A quick information tid bit for those that do not understand Parvo or know what it is. Parvo is a virus that is highly easy to transmit to dogs. It can be carried around on your clothes, hands, shoes, and can be found in yards, in the dirt and even transfer it with car tires. This virus once you have it in your yard will expose dogs to it for months and even a year.  The virus attacks the intestines of dogs and puppies are more prone to coming down with it compared to adult dogs, but all dogs are at risk unless vaccinated against it.  Once the virus takes hold in a dog, 24-48hrs later the dog is usually dead. With that said, you can have a dog treated for Parvo if caught early, the costs to treat them is very expensive.

Also there are Parvo tests that are very simple to use and follow the same technology as home pregnancy tests. Downside is, the dog can be carrying the virus but not shedding enough of it in their feces to be picked up by this type of testing. It is a good tool though to catch it early before the dog is showing serious signs of distress. A blood test can be done as well.

August 18th, 2010

I am not in rescue to make friends and to sit on my thumbs and hold silent to the reality of what is going on. I am in it to save the animals and at the same time being responsible about it. Level headed, professional and not everyone will agree with it. That is okay.

The news broke on Facebook, and I on one thread made a comment about what was a better solution to this heartbreaking situation. Vaccines are not fast acting and offer no real hope to those exposed already. Isolation is the the deal breaker for these animals, however, when a shelter holds animals for 72hrs and isolation is not an option here. It is a option that all would agree would be a life saving, but the reality is it is not going to happen in this shelter.  Holding animals in isolation for 14 days would only speed up the killing of healthy dogs as they would have no kennels and would kill for space.  If many dogs were infected, and many exposed taking them out of the shelter would not be an option, because they would not allow them out. On top of that, taking those who appear healthy, and removing them is it responsible? They were exposed and still can have Parvo and you just do not know it yet.  Leaving the shelter they are able to infect soil, your cars, your clothes and once at the vets put other puppies not immune to it yet in danger.

So what gives?

I was attacked bringing up these issues. As if they should be completely ignored and the lives of these dogs saved at any cost, no matter what the cost to other animals in the shelter and outside of the shelter. The long term problem and the long term solution are ignored.

It is easy to say they need treated. I agree 100%, but who is going to pay for it? Robeson County is a non-vetting facility so they are not going to pay for it. They destroy sick animals, as do many tax payer funded shelters. The cost to kill them is much cheaper compared to $400-$1000+ per dog to treat for Parvo. I was attacked because I asked these hard questions and didn't offer solutions. It is easy to come up with what you want to do, but what you want to do needs to have a foundation.

Shorterm
The death of these animals is heartbreaking. Avoidable? Yes it is. Will this happen again here? Yes, it will. I do not agree with killing shelter animals, however, if a puppy is suffering from Parvo and unable to get medical treatment then yes they should not be allowed to just lay there and suffer. That is inhumane.

Even if all the dogs were removed and put in a barn as someone suggested to help them through it. The barn would be the same as the shelter, Parvo infested and still infect and kill. Even more so, harder to disinfect and clean dirt and porous surfaces. That barn would infest dogs with Parvo for months or even years to come. Again, who would pay for it? Again Robeson County is not going to pay for it.

Many dogs were killed today that were not infected, but how do you know for sure what ones are infected and what ones are not? Testing could help this, but who is paying for the tests?

In my eyes, there was really nothing to stop today from happening as much as many wanted to stop it. Even the Humane Society of The United States in their article on Parvo says that if a shelter can not isolate they are better off to destroy the animals and not to let them go out into the public.

If many of these puppies were removed today. Placed in foster homes, they came down with Parvo. Who would pay for that? It would infect that foster home for months to years to come and all puppies coming into that foster home could be infected. If they were adopted out the financial burden it would place on that family and the emotional toll.

The shelter would get a huge backlash for releasing Parvo infested dogs into the community even more so compared to what they already are.

Where is the solution? The long term solution is going to be the very thing that stops this day from repeating. In a matter of time, we will be faced again with this tragic course of events.

Long Term
Parvo being in the shelter is a sign of a community problem with Parvo. It has to be attacked both outside the shelter and inside the shelter. The shelter really needs to disinfect more, clean puppy kennels a lot more often and the workers need to start disinfecting themselves as well. Shoes baths could go a long ways as well in this shelter.

The very thing of vetting, testing, vaccines and isolation are not going to come from Robeson County.

