pet connection

Evaluation of the Missouri bust dogs begins today at the Humane Society of Missouri. The folks at Bad Rap took in 10 dogs who were signed over by their owner and given an “early release,” and several of them are already in foster homes. From the Bad Rap blog:

Ten bust dogs slid through a legal loop and were signed over by a Missouri dog owner last week who’d neglected them terribly, but who also gave them the gift of early release, so they were as free as birdies. It was only a few short months ago that this same batch would’ve probably been destroyed, but you remember how we all made a big fuss about that? — Times, they sure have changed.

They sure have. Check this out:

Nothing else you can do in these situations but dial up friends and holler for help. So, hollering ensued and the most wonderful thing happened: People shouted back with a chorus of ‘Yes.’ People, as in, our shelter partners and rescue friends and foster homes. Immediate relief came from three east bay shelters who all offered temporary kennel space until the dogs could rest and be distributed. Beautiful.

Oakland Animal Services, East Bay SPCA and Berkeley Animal Care Services all opened their doors. And with that incredibly kind offer (hey, we have our own crushing pit bull overpop problem like everyone else), a crew from the HSUS loaded up the dogs – these dogs – and drove all night to get them to friendly territory. The dogs arrived a week ago Monday – scared, curious, excited and beautiful.

The dogs still at the Humane Society of Missouri will begin being evaluated today. From an AP story in the Washington Post (and definitely click over to the see the slideshow of the dogs and read the rest of the article):

On Friday, teams of animal behavior experts from across the nation are set to begin assessing more than 400 dogs seized from alleged dogfighting operations in Missouri and Illinois earlier this month. About 100 more pit bulls taken from operations in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Nebraska also will have to be evaluated.

So far, the humane society has heard from just over a dozen rescue groups willing to find homes for one or two dogs, but said more are needed. Animal groups say they haven’t had a crisis response of this magnitude since thousands of pets were dislocated in Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re going to need a whole lot of new friends to help the animals in this case,” said Debbie Hill, the Humane Society of Missouri’s vice president. “There are so many more in this unprecedented raid.”

All the groups involved with rescuing and rehabbing dogs seized from fighting situations are going to be strained the max with this bust. The numbers of dogs involved will ultimately be well over the 407 initially reported.

Yes, I know we want the large national animal welfare organizations who helped organize this series of busts to take care of the dogs first and foremost. I know that some of them are already involved — note that it was HSUS that transported the dogs cross-country to Bad Rap — but I don’t know the extent of that involvement. I hope it’s huge and includes lots and lots of money to help the dogs.

But whatever the big organizations do, it’s critical that all of us who want to see these dogs saved put our money — or time, or foster care — where our mouths are, too. Let’s show the big guys how real dog lovers do it.

Donate to HSMO, and donate to any local groups who are taking in fight bust dogs. Consider, too, donating and volunteering to help groups who are taking in other dogs to make room for the bust dogs with foster homes and rescues experienced with dogs from fighting situations.

If you want to support one group that’s always there for the pibbles, check out this wonderful video of Beauty, a scarred dog with a painful eye injury, getting her butt scratched and being carried around in the arms of Tim from Bad Rap, and then considering giving them some love in the form of a donation for their “Barn Raising” — I did!

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