Monica shelters have a proportionately larger employee base per capita or per animal than LAAS, but only about 2/3 of LAAS' per capita or per animal budget, meaning they get more bang for the buck. They have 11 full time staff compared to 338 for County, and I hear, 350+ for the City. I hear so many different figures for LAAS' buget and employee number I have no idea what is real.
Don says they have a fairly large volunteer and foster base and have a good relationship with a local rescue group that handles kittens. (I used to work with this group.)
I told Don how close his shelters were to no kill using the 10% definition. He says he will try harder to make it so.
Ed says Santa Monica and Glendale stats were not included in his figures. Why?
I called my old friend, Don Umber, head of SM's shelter. I asked for his stats.
Santa Monica runs a tiny shelter compared to LAAS, about 2-1/2 percent of LA's impounds. However, it is a public shelter, taking all pets no matter what their condition.
I agree SM is a wealthy suburb, but it has animals coming in from nearby communities that would be considered County, such as Culver City as well as from LA.
Also, SM has a large Hispanic/black population south of Olympic and Pico, as well as elderly and poor in the Mid City area and North of Wilshire area.
SM is extremely heavy in rental apartments, including rent controlled apartments. These are the people being driven out by anti rent control forces to apartments that do not accept animals. Lots of homeowners are driven out because of foreclosures, as the average home in SM is extremely expensive.
Most of the renters driven out are low income, middle age, to elderly who have been in their apartments for 10-20 years. Most have multiple animals. This is where most of the owner surrenders come from according to Don.
The houses are in the Ocean Park and Hispanic/black areas around SM Community College.
SM has a population of 88,000, or 2.2% of LA's population. Therefore, SM's impound rate is a little higher than LA's.
Here are the stats sent to me by Don. They are from the Annual Rabies Control stats sent to the County.
Adoptions:...............48.0%
.
Return to Owner.....35.0%
.
Died in Shelter.......0.1% (Get that, 1/10th of 1%)
.
Killed.......................15.0%
The figure do not add up to 100% because I rounded the figures.
.
Impounds:
Captured...................36%
.
Owner surrenders...15%
.
From public.............48%.
In Santa Monica, if the shelter killed 50 fewer cats, they would be well within Winograd's definition of no kill and better than the Reno or Charlottesville no kill shelters. Even now, the save rate for dogs is 96%, better than any Winograd shelter or the well-funded San Francisco SFSPCA.
However, Don is reluctant to toot his horn as people everywhere know how good SM is at placing pets, and they are bringing in animals from other cities by people claiming they found them in Santa Monica.
Most of the cats killed are ferals or elderly/ill. Less than a dozen neonatals were killed last year, even though he said it was a horrendous kitten season. Makes you wonder why LAAS had so few neonatals impounded and killed. Maybe LAAS was dumping them on Santa Monica.
Santa Monica shelters have a proportionately larger employee base per capita or per animal than LAAS, but only about 2/3 of LAAS' per capita or per animal budget, meaning they get more bang for the buck. They have 11 full time staff compared to 338 for County, and I hear, 350+ for the City. I hear so many different figures for LAAS' buget and employee number I have no idea what is real.
Don says they have a fairly large volunteer and foster base and have a good relationship with a local rescue group that handles kittens. (I used to work with this group.)
I told Don how close his shelters were to no kill using the 10% definition. He says he will try harder to make it so.
Vote for Steve Cooley for DA
.
Vote for Steve Cooley for District Attorney.
Cooley refused to yield to LAPD and ACTF pressure to charge Ron Mason with a felony, largely because there was none. Even if there had been, ACTF/Boks botched the Mason raid to the extent that made made it a criminal act. Unfortunately, this still has to be proven in court.
I hear Cooley has been critical of the cases brought to him by ACTF basically as being botched.
.
Vote for Steve Cooley for District Attorney.
Cooley refused to yield to LAPD and ACTF pressure to charge Ron Mason with a felony, largely because there was none. Even if there had been, ACTF/Boks botched the Mason raid to the extent that made made it a criminal act. Unfortunately, this still has to be proven in court.