The amount of money, passion and drive in this shelter to make change always amazes me. The fact that no one has sat down and said they have had enough and funneled these efforts into a life saving rescue is beyond me. It is like they keep beating a dead horse (the shelter) to do what they are never going to do. Making the shelter more humane, cleaner, better staffed are great strides. A future of No Kill is a great one to work towards. The fact remains this is still a tax payer funded shelter in a poor community that lacks serious education, altering laws and has a long ways to go.

The idea of using a "broken" shelter as a backbone of rescue is a recipe for disaster. There comes a time when someone has to want to take matters into their own hands.

Land and real estate is cheap in St Pauls, NC area. I am tonight looking at 8 acres of land ready to be built on outside of Lumberton for $47k. Many warehouses and office buildings for sale in the $150k range.

A facility that is operated the way you want it, ability to isolate, vaccinate, vetting and operate a shelter the way it should be. The donations would come in more compared to people paying a tax payer funded shelter. Volunteers to help run the facility instead of wages and networking on Facebook, a website etc will move the animals out just as they are from the shelter.

Are there 4000 supporters of change for Robeson County, NC out there? You bet. If each donated just $37.50 it would be $150k in money to buy property outright to form a shelter. Could you find cheaper? Oh yes. Does it have to be state of the art and pretty? No, it doesn't.

I just wonder how long it will take before people stop bending on a broken system with this much support and take the leap to do what is right.

Kody in Texas

Kody, Kody, Kody what a doll. I happen to see him on my newsfeed on Facebook. I can never explain or put into words why some dogs stick out and seem to be the one to work on. I just do not know. Kody is down in Texas and the note mentioned he was on the list to be destroyed to make room in the shelter as it was getting full. He was blind. I put in to rescue the guy and it has been a wonderful journey in my life so far.

The shelter he is at Young County Humane Society, I can not say enough good things about this shelter. They have been so polite to work with, they checked me out and did ref checks which was wonderful, they vetted Kody for me and have been so supportive. They care about their animals, and it shows. They are trying to get them out of there so they don't have to kill to make room. That is awesome!

Kody was fixed this past Friday and it came to light that he is deaf and blind. It doesn't slow him down much and he is still a happy dog. How can a deaf/blind dog have a quality of life? It is what you make of it. Kody doesn't know any different, he uses smell and vibrations two senses that are much more powerful with out his eyes and ears working. Many people wouldn't know a dog is blind and deaf unless you told them. They just learn to adapt.

Kody will be coming this week to rescue. We have been approved. We are seeking donations for transport and vetting.

Mile High Weimaraner Rescue (MHWR) is an organization operated solely by volunteers dedicated to the welfare of the Weimaraner breed. MHWR is a rescue group who operates on donations and the support of the Weimaraner Foundation Fund - Rescue Committee, which is part of the Weimaraner Club of America.

I first ran into this rescue almost a year ago. I adopted Shayla and had a drive to help rescue this breed. I contacted MHWR and they put me in contact with the Rapid City, SD chapter lady Lindsey, since I live in South Dakota. Lindsey and I hit it off right away. She has saved many Weims! Together we saved several as well. That is just a touch of why I have a passion for this group. The real story is the entire rescue as a whole.

MHWR is top notch when it comes to rescue. They are a very strong, stable and a well organized rescue for Weims. No doubt about that! Talking to people within this group their passion for this breed is strong. The atmosphere is always uplifting.  The photographs of the dogs are so wonderful that need rescue. Photographers donate their time and efforts to capture these rescue dogs personalities in photos.

We laugh and chuckle often at the quirkiness of the breed, laugh at their photos that are funny and just really celebrate the beauty of this breed and all they have to offer us.

I encourage you to join all of us on the MHWR page on Facebook so you can enjoy this as well. The care of the people that rally around MHWR is amazing. It is almost a sense that each of these dogs in rescue are apart of all of us and we are virtual fosters as well to them and their foster families.

To login in the morning, on Facebook, and see a video of a pack of puppies saying good morning to everyone, is fantastic.  A photograph of a Weim in foster waiting for herforever home, sitting in the drivers seat of their foster mom's car as if she is going to drive, with a pack of Pugs surrounding her. It makes you laugh and smile.

MHWR has high standards on foster homes as well as who can adopt their dogs. Some may call this being too strict, but they are are a true rescue. They don't just shuffle the dogs in and out. They take them in and reach for the best for each and every dog and nothing less. How rescue should be.

They are ran out of Denver, Colorado but Wichita, KS and Rapid City, SD are other chapters. If you live any where around these areas and love Weims please contact them to help volunteer.

Please click here and see the wonderful dogs they have to offer in their rescue.

Read about Parvo here.

Kuma needs wheels

Read his story here.

