Expert Animal Welfare Q&A with Scotlund Haisley

Moving On

customercare@animalattraction.com — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The world can be a cruel place—especially for animals. So many are lost; so many lack the basics for life; so many suffer in silence in every corner of our planet.

But I’ve learned that when we take on the mantle of compassion, there is no cry that goes unheard, no wound that can’t be healed, no animal who is beyond hope of rescue.

Donating to WARL

customercare@animalattraction.com — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Dear Friend of Animals and the League,

This year, WARL will find homes for 1,200 animals, a record-breaking number of adoptions and a 150% increase over previous years!

When they came to WARL, these animals’ bodies were broken and their spirits were crushed. This holiday season, they are living as beloved family members in new homes.

But our shelter is still packed to capacity with new arrivals.

One of them is Bertie, a two-year-old dog who injured his leg. Rather than pay for the surgery to fix a torn knee ligament, Bertie’s guardian dropped him off at our front door.

A veterinary orthopedist fixed his leg, and our hospital staff saw to his physical therapy. Today, Bertie is romping in the yard with the other dogs.

Every day we get dozens of desperate calls to help cats abandoned on the streets, dogs whose owners moved away and left them tied in the backyard, and sick puppies and kittens in another shelter that does not have a budget for medical care.

We make room for these animals because they have nowhere else to go.

But the bottom line is this: Without your financial support there would be little we could offer these deserving animals.

We found Wayne in a crowded Louisiana shelter. The kitten was nothing but dirty fur and bones, and his skin was covered with sores and lesions. Not surprisingly, Wayne was on the euthanasia list for the day.

I opened the door to his cage and Wayne crawled up my arm, settled on my shoulder, and began to purr softly.

He got a place on our van, made the 20-hour trip to D.C., and then spent a month in our medical center getting daily treatments for his skin condition.

Without WARL, cats like Wayne and dogs like Bertie would have no chance at all. We know that.

Today, as I write this, Bertie and Wayne are still waiting for their homes. Some others are walking out our doors and into their new lives. A van is on its way here with a load of refugees who narrowly escaped euthanasia.

Together we can make a difference this holiday season. Please help with a generous gift for the lost and forgotten cats and dogs who need us. You can click here for our online donation form or send your donation to the address below.

Thank you on behalf of all the animals who owe their lives to friends like you!

Scotlung Hasiley
Executive Director
The Washington Animal Rescue League
71 Oglethorpe Street, NW
Washington, DC 20011

Puppy Mill Rescue

customercare@animalattraction.com — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Forgive me if this is a bit disjointed, but it has been a long night.

After spending all day Thursday assisting authorities in Hillsville, Virginia with efforts to rescue nearly 1,000 dogs from a puppy mill there, the WARL team arrived at our shelter at 4:00 a.m. A team of staff and volunteers met them here to feed all the dogs, give them clean water, and make sure they were comfortably housed and at rest.

Nine nursing mothers with a total of 35 puppies (some as young as a day old) were immediately placed in foster care with WARL volunteers.

All 105 dogs are now safe and in good hands. Among the breeds we have are Yorkshire Terriers, Bichon Frisés, Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Cocker Spaniels, Maltese, Cairn Terriers, Corgis, Beagles, Peekapoos, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and Poodle mixes.

The WARL Medical Center, with its three veterinarians, has cleared its schedule for the day so that each of the dogs can be thoroughly examined, treated for external and internal parasites, and given an individual treatment plan to correct any problems found.

This process has already started. So far we have found respiratory infections, ear infections, parasites, dental disease, severe matting, eye maladies, and malnourishment.

Many of the dogs will be available for adoption in about a week, perhaps even a day or two earlier. The youngest puppies will be made available when they reach eight weeks of age.

Even by WARL standards, this rescue mission is a large one. We have managed to get these dogs out of a horrible situation and into a supportive environment with the best available veterinary care. Their suffering and trauma is over, but their rescue will not be complete until they are healthy and living in permanent, loving homes.

To finish the rescue, we will need the entire community’s help. Specifically, we urgently need two things: adoptive homes for these dogs and funds for medical care and supplies.

The cost of treating and caring for these vulnerable dogs will be at least $200,000! It may even be more, depending on what our veterinarians find today. In short, we need everyone’s generous help to save these 105 refugees.

You can make an online donation from our website, www.warl.org, or you can rush a donation to Puppy Mill Rescue, WARL, 71 Oglethorpe Street, NW, Washington, DC 20011.

And please help us find homes for these dogs. Spread the word far and wide!

Thank you in advance for your much needed assistance.

Creating Serenity for Homeless Pets

customercare@animalattraction.com — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:00:00 GMT

If you have not yet seen it, I’d like to recommend the article “In DC, a Serene Shelter for Homeless Pets,” which appeared in USA Today on Tuesday. Using The Washington Animal Rescue League (WARL) as an example, the article illustrates the current worldwide trend in progressive animal shelters, away from emergency, barebones housing towards a holistic approach to rehabilitation and adoption of traumatized animals.