I hear Cooley has been critical of the cases brought to him by ACTF basically as being botched.
.
Mayeda's "Major Accomplishments" This Year
County Animal Control has a budget of $27,493,000 for the current year and 338 employees. Mayeda has been on the job since 2001.
http://ceo.lacounty.gov/pdf/Annl%20Rpt%2007-08.pdf
Here is what she lists as major accomplishments this year (page 61 PDF page number):
• Implemented mandatory spay/neuter and microchip ordinance for dogs, the first in the nation. This ordinance will result in fewer unwanted dogs, increased public safety, and reduced animal costs to taxpayers over the long term.
• Received approval to build seventh animal shelter, to be located in Antelope Valley.
This new shelter will reduce the overcrowding and high euthanasia rates at the Lancaster shelter.
• Received a $100,000 matching grant from PetSmart Charities. This funding will help low-income pet owners receive spay/neuter services for their pets, resulting in fewer unwanted animals born, less stray dogs to create public safety hazards, and a greater ability for low-income pet owners to comply with the new County ordinance.
• Began partnership with PETsMART Charities to begin a low-income spay/neuter clinic in the Florence-Firestone area. This clinic will bring much needed services to low income pet owners in this area.
• Received pledge from the Found Animal Foundation to provide up to 1 million free microchips to all dogs served by the department.
• Received $100,000 grant approval from the Quality and Productivity Commission for PAWSTATS, the department’s enhanced performance measurement system based on DPSSSTATS. (What is DPSSSTATS?)
• Received a National Association of Counties award for ground-breaking animal facility grading program. This program has received national attention.
Is this a joke?
There is no mention of any improved euthanasia or live save stats this year, or any other improvements in lifesaving performance, increasing adoptions, return to owner, decreased died in shelter rates, number of spay/neuters done or assisted.
Instead, two of the seven major accomplishments for the $27.5 million per year operation was receiving two, $100,000 grants, each being 4/1,000th of her budget. This is 4/10ths of 1 percent!
What does it mean she "implemented" the spay/neuter microchip ordinance? What has she actually done to "implement" it in terms of performance? Doesn't she mean she was here when it passed and "implemented" really mean nothing has been done so far?
She "began" a "partnership" with Petsmart that some day will create a low cost spay/neuter Center? Began, someday? Petsmart again. What about the clinic? Will it S/N 1,000 animals or 5,000? Who will run it? Who will it belong to? When will it go on line?
Received an award for an animal facility grading program? How did she grade her own facilities?
Received approval to build a seventh shelter sometime in the future, as opposed to opening a new shelter now? Is receiving approval the same as an accomplishment?
Got a pledge from Found Animal Foundation to supply a million microchips for all shelter dogs?
Come on, this is ancient news. The offer was made two years ago. And, a million chips? Isn't that about 33 years of dog impounds? Has even one dog been chipped?
Gary Michelson's FAF--so far as I know--has done nothing notable with its $10,000,000 initial funding except to renege on promised support for LAAS. Not only does Michelson look goofy, he does not keep his word.
With a $27.5 million budget, two $100,000 grants are her high points? Free microchips and a facility grading program. What a joke.
Take a look at our sister blog watching the County shelters for current information and upcoming events, such as the May 3 event:
http://lacdacc.blogspot.com
Apparently Mayeda has reported the bloggers to the FBI alleging animal terrorism. I remember that one. Boks did that--if I remember correctly--to the ADL. Look what it got him and the City.
http://ceo.lacounty.gov/pdf/Annl%20Rpt%2007-08.pdf
Here is what she lists as major accomplishments this year (page 61 PDF page number):
• Implemented mandatory spay/neuter and microchip ordinance for dogs, the first in the nation. This ordinance will result in fewer unwanted dogs, increased public safety, and reduced animal costs to taxpayers over the long term.
• Received approval to build seventh animal shelter, to be located in Antelope Valley.
This new shelter will reduce the overcrowding and high euthanasia rates at the Lancaster shelter.