FCAHS is at the front and center of  fighting for the animals at the local pound. Forrest City Area Humane Society handles the adoptions for the pound and looks out for the welfare of the animals. They have for a long time complained about how the pound is ran and operated.  We want to make it clear FCAHS are the good guys here. They go to the shelter to make sure the animal control officers are doing their job properly.

On May 30th, 2010 a FCAHS member went to check on the dogs at the local animal shelter to make sure they had been secured for the night. They again, do this just to make sure the AC officers are doing their jobs. Upon her arrival she saw dogs fighting and a blood bath taking place in the outside fenced in area. This was at about 10pm at night folks.  Many dogs were full of puncture wounds, laying there bleeding, some in shock and yet she still witnessed one dog being dragged around like a rag doll from other dogs.

It had been a 91F day out that day, and the dogs were let out around noon. They were left unsupervised. There were a few female dogs in heat and many male dogs let out that day. The females were not in the same pen as the males, but were in a pen right by them. This fueled a fight amongst many unaltered male dogs to compete for the females in heat. Also, there was not adequate water in the pens for the dogs, it was 91F out that day.

FCAHS members worked frantic through the night to do what they could for the injured dogs. One died and many were injured with hundreds of puncture wounds and gashes in their legs. They were unable to get vet care for the dogs as it was a holiday weekend and no vet was around to help.  Supplies they needed were locked away and they had to get animal control officers to unlock them. As they worked hard AC officers stood by watching and smoking, at times laughing.

At one point a volunteer on the scene had to remove one of the AC officers personal clothing from the pounds dryer in order to heat towels for, Bozo, the dog that died from his injuries.

The director has been transffered out of the facility, that is a start.  There is much more to do and a lot more going on.

We urge you to join

Coalition to Change Forrest City Animal Shelter on Facebook.

Links

• Police Chief Takes over AC
• FCAHS members tell their side of the story
• Letter from Janie Hicks, president of FCAHS
• Mayor Investigating Mauling at Shelter

We facilitated 1,873 rescues from the Animal Shelter this year (through Nov 2009).

So they want to brag about this number? I would love to know the intake of animals in that same time period that did not make it out alive. How about that? 1,873 rescues out of how many total animals?

No adoptions to the public

We do not facilitate adoptions by inviduals at the shelter, however Laticia Duffy from Half-Way Home (one of our qualified animal rescue groups) will pull animals by request for individuals.

This is what angers people the most and it should. These dogs have little to no options of surviving.  On their website you will see that if you want a dog or cat listed that you need to contact rescue groups in order to get the dog. They do not even take the time to photograph all the animals for the public to see. They just want you to wander on in there, look around and then contact the rescue groups to get a dog or cat for you. What kind of operation is that? I know. It is called a slaughter house folks.

Lack of Exposure
The pictures of the animals, what little they do take are poor quality and very small. Very little information is given about the animal and no real push at all to save their lives. Poor quality image with a number tag. Nice.

How they kill

They heartstick instead of using IV method of destroying the animals. This is becoming more and more unacceptable, as well as the gas chamber method, of killing unwanted pets in the eyes of those that support animal rights.

How you can help?

Sign the petition to try and get them to allow public adoptions.

Start posting far and wide about this shelter.

What to expect

There is no doubt in my mind in the next few months you are going to see a very large push on this shelter from animal rights activists and once they come in it is going to be hard to ignore. I will post more information and news on this shelter as it is made available.

Those are amazing accomplishments!

It goes to show when people in numbers put their foot down and say enough is enough and do something, things change.

The bad?

Jeff Bass as much as people dislike the man for his acts at the shelter, said he was stepping down do to the death threats. I am ashamed that fellow rescuers and activist went this route. I 100% believe he did get his life as well as his families lives threatened. I don't doubt it a minute. It is a shame people act this way.

I have had problems with talk about the dogs that are stuck at the South Robeson Vet Clinic. It is one thing to bring awareness to dogs stuck at a vets office that were pulled from the shelter to save their lives. How you bring about awareness and your wording is what matters. They are not "pathetic", they are living animals that need support. The end result is not to say they deserve more to die and ending their suffering from living in a kennel and plead for their lives. I have a huge problem with saying dogs stuck in kennels, at a vets office are better off put to sleep. This goes against the very core of death row dog rescue. You are stating that dogs stuck in kennels at shelters across this country are better off dead because they are there. No, they each have a life worth living and killing them is not the answer.  If you speak up more on getting people to go in and make the dogs lives more rich as they wait, your words bring about more power, compared to saying their lives are not worth living. People tend to just give up and feel just as helpless as those dogs.

