- 65 dogs placed
| 7/10/2004 - We haven't forgotten Long Beach, but were asked
to tone down our comments so that the City of Long Beach and the SPCA-LA
could get a better focus after the retirement of the existing shelter
manager His replacement, Wesley Moore, and his staff have
done such a great job getting things organized and doing everything in their
power to get dogs and cats into homes. We have, however, taken dogs out of that shelter every week - and an occasional litter of kittens. We have moved many dogs into OCHS and have placed some dogs in senior citizen assisted living facilities. This is a win/win situation for everyone. The dogs are treated like royalty and the seniors have a nice friendly dog to love. Now often the dogs we take the SPCA have passed on primarily because they knew we would take them and they knew we could do a better job of finding them homes. Many of these dogs are tiny and timid and just don't do well in these large noisy cold shelters. We have had some dogs who required extra medical care, but most just needed spay/neuter and dental work. And of course, a home. Please check out our two pages, available and adopted, to see what we've been up to. |
| 2/4/2004 - Oops -
I need to offer an apology and explanation here - Click here for photos of our newest Long Beach dogs We met with the staff of the City of Long Beach on January 21 and the notes I posted below formerly dated January 22 was incorrect. Those notes were actually for January 12. We did wonder why the SPCA seemed to be turning down little dogs in favor of larger ones - especially since it is our experience that these little dogs are in such high demand. It seems that the SPCA now hopes we will take them and move them south, which is what we are doing. This leaves more space for them to take the larger, more adoptable dogs. This does seem reasonable. We have never spoken with the SPCA and thus didn't know. We just assumed that they were turning down little dogs with some slight medical issues because they just didn't like little dogs. But instead many of these dogs they were planning to take but were waiting for a vet check. In the interim we turned up and whisked them off. And others they just knew we would eagerly take. There is a very high demand for these little ones in San Diego County, Palm Springs, Orange County, Temecula, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson. And there is a real problem inherent in the large shelter facilities like the Pitchford Adoption Center - they're not very portable. So they depend on adoptors going to them, while we can bring the dogs to the potential adoptors. And that's what we are doing. The staff at Long Beach indicate that things are improving all around, not just at the "city side". And again - the citizens of Long Beach have to do their part as well. When you want to adopt, visit the Long Beach facility first. Prevent your dogs from coming here in the first place - spay and neuter - have a current ID tag on each pet, and keep an eye on them so they don't get away from you. With everyone concentrating on making the lives of our furry family members better, our furry friends lives will improve, and so will ours.
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2/1/2004 - We have been very busy indeed. We took out two litters of unweaned puppies, delivering one to Cuddly Canines and the other to Orange County Humane Society. We got a pure one year old dobie which went to Dobie Rescue in Fillmore, and a little Pom with a little skin irritation. And a guinea pig. Photos of all are coming. We met with the new shelter manager and were very encouraged by the efforts we see being done by the Long Beach City employees. I have to say I do not know of another shelter besides the Orange County Humane Society that tries harder than the Long Beach shelter staff does. We watched the SPCA-LA fundraising telethon last week and listened very carefully for any mention of any spay/neuter program that we had hoped would be part of their future plans, and didn't hear of any. We are hoping that with these funds they will find it in their hearts to accept some of the little adoptable dogs that just need a little time and maybe a little money. 1/12/2004 Well we have had a very busy week - and took out ten dogs - four of them heading for San Diego and two of them transferred to Huntington Beach's Orange County Humane Society. I did count empty runs on the SPCA-LA side today and they are back to having half the runs empty. So why did they turn down two pure mini poodles, one pure teacup poodle (these don't exactly grow on trees and we already have people begging us for this one), one pure doxie, one pure pom, and some nice chi mixes? I am getting the idea that the staff at the SPCA-LA don't like little dogs. I guess they got the message, but didn't really think it
applied to them. So folks, we really need those donations coming so we
can move the Unchosen out of Long Beach and into safety. 12/15/2003 - Our visit to the SPCA-LA every day this week revealed that they are indeed keeping their word to take as many dogs and cats as possible. They were indeed full. Some kennels had more than one dog. Thank you very much. And much thanks for all the concerned Long Beach citizens who have helped by making those phone calls and sending those letters. We are pleased to find that the Long Beach City facility now has cards on each kennel describing the dog and when the dog will be available. We understand the SPCA-LA is taking more dogs and leaving less behind. We believe the City is doing its best to create change and we thank them for this. We are glad that the SPCA-LA is stepping up to the plate and beginning to keep their word to the citizens of Long Beach. We are grateful for these efforts. Now the responsibility of
what happens next lies with the Citizens of Long Beach. The best
way to avoid having dogs and cats entering the shelter to be killed, is to
have them not go into the shelter to begin with. If there are too many
entering the shelter then bad things happen. So spay and neuter, keep
tabs on your pets so they don't get lost, and get the dogs properly trained
so you don't feel compelled to put the dog somewhere else. |
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AMRT has taken out a special post office box and a special checking account for the sole purpose of bailing out and fixing up dogs (and maybe cats) that would otherwise be killed. The address is: Please, we cannot save these dogs and cats without help from you!! |
Thanks to:
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Ali, a friend of all animals Wendy D. Fisher, Mission Hills Deborah L. Hartung, San Pedro Claudia M. Liberman, Grandada Hills Nancy C. McCurley, Los Angeles Louis Caplan, Los Angeles Mark & Laura Alcock, Long Beach Rachel Lehrer, Los Angeles Lynn Edleman, Playa del Rey Anonymous Donors Anonymous Donor who loves the animals of Long Beach and worries about their fate in Long Beach |
Donations collected: $10,940 Other Income: Spay/Neuter refunds: $1250 Adoption Fees: $1700 |
Total expenses to date $6690 |
Instead, every single penny will go directly to the saving of the dogs and cats that the SPCA-LA refuses to help. We will take as many as we can based upon the resources we have and the donations we receive from you.
We will list the donations received and expenses incurred on this page and we will mention and acknowledge your donation here unless you prefer to be anonymous.
I am hoping that Long Beach residents and others who would otherwise send money to the SPCA-LA might send it here instead. The money will only be used for Bail, Vet Bills, Boarding if necessary, and transport somewhere (like to a local rescue or to a reliable rescue out of the area).
The SPCA-LA took a million and a half dollars from the citizens of long beach, a million dollars from Mr. Pitchford, and came up with the rest of the money from general donations to build the facility. The understanding was that they would take the dogs and cats from the long beach shelter once their wait as a stray was over. This is not happening. They are cherry picking some and leaving the rest to die. Most only have kennel cough.