• Received a $100,000 matching grant from PetSmart Charities. This funding will help low-income pet owners receive spay/neuter services for their pets, resulting in fewer unwanted animals born, less stray dogs to create public safety hazards, and a greater ability for low-income pet owners to comply with the new County ordinance.
• Began partnership with PETsMART Charities to begin a low-income spay/neuter clinic in the Florence-Firestone area. This clinic will bring much needed services to low income pet owners in this area.
• Received pledge from the Found Animal Foundation to provide up to 1 million free microchips to all dogs served by the department.
• Received $100,000 grant approval from the Quality and Productivity Commission for PAWSTATS, the department’s enhanced performance measurement system based on DPSSSTATS. (What is DPSSSTATS?)
• Received a National Association of Counties award for ground-breaking animal facility grading program. This program has received national attention.
Is this a joke?
There is no mention of any improved euthanasia or live save stats this year, or any other improvements in lifesaving performance, increasing adoptions, return to owner, decreased died in shelter rates, number of spay/neuters done or assisted.
Instead, two of the seven major accomplishments for the $27.5 million per year operation was receiving two, $100,000 grants, each being 4/1,000th of her budget. This is 4/10ths of 1 percent!
What does it mean she "implemented" the spay/neuter microchip ordinance? What has she actually done to "implement" it in terms of performance? Doesn't she mean she was here when it passed and "implemented" really mean nothing has been done so far?
She "began" a "partnership" with Petsmart that some day will create a low cost spay/neuter Center? Began, someday? Petsmart again. What about the clinic? Will it S/N 1,000 animals or 5,000? Who will run it? Who will it belong to? When will it go on line?
Received an award for an animal facility grading program? How did she grade her own facilities?
Received approval to build a seventh shelter sometime in the future, as opposed to opening a new shelter now? Is receiving approval the same as an accomplishment?
Got a pledge from Found Animal Foundation to supply a million microchips for all shelter dogs?
Come on, this is ancient news. The offer was made two years ago. And, a million chips? Isn't that about 33 years of dog impounds? Has even one dog been chipped?
Gary Michelson's FAF--so far as I know--has done nothing notable with its $10,000,000 initial funding except to renege on promised support for LAAS. Not only does Michelson look goofy, he does not keep his word.
With a $27.5 million budget, two $100,000 grants are her high points? Free microchips and a facility grading program. What a joke.
Take a look at our sister blog watching the County shelters for current information and upcoming events, such as the May 3 event:
http://lacdacc.blogspot.com
Apparently Mayeda has reported the bloggers to the FBI alleging animal terrorism. I remember that one. Boks did that--if I remember correctly--to the ADL. Look what it got him and the City.
How to File a Complaint Against a Veterinarian
The site below is of the California Veterinary Board. The page below gives information and how to file a complaint, including a down loadable printable page you can send them by mail.
It tells who should file and how to file.
Go get them. Get some of these crooks/incompetents out of business.
http://www.vmb.ca.gov/comp-inf.htm
It tells who should file and how to file.
Go get them. Get some of these crooks/incompetents out of business.
http://www.vmb.ca.gov/comp-inf.htm
Gracie
.
Our beautiful little girl, Gracie died last night at the hospital on an IV drip.
Born in June 1987, she was a month shy of 21.
We got her and her brother Georgie in August of 1987 and none of us were ever separated for more than two weeks at a time.
Gracie had a long illness with kidney failure diagnosed about two years ago.
Our home seems so empty without her.
Our beautiful little girl, Gracie died last night at the hospital on an IV drip.
Born in June 1987, she was a month shy of 21.
We got her and her brother Georgie in August of 1987 and none of us were ever separated for more than two weeks at a time.
Gracie had a long illness with kidney failure diagnosed about two years ago.
Our home seems so empty without her.
More Info on Good and Bad Vets Please
.
I have posted below some comments on bad vet experiences. I have not heard the other side of the story, because, at this point, the whole vet "problem" is not the central issue of this blog.
I have been thinking of starting a second blog on good and bad vets, rates, locations, etc., but not now.