I am disappointed the most of the efforts online have been ran off of Facebook, no central location for rescue efforts, information, news and education. It has opened a dangerous scam loaded, misinformation, childish black hole that has hindered many rescue efforts and also helped get some dogs stranded.

Facebook is wonderful to share information and get it spread far and wide in a hurry. At the same time I feel it is important to in the long run have a central location and most of all someone in charge over there. Better solutions looked at for getting these dogs into rescue.

This would help with the massive amounts of donations to be put to the best use. Help people trust to donate to these animals and see the true work being done with their dollar. Instead, people are scared to donate now because so many people have done a true scam, or something running their mouth has made a true rescue person look like a scammer.

The push going on, the amount of people wanting to support, where is the organization? That is what I feel is failing Robeson County and could really in the end help push things in a more stable direction. An organization, with a name, with a mission, with a website, with a fund(s).

The support to stop bashing those trying to help and speaking poor of them with out researching what they are doing would be a nice touch as well.

I may not agree 100% with everyone's approach there, I am not stating names and publicly causing more drama by doing that. However, I will speak what I think on the matter and my views.

Painfultruth.org recently came under fire, not our first from this area. We set up Dollar a Mile for Robeson County, NC shelter animals on Facebook. Melissa and I had drove 3157 miles to save 5 dogs from there. I wanted to challenge people to donate just $1 per mile and total that $3157. It was just that a challenge. I put right on the page for money to be donated right to the South Robeson Vet Clinic, to their mailing address, Paypal, or call in a donation by phone. This money as stated on the page was to go to that vet clinic to help pay for the animals there. There are so many stuck there, needing their vet bills paid and for them to be able to go to rescue or get adopted.

Obviously, this is not a scam. You are paying the vet, the very heart of who needs their services paid for.

I got blasted. Yes I did. I was accused of this being made up to pay for "two" of my dogs. Excuse me? My two dogs taken from there had their entire vet bills paid on may 22nd, 2010 the day I walked in that door. How else would those two dogs Bear and Mia be in Minnesota and South Dakota all the way from North Carolina? The page stated the money was to be donated to the vet for the dogs there!

I was accused of having my own fund. I even got a nasty comment how they were going to call the vet and complain about it etc. Like a threat, of the vet will find out what I am doing. What is that point? Oh so the vet is going to be angry at me for asking the public to donate money to the $5000+ black hole of vet bills they have? I don't know how much it is, but it has to be over $5000 easy.

No where on the page did it say it was a "fund" it was a challenge. I stated I wanted people to donate $1 a mile in the name of what Melissa and I did and the 5 dogs we saved. I stated to say it was for Dollar a Mile so they would know where it was coming FROM but had nothing to do with a Dollar a Mile FUND.

I was told to take it down, no I will not. I was told to re-write how I worded things, I did, if that helps. I was told thanks for helping but we have it under control. Okay, if you had it under control those dogs would not still be there. I can set up a challenge if I want for what I DID. I don't need your permission.

I was told thank you for what youre doing, but your confusing people and making it harder. Hmm, what I did is pretty cut and dry simple. I think other things going on around there are causing the confusion. So many people were posting and asking about Dollar a Mile yet not ONE no not ONE person asked on that very page what was going on or expressed confusion. Odd.

In the end I think a lot of the BS going on around there is people just worried about the "hero" factor. They want to be in control of everything, when they don't have control on even what the hell they are doing. They spit on outside help because they are not in control.

The end result on the Dollar for Mile challenge is that the $250 price tag on each dog stuck at the vets is reasonable. It was wonderful the vet did that blanket fee on each dog to get them out of there. Compassion, yes it is. At the end of the day I don't want to hear this bullcrap line that rescues can't get dogs that vetted for that price anywhere. You're wrong. That rescues if worth anything can afford to pay that. No sorry, not the case. It is very steep for rescues to pay that price tag. If a rescue just takes three dogs that is $750 they have to pay right on the spot. Most rescues have accounts with vets, discounted prices and a chance to pay later and don't have to pay boarding, just the vetting.

Reality is? That $250 price tag on each dog needs paid so rescues will take them. That is what we are trying to raise funds for. In the end these people can talk and talk all day long about how they think it is a great deal. To rescues? Sorry no it's not and the best thing to do is bring down the cost through donations.

Does it matter where the money comes from? Does it matter who is doing what as long as all the money goes to the same place for the same cause? Is it about the money or the fame? Ask yourself that.

That is my peace on it for now. We will continue to cross post these dogs that need rescue, continue to support the efforts going on in Robeson County. However, we will not support drama and chaos.

