I just posted this to the page of a group called Taxpayers United for Fidos and Felines in response to their comments about a meeting they held last night that a group of us attended. Not only did they deliberately share inaccuracies at their meeting, theyre trying to do the same thing on their Facebook page. Im certain this will be deleted, so I copied it. Here is how I feel about that group and their meeting: Youre joking, right? First of all, this was advertized as a public meeting, not a rant that covered a gamut of topics ranging from no kill, to the physical condition of the kennel, to you (by you, I mean the speaker) taking a joking anecdote told by a city council person about the animal warden giving him a male dog that turned out to be a pregnant female as fact (it was a JOKE, not a statement of truth!), to you allowing your dogs to rip an animal apart in your backyard because it was the circle of life, to your veganism, to the salary of the chief animal warden, to you lying to an animal control officer 13 years ago and claiming a stray dog was your dog, to Ohio Revised Code, to your contention that wild animals that are trapped and brought into the kennel should be spayed or neutered and released (a violation of the Ohio Code you were quoting, by the way)...theres more but who cares? Your group provided deliberately inaccurate information from the start - even in the visual presentation set up in the room, which contained photos of dogs you claimed were killed at the kennel but had, in fact, gone on to rescue or had been euthanized because of fatal illnesses like cancer or for brutally attacking a volunteer. When we tried to correct these deliberate falsehoods, you told us to be quiet and now are claiming we were disruptive (however, you let others speak out during the meeting who embraced your position). You talked about 1,500+ dogs being euthanized at the kennel and when told the kennel currently has a live release rate of 84 percent, you said that percentages are not facts or some such thing. Cleveland is an ANIMAL CONTROL FACILITY, which means it must take every dog that comes its way, either because the dog was running at large, the dog was seized for neglect or abuse or legal issues or the owner surrendered it. Its not a shelter that gets to pick and choose which animals it will take based on if they are adoptable. That said, no-kill, which was one of your mantras last night, is considered a 90 percent live release rate. In the first quarter of 2014, the Cleveland Kennel had a live release rate of 87 percent, which is a phenomenal accomplishment! But those arent the facts you want to hear or share, apparently. The fact that dozens of volunteers give up hours per week of their free time to walk dogs, play with them, conduct meet and greets and transport them is, apparently, irrelevant compared to your research and advocacy. You spent a huge portion of your time last night insisting that you were taxpayers and that as such, you have the right to request public records. Yes, you are, and yes, you do. No ones arguing with you on that point. No ones arguing the kennel is an old building; THATS WHY A NEW ONE IS BEING BUILT after years of advocacy by people who you dismiss as disruptive troublemakers and liars.The presentation at the meeting offered no indication it was about finding solutions to the tsunami we face of unwanted pets in the city of Cleveland or Cuyahoga County. Your program simply was your opportunity to air your real or pretend grievances about the Cleveland Kennel, its staff and its volunteers, while spreading inaccurate information to support your untenable position. Please dont pretend it was anything else.
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 16:22:45 +0000
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