---------------------------------In reply to Lehigh County Humane Society's verbal attack on caring people who want the insanity at their shelter to stop.......
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Disruptions and Interference of zealots?
Okay, Lehigh County Humane Society is now ranked up there with my top ten "best of the insane." They've recently paid someone to write a statement on their website which focuses on blaming everyone else for their slaughter of thousands of homeless animals.
They spew out lies to deceive the public into believing they really do deserve to be on that high pedestal they paid so much for with public donations.
After the Lehigh County Commissioners recently acted humanely and compassionately by refusing to give the shelter any more money, Connie and Bruce Fritch, shelter 'owner's' freaked out. Now how, they thought, are they going to keep running a phony animal sanctuary while still convincing the public they love animals?
What a conundrum....
Lehigh County Humane Society (Or, more appropriately, death camp on Dixon Street) takes in approximately 6,000 animals per year. They kill approximately 5,000 of those animals, which leaves only 1,000 that either found homes or were reunited with their owners. Not a very impressive statistic for all the great things the Fritch's claim they do, is it...
The shelter has a 2 million (plus) dollar bank account and yet begs for donations of a digital camera so their investigators can do proper investigations. They have no email listed on their website to contact them about animals (something they can have a volunteer do with a free web server), and they barely lift a finger to help the homeless animals in their facility find homes. IN FACT, they mostly go out of their way to make it difficult for people to adopt - just ask anyone who has tried..
One couple reported they were refused a dog after their entire family fell in love with him and they were accepted for adoption.
They visited this dog for weeks at the shelter. They drove almost an hour everyday bringing the dog toys and treats and watched their children play with the dog and walk him - they all couldn't wait to bring their newest family member home. The were accepted for adoption but kept being told they had to wait, each day it was another reason and excuse. Finally, Connie Fritch told this family they could not have their dog. Fritch refused phone calls from this family, and ignored their cries and pleas for a reason. Only Connie knows what happened to this poor dog. But the rest of us can speculate he didn't make it out alive. It seems the more interest in a dog, the less chance one has of actually adopting the dog.. Crazy as that sounds - it's becoming increasinly true from personal accounts and experiences of people.
Other stories like this one are piling up in a heap of evidence. Animals mysteriously disappear at this shelter and some might never even make it to the adoption floor ...only to the back room where the killing takes place. Another reported atrocity at this shelter is the false sense they give the public of animals being adopted. Cards outside some cages are marked "Adopted" when the reality is these animals are slated to be killed either that night or early the next morning.
And many reports are coming in testifying that lost dogs with actively searching owners are being destroyed at the shelter and then management instructing employees to lie about it. Imagine ....someone looking for their lost dog - contacting the shelter, putting up lost signs IN the shelter and then having that lost dog being killed while the owners are being lied to about the animal being at the shelter. WOW. If that isn't a crime, I don't know what is.
Bottom line is this shelter needs new management and new directors. Bruce Fritch is barely functioning in any capacity yet he continues to rant about not losing his right to kill animals.. Connie Fritch runs the shelter in a manner, I would consider, let's see.... Gestapo? Just ask any previous employee or volunteer of the shelter...I'm not making this up - ask them.
This shelter has done nothing but blame others for their own lack of compassion and humane work. Employees have consistently come forward with horror stories about how they kill animals with heartstick (a jab of lethal injection to their hearts. The lucky ones die quickly but those who are terrified and fight to get free only end up struggling to breath while thrown on the cold floor to die painfully in their euthanasia room)
One employee witnessed another employee throwing a kitten against the wall in the 'back room" where they kill animals after jabbing the little baby with Heartstick. Complaints were made to management, but nothing was done. The abuser was eventually fired but only after he got violent with another human...never mind what he did to potentially hundreds of thousands of innocent animals.
Call and ask them, if you don't believe me - ask to see a euthanasia room or the 'back room’. Employees that kill animals don't even have training in compassionate euthanasia - they are shown how to do it by a board member and then left on their own to jab and kill.
Once a former employee was accidentally stuck with a euthanasia needle. Shelter management didn't know what to do - they had no emergency kit - no posted information about safety procedures - nothing! The only concern of management was that nobody find out. They told this employee to just sit down and wait until they could figure out what to do. Can you imagine!
Another time, while an inspection was being done, a complete logbook of euthanasia records was mysteriously missing - never to be found. Can we all think about why that might have happened? Was it ever found? What was in those records or NOT in those records that they didn't want an inspector to uncover?
