Posted on 10/23/2005 4:09:01 PM PDT by BagCamAddict
There are 500 dogs in very dire circumstances in Mountain Home, Arkansas today.
There are ONLY 6 people onsite and they’re desperate for capable people who are experienced with aggressive dogs to help with this most inhumane situation. They are begging for capable bodies who can help clean and care for the dogs.
Many dogs have gone cage crazy and are now trying to attack their handlers. Dogs are sick and dying and have no medical care. Young puppies are being exposed to filth, parasites and disease.
If you have shelter experience and can get there, please contact Donna@badrap.org IMMEDIATELY for the info you need to go help.
Please crosspost widely and QUICKLY, this situation is DESPERATE and HAPPENING NOW.
Even if you can only go for one day, DO IT. Even if you can't go until Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, DO IT. But the sooner the better!
Animal control equipment would be useful if you have it.
Click Here if You Can Volunteer Immediately!!
Use subject line: I CAN VOLUNTEER AT MOUNTAIN HOME
It's just incredibly sad that none of these people never thought to have dog tags on their dogs. That would have saved a lot of misery right off the bat.
I'm starting to wonder if this woman was an animal horder? Or just plain twisted. Those images are so heartbreaking. Has anyone stepped up to help?
Bravo Sierra.
Your sense of humor, however is MIA.
I'm happy to say that I don't find companion animals being eaten to be funny. And anyone stupidly sick enough to find it funny does NOT belong on this thread.
HINT.
Remember you're only looking at a few photos out of up to 500 dogs. Could be mostly Pits... probably is "mostly" Pits simply because that's what many of the dogs in that area are.
But only some of them are aggresive towards humans. Those will, more than likely, be humanely euthanized after evaluation. I'm not experienced enough to know whether a dog that has gone cage crazy can recover or not. But experts do know and will assess each dog.
My experience down there with hundreds of Pits was WONDERFUL. Although there were many dog bites reported, I only personally know of TWO that were by Pit Bulls, and both of those were due to human error -- humans trying to break up a dog fight got inadvertently bitten. The other dog bites that I am personally aware of were dogs that bit a human, primarily due to fear, and again, human error for pushing the situation. I didn't hear of ANY aggressive-towards-humans bites by Pit Bulls, and I worked with hundreds of them.
Pit Bulls are a very human-friendly breed unless they are TRAINED otherwise by humans. But again, there probably aren't very many truly human aggressive dogs in this group... but some have gone crazy due to their treatment in the last few weeks. That is why the need is for experienced handlers. But once the immediate situation is under control and they are moved from crates to kennel runs, they can be evaluated for their true temperament. All of us would go crazy if left in a crate for a few weeks too. Heck, I'd probably want to shoot someone myself!
Agreed, under most circumstances... Unfortunately, in this case, the dog tags would lead them to an abondoned house in a now condemned neighborhood. Now what?
They're not all aggressive. Just some who have gone crazy. But even those need to be humanely euthanized, and that requires that someone get them out of those crates to administer the euthanasia. And even aggressive dogs deserve a humane death, if possible. Because they weren't born that way, some really lousy human beings MADE them that way.
Most of these dogs will be fine once they are in better conditions.
If they are evaluated and determined to be human aggressive, they will likely be euthanized. Most reasonable dog lovers / dog owners agree with that.
There probably aren't very many here that are actually human aggressive though. But they need to be evaluated to find that out.
I rescued a 5-month old puppy that was starving to death and he was A DEVIL who would have bitten anyone or anything that came near him. He hadn't seen a human being in 1 full month of his 5-month lifespan. We broke into the apartment and drug him out of the only home he's ever known.
But once outside, and after 10 minutes of carefully working with him, he was FINE. I have been in contact with the shelter where he is now, and they say he is doing very well. He was simply frightened out of his mind, and was in a fight-or-flight mode when we "rescued" him.
The dogs at this so-called sanctuary have been through hell and back about six times now. They are under extreme stress and many would literally bite the hand that feeds them - FOR THE MOMENT. But if they can be "rescued" again, after proper temperment evaluation, they may also make some of the most wonderful, loyal pets people have ever known.
They deserve a chance... because HUMANS did this to them.
Good luck to you, and them.
With all due respect, and I know you're a dog lover... but this is arm-chair quarterbacking. You're right, to a degree. But the reality AT THE TIME was that there were not enough "boots on the ground" to handle all aspects of the rescue at all times. Over 14,000 animals are listed on Petfinder.com... that took a tremendous amount of work and cooperation on the part of MANY organizations and MANY individuals.
There was NO WAY to handle this disaster any better. Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened. We all learned a million lessons from this disaster. But mistakes WERE MADE, and all we can do now is learn from them, and in this case, sweep in and try to salvage the situation as best anyone can.
Waiting for the Humane Society of the United States to mobilize to help THIS particular emergency could cost the lives of some of these dogs. Only 6 people to care for 500 dogs. I had 4 people caring for 81 dogs during Hurricane Rita for 2 days with little sleep. Six people simply CANNOT care for 500 dogs. We need volunteers NOW, and if the Humane Society can step in at some point with more help, GREAT!!
I understand, I don't mean to discourage your work. I'm merely upset that the organization who took these dogs didn't do right by them before it got to this point. By their reported arrests, I can assume it's a bad scene.
So - I'm sorry :~D Bump.
Right... but the tags say what?
Owner's phone number? Sorry, land lines are still out in most areas. Even if land lines were working, the owners aren't there, they evacuated.
Veterinarian's phone number? Sorry, Vet's office washed away when the levee broke. Or their records were destroyed in the flood. And even if the records were ok, the Vet staff isn't there either.
Rabies tag ID number? Sorry, those records were destroyed in the flood too.
Microchip number? Sorry, contact info includes owner's address and phone number. House destroyed, phone lines out, owner evacuated.
Etc., etc., etc.
No one who hasn't been there can understand the magnitude of the problem... multiple problems...
(All of which would have been irrelevent if people had simply taken their pets with them.)
Yes, people are trying to help... but that's what the plea for volunteers is for. There are only 6 people caring for 500 animals. The situation only became known a day or two ago.
Please everyone, CROSSPOST to all your Family, Friends, Co-Workers, other bulletin boards, etc.
Completely agree. There is plenty to be upset with, that's for sure.
I personally think it looks like a case of a hoarder... but I haven't been to the site, so I'll wait for the official investigation before I publicly label them as such.
Yes, it's probably safe to assume it's a bad scene. I know Donna personally (the email contact I listed above), and if she says it's bad, then it's bad.
No harm, no foul. No worries mate.
Dog lover bump
I can speak from experience here. My little mix dog--who looks part Pit Bull, but who really knows--is very sweet with people. But put her in a cage and she becomes the Tasmanian Devil! Once at the vet I waited as a succession of people tried to bring her out from the kennel area. Finally they took me back to get her and one word from me, and she was a happy doggy again! She never tried to attack anyone, but the "devil" noises were terrifying!
I know exactly what you mean. I wrote about a similar "Devil Dog" in post #27 above. But to our rescue partner who wasn't inside the apartment with us, she saw a sweet puppy when she came up to his crate 10 minutes later. She never did see the Devil that we had drug out of that house kicking and screaming. He was fine once he knew he was "rescued" -- before that, he must have thought we were dragging him to his death. But when he realized we were dragging him out of CERTAIN DEATH by starvation, he was a happy camper.
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