Taking on Animal Cruelty » Oreo

Where You Been, What You Been Doing?

Cher — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:53:17 +0000

I know it has been a fair while since I wrote anything here but that’s not to say I haven’t had my thumb on the pulse of the animal welfare world. Quite the opposite actually. I’ve been out there getting my hands dirty trying to educate myself further in the world of animal advocacy. I’ve learned a lot, made contact with lots of good resources and like minded people and have some fairly concrete goals in mind for myself and how I will fit into the fight against animal cruelty.

Everyday I would encounter something or other that I thought I should probably write about here but then one thing came up and then another and before long I had too much to write about and no time to write it. Trying to keep tabs on my resources for articles was another issue because as each day goes by, the story grows colder and the trail to the resources does as well.

There are some stories that won’t grow cold for awhile. For instance, today I heard that the sentencing date for Fabian Henderson, the turd that threw Oreo off the 6 storey building and was ultimately responsible for her death will be December 15th. As far as I know, he will be sentenced in absentia since I haven’t heard that he has been arrested since he failed to appear at his court date December 1. With any luck they will arrest him soon and his day in court will be his very last day of freedom for a long, long time.

Then there is the story out of Toronto about the President and some of the Board of the Toronto Humane Society being arrested for animal cruelty and obstruction of justice. I’ll cover that story under it’s own heading. It’s pretty friggin’ scary though when those we trust to protect our 4 legged friends are those who abuse them instead.

I spend a lot of time on Facebook these days watching the hundreds of alerts for the rescue of dogs who are in imminent danger of being put down due mostly to overcrowding in our shelters. The frustration over not being able to save them all is almost show stopping. Sometimes I just have an urge to throw up my hands in surrender and crawl under my bed with my eyes and ears covered so I can no longer hear or see those poor dogs and cats being killed because nobody cared enough to prevent the litter, nobody cared enough to make sure that a life time commitment to an animal didn’t actually mean a temporary convenience, nobody cared enough to research the shelter they handed their family member over to in order to ensure that hours later, the family member they abandoned because of having to move or whatever stupid and completely unacceptable excuse they gave, is dead from gas, heartstick or just a plain old shot in the leg. Dead..just like that…within hours of being turned into the shelter. Not given even a chance at finding someone more worthwhile to share their lives with. The whole animal shelter system in North America sucks and it does everything BUT shelter, protect and provide for our companion animals. My faith in organizations like the HSUS, PETA and ASPCA is completely shot to hell. They only do what they do to keep donations high so that spas, ocean front condos and rented limousines can be added to the expense tab. I will no longer support any national or government sponsored shelter until major reform is carried out throughout the entire system.

Did you know that PETA kills over 90% of the animals they take in every year?

I have watched a video of how animals are gassed. I swear to you, as God is my witness, that to my own dying day, I will never forget the sound of those poor dying dogs. And the more heartbreaking sound of there suddenly being no sound. I cried for hours after watching that video, couldn’t sleep. It is simply awful and I am now determined to find a way to put an end to, first of all, gas chambers for use in killing animals in shelters, and secondly, put an end once and for all to kill shelters. I plan on starting locally at first and then taking it national once I get a good number of supporters.

Enough is enough of this senseless killing of companion animals. There are more then enough available adoptive homes to ensure a safe and loving environment for all homeless animals. The only reason they are killed on a daily basis is because bureaucrats and administrators don’t care enough to research and implement policy that works to end shelter kills and homeless animals. It can and has been done before and it can and will be done here. Or I will die trying.

I took my very first step in this direction by signing on to volunteer at a local rescue shelter here in Surrey to help with transporting their residents to the doctor’s office and to PetSmart where they are featured in adoption events. I feel sure this is the best way to get to know the rescue situation here in the Lower Mainland as well as establish some solid contacts for pushing through new policy on animal welfare locally.

I always told myself that my activities online on behalf of the animals was valuable and important but lately it has become less so. I need to get my hands dirty and dig into this cause in order to change the status quo.

