rescue_x7

PETA sucks, and most animal rescuers feel this way.

I can appreciate some of the attention they bring to animal rights issues but in general I don't agree with their tactics, don't agree with their finances, and don't agree with their hypocritical killing.

A lot of what we do is depressing but sure I can share a positive story. Sorry it may be long. There are highlights of the work we do :)

Before I helped start this group, I volunteered at my suburb's shelter as a photographer to help the dogs get adopted via online listings. My husband and I went about every other Saturday to take photos.

He arrived before me one day and was outside with an old solid white Chow Chow mix. She was covered in mud and who knows what else, and was obviously in a lot of pain. She kept rubbing her head against the ground and crying. We had never actually saved a dog like this ourselves before, and weren't sure what to do, but we knew that we couldn't let her stay like that.

We convinced the shelter manager to let us foster her in our house while keeping her as property of the shelter. As soon as I got in the car, I drove to a dog wash and gave her a bath. Her beauty started to shine through (literally).

We soon discovered she was almost completely deaf. We took her to a low cost vet where they told us that she had ear infections that had gone untreated for years which was why she couldn't hear. The insides of her ears looked like something from a gremlin. We got medication and started treating them.

At this point I was sure no one would adopt such an old special needs dog but I tried anyway. I posted flyers in pet stores. Finally I reached out to a local rescue and asked them if they would take her in if I agreed to foster her. I was shocked when they agreed. So she was signed over to the rescue.

One day I was sitting on the computer talking to the other dogs when she responded, and I realized she could hear again! I was so happy I cried. It was like a miracle.

I started taking her to adoption events, and one day a family arrived specifically to meet her. We were really excited as this was the first adoption interest she'd ever had. The family was a mom and two kids, a son about 11 or so, and a daughter about 8. The mom immediately fell in love with her, but she knew that she was an old dog.

The mom turned to the son and said, "Now you know she's an old lady and she probably won't be with us very long."

The son replied, "Yeah but she deserves a loving home as much as all these puppies do." I just about lost it. This kid in his young innocence was able to see past the fact that she was an old dog and wasn't "cute" anymore and understood what it really meant to rescue a dog. I only wish more adults had the attitude he did.

That's what it's all about, really. Dog rescuers don't do it because they enjoy it, it's a lot of hard work and heartache. They do it because the dogs that other people have decided to overlook deserve better.

Here's a picture of the lovely lady. http://i.imgur.com/GlLEBTL.jpg

Hope that brightens the thread up a little :P

I suspect you may not have all the facts here.

PETA is not a municipal shelter. It's not their job to put down injured, diseased, or unwanted animals. They are volunteering to do so when there is no need for them to do so. This is not noble; it's a gross waste of donation dollars. Further, there is no proof that this is actually what they do, but there are many cases of people dropping off healthy animals with the impression that they would find a new home only to find out they were killed.

PETA has a history of being an advocate for killing, even going so far as to send gifts to city officials when a shelter decides to kill animals after a period of no-kill.

PETA has a history of opposing trap-neuter-release for feral cats, a proven humane solution for controlling their population, and advocates for the killing of them instead.

The numbers just don't add up. In 2009, they found homes for eight of the 2,366 pets that came in their care. It is simply delusional to think that 2,358 pets showed up at their doorstep in an "unadoptable" state while 8 were adoptable. Even the absolute worst public shelters in the country can't top ratios like that. If an animal is truly in too much pain to go on, then absolutely they should be euthanized, but it is nothing short of delusional to think that there are 2,358 of these randomly showing up at PETA's door, and only 8 that are treatable.

Killing is an essential part of the animal services process for dogs that are too dangerous or sick/injured to be adopted. This will likely never go away.

Killing is not a part of the rescue process. Every adoptable animal killed is a failure by humans.

I'm not sure if you're being serious because I would easily consider the Hunte Corporation to be the worst of the worst, and I would happily support PETA over Hunte Corporation any day.

There is absolutely no excuse for the cruelty by the hands of your company, and I would celebrate the closing down of it.

(For those unaware, Hunte Corporation is one of the largest puppy mill distributors in the country).