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Ignorance...stupidity...or both?

A vigil held August 15th outside the Lehigh County Humane Society linked "National Homeless Animals Day" to the thousands of animals dying inside this Lehigh County shelter.


I arrived to video tape the protest in an effort to bring attention to this shame of the Lehigh Valley. As I entered the shelter, I was greeted, or should I say "hounded" by Connie Fritch, wife of board president, Bruce Fritch.

Connie and her 'partner-in-crime,' (and I do mean crime) Eileen O'Keefe, apparently felt it necessary to follow me during my tour while attempting to convice me of the shelter's praises and good-doings.

A statement made to me by Eileen still disturbs me as I write this and is probably the single most indicator of the shelter's ignorance and stupidity - all factors that are helping to keep the status quo of 6,000 animals killed each year.

I asked Eileen why the shelter doesn't organize 'meet and greets' in pet stores or other public locations. This is an event most every other shelter, no- kill or otherwise, takes part in.. Why?? ...Because it greatly helps find homes for animals, which after all, is supposed to be the main mission of any compassionate shelter.. Right?

Apparently, not so right -
Eileen: 'It's too stressful for the animals."

Me: "So you would rather kill the animals than have them be stressed out for a few hours trying to find a loving home?"

Eileen: "Yes."
She actually said that they would, in fact, rather kill the animals than take them to meet and greets. I just can't wrap my head around that one.

Besides the obvious disturbance of this comment, if you talk to any animal group who takes dogs to meet and greets, they will tell you the dogs love it! The dogs love being out of the shelter. It gives them a chance to socialize, which greatly increases a homeless animals' chance of being adopted. .

Lehigh County Humane Society either doesn't get this or doesn't care. I can only ask, why, if there are actions they can take which will increase adoptions and thereby reduce animals killed, why aren't they doing it? It certainly presents a whole different dimension to their ignorance which makes it that much more difficult to reason and work with them.

I'm personally concluding that the Fritch's are lazy and ignorant, in both their thinking and their actions. And this brings us to yet another aspect of their ignorance which is their refusal to work with volunters.

Any high- kill shelter that really works to find homes for their animals will tell you they could not do it without the help of volunteers. Volunteers are the back-bone of any compassionate and successful shelter. Lehigh Co. Humane Society works very little with volunteers and has stated many times to former employees that they would rather not work with volunteers. One long term volunteer was told to leave after she started a program to help find homes for their animals.

Other former employees have recounted over and over again situations where humane, compassionate action was denied to animals at the shelter.

How many animals have to suffer and die at the hands of Connie and Bruce Fritch?

How many animals have to be denied humane, compassionate care because of ignorance and stupidity?

This won't stop unless all of us stand up for the animals dying right now behind shelter walls.

We can change this shame of the lehigh valley to a pride of the lehigh valley.


Contact onevoice4animals@yahoo.com and find out what you can do.
For the animals,
Cheryl

VIGIL FOR HOMELESS ANIMALS - LEHIGH CO. SHELTER

In memory of all the thousands of shelter animals who have been killed inside Lehigh Co. Humane Society under the direction of Bruce Fritch..........and in commemoration of National Homeless Animals Day, please come join us to be a voice for the animals.

When: Saturday, August 15th
Time: 11:00 am - 1 pm
Where: Lehigh Co. Humane Soc.
640 Dixon St.
Allentown, PA

For more information, please contact me at onevoice4animals@yahoo.com

Hope to see everyone there - the animals need us to be their voice....

Thanks,
Cheryl

Is Virginia Wolfe afraid of Bruce Fritch?

Okay, here's my take on it...

This is also posted on my website (onevoice4animals.com)

First, read Bill White's column, if you haven't already - it's one of his best on the disgrace of the Valley's shelter.

Next, let me know what you think about Virginia Wolfe's ( Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition) refusal to help the animals at the shelter. She's a long, long-time buddy of the Fritch's.

Could just be my conspiracy tendencies but I think this should be investigated further.
During a conversation I once had with Wolfe, she commented how protesting and going to the media was not the right way to handle things. She thinks by bringing this atrocity to light, we are being radical and crazy. Has she been through the shelter lately? Has she seen the hundreds of animals being stabbed in the heart (method of killing called heartstick) while fully awake? (Oh, I'm wrong - if they run out of sedation drugs, they just paralzye the animal so he can't move... the animal can still feel the pain of being stabbed in the heart and dying but he just can't move)

Wolfe is very good friends with Bruce and Connie Fritch. Would her life-long friendship take a blow should she speak out against their practices? Why don't we ask her?