Stay tuned…More later…

In peace

Cher

Where You Been, What You Been Doing? is a post from: Taking on Animal Cruelty

Hey Fabian! You Can Run but You Can’t Hide!

Cher — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:45:43 +0000

Fabian Henderson, the moron who threw Oreo off the 6 storey building last June and who is ultimately responsible for her death last month when the ASPCA decided she was too aggressive to warrant saving, failed to show up in court today for sentencing after having pled guilty to animal cruelty.

It’s not the least bit surprising that this cowardly little man who could harm a beautiful creature like Oreo would be too scared to show up in court and take his licks like a real man. And it’s not necessarily bad news that he didn’t show up for sentencing. Failure to appear is a very serious offense and I daresay, taken much more seriously by the courts then the original offense in this case. A warrant has been issued for his arrest and when they find him, and they will find him because he’s too stupid to hide himself well enough, he will definitely be thrown in jail for what could be 4 years or more.

It’s not enough, in my opinion, as I believe this “boy” is a sociopath with definite anger issues and small penis paranoia. He will hurt or murder again as soon as he encounters somebody he believes is weaker then himself and cannot fight back. So 4 years in jail PLUS a lifetime ban from being around animals or children PLUS a long time in therapy under the supervision of the courts is the only way to prevent this loser from hurting again.

Wanted: Dead or Alive – Fabian Henderson 19 years old. Probably in the Brooklyn area hiding out where the rats hang out. Wanted for murder in the case of 1 year old Oreo (pictured below).

Full report here.

Hey Fabian! You Can Run but You Can’t Hide! is a post from: Taking on Animal Cruelty

Oreo: Call to Action

Cher — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:23:31 +0000

On December 1, 2009, Fabian Henderson, the creep (nicest name I could come up with barring the use of profanity) who threw Oreo off the 6 storey building last summer appears in court for sentencing. He has pled guilty to an E Felony Aggravated Cruelty to Animals.

I read the other day that the best guess for sentencing would probably be 5 years probation and a 5 year ban on owning animals. Is this enough for what he did? I think not!

Advocates, I implore you to type your letters and/or make the telephone calls to the contacts I’ve listed below to encourage both the judge and the district attorney in this case to pursue the most severe sentencing provided for under this charge. (I will work on getting fax numbers/emails and update this post if I can find them. If anybody comes up with them before I do, please be kind and add them to the comments section?)

We all know that Oreo was beaten more then once in her life and that in all probability, she probably didn’t go a day without being smacked or kicked or abused in some way. This asshole (sorry I just can’t help myself) needs to pay for what he did to this beautiful creature who never hurt a soul and whose life on this planet was so short and so ugly.

Please band together with me and let’s make sure justice is swift and harsh for this criminal. Nothing less then significant jail time and a lifetime ban on owning or being responsible for animals is the least that we expect.

Here then is the list of contact information:

Case# – 06995-2009,

Judge:
Honorable Cassandra M. Mullen
Kings County Supreme Court
320 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(347) 296-1436

District Attorney:
Donald J. Berk
350 Jay Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201-2900
(718) 250-2000

Until next time…

Oreo: Call to Action is a post from: Taking on Animal Cruelty

Oreo’s Legacy: Oreo’s Law

Cher — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:38:26 +0000

It was with mixed reactions that I heard the news about Oreo’s Law. Written by NY Assembly Member Micah Kellner and sponsored by Senator Tom Duane, the Oreo’s Law legislation will be introduced next week. If passed, this law will allow animal welfare organizations the right to request animals be given to their care when a shelter is planning to euthanize them.

In other words, if this law had already been on the books last Friday, Ed Sayres would have been compelled to hand Oreo over to Pets Alive whether he liked it or not. This model is based on an existing California law.

Bittersweet because it’s too little too late to save Oreo, bittersweet because if passed, Oreo will not have died in vain. No that’s not right either. She died in vain no matter what laws they introduce. However, Oreo’s Law may save hundreds, or thousands of other dogs that may have been put down indiscriminately by national and municipal SPCA’s and Humane Societies.