WARL has been in the very forefront of this movement and is proud to serve as an model for other animal rescue groups. Each week, I do a minimum of six tours for visitors from other animal groups who are interested in replicating the WARL model in their own area. Our doors are always open to anyone who is interested in helping animals, and I invite you to come by our shelter and take a look for yourself.

In fact, on Sunday, October 28, we will be celebrating PawFest, our annual open house, between noon and 3:00 p.m. That would be an ideal time to come see our shelter, learn about our work, and meet some wonderful animals. Our renovated facility has been open for a full year now, our adoption rate has nearly tripled, and we will be dedicating our new outdoors dog parks.

We have lots to celebrate.

With so much sadness and tragedy in the world for animals, it is important that we take these opportunities to celebrate what is going right for them. Please join us on the 28^th. And then please come back as an adopter, volunteer, or supporter. We would love to have your help.

The Big Easy After Katrina

customercare@animalattraction.com — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Q: I understand that a team from your organization just returned from New Orleans with some rescued animals. What is the situation like there for animals these days?

A: Two years ago the WARL animal rescue team I led was one of the first out-of-state agencies to respond to the hurricane. We set up the first veterinary triage center in New Orleans and rescued over 1,000 animals stranded on rooftops, marooned by flood waters, and trapped in abandoned homes.

Since then, WARL has transferred over 300 animals from overcrowded and under-resourced Gulf Coast shelters to our Washington, DC facility. These days, few if any of the major animal rescue groups are still involved in that region. But WARL is committed to continuing giving what assistance we can. I went back to New Orleans in August of this year, and for animals, the situation is just as bad, and maybe worse, than it ever was.

On a tour of one rural Louisiana shelter the director told me about the problems they currently face. For one, Katrina left large numbers of animals homeless on the streets and in the parks. They are producing multiple post-Katrina generations of homeless animals. Others are turned in by people who are still struggling to rebuild their lives and cannot manage to make ends meet. As for adopters, the director told me that there is almost no one there who is in any position to adopt.

That particular shelter takes in as many as 80 animals every day.

When we left, we brought back as many animals as we could on our two rescue vans—63dogs and 26 cats. Most of them were on the euthanasia list for that day.

All 22 of the newly arrived puppies had parvovirus, a disease that is invariably fatal if not treated immediately and aggressively. All 26 of the cats had ringworm. Ten of the adult dogs tested positive for heartworm. One had a broken leg.

This was not a total surprise. Many of the animals we have brought up from the Gulf Coast over the past two years have been sick and injured. But to have over half of 90 animals in a transport require hospitalization and major medical treatment is an indicator of just how much more dire the post-Katrina situation has become for animals.

We don’t for a moment regret having rescued these animals. Until the Katrina crisis is truly over, WARL will be assisting our Gulf Coast partners and the animals who still need us. But this last trip is really stretching our resources, so we are actively collecting donations to cover the expenses.

You can learn more about our organization and recent rescue efforts in Louisiana by watching these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZFuBQ99MLE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQwZIGBor4

Anyone who feels inclined to help can make an online donation at https://www.warl.org/howhelp/donationForm.php.

Thanks for your question and for caring about the animals,

Scotlund

Getting Involved

customercare@animalattraction.com — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Q: For years I've felt drawn to somehow working with animals, but have encountered many roadblocks. I'd like to tell you what I've researched so you can better understand my situation.

Going to school is not feasible because I have to work full-time to support myself. As for pursuing dog training, the only school is an hour away and I cannot relocate. Because I live in an apartment, I cannot foster pets waiting for adoption.

I have talked with the humane society in my town, but being a cruelty investigator isn't an option. We have a wildlife rehab outside the city limits, but they mostly rely on volunteers, have a handful of paid positions and employees have to live outside city limits.

Finally, I considered working with a rescue sanctuary, but we don't have one nearby. All things considered, I feel this would be my first choice and most fulfilling. Believe it or not, no one I know shares my interest and I've run out of ideas!

A: Thanks for taking the time to write and thanks especially for your interest in helping animals. There are many animals everywhere who are entirely dependent on the kindness of humans to make their lives better. They need all the friends they can get, and it is good to know that they a friend in you.

I would encourage you to get involved with animals at whatever level your current circumstances involve. If a career in animal protection does not work for you at the moment, there are still lots of ways you can help. It can be as simple as keeping an eye open for stray and abused dogs and cats and then reporting them to whatever local group is able to help. Or you can collect used blankets and towels for your local animal shelter. Perhaps you can offer to publicize some of the animals they have for adoption. I think that once you get started on this path of compassion, you will soon discover multiple ways to get involved.

Most of us in the animal field got started this way, almost by accident. It’s not something one does to get rich or win status in society. There are no academic programs to prepare you for this work. But for some of us, there is such a strong pull to help animals, it’s almost as if we cannot resist, and we find ways to help.

You can always help animals by what you DON’T do. In fact, this is probably the best place to start. You can start by NOT eating them, by NOT wearing them, by NOT buying products that are tested on animals. Join us in using your purchasing power to send society the message that animal abuse, for any reason, is unacceptable.

I wish you all the best in you efforts to help animals, wherever that may lead you. Welcome to our circle. We are very glad to have you as another friend of the innocent and voiceless.

