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.

From LCHS 's own website - lies or a wish list?

Okay, this was copied from their website - Many of us here know this list is a bunch of lies.
NoKill Advocate, or anyone else, feel free to comment as you see fit.. -
espec. the ones where they claim to work with rescues and fosters.
I especially find interesting their wording when they say 'supports a very active spay/neuter program..'
Wow is that a mouthful! So we are to assume they 'support' this program but just choose to actively not engage in the program?
And the first line - "a sanctuary" I always thought sanctuary was a place of safety, not death.
Another goodie....indicating they make diligent efforts to find owners of lost dogs. I've talked with volunteers myself that have stated the Fritch's instructed workers not to tell owners coming in to find their lost dogs that their dogs were killed at the shelter. Most times without even an effort on the part of employees to notify owners their dogs were there. Some diligent effort.
Also, I have yet to hear of their animal behavior program in action. The last I heard was from animal trainers who have offered their services free of charge to help socialize animals and were refused by the Fritch's.


Here's the full list that is on the Lehigh Co. Humane Soc.'s website:

What the LCHS does for the Lehigh Valley as a full-service shelter:

• Provides sanctuary and care for all strays and injured animals
• Maintains facilities to provide extensive medical care
• Accepts owner relinquished animals
• Encourages adoptions of animals by qualified, new owners
• Makes diligent efforts to find the true owners of stray animals
• Supports a very active spay/neuter program through the shelter’s well
equipped surgery clinic

• Conducts cruelty investigations
• Provides emergency ambulance service on a 24/7 basis
• Supports an extensive education program for children, high school

students and adults
• Houses and quarantines suspected rabid animals for Lehigh County
• Works with reputable breed rescue groups
• Fosters animals to selected foster groups
• Maintains an animal behavior program to make animals more readily

adoptable
• Sponsors a Seniors for Pets program at preferred adoption rates.
• Supports an intensive, accredited two-year training initiative for

veterinary technicians at the Lehigh Carbon Community College and the

Northampton County Area Community College

Warm Hearts 4 Cold Noses

Donna Dougherty started this group with a mission of helping to place homeless animals into forever homes. Please visit her site . There is always a need for volunteers in many areas. Even an hour a week of your time can mean life to a dog or cat on death row in a shelter.

When Donna volunteered at the Lehigh Valley Humane Society, she offered to start this group to help them place more animals. She saw first hand how high their kill numbers were compared to how many were actually adopted out. Guess what Connie Fritch told Donna after her offer to help stop killing so many animals??? Connie told her to 'take a break' from volunteering .

But that didn't stop Donna, it only made her more determined.

website: http://www.warmhearts4coldnoses.com

IDEAS FOR CHANGE

Any ideas for how we can get the message to LCHS that we aren't kidding... We want changes and we want them now.

Please post any ideas you have , no matter how small or insignificant you might think they are. Brainstorm away!!!
You never know where an idea or thought might lead.

Calling the shelter daily (as NoKill Advocate posted) and just blasting them with whatever.... (their number is 610-797-1205)

Calling any and all local media - the more calls they get, the better chances they will write about it.
Letters to the Editor of the Morning Call. You can do this right on their website under Opinions, and Submit a Letter.
mcall.com

Lehigh County and rescues

This poor husky sat patiently at LCHS waiting for a home. I don't know if he was adopted or killed. There are many husky rescues that could have been contacted by them.
Does Lehigh Co. work with enough rescues to keep the amount of animals they kill as low as possible? Well, ask some local rescues who have tried to get dogs from there into their rescue. They were refused. Seems the shelter would rather kill them than let another find a home. Could it be just more loss of revenue?
So many questions, too many secrets.

Thoughts on the shelter's 2 million dollar budget?

In many articles and public information on the shelter, their almost 2 million dollar bank account figures brings up questions of why are so many animals dying when they have so much money just sitting in the bank.
During an interview I asked what happened to 95,000 earmarked spay/neuter and Alice Zunaut replied..."how do you know about that - um, it's in an account....."

Should this money be sitting in an account? Or should it be used to spay and neuter every possible pet in the valley?? Another shelter received the same bequest, in the same amount..guess what? They used their money for spay/neuter.

Should the shelter open its doors to spay/neuter any animal, regardless of whether the animal was adopted there or not?? I think yes, it should. Of course, in the eyes of Lehigh Co. Humane, this would drastically reduce the influx of animals and thereby reduce the their revenue.
It is a business, after all...isn't it Bruce Fritch....


Any thoughts??

Customer Service at Lehigh County ??

Anyone deal with Alice or Connie?

Help stop the killing

Please post and email this blog address to all who might want to help the animals at the Lehigh Co. Humane Society.
We are dedicated to reducing their disturbing high kill rate of approx. 6,000 each year. While they have an almost 2 million dollar bank account, this high rate is alarming and unnecessary.

Many steps can be taken to increase adoption rate such as off-site adoptions, meet and greets, extensive use of foster homes and rescue groups - just to name a few.

Thanks to all for your compassion.