Regarding Dr. Fahmi (Fahmy?), I have heard he is being sued for medical malpractice by at least one other individual. I called a previous employer to check on what she thought. The response to my statement that he was being sued by several people, was, "I am not surprised," we never let him do surgery here.
The other comment posted about the kitten with the ruptured lungs cites a new doctor we should be keeping track of.
Please post more comments to this post.
.
I have posted below some comments on bad vet experiences. I have not heard the other side of the story, because, at this point, the whole vet "problem" is not the central issue of this blog.
I have been thinking of starting a second blog on good and bad vets, rates, locations, etc., but not now.
Regarding Dr. Fahmi (Fahmy?), I have heard he is being sued for medical malpractice by at least one other individual. I called a previous employer to check on what she thought. The response to my statement that he was being sued by several people, was, "I am not surprised," we never let him do surgery here.
The other comment posted about the kitten with the ruptured lungs cites a new doctor we should be keeping track of.
Please post more comments to this post.
.
Why I am repulsed by anything Chinese
.
Not only do the Chinese sell poisoned pet food and lethally tainted medicines around the world, they treat animals in the most foul way, just as do the Koreans.
When I was in Korea, there were signs all over Seoul that said "Live food." This often meant dogs. Dogs are considered a delicacy. They are often beaten to death prior to being skinned and cooked because supposedly the taste has masculinizing benefits. Of course they hide this from Westerners.
The only live dogs you'll see in Seoul are those running free protected around monasteries. You may think this is bull, but the monks I lived with have gone to those restaurants ONCE only. I had no idea when I was eating in a restaurant in 1995 there that I was eating dog. My guide tried to hide it from me, but I heard about it afterwards.
This is when I became a complete vegetarian. Once I stopped eating anything alive (except veggies), a huge load of guilt dropped from my shoulders. Also, I did not want to have anything to do with Korean culture, or Chinese for that matter.
For this reason I left the Shogate order of Zen priests where I had a fairly high ranking as the only American named to be a World Teacher of Shogate Zen Buddhism.
Photo and story about me after being made an International Teacher:
http://www.buddhapia.co.kr/mem/hyundae/auto/newspaper/238/n-24.htm
Things are worse in China. China has not been exposed to Western disapproval for 50 years as have the Koreans. We have all seen those terrible photos of cages full of cats going off to market. Hey, maybe this is what LAAS can do with its 16,000 corpses: Divvy them up between China and Western University.
http://www.caninescorner.org/topics/dogfur/pleafordogsandcats.htm
If it lives, it will be eaten in China.
As a matter of fact, the Korean Zen monks think so little of Chinese morality and spirituality, that they want to bring Buddhsim back to China from where it came in 641 A.D.
This is from an online petition.
View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition
To: Lee Scott; President and Chief Executive Officer; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
In many North American Wal-Mart stores, “pet supply” sections have an area where photos and information about animals in need of adoption by loving families are posted. The Wal-Mart website boasts a large “pet section,” offering everything from pet strollers to dog clothing.
In addition, American pet search and adoption services are available through Wal-Mart’s “Very Best Pet Network.”
Unfortunately, Wal-Mart operates differently in China. While giving North American customers the impression that Wal-Mart cares about animals, they sell others for slaughter out of the sight of Western customers.
Live turtles and frogs are available for purchase at Chinese Wal-Mart stores. These animals are slaughtered while fully conscious, to satisfy consumers need for “fresh” food items. "The last things the turtles see in the Wal-Mart megastore in northern Beijing are bright fluorescent lights, masked shop assistants and, if they crane their necks over the edge of their plastic container, a chalk board offering them for sale at the bargain price of 39,8 yuan (about $5) each.
Once that sum is paid, even their shells cannot protect them. They are whisked off to the in-store slaughter counter, where their necks are cut, their blood is drained and they are bagged and tagged ready for the checkout counter.
According to the shop assistant, a small minority of the 100 turtles sold every day could also expect a brief respite. “A few customers like to take them home alive so they can play with them for a few days before making them into soup,” she said."
