**CHUNK UPDATE** We met with Emily Gaydos (Behavior Program Coordinator) and Kim Latos (Shelter Manager) of Siskiyou Humane Society in Mt. Shaata, Ca concerning Chunks abandonment by Kelly Zimmerman. Kelly had told the shelter that we refused to take him back when she told us about his habit of dragging her small dog around by his tail. She also stated that our solution was to muzzle him. Neither of these are true. We told her SEVERAL times via phone and text that we would take him back. In regards to the pulling of the small dogs tail, I told her when we visited him that she needed to nip that in the bud. She laughed and said well thats the way he plays. We referred her to trainers and she refused to meet with any of them. The muzzle she spoke of was referring the the gentle leader I showed her to help with his leash manners since she stated he would pull until he gagged himself. During our conversation, both Ms. Gaydos and Ms. Latos, implied that we had several red flags in regards to the rescue. Ms. Gaydos stated that there are several rescues locally who are borderline hoarders and since the founder of TWO of them commented about my rescue, she suspects that I am in the same boat and that raised a red flag about us. The second red flag was 3 complaints made to the shelter about us. Kelly Zimmerman was complaint one and her boyfriend Josh Swenson was the other. They refused to state who the third complaint was from, but stated we adopted about a male border collie into a family with children who was aggressive toward the children. We have only had 2 male border collies placed in Siskiyou County. One was Chunk and the other was Mikey. Mikey was adopted to a single woman in her 50s who was retiring and wanted a travel buddy. I asked the shelter why I did not receive a phone call from them when he was abandoned at the shelter. They stated they wanted to do more digging into our organization before notifying us due to the hoarder flag. I gave them all pertinent phone numbers including our vets contact information. They said they found all the information they needed. Im assuming they called the local shelters trying to dig. When I called to verify Kellys claim that Chunk was neutered I was given a cellphone number for someone named Kim who worked at Mt. Shasta Animal Hospital. I called and she identified herself as an employee of the hospital and she would mail me a copy of his neuter certificate. I called the vet hospital the next morning and there was not an employee by the name of Kim at the hospital and he was not neutered when Kelly said he was. Come to find out the cellphone number I was given was that of Ms. Latos. Why did she identify herself as an employee of the vet clinic and NOT the shelter manager?? Not friends aye? Ms. Gaydos stated that Kelly and Josh were both wonderful adopters. By what standard I have no idea. This is not surprising since the three of them are REALLY good friends. Kelly is such a wonderful dog person that she FAILED to get Chunk to a vet in the 4 months she had him. She FAILED to get him vaccinations. She FAILED to get him heartgard. She FAILED to have him neutered. ( ALL VERIFIED BY MT. SHASTA VET HOSPITAL) She FAILED him! Yet, Ms. Gaydos stated, that we as a rescue failed him. We found out that Chunk has been at the shelter for nearly a week. As of Thursday, Kelly stated she still had him in her care. Since he was just getting into a routine, I did not want to yank him out of the shelter, plop him into a temporary foster, then a permanent foster, then an adoptive home. We agreed to give the shelter 2 weeks to find him a home since he has interested families already. If he has not found a home in that time period, he will be coming here and bypassing all foster homes. He is in good spirits and enjoys his learning time with his trainer. Right now, Chunk staying where he is, is the best for stability. Thank you to EVERYONE who stepped up to support us. It means the world to me!
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:55:27 +0000
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