Jun 13, 2007 | 5:18 PM
Category:
News
I apologize for the long passage of time since my last blog. So much has happened in the past few weeks. This will be my last blog with WHS. I have accepted a position as the Director of Animal Services in Oakland California. It is with a mixture of emotions I write these words. I am looking forward to the challenges that I will face in Oakland but I am sad to leave behind such a great organization and staff at WHS. The skills that I have learned during my time at WHS will serve me well in Oakland. When I started with WHS 11 years ago I never imagined how far I and the organization would come. I truly found my passion and my life’s work through WHS. The programs here are outstanding and the organization has a bright future ahead. The Humane Law Enforcement program at WHS is, I believe, the best of its kind in the country. The scope of the program is enormous and reaches far beyond simply prosecuting cases of animal cruelty. As a Humane Officer at WHS I learned to educate the public on proper animal care, spay/neuter services, and often provided assistance for those in need. The Safe house program at WHS allows victims of domestic violence to leave their abusers and have a safe place to keep their animals while they start a new life. We have housed animals for homeless individuals when the weather becomes too severe for the animal to be outside with them, we have provided veterinary services for those who would otherwise lose their beloved pets, we have cared for animals of people who are hospitalized and have no one at home to care for their animals until they are released, and the list goes on. WHS is a compassionate organization which provides assistance when possible to help animals stay with their people but does not hesitate to remove animals from homes where they are not receiving proper care. WHS has a long record of placing the needs of animals first and therefore often goes above and beyond the routine duties of a Humane Society or Animal Control Agency. I hope to bring this philosophy with me to Oakland. In the past few weeks there have been some other exciting developments as well. The GW Animal Welfare Law Project introduced their Animal Protection Amendment Act of 2007 which includes some great amendments to the current laws. Some highlights include a section which would require special licenses be issued to businesses who use guard dogs (those of you who know me know that guard dogs have a special place in my heart), a section which would require cross reporting of abuse between Humane and Animal Control Officers and Child Family Services and the Metropolitan Police Department, a section which would allow protective orders to be taken out to protect pets from family violence as well as an amendment which would allow for protection orders to be taken out by family members based on a threat or violence against a family pet. These amendments formally recognize the link between animal and human abuse and are an important step in addressing these issues. Another important section of the law relating to Humane Law Enforcement would make being a spectator at a dog fighting event a felony. In the past this was a misdemeanor and in order to charge someone with a felony a higher level of involvement needed to be proven. This is often difficult because when approaching a dog fight the spectators scatter and no one claims ownership of the dogs. This amendment comes at a time when dog fighting has increased media coverage due to the dogs removed from Michael Vick’s property and the comments made by the Redskin’s Clinton Portis. The comments by Clinton Portis were extremely disappointing as he has worked with young people in D.C. throughout his time as a Redskin. The Washington Humane Society has extended an invitation to him to come to WHS and learn about dog fighting and meet with our Humane Educator Shakela Brown, who works with kids in D.C. on issues of animal abuse. Putting the issue of the extensive suffering dogs used for fighting face, Portis’ comments minimizing the crime of dog fighting send the wrong message to kids. Dog fighting is a felony is D.C. and those who get involved in it are set on a path that often leads to further crime and violence. For example, in the recent shooting out in front of the H2O club, the shooter was a young man that WHS has a long history of. He must have been 15 or 16 when WHS started dealing with his involvement in dog fighting. There are, sadly, endless other examples I could cite of this violent link. I believe that Clinton Portis was shocked to see how widely condemned his comments were and I applaud the media, particularly the sports centered media, for not allowing these comments to slide by. Almost every media outlet I saw, whether blogs, print, or television condemned Clinton Portis’ comments. It is heartening to see with how much disgust people respond to dog fighting. It is my hopes that this law will pass eliminating a loophole for those involved in dog fighting which allows them to face a misdemeanor rather than felony charges when caught in the act. Thank you to all of you who have followed my blog over the past year and I urge you to continue to support WHS and the very important work they do on behalf of abused and homeless animals in the District of Columbia. A new Executive Director is starting soon and she has many years of experience in the animal sheltering field. I am excited about her coming to WHS and I believe she will be an excellent addition to the team and will help to take WHS to the next level in the Good Home Guarantee.
