You may have noticed I shy away from the word 'shelter' when I talk about my
little place and I'd like to explain to the folks that live elsewhere than
So. Calif. why that is.
 
One definition of a shelter is 'a place of refuge'..  and many many areas of
this country have just that for animals that are hurt or lost or needing a
new home.  But in So. Cal. that is not how it is.
 
To illustrate my point I will tell you an event in my life..
 
My Perfect conformation and evenly colored gorgeous stud Bassett Hound,
Lummie, was cavorting in his favorite frolic spot..the two acres next to the
ranch house [ranch was 600 acres of alphalfa fields], mind you the house was
nearly dead center on the ranch property.  I went to call him in and he was
gone.  I searched and put up signs and called everyone for miles..No Lummie.
after three days I traveled the 60 miles to the local Animal Shelter as a
friend in town told me he had heard there was a Bassett in there.  Why not
just call?  you ask.  Because they won't tell you anything on the phone, not
even if they have a Bassett much less if its a male etc. you have to go
there in person.  When the kids and I arrived we wandered from one filthy
critter and cage to another and finally found the Bassett, altho it was a
male it clearly was not my little boy...this dog was thin, filthy dirty, and
real sick..  so I went on looking just in case there was another one..
about three cages later I realized my kids were still back at the sick
Bassett's cage and I turned and called them to come on and leave the poor
thin sickly pup alone, that we had to keep looking for Lummie.  My oldest
son turned to look at me and the sick but furious look in his eyes spoke
volumes.  Mom, this IS Lummie. he said.  I walked back to where they were
staring into the cage and told them they were nuts, that this dog was the
wrong color, almost all black, and thin and real sick to boot..  and my
Lummie was tri-color with a lot of white and in perfect health and very
muscular and filled out, there was no way this was my gorgeous stud.  The
ticket on the cage front showed the dog had been 'picked up' the same day
Lummie had disappeared but that was the only similarity.  My oldest boy
pointed to the dogs nose and said Look, Mom, there's the cat scratch Lummie
got playing with that kitten a month ago that left a small mark in his fur,
I tell you its Lummie.  I looked very closely and nearly threw up.  He was
right, this pathetic creature was my funny and beautiful Bassett Hound
stud..only now he was a dull eyed wreck. and he got that way at that Animal
Shelter as the ticket showed he was 'picked up' [snatched by a driver
needing as catch is what it really was] only half an hour after I saw him
out the window.
 
Here you have to pay for nuetering even if your dog is a registered stud..
then there is the vet bills and the fee for the truck ride in and the daily
boarding fees [higher than any boarding kennel] and the shots they gave him
and the dip of insecticide they dump them in daily to keep fleas and such
off and the charges for the food [the cheapest trash food available at high
prices] and a couple of other things..at any rate it was over $175.00 to get
my dog back and it took 6 months and $600.00 in vet bills to get back the
90% we could recover, and many many baths to get the greasy crud off his fur
and return it to its true three colored coat.
 
This sort of treatment, conditions, and behavior is the norm in So. Cal so
you can see why the term Animal Shelter or Shelter is considered an
obscenity here.  The Animal Control Officers are hated and socially shunned
and in some areas they are shot at or rocks and other things are thrown at
them on sight.  The 'shelter' is a horror story and the whole animal shelter
system is hated with a passion.  Animal Shelter here means disease and death
and nothing more..
 
So now you see why I shy away from the word 'shelter' and one reason we have
had such a time getting ferrets legalized.  And why so many are murdered in
spite of the groups a phone call away that are prepared to jump at a minutes
notice to pay for them to be flown out of state for adoption.  Their only
function is mass murder of animals and they are loath to let any animal
escape that fate.
 
So now you know why the Humane Society - HSUS - has such a bad reputation in
Calif.  The last thing those places are is humane!
 
 dayna
 dayna frazier   102046,3162
'resident of the 'Marvellous Menagerie of Mirthful Mayhem'
             MMOMM!!!
[Posted in FML issue 1594]