These are all crimes and the Fritch's should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
The Fritch's can blame and point the finger at anyone they like but the truth remains the same - animals at this shelter are being abused and documents and records are missing or being destroyed. Employees are not following guidelines that are written in the shelter's mission statement. They are not living up to their mission as a humane society and non-profit charitable organization.
They are negligent in their mission and have deceived the supporting public and the animals all these years. Isn't it time they paid for their crimes and we let the animals finally have a second chance at life?
Please contact your local representatives, senators, dept of agriculture, and state officials and beg them to do something. Contact the Attorney Generals office and beg them to investigate.
To file a consumer complaint against LCHS : Click here to file a complaint with Attorney Generals office
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Did he make it out alive?
doberman at LCHS
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you are all right with what you are saying ..i pray every day and night .pls .shut them down all those animals need a chanceto find good homes.stop killing them..shut this place down
ReplyDeleteif you have kids dont bother walking thru there doors!!!! they will not adopt a dog to you. there answer is they are afraid for the child. the dog is to much for a child! What a crock. Shut this place down or kick its owners and current managment to the curb.
ReplyDeleteI want to make FERRETS legal in ALLENTOWN,PA!!! I had to get rid of my furry friends due to them not being legal in ALLENTOWN. I don't know why Allentown won't make them legal. They are very smart and tame they don't bite anyone. They never go out side and can't reproduce they get fixed like a dog or cat! They also are in a cage! Now, I am looking to move out of ALLENTOWN and into a town that they are legal in. This is so wrong that I had to give them up! But you want to know something the Humane Society on Dixon St. can have them there to adopt out but will not them to a person living in ALLENTOWN how can that be legal??? No, wait they would rather put an animal down then have them be adopted out! I hate this about this shelter!! STOP THE KILLING OF INNOSENT ANIMALS!!! Let them have a chance to live with a family who wants them.
ReplyDeleteThank You,
A RESPONSABLE PET OWNER
I just caught 3 stray cat,s ,its -2 wind chill and i won,t call the shelter, but if anyone knows of a no kill cat place please call me.484-274-6239 Lee
ReplyDeleteHi. About 17 yrs. ago I went to the Dixon street shelter to adopt a cat. I had asked my landlord for special permission which he reluctantly gave me even tho he had told me he had a "no pets" policy when I had moved in several months earlier. I picked out a pretty pastel calico cat. I inquired about adopting her and was told that they would call my landlord to confirm that I did indeed have permission for a cat. Not wanting my landlord pestered by these people as he was very reluctant to allow me to have a cat, I decided to adopt a free kitten advertised in the paper. Why they make it so difficult and expensive ($65 for a fullgrown cat, I believe) to adopt and save a life is incomprehensible to me)...
ReplyDeleteI felt at the time that in most cases, the landlord never even comes to the apartment and had I gone to his office to pay him every month, would never even known I had the cat. Even if someone did adopt that pretty pastel calico without her landlord's permission and had to return it when he found out, what would have been the harm? At least the cat would have had a chance at a good home rather than sitting on death row 'til she met her doom...
I feel very strongly that it should be ILLEGAL to breed for profit animals that are filling-up shelters: pittbulls! Maybe just maybe, if these morons buying these pittbull puppies could no longer legally do so from a breeder, they would be adopting from and saving the life of a shelter pittbull... No one should be profiting by adding to the overpopulation of these animals... People adopt cute cuddly kittens and puppies and then neglect and abuse them and take them to the shelter when they're no longer cute and cuddly... We live in a throw-away society, where is the compassion? My kitten is 17 yrs. old now and despite all the ups and downs I've had with her including being bitten when she was in one of her sourpuss "moods"...Hell would freeze over before I'd ever consider giving her away..
And lastly I'd just like to say that I am a pet guardian, not a pet "owner", they are not my property but my companions!
Here is a question.....should we at least try and adopt a pet from here?? I think not so that any money coming in stops, but then then I think if we are able to save at least one animal...is it worth it? I hate to give my money to such a place and allow it to continue to operate, but we could save a life???
ReplyDeleteIt is a catch 22 about adopting or not adopting - because of supporting them with your dollars..
ReplyDeleteMy position is to get as many animals out of there as possible and into good foster/rescue or permanent homes.
Saving a life and getting one more animal out of that death camp always wins in my opinion.
Thank you so much for your comment and your compassion..