Source: Walmart Leads the Race for China by Jonathan Watts. Mail & Guardian Online (www.mg.co.za) We are saddened and horrified that Wal-Mart would employ such barbaric, inhumane, and environmentally irresponsible practices. Many species of turtles have become critically endangered in Asia due to over-collection and human consumption. We will not shop at Wal-Mart, Sams Club, or any other Wal-Mart owned division world-wide, until Wal-Mart chooses to act in a more environmentally and ethically responsible manner.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition
Not only do the Chinese sell poisoned pet food and lethally tainted medicines around the world, they treat animals in the most foul way, just as do the Koreans.
When I was in Korea, there were signs all over Seoul that said "Live food." This often meant dogs. Dogs are considered a delicacy. They are often beaten to death prior to being skinned and cooked because supposedly the taste has masculinizing benefits. Of course they hide this from Westerners.
The only live dogs you'll see in Seoul are those running free protected around monasteries. You may think this is bull, but the monks I lived with have gone to those restaurants ONCE only. I had no idea when I was eating in a restaurant in 1995 there that I was eating dog. My guide tried to hide it from me, but I heard about it afterwards.
This is when I became a complete vegetarian. Once I stopped eating anything alive (except veggies), a huge load of guilt dropped from my shoulders. Also, I did not want to have anything to do with Korean culture, or Chinese for that matter.
For this reason I left the Shogate order of Zen priests where I had a fairly high ranking as the only American named to be a World Teacher of Shogate Zen Buddhism.
Photo and story about me after being made an International Teacher:
http://www.buddhapia.co.kr/mem/hyundae/auto/newspaper/238/n-24.htm
Things are worse in China. China has not been exposed to Western disapproval for 50 years as have the Koreans. We have all seen those terrible photos of cages full of cats going off to market. Hey, maybe this is what LAAS can do with its 16,000 corpses: Divvy them up between China and Western University.
http://www.caninescorner.org/topics/dogfur/pleafordogsandcats.htm
If it lives, it will be eaten in China.
As a matter of fact, the Korean Zen monks think so little of Chinese morality and spirituality, that they want to bring Buddhsim back to China from where it came in 641 A.D.
This is from an online petition.
View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition
To: Lee Scott; President and Chief Executive Officer; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
In many North American Wal-Mart stores, “pet supply” sections have an area where photos and information about animals in need of adoption by loving families are posted. The Wal-Mart website boasts a large “pet section,” offering everything from pet strollers to dog clothing.
In addition, American pet search and adoption services are available through Wal-Mart’s “Very Best Pet Network.”
Unfortunately, Wal-Mart operates differently in China. While giving North American customers the impression that Wal-Mart cares about animals, they sell others for slaughter out of the sight of Western customers.
Live turtles and frogs are available for purchase at Chinese Wal-Mart stores. These animals are slaughtered while fully conscious, to satisfy consumers need for “fresh” food items. "The last things the turtles see in the Wal-Mart megastore in northern Beijing are bright fluorescent lights, masked shop assistants and, if they crane their necks over the edge of their plastic container, a chalk board offering them for sale at the bargain price of 39,8 yuan (about $5) each.
Once that sum is paid, even their shells cannot protect them. They are whisked off to the in-store slaughter counter, where their necks are cut, their blood is drained and they are bagged and tagged ready for the checkout counter.
According to the shop assistant, a small minority of the 100 turtles sold every day could also expect a brief respite. “A few customers like to take them home alive so they can play with them for a few days before making them into soup,” she said."
Source: Walmart Leads the Race for China by Jonathan Watts. Mail & Guardian Online (www.mg.co.za) We are saddened and horrified that Wal-Mart would employ such barbaric, inhumane, and environmentally irresponsible practices. Many species of turtles have become critically endangered in Asia due to over-collection and human consumption. We will not shop at Wal-Mart, Sams Club, or any other Wal-Mart owned division world-wide, until Wal-Mart chooses to act in a more environmentally and ethically responsible manner.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition
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