Posted by Chris McCarthy, 914 Central Ave.
"Please see below. This is an appeal from an Interim Board Member at the Liberty Humane Society in Jersey City. Permission to cross-post Three weeks ago, I was sitting in a crowded room listening to the Liberty Humane Society's then-president John O'Keefe read from a prepared statement. The rest of the five member board looked grim as John stood up and began reading. He announced that the entire board was resigning, citing pending bankruptcy caused by what he described as a botched attempt at going no-kill, led by the executive director and the group's largest donor, that had led to overcrowding and was bleeding the organization's bank accounts. I knew that without a board, the Liberty Humane Society would be dissolved, taken over by the Attorney General, and the shelter would revert to a 7-day/euth impound facility run by the City of Jersey City's animal control division. Myself, along with two other past presidents of LHS in attendance that night, volunteered to take over as the new interim board. I had no idea what awaited us. The conditions at the shelter are...what's the right word? abismal, horrendous, shocking, horrifying, take your pick. It's difficult to put into words what it's like to see 99 dogs crammed into a facility built to comfortably house only 50. What it's like to witnesss 274 cats in a building meant for only 80. Perhaps the best description is a word we in this field know only so well: HOARDER. The facility is disgusting. The animals are suffering. The smell is powerful, it knocks you over. Cats come in healthy, get sick and die. Kittens drop dead in their cages from panleuk every day. There are only TWO kennel attendants to take care of 99 dogs. Dogs live in cramped cages, that spend 23 1/2 hours in cages where they can't stand up or turn around, can't stretch their limbs, where they can't get away from their own filth. Their noses are rubbed raw and bloody and many have split pads from getting their feet caught in the wire pop up cages really meant for cats. And this place calls itself a no-kill shelter. Our goal on this interim board is to end the suffering. But we can't do it alone. We have embarked on an aggressive campaign to get dogs evaluated, vaxed, s/n, and then placed. Placed in foster homes, adopted, or picked up by rescues or other shelters. That's where you come in. Please consider opening your doors and your hearts to a dog that did nothing wrong except end up in a facility where the humans made lots of mistakes. This situation is not the result of people who didn't care, it's the result of people who cared too much. But the animals are paying the price. Won't you help save one of our dogs? We have so many nice, healthy, adoptable dogs that deserve a chance at a new life. Please help us, the interim board, make some badly needed changes. We can fix this; it is within our grasp. But we can't do it without your help. Won't you -- can't you -- find a place, just one place, for one of our dogs? Every day that goes by is a day that you could help end the suffering and give one of our animals a chance at happiness. Please contact us at 201-547-4147" www.libertyhumanesociety.org Contact for rescue is ndawso...@aol.com or aurorapiacent...@gmail.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: asburypark-dig...@yahoogroups.com asburypark-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: asburypark-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/