She can be reached at 610-821-9552.
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Here's my two cents:
Bruce and Connie Fritch need to step down from the Lehigh County Humane Society.
The residents know it,
The county commissioners know it,
The employees at the shelter know it and deep down, in their little black hearts, the Fritch's themselves know it.
But apparently, they need help doing it.

That's where we come in.

The Lehigh County Humane Society has been a black eye to the Valley for long enough. A change in leadership is the only way to help the animals dying by the hundreds over there. How about they spend less money on body bags and more on adoption efforts.

Or perhaps the Fritch's long-time buddy, Virginia Wolfe, founder of the Lehigh V
alley Animal Rights Coalition, (LVARK) could do something besides have dinner over the Fritch's house and talk about how radical all the people are who want to stop them from killing animals.
Hey, Virginia, how could you allow your friendship with the Fritch's keep you from helping the thousands of healthy, adoptable animals from being killed each year over on Dixon Street? How could you say that the 'mission ' of the Lehigh Valley Animal Rights Coalition (LVARK) doesn't include companion animals in your cause - yet on your own website, it clearly states otherwise. Here's a blurb from her site:
"The mission of LVARK is to "educate the public on the misuse and abuse of animals whenever and wherever it occurs" through direct action, public outreach and letter-writing campaigns." (maybe you should rewrite this to reflect the truth that 'wherever it occurs' excludes action taken on animal abuse or misuse by Wolfe's friends)
You, Virginia, are supposed to represent the voiceless of the Valley. And yet you choose to speak for the Fritch's instead. You choose to speak for the self-serving interests of their animal shelter 'business' instead of the animals.

You, Virginia should be representing the animals' interests, not the Fritch's.
(I've heard, 'who's afraid of virginia wolfe....' but could wolfe be afraid of bruce fritch?)


Please read Morning Call columnist Bill White's latest article on the shelter and the recent County Commissioners decision to stop funding this already million dollar business they call 'humane society."
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Here's the link:
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-white.6884831may16,0,383931.column
Oh yea, if anyone wants to reach Virgina Wolfe, of LVARK, please contact her at 610-821-9552
Website:
http://www.enter.net/~pstacks/

YOU ARE NEEDED TO ATTEND A MEETING ON LCHS

The Lehigh County Commissioners are meeting and everyone is urged to attend. The animals need us to be their voice.

When: May 13th
Time: 7:30 PM
Where: The Meeting Room, 17 S. 7th St. Allentown.

This is the time to tell your story to people who can do something....
This is a great chance to make a difference for the animals. We may not have another chance like this one. The animals need us to speak for them. Please attend the meeting, even if you don't speak - the energy and presence of caring people will be a strong message to the Commissioners that changes need to be made and that people are angry.

Letters and phone calls are important.
The Commissioners need to know what you have to say.

Commissioner contact info:

Lehigh Co. Commisssioners: 610-782-3050 Fax: 610-820-3053

E Mails: Chairman: percydougherty@lehighcounty.org,
andyroman@lehighcounty.org, gloriahamm@lehighcaounty.org,
billleiner@lehighcounty.org, deanbrowning@lehighcounty.org, sterlingraber@lehgihcounty.org, davidjones@lehighcounty.org, danielmccarthy@lehighcounty.org, gleneckhart@lehighcounty.org

Please write letters to the commissioners - it's crucial to let them know we are fed up with taxpayer money being given to this shelter for killing animals.
The commissioners have the power to keep public funds from the shelter. We want a new board of directors - an active, caring board - and specifically, the Fritch's need to step down.

Caring and new leadership can transform this shelter into the sanctuary for Lehigh County's homeless animals that it should be.
The time is now for us to speak up.

Remember the 54 or more cats taken from a house in Allentown?

