Hi,

I don't post to often but I just received this email and it really upset me. I volunteered at the Islip Shelter back in November and I remember Duke. His owner goes there all the time and plays with him and he's been living in the shelter for two years. He's such a sweet playful dog and my heart breaks for him. I plan on going to this on my lunch break, I just hope it works. Here's the story.

To Everyone in receipt of this message,



It is very important that we gather as a group to show support for those people involved in bringing the case of Duke, the Pit bull to the forefront.

What we ask is that every person on this mailing list come to our gathering and bring at least 10 people with you who are committed to helping. To those of you who may not know all of the history, Denise Menendez, who lives in the Islip Township is tying to save her dog Duke, form being killed. Duke has been waiting at the shelter for over 2 years to hear his court decided fate and the verdict has come back with an order of destruction. Ironically, this dog has been waiting for a death sentence while he is not guilty of the task. Duke was wrongfully identified as a dog that allegedly attacked a neighbors dog. The neighbors dog was bit, not killed. During these years of court appointments the neighbor's dog has passed away from causes not at all related to the alleged bite incident. [Image Removed] [Image Removed]

What we all need to realize as dog owners and residents is that we need to take our pets very seriously and be very cautious. Any one of your neighbors can have a personal dislike for you or your dog and create and unending cycle of problems for you. This is what happened to Denise. Her dogs got out once in the past and a complaint was made against her. She answered the complaint letter at the wrong court. She missed her hearing. The judge ruled against her since she was not there. She thought it wasn't so serious because she was just going to keep her dogs in. Her neighbor made sure that once he received notice of the judgment in his favor that he further created problems by immediately notifying the courts that Denise did not build a pen for

her dogs. Denise didn't think that it was a big deal that she didn't do it absolutely immediately. She was wrong. She took too long, from the neighbors viewpoint and the court's viewpoint. So both of her dogs were taken away. Then her male Pit bull, Duke was pointed out as the perpetrator of the bite. Mind you, the neighbor and his "witness" had conflicting stories yet the court decided upon their information. Denise appealed and the judge agreed with the lower court's decision. The lower court was not specific nor specifically identify Duke as the dog who bit. There were a lot of legal mistakes. Denise couldn't find an attorney who knew what he/she was doing. All the time Duke waited at the shelter, now to be put to death, for something he never did.
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Elite Animal Trainers performed a behavioral evaluation on Duke last summer. He passed extremely well and was the nicest dog there could possibly be in this situation. He was friendly, happy, playful, liked other dogs, let strange people handle him in any way they chose.

Duke and Denise need you to come to this gathering to show that people care about injustice and dog's rights. Pam Greene,councilwoman for Islip, has been very supportive. Matt and The Islip shelter have been very supportive of Duke. They all love him and have spoken about his great temperament in such a stressful environment. Over the years they continue to talk about how wonderful Duke is and that he has not had any issues with their staff or dogs in particular. It is amazing how Duke has maintained such a sweet personality the whole time there.
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Please come on TUESDAY AUGUST 15TH with your supporters. Denise and her people depend on a huge turnout to get the public's and the media's attention. Bring banners in support of Duke, Pam Greene and the Islip Shelter. We will be gathering at Islip Town Hall to say thank you to Pam Greene and the Town Shelter for their support of Duke and their hopeful effective change of the decision against him. This is a positive gathering. We want the media to cover our presence and for the public to know about Pam Greene's and the Islip Shelter's effort to assist Duke and his family.Please contact any of your colleagues and political supporters to help make a statement.

Meet at:
Islip Town Hall
Main Street, Islip
Starting at 9am, all day, thru 5pm

Denise's contact info: 631-979-3577
cell 631-478-8430

Please don't assume that one less person wont make a difference and that everyone else will attend, we do it all the time. Duke's life depends on this being the biggest event possible. Please take this very seriously, what if it wasn't Denise's dog, but yours. The court has ordered Duke to be killed on August 25th.

I"m not trying to push anything on anyone, it's just that my heart breaks for this poor dog and I don't know what else I can do to help him. Chat Icon