It’s a great legacy to Oreo and the least of what she deserves considering her miserable year of life on this plane. The problem is that those same SPCA’s and Humane Societies will fight this law with every penny they have (donated to them of course by people who intended their money to go to care, shelter and food). We as animal lovers and advocates have been shown this week that we can make a loud enough noise to be heard. We can make a difference and we must be diligent with this legislation to ensure that it is passed and not buried under a load of bureaucratic bullshit.

Use either one of the links for Mr. Kellner or Senator Duane above to contact them personally to thank them for introducing this legislation and encourage them in their efforts to get it passed.

Taking on Animal Cruelty will be following this closely so sign up for my RSS feed to stay updated.

Until next time.

Oreo’s Legacy: Oreo’s Law is a post from: Taking on Animal Cruelty

UPDATE! (Was: Vicious Aggressive Angry Dog Picture!)

Cher — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:09:56 +0000

Update: Today I received several threatening emails from a “friend” of the individual in this picture below. When I refused to budge on taking this picture down, she resorted to name calling. Which of course is very effective if you’re 5 years old! The man in this picture featured this shot on his Facebook page but has got no privacy settings set up so anybody in the world can see (and use) his pictures. I was approached yesterday by another person who wanted my source for this picture as evidence to be used in a possible legal action against the SPCA. The source I gave was the same Facebook page mentioned above however there were so many people who posted this picture to Facebook on Wednesday that I couldn’t really tell you who posted it first. But I know for sure it wasn’t me. I got it from somebody, who got it from somebody, who got it from somebody and so on.

My wanna be intimidators said that if this picture wasn’t removed by the end of the day I would be hearing from a lawyer.

Well the picture stays and I’ll take my chances with the lawyer.

This is a picture of Oreo just minutes before her death. Doesn’t she look aggressive? Dangerous? A threat to the public?

I got a patronizing, impersonal email from the ASPCA today. Here’s what it said:

Public Information to cher.jewhurst@gmail.com

8:28am

Dear Friend of Animals:
Thank you for contacting the ASPCA – America’s first humane organization – regarding Oreo. It is important that our members have a voice in what happens in our organization – your willingness to take the time to send a message is truly appreciated. Due to the large volume of phone calls, mail and e-mails, we apologize for a generic response to your message, but please know that each and every communication is thoroughly read.
A great deal of misinformation regarding Oreo’s euthanasia has been passed around on the Internet– everything from what time Oreo was euthanized (it was 3 p.m.) to Pets Alive’s credentials (they are NOT a member of the Mayor’s Alliance). In addition, critics have seized on Oreo’s plight as an opportunity to discredit the ASPCA—which is interesting when you consider that one of our most ardent critics, Camille Hankins, the Director of Win Animal Rights, was convicted of animal cruelty in 1995 when nearly 100 animals were found stuffed into a tiny, filthy trailer that she rented.
While we certainly think all of these issues merit rebuttal, we believe it is critical that we address the questions and concerns regarding our decision not to send Oreo to a sanctuary.
It is first vital to consider the very definition of “animal sanctuary.” The mission of animal sanctuaries is generally to be safe havens, where the resident animals are given the opportunity to behave as naturally as possible in a protective environment. Due to the extreme emotional and physical strain Oreo suffered, her living conditions at a sanctuary would have been anything but "natural," and her quality of life would have been poor at best. She would have been forced to live a life of isolation with extremely limited human contact and virtually no animal contact. For an animal that is distinguished by sophisticated social cognition and communication, such an existence could hardly be defined by the word "sanctuary."
Many groups like Pets Alive dispute that this would have been Oreo’s fate. But how can that be anything but empty rhetoric when these groups had no access to Oreo or her evaluations? We had our own professional behaviorists, as well as an independent veterinary behaviorist, conduct numerous evaluations, and in our experience, the findings were not consistent with sanctuary placement. We spent five months with Oreo- day in and day out- not only evaluating her behavior—but trying to rehabilitate her. This is central to the ASPCA’s mission. Just since 2003, when Edwin Sayres joined the ASPCA, we have rehabilitated over 1,200 animal cruelty victims at a cost of over 5 million dollars. Why would Oreo be any different?
The fact is… she wasn’t. Despite the sensational nature of her injuries, she was treated with the same love and respect—and given the greatest of care and rehabilitation– that we afford all of our animals. But at the end of the day, and more often than the animal welfare community discusses, we made the most humane decision we could.
There is no “Oreo conspiracy,” as some have claimed. This is simply, and tragically, the case of a heartbreaking decision made all the more difficult by the ignorance and hypocrisy of a few.
Should you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to email us again.
Sincerely,
ASPCA Public Information