Cheryl
you know we should pickit there butts i hate that place i had a friend who had to get rid of her dog cuz the landlord never said she couldnt have the dog so thats were we took it the dog was very loveing so a week later the landlord tells she can have the dog so she gose back to get the dog and of curse the dog is no were to be found they said he went to a good home even though the day before we called and he was still there and no body had come to look at him
ReplyDeleteWow...I must say that i have posts about shelters before and i have not read or heard about those who blast shelters with out helping...Yes some shelters have to euthanized due to illness, aggression, and yes space...has anyone here tried to volunteer and or donate to the cause???We can sit back and be an arm chair quarterback, but until you have the job position or title, you have the best ideas without making them reality...The Lehigh County Humane Society might have 2 million dollars in the bank...but out of that, they have to pay the employees, and feed the animals, care for the animals, and so on and so on...what would be done with the animals if the shelter closes???Are you going to be the one to take the animals into your house????I have also heard of owners that brought their animals into the shelter because they no longer wanted them or could care for them...Is that the shelters fault???I think the Humane Society is doing what they can with what they have...
ReplyDeleteIn reply to the last post ... the point here is not to close the shelter, but to change their practices in order to save adoptable animals from euthanization. The LCHS has no foster program, very little networking to promote available dogs and cats, rules that make no sense, secrecy and lies.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I DO volunteer there so I know this first hand ... I also donated money every year ...until I saw what was happening.
Arm chair quarterback? Don't think so.
I also think that most of the people who surrender their dogs/cats there don't realize that this is the only kill shelter in our area .. they're deluded in thinking their pets will find a happy ending, when they actually may find themselves on the wrong end of a "heart stick"
I'm feeling especially passionate about this cause because today I found out that a highly adoptable dog was put down .. an owner surrender. When we inquired about him we were told that he went to a rescue group - but, for some ridiculous secrecy rule, they wouldn't tell us the name of the rescue group. Why?? ... thinking "He went to rescue" is code for being euthanized. This is not the first time this has happened!
You think LCHS is doing the best they can?? Ohhh nooo ... think again! We don't want to close the shelter ... we just know there's a better way to run it! ...and, yes, I would be more than willing to serve on a board to make a change!
I just don't understand why they won't work with rescues to save more animals and make room for others coming in which would help with the over crowding problem!! I run a non profit dog rescue in the Lehigh Valley and would love to work with them putting dogs in foster homes but they refuse. This does not make sense!! We need new board members to want to implement foster and rescue programs.
ReplyDeleteRick,
ReplyDeleteFirst thanks for volunteering for a non-profit... Second, does your volunteering help the animals directly? Or do you answer the phones...If you have contacts and friends, find vets that could aid in the shelters progress towards helping the animals...
Rescues, now there is an idea...I have heard that before...Just sit back and wait for the rescues to find the shelters...Privacy act goes a long way...if you dont watch what you say...someone claiming to be the owner can try to track down the dog through a shelter to a rescue, then the rescue no longer wants to work with that shelter...the same goes for Dog Law dropping off dogs for safe harbor...Back to rescues, you first have to find a non-mix dog for some rescues to even think about it...Then the shelters have to food test for aggressiveness...Next test for aggressiveness might be dog behavior...That all sounds nice, but all of those are done before the dogs and other animals can be adopted...Then the animals have to sit and take up space while the rescues find a driver to pick up the animals...
Now I do agree with you in the foster area...Most shelters need to push the foster programs to get the animals out the door and can have a one on one lifestyle to see if the behaviors change...One bad part about fosters, is that first time animal fosters fall in love with their first foster and then can be part of the program any more...The best living condition for a foster is a family with out other animals so most of the time can be devoted to the foster animals...
Back to your comment about most people dont know that other shelters are out there...Well if those owners would do some research, they would find many rescues themselves and save the shelter time and money...If you had a child, would you just drop them off without doing the basic research of who was watching and caring for you child???
Serve on the board...that sounds like a great idea...what ideas do you have to bring to the table...think about those...think about how to find contacts...ideas are nice...but if you have people who are willing to work with you while you have those ideas in place...makes for a better sandwich...
In response to this last post by "Anonymous" ... Oh Lord, I don't know where to begin. The post honestly sounds like it was written by someone from LCHS ... someone with very archaic conceptions and not familiar with the No Kill Equation. You're "issues" with rescue groups and foster programs make no sense. "The best living condition for a foster is a family without other animals" Hmmm ... I own two dogs, one cat and a guinea pig. The three abandoned kittens that I bottle fed, fostered and adopted out really didn't seem to mind! ... and your questioning of my capacity as a shelter volunteer? Trust me ... you don't want to go there ....
