This chained husky, along with 96 others were rescued by spca ll, a no-kill shelters located in the province of quebec.

Yves Kirouac, the former guardian of these dogs, claimed that he loved his dogs and cared for them, in an attempt to clear his name. Outraged, 5 witnesses responded to the article by individually telling the truth about what was really happening to these dogs. 

 Cath

Les animaux affamés et déshydratés, comprenant une trentaine de femelles enceintes, vivaient enchaînés dehors sans accès à un abris convenable ni même à de l’eau potable.

Près d’une centaine de chiens saisis

Afin de se défendre et de laver son nom, Yves Kirouac, l’ancien gardien des chiens de traîneau, déclare dans un article de journal qu’il adorait ses chiens et qu’il les avait donnés à contrecoeur. Outragés, 5 témoins ont répondu à l’article, racontant une autre version complètement différente.

Apparemment, les chiens étaient sous-alimentés durant l’été. ”Certaines bêtes portaient même des plaies rongées par des vers…” raconte une femme, avec vidéos et photos pour appuyer ses dires.

Kirouac aurait également tué des vieux chiens à coups de pelle dans la tête. Des carcasses ont étés repérées sur le terrain, dans une fosse.

Les animaux saisis par la SPCA quitteront le refuge d’urgence dans les Laurentides et seront distribués entre plusieurs organismes au Canada et aux États-Unis pour y être soignés et stérélisés. Ils seront alors disponibles pour l’adoption.

Malheureusement, la SPCA Laurentides-Labelle affirme que ceci n’est pas un cas isolé et que des situations semblables ou des chiens de traîneau sont négligés sont régulièrement reportées au Canada, d’où le besoin immédiat de meilleures lois pour protéger les animaux.

Cath

We can be angry, and we can be hurt, but we must not turn away…Before we can change something, we must be willing to look at it!

Diane Leigh & Marilee Geyer

It`s a dangerous world out there, and everyday, in cities across the nation, dogs and cats by the thousands end up on the streets…

The book I`m gonna talk about today, ONE At a Time- A Week in an American Shelter starts with these words…I personally was in tears by the end of the introduction… I had to stop multiple times because I was crying so hard. Best and worst part of the book are the photos. Seeing their faces and looking into their eyes made it personal, and it makes you feel helpless. So you are gonna ask me… why are you suggesting us this book? To make us Sad? Are not we surrounded by enough sadness already? Some of my friends on facebook tell me the same thing all the time…Pia, we can not even watch/read the the things you post till the end… Cause it makes us sad… But we can not runaway from the facts or the horror that`s surrounding us… You can be hurt but you can not turn your head away. You have to make a decision… So ARE YOU IN???

Authors Diane Leigh and Marilee Geyer spend a week in a shelter in Northern California in order to document the lives of animals. The book tells the 75 stories of individual dogs and cats that come to the animal shelter during the week. All of these cats and dogs are here to find a home. Some will be reunited with their family, some will move to a new and hopefully permanent and loving home, and some will be euthanized. They are to be commended for telling a very difficult story in an honest and non-biased way. It’s heartbreaking to know that some dogs and cats have no chance of adoption and are euthanized simply because of their unpopular breed or age or health condition. Some happy adoptable animals succumb to kennel stress and the personality problems it causes. I found myself looking at the end of each story to see the outcome before I even started reading about the animals. Is he/she adopted or euthanized??? There is not enough money to care for sick animals or time or staff to socialize animals with behavioural problems. It is often a losing battle. The authors make it clear that much of the blame lies on irresponsible people who don’t spay or neuter their animals. You begin to realize how hopeless the odds are even at the most well-run animal shelter. Many more animals arrive than can be adopted. You need to be strong to read this book. You’ll fall in love with some of the animals and learn they did not survive the kennel but there is joy in knowing many do find new homes. The book selects several animals to feature and there is a picture or two. All are beautiful animals who deserved a chance that many never got.

And there was Kelly who broke my heart into million pieces… A beautiful, eight years old golden Husky mix who was found by the control officer in the shelter`s play yard, probably left by her guardian because the shelter was not open at that time. Her guardian came few hours later for signing her to the shelter adding that she is such a great, loving dog, who gets very well children. The staff was dumbfounded. If Kelly was such a great dog, why her guardian gave her up? Apparently in her current home she was primarily a yard dog, sleeping in the dog house and being fed outside in the mornings. Back in the kennels, she was devastated. Her grief was unmistakable. She did not eat, would not look up at anyone who stood in front of her kennel, did not lift her head as her photo was taken. After three days, it was clear that she was not going to bounce back from the trauma of being abandoned; puppies, even street dogs, do better in the shelter, having never known a home. It is the ones who had a home-the ones who have lost the most- who suffer the worst. Her suffering sealed her fate=EUTHANASIA…

Here are some general statistics from the book:

• 6 to 8 million lost and unwanted animals entered animal shelters nationwide last year. 3 to 4 million animals were euthanized in animal shelters last year. This means one animal is put down every nine seconds.

• Euthanasia in shelters is the leading cause of death of healthy dogs and cats.

• 1 in 3 animals will have a home that lasts their entire lifetime.

• 20% of animals currently in homes are adopted from shelters.

• 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred.

• A companion animal is lost every 30 seconds.

• Only 2% of lost cats who enter shelters are ever reunited with their families. Only 16% of dogs are reunited with their families.

• The length of time that most surrendered animals have been in the home before being surrendered is less than one year.

Leigh and Geyer ask this question “ How do we End this TRAGEDY?”

Here are the answers they come up with.

What You could do:

• Keeping current ID on animals and ensuring that they are kept safe, do not become lost

• Spaying and neutering to help overpopulation

• Getting an animal when you are absolutely ready

• Adopting a homeless animal from a shelter/rescue group

What Shelters could do:

• Identification and microchipping programs, (An ID tag and microchip could save countless lost animals)

• Low cost spay and neuter

• Pet parenting classes and animal behaviour help

But most importantly we need to create communicate communities that killing is not an acceptable answer, animals have value and beauty as beings with a sacred spark of life and spirit.

When describing it to several people, I was asked why I would want to torture myself by reading such tragic stories. The answer is that every pet owner (past and present) in the country NEEDS to read this book. It should be required. Too many people just don’t know what happens when they don’t spay/neuter their dogs and cats, or when they drop off their pets at a shelter because they are moving, or “tired of the animal,” or some other unacceptable reason for giving up a pet. Euthanasia (even gas chambers) does happen to millions of animals each year. Turning away from this reality is a betrayal of the animals. If they must go through it, we can be strong enough to know about it and face it.

I would like to dedicate this post and this song Coldplay-Fix You to all the Rainbow angels. Sorry, we could not Save you!

www.novoiceunheard.org

Love,

Pia