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Support Michael Herring, Richmond VA, Commonwealth Attorneys Office to Prosecute Dog Fighter

Remember dog fighters kill MANY innocent dogs to train ONE fighter!!! This is a window of opportunity to show support in requesting maximum sentencing allowed for this sort of human element. We do not have enough signatures! Please, please sign and pass this to the moon and back, I will have to fax this to Mr. Herring's Office first thing Monday and first thing Tuesday a.m. so that at least he can relay to the presiding judge that many people are watching and looking for stiffer sentences concerning this sort of offensive and disgusting activity. If you are in the Richmond area I would highly recommend that you attend if you are able to. Banning dogs is not going to solve any problem, getting the perpetrators that fight will slow down and hopefully eliminate this at some point.

I would like each and every one of you to remember the listings that are posted on dogs that have been used for bait, with missing ears, punctures all over their bodies and for those that have been so ruined by these people that they have to be killed because they are no longer adoptable. *I don't know if you remember Rufus on PBRC who had his entire face removed due to fighting*, it is because of people like this man that Rufus paid with his life and countless other dogs that are killed because they won't fight or are so damaged they must be euthanized once found by Animal Control. Dogs that are starved, made to run on treadmills for hours on end, isolated, chained, pumped full of steroids....having their teeth filed (bait dogs) so they can't fight back and are thrown in between two others to teach them how to fight, all the puppies and kittens that are used for bait, dying in the most horrendous way.
~ Sylva Penkov-Southwell

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/253475894

Animal Control in Blount County

For those of you who have not heard, we no longer have animal control in Blount County. In May of last year, Maryville increased the fee that they were charging the county to provide those services by almost 100% and the county was not able to pay that cost. At that time, and at the commission's request, several animal related groups in the area began working on a proposal for the county to open and maintain its own animal center. However, when the new commissioners and County Mayor took office in the fall, they basically blew off the issue. To several, the solution was that county citizens should simply shoot any unwanted animals. When the contract with the city officially terminated on December 31, the Maryville Animal Shelter began refusing animals brought in to the shelter by county citizens and will not answer calls from the county.

If you have visited the Maryville Animal Shelter, you know that it is not acceptable. The animals are held with little heat, no air conditioning, little or no food or water, no vet care (regardless of the severity of their injuries - gun shots, broken backs, severed limbs), unsanitary conditions where the facilities are not properly cleaned to prevent diseases and no public outreach or attempt to adopt the animals. Animals that are picked up or turned in as strays are held for 72 hours. Those that are surrendered by their owners in hopes of finding a new home are subject to being euthanized immediately.

I learned in a meeting tonight with some of the commissioners that some time around 2000, the county had a general fund of approximately $8M. Now, that balance is down to $800,000. The commission reports that it simply does not have the funds to pay the city for the services. I believe they would be wasting their money if they did. If you have been watching the news lately, you have probably seen stories of concerned citizens that have been calling the commission office about the issue. Tonight, Channel 8 ran a story from a woman that was cornered by a vicious dog in her driveway. She got her mother in the car and ran inside with her baby and 4 year old.

I have recently formed a non-profit corporation for some influential citizens in the county that intend to raise money to build a facility. The proposal is that the county team up with this charity in a way similar to the Young-Williams Animal Center in Knox County, jointly providing funds for the building and operation of a county shelter. Three commissioners were at the meeting tonight, and voiced their concern that certain other commissioners would oppose spending any funds to provide for animal control.

I am writing to ask to you call your commissioner directly and talk to them about your feelings on this issue. The county's failure to provide animal control is not only inhumane, but it is a health and safety issue. Last year, approximately 6.5 animals came into the Maryville Animal Shelter from the county per day. Do the math. And, consider that this number will actually increase because those animals that remain running at large will reproduce. The lack of animal control will result in traffic issues, bite risk and disease. As the number of stray dogs increase, those dogs start to travel in packs. Not to mention that this situation gives a poor representation of our community and depicts us as a bunch of uneducated yokels. You can obtain the phone number for your commissioner at http://www.blounttn.org/commiss.asp#Commission.

If you live in the City of Maryville or the City of Alcoa, call your council representative and let them know that you are not satisfied with the current animal control conditions. From personal experience, the animal control officers in the City of Alcoa and their supervisors are very unhappy with the current operations. I personally hope that they sign on with a new Blount County shelter. Don't take my word for it. Visit the shelter on Home Avenue. ~ Kandi R. Yeager

Action Alert - please sign petition!

This is about the little 10lb dog dragged behind the woman's car in campbell county. Even if you aren't in the East TN area, please still sign as we need support. I'm going to try to get information about the judge's phone number so we can call and let them know how we feel. The next court appearance is Febraury 20, 2007 (see recent article here).

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Hi Friends,

I have just read and signed the petition: "URGENT! Please help Bobo, the dog dragged behind his owner's SUV."