It is hard to fully grasp everything going on amongst this shelter and get your head around it. There is a lot of good happening there in that county, it has been a long time coming for the changes.  There is lawsuit action, animal activists rallying around the shelter for change, more rescue involvement and push for changes from many fronts. This is good. Also, there is a lot of scams going around, a lot of bickering, arguments and back stabbing.

Painfultruth.org has also even been attacked a few times when trying to help.  We have not and will not ever bow to the people out there spending so much time on drama. We continue to do our work as we support many areas of the country. We will continue to help where we can regardless of the immature behavior from some there.

We do not agree with everything going on there. We are publicly speaking our stance so that is it clear where we stand on this issue. We understand that there will be even more backlash and bad mouthing of our organization. We stay true to our views and will take on this bad mouthing head on. We will not bow down to it.

Links to as much information as we can find will be posted for you to make your own opinions. At the end of the day, the point is this area is one of many in the country that need attention. Learn from it, join in and fight.

In this post we will first touch base on our stance as a whole and post links to information on Robeson so that later on posts from us are grounded with information.

Euthanization

We here at Painfultruth.org do not even like to use the term euthanize as this is for humanly putting animals out of their misery. Killing them just because you need an open kennel is not Euthanization. It is destroying and killing.

We support  the "No Kill" stance in communities. This means that all healthy and adoptable pets are given the time they need to be adopted and not killed for space.  At times this means many animals wait in small kennels for days, weeks and even months. The support of the community to come and spend time with the animals to keep them socialized and out of the kennels is a big part of making it work.

Business Side

Counties and cities that fund Animal Control and that decide to have a shelter are running a business. The people in charge to make decisions and choices may or may not be animal lovers or have compassion for animals. At the end of the day it is still a tax funded business they are running.

Community involvement again here is critical for it to be more then just a slaughter house and for conditions to be of higher standard. If you expect the government to do what is right beyond the basics required you are letting yourself and the animals down.

The Employees

At times these shelters, very often actually, employ people just working for a pay check. They at times have little compassion and different views on their jobs then someone that is rescue driven. Does it make them a bad person? No, but they should probably seek a different job if they can not do at least the basics or try to go above and beyond.

Many really good people work in these shelters across the country as well but because they have to do THEIR JOB meaning kill the animals  because that is what they have to do, not because they want to do it. They work the horrific job and keep trying to make a difference in the long run.

At times you even have people that are abusive, starve the animals, treat them bad and should not even own a pet or even be working in this field. Yet, they are.

Activism

This is a very good tool to improve animal rights across the world actually. We support it. We support getting the word out, education is key. What you do not know you can not act on. We support protesting we support in your face activism.

We do not support death threats, violence and lies. It does little to help the animals in the end and makes it even harder to produce change.

Links to information at Robeson County, North Carolina shelter - these are not our links just information for you. Will open in a new window.

• All legal documents on law suit being collected to date of 6.1.10
• Animal Shelter Manager, Jeff Bass, Resigns
• Robeson County Attorney complains the lawsuit will tie up county resources
• Robeson County board's closed meeting violates law
• Search on Youtube, many videos on there about this shelter.

With any rescue from long distance, you plan as much as you can to save a dog or dogs. At times things fall through and the dogs go to another rescue. Nothing is set in stone until you have the dog or dogs in your custody. At this time we are working on a litter of puppies down in Forrest City, Arkansas. There are at this time 8 total. Nothing is set in stone. This is something we are working on. You can see all their pictures here.

This effort is in the process from three different rescue groups and two are on board 100% right now, waiting on the third. What we are aiming for is the removal of all eight.

With that said, rescue from another state and from a shelter that does not vet brings about a large challenge. Most states require a health certificate for a dog to be transported across their state lines, vaccines up to date and most of all the Rabies vaccine is required in all 50 states as far as I know.

In order to get a health certificate most dogs must be boarded around 10 days to make sure they are healthy and vaccinated before a vet will issue the health certificate. Boarding runs about $10 per day per dog. The shots are about $20 per dog and the health certificate about $10 per dog according to rescue in that area. Those are the prices we are looking at.

The total to rescue just eight dogs is about $1000 and that is not including transportation. The total cost is about $1500 just to get them safe. The cost of finishing shots, altering and future vet care is much much more. The main focus is to get the dogs safe, that is priority #1. That means at least $1000

May seem like a lot, but with many people chipping in a few dollars this can be done in no time flat.

Transportation is being worked on. A volunteer down there may be able to get the dogs half way. The trip is about 13hrs one way from me, the other rescue that may take in the puppies is a hour closer or so. If nothing else I (Courtnee) will go get them myself. No biggie.

Please help support their rescue. If anything falls through donations will be returned.