Hey, Western Washington peeps

[gwyn]

I posted about this to some local friends, so those of you who've already seen it can skip, but if you're on my flist and you're in Washington state (or hell, really, anywhere, because anyone can donate to Pasado's, etc.), there's a way you can help with the 600 or so dogs that were rescued in those hideous puppy mill busts recently in Snohomish and Skagit counties. Most of the 600 dogs are actually pregnant. This is going to be untenable very soon (not that it isn't already, but you know what I mean).

In my part of town, a group is getting together donations of materials badly needed by the rescue groups. You can read about it on the West Seattle Blog here, and if you don't know of a pet store in your area taking donations, please let me know and I can pick up whatever you may want to give, and take it to my pet store. They need blankets, towels, beds, bleach and cleaning supplies, pee pads, and of course, food. If you've got stainless steel food bowls, they really need those as well. Many of the stores will give you 10% off what you buy for the donations.

You can also buy gift cards from Costco, PetSmart, etc., and give the cards to organizations like Pasado's Safe Haven. Here's another post from a forum that provides some links and numbers.

I've seen a lot of semi-hysterical posts from people who don't understand how complicated a situation like this is, and they're all huffy because they foster certain types of dogs, and the organizations are "snubbing" their efforts to volunteer (and it never helps their cause when they can barely write a coherent sentence and they sound like loony pet ladies). The thing is, at this point, you need trained volunteers who have some understanding of working in a large-scale rescue effort. My sister did this, and I learned a lot about it from her, and I still haven't got even a basic understanding of how to dig in and really make something like this work. So if you want to volunteer beyond giving something, please be patient, let them know what you can offer them, and don't push it. Likely these people are strained to the max themselves, and it takes even more effort to work in people and their emotions to a situation that's already the worst it could be.

And yes, those mills operated for a long time and these busts come very late, considering how terrible it is. And yes, there are tons more out there that should also be stopped. But one step at a time. These folks need our help, not our criticism. As for the puppy mill and kitten mill subhumans out there, these are the times I truly wished I believed in an afterlife. Because the only way you can console yourself is by thinking there's a special circle in hell for them.

Please feel free to link to this post if you want; the more we can spread it around, the better.

Comments

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Er, shouldn't they spay-abort them? They are going to have trouble caring for and placing 600 dogs, much less 2000. Some of them no doubt are too advanced, but the majority should be able to be spayed.

It's doing the world no favor to bring 1500 more inbred dogs into it.

[torra.livejournal.com]

Aborting isn't really an option. It costs a lot more more then spaying/neutering (both in the number of staff necessary, the amount of time it takes, the meds, the equipment, and the time/food/meds costs of keeping the mother in post-op and recovery), and it puts the mother's life more at risk. Basically, it's cheaper to let the mothers give birth, and then if you can't adopt them out, to euthanize them. However, that does not go over well with the general public, especially for places dependent entirely on donations, so most places won't euthanize babies, or any offspring birthed after the mother is in their care.

So if the mother is pregnant when they get her, unless the mother's life is in extreme risk and the place as the time, money, and staff to spare for the operation, abortion is not even on the table. However she will be neutered after the birth, as will the offspring once they're of age and before they get adopted out. But that's pretty after-the-fact.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for this explanation. I knew it was more difficult, but I didn't know the whys of it. I guess they have grossly overstated the pregnancy rate among the dogs, and all I can say is thank god that it's not that bad.

[earthdogue.livejournal.com]

The shelter cannot spay them until the puppy mill owners sign the dogs over to them or the owners are forced to reliquish the animals via convicted of animal cruelty etc legally by the court which could go on for months or years. They are only being held as evidence at this point.

[fenchurche.livejournal.com]

I've been appalled at what I've seen of this... I can't believe they managed to stay in business so long and that no one noticed (because the puppies that came out of that place could NOT have been healthy).

I just boggled at the woman who is trying to find the dog she had boarded with them... I mean, didn't she *notice* the conditions??

I really like the idea of sending a gift card... much easier to mail, for those of us who don't live all the close, and odds are really good that the organizations involved are able to get a slightly better deal on products there than I would.

[earthdogue.livejournal.com]

This woman coordinates help for rescues etc in emergency situations in So Cal and she might be able to offer some guidance or contacts for any group that is taking on the task in Washington

Ha Adolfo, Rescuer's Helper
info @ rescuershelper.com
www.rescuershelper.com
Phone 1-323-325-2712

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I read the article in the Everett paper about the guy who blew the whistle, and it just stuns me that it took the threat of children living in the house with the first guy they arrested (the hundreds of dogs had fouled their beds) to get anyone to do anything. They knew about these other women who ran the main business, but no one did anything until CPS got involved. Jesus fucking Christ. I'm not a kid hater, but I mean, that it takes the possibility of children being potentially harmed to get people to do something about this kind of thing just infuriates me. This society is so fucked up --oh, we won't do anything about hundreds of animals dying and suffering, but my god, if there's a kid around this stuff for even a few minutes, we better do something fast!