Please take a moment to read about this animal cruelty issue, and join me in signing the petition. Without your support, it is possible that the presiding Campbell County judge will send this dog back to the owner who dragged him behind her SUV. It takes just 30 seconds, but can truly make a difference. Please sign here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/703063826

Thanks!
Margaret Lindop

Cross-post for rescue help

City of East Ridge Animal Services
1015 Yale St.
East Ridge, TN 37412

Phone: 423-664-0271
Email: czagona01@comcast.net
Petfinder Address: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/TN360.html
NEW OPERATING HOURS
Mon - Fri 10-5, Sat 10-2, Closed on Sundays

I was hoping that I could get some help in finding rescue for all our furry friends at the East Ridge Shelter in East Ridge, TN. I have a lady from CT named Kirby that has offered to pay the board on all four black labs. All the labs are going to Catoosa Vet Hospital tomorrow, they will all be spayed on the 8th of Jan due to Dr. Rogers schedule. Also Marjorie is taking Bonny the Basset, which I am taking to her tomorrow evening. Now that just leaves 25 furry friends that are in need of rescue help, some are under 30 lbs and several are large guys but all are highly adopt-able and deserve a chance at having their own forever home.

I have two employees at the shelter, Jen works the office and is suppose to be doing the rescues and Jonathan is the ACO. So it is hard for me to do any rescue work from the shelter during the day, so I do rescue at night when I get home.

We haven't had must luck with local rescues, so I have been using rescues from middle Tennessee. Mary Ruth Rogers has been a very big help with cross-posting and helping in any way she can. I have a gentleman that can do transport for me but he has MS and can only drive a short distance and can only handle small dogs.

I will work with any reputable rescue, we have no pull fee, but do require proof of alteration and rabies is provided. I can have the animals vetted here and provide a health certificate but we do not get a discount on the vetting, just the spay/neuter & rabies.

I keep petfinder updated everyday, and I make sure that Jen does also.

We haven't euthanized an healthy adopt-able animal for space since April or May, and we have only euthanized 6 adopt-able animals in a year . That is the reason we are covered up, people that live outside of East Ridge are trying to surrender their animals to us instead of the local Humane Society which is contracted for their area. Now people are having friends that live in East Ridge turn in the animals for them, or they are just turning them out in our city limits. Our city is about 10-12 sq miles, so you would think that since reopening in Dec of 05 that we would have caught all the stray animals in such a small city.

Any help in pulling would really help us, we just need space, I have 4 dogs outside that I need to get inside because of the cold weather. The dogs in the inside can go in or out, and at night I can close the door to lock them inside when its cold, but I can't do that right now because of several kennels having more than one dog in it.

My officer has been instructed not to impound any animal if he can return the animal to the owners home, but the animal must be able to be confined to the property or it has to be impounded.

We try very hard not to take in animals, when someone wants to surrender their animal we will provide rescue contacts and other options, but we still end up with the animal because the owner doesn't have the time to call the contacts and they think its our responsibility to find their animal a good home.

We do accept donations towards an animals adoption fee, we call these donations our Guardian Angel program. A Guardian Angel animal adoption is non-refund-able, all funds are used towards the spay/neuter and rabies and can not be re funded back to the shelter after services have been rendered by the vet. All donations for the Guardian Angel fund can be sent via PayPal to zagona@bellsouth.net. A donation receipt will be sent for any monetary donation received. These monies are paid to the vet by ERAS.

We have our volunteer releases available at the shelter, and would love to find at least 3 to 5 teams that could take animals out to Petsmart on the weekends, I would like to have 3 to 5 teams so they could rotate every other weekend. I would like several volunteers to transport adopted animals to the vet for alteration. We would be happy to have someone come to the shelter and take pictures for petfinder, we do this ourselves but on busy days the animal may not post until the next day.

Foster homes are very important for the shelter, we have several animals in foster care, to become a foster family you must have a fenced yard, and vet references. As a foster family you will continue to help place the fostered animal into an adoptive home. Any possible adoption must be handled at the shelter with the adopter and ERAS staff. Foster families are responsible for vet care, and general care while in foster care. ERAS will make sure that the fostered animal is current on all vaccines.

The shelter could also use blankets, but not electric please, hard rubber toys like KONGS that are easily Dis-infected. Monetary donations for placing weekly newspaper adds & flyers.

I would also like you to know that no animals are scheduled to be euthanized, please pass this on. I am the only one that can make that call. All animals that have "URGENT" beside their name are the animals that have been at the shelter the longest and they are the ones that need rescue help, but all need rescue help.

I just wanted to clear this up, if anyone needs to know anything just email me or call the shelter and leave a message and I will return the call.

Any questions can be forwarded to czagona01@comcast.net

Carl Zagona
East Ridge Animal Control Supervisor
1015 Yale St.
East Ridge, TN 37412
423-664-0271 shelter
www.petfinder.com/shelters/TN360.html
ACAT Board Member