As expected, they do not actually address the question of why the big rush to destroy Oreo or why, despite what their own misgivings about the possible success of a sanctuary, wasn’t Oreo given at least a stay of execution in order to let her try it. No kill means no kill. There is no unadoptable dogs and there is no dog Cesar can’t handle. These options should have been explored before killing Oreo.

I know that she was only one dog and that millions of dogs and cats are destroyed every month due to overpopulation. I am painfully aware of these statistics and I agree, that is the big issue we need to deal with. However, the killing of Oreo, for me, symbolizes that not all animal shelters are on the same page when that No Kill phrase is thrown around. And the ASPCA now symbolizes, for me, certain death for any dog or cat surrendered to it.

Be warned.

Until next time.

UPDATE! (Was: Vicious Aggressive Angry Dog Picture!) is a post from: Taking on Animal Cruelty

OREO: From Miracle Dog to Dead Dog in 124 days…

Cher — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:28:48 +0000

I am going to try and get through this without becoming a blubbering fool. I’ve been quiet here since last week because of one beautiful brown and white one year old pit bull who survived against all odds from being thrown off a 6 story building only to meet her end on Friday at the end of a euthanasia order. Yes of course I am referring to Oreo. By now the infamous Oreo.

I was totally convinced we could save her. As soon as I heard on Thursday night from Deanna at For the Love of Dog Blog that the order to euthanize had been given by the NY ASPCA President Ed Sayre, I was on the move trying to get someone to intervene. I emailed everybody I could think of, I even twittered Cesar Milan who was Washington, DC at the time, Best Friends and anybody else in the animal rescue world that was listening. Before too long on Friday morning, it was obvious that I wasn’t the only one campaigning and there was a palatable push throughout North America that quickly spread to global proportions to have Oreo turned over to a sanctuary where she could undergo further testing, training, socializing and above all, a longer time to recuperate from her 1 whole year of being brutalized by every person she ever came into contact with. I refer to her owner of course, Fabian Henderson, who will no doubt get off with slap on the wrist when he shows up at court December 1, 2009 for sentencing on his guilty plea.

But I also refer to her human handlers who took over from the veterinary hospital after she was treated for what must have been hundreds of broken bones from the fall. Her pain must have been excruciating and she had no way of telling these humans where she hurt except by way of lashing out at them when they tried to touch or get close. No one can say for sure whether she was even ready to leave the hospital when she was transferred to the ASPCA shelter, no one can know if maybe something wasn’t causing her extreme pain still.

Her fear must have been accelerated after knowing nothing but brutality at the hands of her owner, pain at the hands of those well meaning veterinary staff and now more pain and fear in an institution that is filled with barking, meowing and generally distressed animals who are also afraid, confused and possibly in pain as well. Now she has more humans trying to “test” her for sociability, aggression, adoptability and the right to live a full and joyous life.

I read about those tests they do to dogs to measure their aggression or sociability. I have not read anything good about them. Running at a dog whose life had been filled with torture to this point waving your arms and making loud noises is not a measure of Oreo’s aggression level or sociability. It is a measure of her fear. And believe me, she was extremely afraid. She had every God given right to be and I’m not a dog whisperer or even an expert in dog behaviour in any way shape or form but I understand them. I know what causes them fear and I know how they react to fear. Fight or flight, it is basic instinct and Oreo couldn’t run anywhere so what was her alternative? Fight of course. It’s so simple and I get so angry that all these trained specialists couldn’t see beyond their stupid accepted “board approved” tests to actually use their heart and their soul to feel what Oreo was feeling.

