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Petition Against Kill-Shelter Devore Animal Shelter

July 24, 2009

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LOS ANGELES (RPRN) 07/24/09 — by Andrea Archibald, staff writer

-The non-profit group, No-Kill Now!, an advocacy group working to end the practice of kill shelters, recently released the following petition against the Devore Animal Shelter in Southern California.
The group discovered, through reports from employees, that the kill-shelter regularly breaks regulations set forth by The Hayden Act. Among the many violations, animals are housed in killing rooms, withheld veterinarian care, beaten, neglected, and otherwise left to suffer within their walls until finally euthanized. Furthermore, appropriate and necessary actions are not taken to find these animals loving homes, and otherwise save their lives. Animals there have little chance of surviving.

Letters sent to appropriate officials are being ignored or outright rejected.

If you care and want to see institutionalized cruelty end, please read the following petition and take action now.

EVERYONE WHO CARES ABOUT ANIMALS CAN SIGN

We, the undersigned, are concerned about the welfare of animals. Furthermore, we are informed and thereon believe the following and advocate as follows:

Devore Animal 'Shelter' in Southern California is violating the Hayden Act and other laws of the State. SEE
www.nokillnow.com/SB1785a.htm

1) The staff is killing impounded animals even when over HALF THE CAGES ARE EMPTY. They kill healthy adoptable animals on a daily basis regardless of whether there is room from them. Animals are killed when they could be adopted if they had more time. This is a violation of the Hayden Act, California's shelter law every municipal pound is bound by.

2) According to workers every day dogs were taken from their cages whereby they would wag their tails in glee until they are taken into a room with piles of dead dogs and then they go 'crazy'. There they are killed and added to the pile. An animal attorney has stated this is a blatant violation of the law.

3)The staff refuses to give the public any deadline for dogs because they don't like to admit they kill there. In fact, sometimes they deny it! This keeps animals set to die from getting adopted for lack of a deadline and it misleads the public what occurs at Devore.

4) The staff allowed perhaps hundreds of animals to be stolen over a period of years without doing ANYTHING to protect the animals. This included weaning puppies and kittens who likely could not survive without their mother. While this was just recently addressed, officials had funds appropriated for security measures and yet procrastinated so that many animals suffered needlessly. They only took action after numerous complaints.

5) A uniformed dog catcher/animal controller who stands about 6'5" was reportedly seen by a pound worker beating a 17 pound dog in his cage until blood poured from his head and mouth and body and all over the cage in every direction. The worker said the uniformed employee kicked the dog repeatedly and swung his baton overhead and landed many blows on this dog while the dog cowered in the corner of his cage the entire time, screaming and wailing. This was reported to the Sheriff who did nothing. The witness has memorialized a statement on a tape recording. This uniformed controller is still working there and apparently has suffered NO consequence as a result of this beating. According to another worker, there was a cover-up of what happened among some working there.

6) The water for the dogs in several cages has for months been a bright lime-green color because the water dishes are apparently never or infrequently washed. A dead rat was left for months on a cage near the dogs.

7) Cats have been kept in cages in the killing room, forcing them to witness other animals being put to death.

8 ) Healthy adoptable animals are kept in the quarantine area regularly.
Once there, they cannot be adopted because visitors can't view them, they are not always on the bulletin board at the facility and some never make it on the internet. This seals the fate of many.

9) Employees with dubious judgment deem animals 'aggressive' when they are not.

10) Workers stated on several occasions they saw animals that obviously needed vet care and they were told not to worry about it. These animals suffered needlessly and then were killed. Many of these conditions were minor such as eye infections or wounds. One reported that an 'owner' brought in a dog that was in severe pain and they asked that the dog be euthanized. The dog was instead held at least four days, without medication and was in obvious agony the entire time. When asked 'why', the supervisor said they had to hold the dog until the time was up.

11) A worker stated that she heard a female kennel keeper say she was interested in doing the killing ('euthanizing') and that she was told she could. The worker overheard the female saying she did the killing and that she apparently enjoyed the experience.

12) Workers reported they were upset when pigs were killed there. Instead of giving them more time or trying to find a home for them, they were killed in the yard and their bodies were left there for days. During that time perhaps they could have been adopted.

This Petition is for the purpose of demanding a new administration take over the running of the Devore facility. In addition, we demand the staff stop all killing of animals while there are empty cages and room for them. Furthermore, we demand that this facility engage in modern practices including focusing on adopting instead of killing adoptable animals, that animals receive veterinary care when needed, that the facility be kept sanitary, that no animal should be killed in a room filled with piles of dead animals (or even one), that the date of death for an animal be posted for at least 24 hours before they are killed, that animals be protected while they are there from being stolen or harmed by others, that no animals be housed in 'the killing room', that no animals be killed by unlicensed employees to satisfy their curiosity and that this facility work towards a NO-KILL goal.

After you sign you will be directed to a page with these links:
The Devore Horror
Pictures of Abuses
Meet "Mr. Cruel", Devore's Director
The Dog Beating

Sign Petition Here

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