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Informative Article re: TOH Kill Shelter w/ a 7.4 MILLION DOLLAR Budget
An article by Pet Columnist, Sharon Hubbard.
Dear Readers,
Last week News 12 aired a debate between Kate Murray the Republican Hempstead Town Supervisor and Gary Port the Democratic candidate for supervisor.
When the topic of the Hempstead Animal Shelter was brought up, Kate Murray stated that "in her opinion" the Hempstead shelter was the "best Shelter on Long Island "
Wow Kate! REALLY???
Readers I'm not sure which would be worse... that Kate is not able to comprehend that a shelter that still kills for population control, with no air conditioning, housed in an archaic building, without proper air circulation, without a real volunteer program (not just one or two stragglers to appease and mislead the public) has a budget in excess of 6 MILLION dollars more than the comparable NO KILL, air conditioned Brookhaven Shelter is NOT EVEN AN ACCEPTABLE SHELTER, LET ALONE "The Best Shelter" , OR that Kate resides in the political smoke and mirrors "spin zone"
Can she really believe the voting public is that dumb???
As for Kate's remark that the banned volunteers were just two women with a grudge against the town, I'm here to tell you that I was privileged to know those ladies for years, watching in amazement and admiration as they devoted their time and money to saving thousands of lives.
They secretly would reach out to me (as they did to Rescue Organizations across the country) asking for help in a desperate plea to save lives.
Why did we need to keep our relationship a secret throughout the years? Why did Diane and Lucille fear that if the town knew they were in touch with Sharon Hubbard they would be banned from the shelter?
Here's a news flash Readers, Hempstead Shelter is not the only town shelter which forbids its volunteers/employees from communicating with Sharon Hubbard.
Those are the shelters with dirty little secrets to hide. Secrets they don't want the public to know about.
Before I give "Hope For Hempstead Shelter" the grass roots organization formed to improve the Hempstead Shelter a chance to respond to Kate's remarks, I'm going to do something I've never done before.
The dogs whose pictures you see here (in actual column) are all dead. They were killed by the Hempstead Shelter since the new acting shelter director was hired to "improve" the shelter.
I apologize to those Shelters and Rescue Organizations who have submitted pictures, I will publish your pictures in the next column.
Supervisor Murray , once again I'm offering you the opportunity to speak to my Readers.
Now Readers, here is the Hope For Hempstead Shelter's response to Kate Murray's comments.
MORE MONEY, MORE KILLING
"OCTOBER 17, 2011 – WANTAGH, NY – Hope for Hempstead Shelter encourages the public to accept Kate Murray’s invitation to visit the Animal Shelter and, “…take a look for yourself, see what you see..,” because what you will see is very different from what Supervisor Murray described during last week’s News 12 Long Island Town Supervisor Election Debate.
Kate Murray says, “…you may see one of our full-time veterinarians taking good care of our dogs and cats.” The truth is in cases like #2243, a young mother dog who sat neglected and hemorrhaging for eight days after delivering her pups. Neither the Shelter nor its veterinarian made any effort to help this savable dog. No effort on Petfinder, no photo or rescue outreach; her preventable death was finally disguised as “unadoptable,” the new, creative terminology used by the Shelter to kill animals quickly.
Murray also states the Shelter passed three surprise, independent inspections by the State Department of Agriculture and Markets. The reality is that the Department of Agriculture and Markets’ inspection only offers a satisfactory or unsatisfactory grade for appropriate record-keeping and whether or not food and water are available to the animals. These parameters do not a humane shelter make. The Department does not seek to identify or address any issues of animal health, behavior, overall well-being or employee qualifications. If an independent agency were to rate TOHAS on any of the aforementioned items, the Shelter would fail.
During the Debate, the candidates were asked if the Shelter’s issues were due to mismanagement by the Town. Murray denied mismanagement and attempted to deflect the truth by saying former, independent Shelter volunteers, Lucille DeFina and Diane Madden had a “grudge” against and were suing the Town.
“The Shelter is mistreating and killing our Community’s animals and robbing the taxpayer of more than $7 Million to do it,” said Diane Madden, a volunteer rescuer who was banned in October 2010 for exposing abuse, neglect and mismanagement at TOHAS. “Our lawsuit, filed two months after the rescue ban, addresses the Shelter and Town’s infringement on our First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech. The only ‘grudge’ is that TOHAS is killing adoptable animals and disguising it. The Public is the only voice for these helpless animals and that voice will not be silenced until TOHAS is completely overhauled into a No-Kill, humane animal care facility,” said Madden.
Gary Port is the Democratic candidate running for Hempstead Town Supervisor. During the debate, Port stated, “The problem with the Animal Shelter is that it is not about the animals. The problem with the Animal Shelter is that it is an employment agency for Republican functionaries.” Port also pointed out that when Murray took office in 2003, the Shelter budget was $3.5 Million and now it is more than $7 Million, more than six times the budget of any other Shelter of comparable size on Long Island, and in major cities across the country including Boston and Chicago .
Visit www.hopeforhempsteadshelter.co?m and Facebook Hope for Hempstead Shelter, for more information"
Readers, I believe you can view the debate on the Hope For Hempstead Shelter website.
Please, Please go out and vote in November. You are the deciding voice for the animals and whether they will live or die.
Their fate is in your hands.
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