ReplyDeleteRick,
ReplyDeleteI have worked and volunteered for a few shelters (monroe co spca, and harrisburg humane) and a lot of 'anonymous'' explanations about fosters and rescues were similar concerns for these two shelters as well. most rescues only want pure breeds, and that's hard to find, and a lot of people relinquishing their pets do lie if it looks mostly like one breed. plus, it's just as easy for an owner or someone who found a stray to look up these rescues themselves.
as far as fosters, i have fostered for harrisburg humane society and it is just a safety precaution that there be no other animals in the house. god forbid the foster (if being fostered for behavior issues)lashes out at one of your pets. it also ensures that your focus is on the foster to give it the best possible chance for change and adoptability.
also, i think it was brought up in this thread about adoption prices and landlord issues? most spcas and humane societies charge fees that include vaccinations and spay/neuter which would cost much more if you found a stray yourself and went to a vet for these services ... which most people don't do, and spca's/humane societies end up receiving the stray that now had kittens.
and, i don't think the post before was questioning your capacity as a volunteer, but wondering what it is you did there in order to find out what connections you've made that may possibly listen to your suggestions to make the shelter better.
oh and as far as the landlord issue, that is a standard question on adoption forms for whoever was discussing that. the purpose of shelters is to find permanent homes for the animals, and adopting the animal out to someone that may have to return it due to landlord issues keeps that animal from being adopted to a home that it won't return from. of course it's not a guarantee that any house the animal is adopted to won't return, but it is more likely that an animal will be returned if a landlord says no, which is why LCHS probably wanted to check (because people do lie, not saying you did...).
ReplyDeleteand as far as adopting kittens and puppies to families with young children - there is also a high return rate in this instance too. the puppy or kitten may play too rough with the child and it's the puppy or kitten that is brought back. this is also a common reason to not adopt out an animal to an applicant in the spca's and humane societies i've had the pleasure of working for/with.
one thing i have read about this specific shelter though, it would be nice if they were a little more open but that's a two way street. to get any change accomplished or any information, being abrasive and combative about it won't get you anywhere.
I have served as a foster for LCHS, so the no foster program is a myth. I just adoped a dog from LCHS yesterday...with three kids in tow. So that's a myth, too. I'd like so see hard facts on the 6000 intake to 5000 kill ratio, too. Given that no money is made on an animal that is not adopted, I'm not sure how that can bea viable business model. Frankly, given what I know personally of some of the active NKLV leadership, I'm not sure how much of this rhetoric is believable.
ReplyDeleteDavison-wrong. They get paid for the weight of the bodies of the dead animals, so they DO make money off unadopted animals, more so in fact because they don't have to use resources to spay/neuter, process applications, etc. LCHS DOES NOT have a foster program, and that is coming straight from the mouths of Connie and Bruce Fritch. You are deluded if you think this "shelter" is doing any good for animals. There's a reason Humane Society of the United States wants no association with LCHS...
ReplyDeleteLate last summer I bought a little orange tabby from the humane society. I have to say the adoption process was very easy and me and my family were all there to pick him out. We named him mowgli. Unfortunatly he passed away during his nuetering de to a very rare allergic reaction at an animal hospital in allentown. I went back to the shelter to tell them we had tried to nueter him so we could at least get our rebate back. Two days later they called and said bcause I came in and wasn't yelling at them or demanding for a new animal, I could come pick one out for free. Actually they said a new kitten. So I was very excited and still upset over my mowgli. (He was only 6 months when he passed). I went in and they said I could pick out any already neutered cat, which isn't what they told me on the phone. So I said okay and went to look at the cats. I ended up looking at a group of adolesents, and found my new baby, unali. She had a severe eye infection due to two scratches in her cornia. The shelter said there was no problem with her eye at all. I fell in love with her and wanted her bcause I knew it was hard for any animal to be adopted, especially one like her with an eye deformity. I took her to my vet and she the vet said her eye was going to fall out if the infection went on any longer and that's why the shelter didn't treat her. People don't want a creepy eye at they would rather hve one with a missing eye. So now after research I find out that they have traned vets there, or so they say, that can perform euthenasia, but can't determine a simple eye infection??? Come on. My kitten actual had a twin sister, they are very beautiful. She is a linx point siamese. She is so loving and and the breed gets very attached to their owners. Unalis sister was adopted as soon s possible but unali wasn't because of her eye. Also I forgot to mention the shelter did her spaying for free there. You arnt supposed to spay or neuter until they are 6 months. When I took her to my vet she was 4. They are irrespocible and shouldn't be in buisness.I feel bad for all the little babies slaughtered there. I pray for all their little souls and it actually makes me want to cry my eyes out.
ReplyDeleteWow! These are an awful lot of accusations! 5000 to 6000 ratio? Doubt it. And you know how much is in there bank account? Gimmie a break.
ReplyDelete