Reporting Animal Abuse

customercare@animalattraction.com — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Q: I would like to know is there anything I can do if I know a dog is being abused. There is nothing worse to me than seeing a helpless animal being beaten -- I can’t stand it! And worst of all, my 4-year-old son was with me as we witnessed this inhuman act on a poor helpless dog! I talked to a person down the street to see if there was anything I could do, but he didn't think it would do any good....

A few years ago I also watched as a man beat his dog in a parking lot, all because the dog got sick in his truck! I called 911, but the officer who came just told me that the man could do whatever he wanted because it is legally his property and he has the right to shoot the dog in front of me if he so chooses!

A: Thanks for your message and for caring. Laws that protect animals from abuse and neglect vary from state to state, but there is, to my knowledge, nowhere in the United States where it is legal to beat a dog so as to cause them physical harm.

The problem is, as you experienced, many police officers are not aware of anti-cruelty laws and are reluctant to intervene to prevent abuse and cruelty. This is not always the case, but it happens all too often. It may stem from the fact that in many jurisdictions it is not the police who enforce animal protection laws, but separate “humane officers” or “animal wardens.” (Their title also varies from place to place.)

Your first step should be to call the local humane society or animal control agency for your area. They will be able to explain the laws in your town that protect animals. They can also investigate a report you make and should be open to taking anonymous calls. They may ask for your contact information for their internal use, but no competent and professional law enforcement official would share your information with the abuser.

I would encourage you to find out what protections animals have in your town and to report any cases of abuse you witness immediately. Too many animals who should enjoy the protection of the law continue to suffer because people remain silent. They cannot speak up for themselves, and if those of us who care do not report the abuse, who will?

Good luck,

Scotlund Haisley

Should Michael Vick Speak Out?

customercare@animalattraction.com — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Q: Do you think animal welfare should encourage or accept any overtures by Michael Vick to speak out against dog fighting?

A: I would be happy to hear Michael Vick—or anyone else, for that matter—speak out against dog fighting, providing that the overture is sincere. What I wouldn’t want to see is any leniency granted Michael Vick or his co-defendants in the case. The strongest anti-dog fighting message that we can hope for is a stiff prison sentence and other court mandated penalties. That will speak more loudly about society’s abhorrence for this cruel crime than anything Michael Vick can say.

I think that most of us in the animal protection community would agree that the exposure this high profile case has been, in the end, helpful. Many people who were unaware of the problem now know how cruel and widespread dog fighting is, even in their own communities. I especially hope that law enforcement officials will start to take this crime more seriously and take a zero-tolerance approach to combating it from now on.

I would never go so far as to say that I am grateful to Michael Vick. But sometimes there are “silver linings,” and in the ongoing struggle to protect animals from cruelty, abuse, and harm, those of us who care have to take advantage of every available opportunity. The animals depend on us to do just that.

A Bit About Scotlund

customercare@animalattraction.com — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Learn all about Scotlund and what inspired him to pursue a career in animal welfare.

I’ve always had strong feelings about how animals are treated. I remember an incident from my childhood when a friend and I were playing with a bb gun in his backyard. There was a sparrow in a bush there, and my friend told me to shoot him. Without really thinking about what I was doing, I aimed the gun and pulled the trigger. The sparrow fell out of the bush, but he wasn’t dead. So my friend told me I had to wring his neck to “put him out of his misery.” I did this, too, but the whole episode filled me with remorse and revulsion. It also brought home to me just how vulnerable innocent animals are and just how senseless the violence that we subject them to is.

Years later as an adult, I spent some time talking to a friend who worked for PETA, which was a new organization back then. A lot of what she said made sense to me, and I decided I needed to be directly involved in helping animals. That led to a job as an animal control officer at the D.C. Animal Shelter. I had the chance to rescue thousands of animals in that job and that made me realize that I wanted to devote my life to ending animal suffering. At that point, I stopped eating and wearing animals.

One of the animals I rescued in the early 90’s was a rottweiler who was near death when I found him. I took care of him, oversaw his recovery and eventually brought him home and named him Capone. He was with me until 2003 and taught me a lot about animals and the importance of animal protection. One of our favorite things to do together was to visit classrooms where we demonstrated to kids – many of whom knew only vicious guard dogs and skittish feral cats – how intense the bond between a human and an animal can be. Capone and I shared such a bond. I hope we passed that on to lots of people.

Today's Animal Welfare Issues

customercare@animalattraction.com — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Q: What do you see as the biggest issue in animal welfare today?

A: The most basic, fundamental issue is how we think about animals. To many people they are still property, as if they had no life of their own. For example, there are still people who see their dog not as a friend and companion, but as a burglar alarm, or a source of puppies to sell, or a fighting machine that might make them some cash. And lots more people see a chicken simply as a future dinner, with no value outside of that.

If everyone could see animals for what they really are – living being with needs and desires who are not so very different from us – then we as a society would quickly solve the resulting problems like pet overpopulation, puppy mills, dog fighting, factory farms, slaughterhouses, research labs—problems those of us in the animal protection field work to solve every day.