I wrote this article for a local newspaper after it happened -
Turns out the cats taken from Barbara were actually killed and the Fritch's were scurrying around trying to get different cats into an area so they could tell everyone they were Barbara's cats.
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When Animal Shelters are the abusers...
Cheryl Baker

What happens when an animal shelter doesn’t want to answer questions about their high kill rates or use of funds? According to over 50 protesters last Saturday, they must stand accountable to the very people who financially support them.

“When 50 cats enter a shelter in one day, it’s always a challenge,” stated Diane Davison, a local activist and former board president of another animal shelter. Davison is concerned not only for the recent confiscation of 54 cats from Barbara Dudosh’s cat rescue in West Allentown, but for the cats already in the shelter that might be killed to make room for them.
Charles Wallace, cruelty investigator for the shelter stated the cats were being “medically evaluated.” When asked if any were euthanaized, Wallace refused to answer and responded that he could not discuss the matter further.

“They’re very secretive,” said Davison, adding that the shelter will not release any statistics of their operation. Requests made by Davison and others for statistics of animals surrendered and animals destroyed, have always been denied. However, information obtained by East Penn News, the shelter’s 990 Form for 2005 indicates over $24,000 was spent on animal rendering and disposal. That figure, says Davison tells a lot about how many animals are killed at Lehigh County Humane Society because the cost of dead body disposal goes by weight.

Board President, Bruce Fritch, had stated in a previous interview by East Penn News that because his organization was “private,” they did not have to answer to anyone.

Funding for the shelter comes from many sources and includes yearly memberships, bequests, public and corporate donations and private contributions.

Also listed on their 2005, 990 tax form, contributions, gifts, grants and other amounts received totaled $707,435.00.
Net assets or fund balances at the year’s end totaled $2,882,520.00 And investment- securities for the same year are listed as $1,609,768.00.

So the question haunting everyone’s mind lately is what exactly is the shelter doing with two million dollars in assets?
Davison argues the shelter could be doing so much more with the money they have.

Could a low cost or free spay/neuter program be implemented? “No question,” states Davison. “The only way to stop the problem of homeless animals is to have an aggressive, pro-active spay/neuter program.”
Working with rescue groups to place animals before they are euthanized is another effective means to reducing homeless pets. And according to many local rescue workers, Lehigh County Humane society does not aggressively utilize all resources available to them. They have continuously ignored attempts by rescue groups to help, says Davison.



The shelter does offer spay/neuter at a Coopersburg vet hospital by Dr. Bruce Puchat, who ironically is also a board member, but what they fail to realize, says Davison, is that most people adopting from Lehigh County Humane can not get to Coopersburg because many do not have cars and the distance is very inconvenient.
The shelter could easily institute a free spay/neuter program, which would significantly reduce the numbers of animals destroyed.
Last year the shelter was to open their own spay/neuter clinic but animals are still being adopted unaltered. When this happens, the shelter is guaranteeing a re-population of animals, which might be in line with Bruce Fritch’s statement that his shelter is a ‘private’ business.

Animal shelter for profit?
That statement just doesn’t sit right with Donna Dougherty, a local businesswoman and 6 year shelter volunteer. Dougherty recently started her own group after Lehigh County Humane asked her to leave when she offered to help the shelter find rescues and foster homes. Dougherty was distraught by the fact that Lehigh County Humane would rather destroy a healthy, adoptable animal than let approved rescue groups come in and help place them.

Dougherty’s goal is to network with other people to find homes for shelter animals and reduce the numbers of animals that are killed. Warm Hearts 4 Cold Noses (www.warmhearts4coldnoses.com) recruits people for various activities including fostering, off-site pet adoptions, meet and greets, fund raising and animal transports.

“People do not send Lehigh County Humane Society money because they want them to kill animals – they want them to save animals,” stated Davison. “They are not doing the job the public wants them to do.” Davison believes the shelter needs a change of leadership and is dedicated to making this happen.

For more information:
www.onevoice4animals.webs.com

StoptheKillingLehighCounty: Lehigh County and rescues

Lehigh County and rescues

StoptheKillingLehighCounty: IDEAS FOR CHANGE

StoptheKillingLehighCounty: IDEAS FOR CHANGE

To employees of LCHS

Please contact me. You could make a huge difference for the animals. Email me privately. I would keep your name in complete confidence, if that is what you want.
Or just email me anything you think could be useful to know. Thank you for caring about the animals there.