Oreo should have been released to a sanctuary immediately after she was deemed well enough to leave the hospital. Brought into a quiet, loving atmosphere with people with the time and patience to help her to learn to trust again. Shelter staff at the ASPCA don’t have the time nor the patience and as far as we know, they may not even like their jobs! At least at a sanctuary there is little question of the devotion of the staff and the proprietors. There’s certainly no money making schemes going on because sanctuaries are inherently desperate for cash. No, they do it for love and that’s exactly where Oreo needed to be. So what if she was isolated from the main population for awhile while staff gave her a chance to get used to people she can trust. So what if it took years to bring that trust level up to a point that she could be included in the main population. Imagine the joy and celebration though if Oreo would have been given that chance. I can see the headlines now. MIRACLE DOG FINDS NEW TRUST, LOVE and FOREVER HOME! I would have wept with joy.

Instead at 3:00PM eastern time on Friday afternoon, I wept with grief. Oreo was gone. The ASPCA refused to answer their phones, refused to acknowledge emails, refused dozens of requests from sanctuaries willing to take her and waive liability. One sanctuary in particular, Pets Alive, actually sent someone to the ASPCA shelter to see if they could pull Oreo and were unceremoniously removed from the building by security. I also heard that the Rescue Ink boys showed up as well but I have no verification of that. Didn’t matter if God herself showed up apparently, Sayre was not backing down from his inappropriate decision to euthanize Oreo and that, as they say, was that.

I will include a list of links at the end of this post that I would recommend you read if you want to know more about what happened, who make it happened and what’s been said about it since it happened. But my questions are these:

1. Why was Sayre in such a damn hurry to kill this dog? What was the rush? Another 24 hours would have made no difference. Another 24 hours would allowed him to visit Pets Alive (which is just outside of New York City) and inspect the place to ensure that Oreo would be well provided for.

2. Why did Sayre even issue the press release the night before? He knew of course and actually stated so in his press release that this news was going to cause a huge backlash on the ASPCA? That they would get email and telephone calls. Why issue the press release when he could have just done the deed on the Friday and not announced anything until after it was done. Or not at all. Did he draw all this negative attention to the ASPCA deliberately? Why? It wasn’t to bring in sympathy donations I hope, because from what I’ve seen and heard, the exact opposite has been true since the news broke. Thousands of people have withdrawn support and I even read tonight where one person changed their will yesterday to take the ASPCA out of their estate.

3. Why wouldn’t Sayre answer his phone on Friday and changed his voice mail to dial 0 to reach reception? (Who simply hung up on all calls about Oreo by the way.) This agency is funded by people. Sayre’s 500K a year job is paid for by people. People were calling him and he refused to take their calls. If I refuse to take a call from those who are paying my salary, my ass is grass! Just like that!

4. Where is the documentation from these so called “59 sessions of 45 mins. each” that resulted in Oreo being judged too aggressive to be rehabilitated? I want to see them. I want to hear from the so called “experts” that were supposedly called in.

5. And finally, remember if you will, that it was this very same ASPCA who said that Michael Vick’s fighting dogs all needed to be destroyed. That there was no way to rehabilitate them and that they could never be adopted to normal families? What say you to that, Ed Sayre? Is that why you destroyed Oreo? In revenge for Best Friends, Bad Rap and other sanctuaries who proved you so wrong about the Vick dogs?

I am a cynic I know but I can’t help but wonder if Oreo wasn’t used as a “take that” kind of gesture from an egomaniac who didn’t like being proven wrong. That would explain the press release the night before, the deliberate attempt to stir up the public and draw attention to who…? Ed Sayre of course and it would explain the big rush to destroy Oreo before anyone with any clout could intervene or interfere with the big Boss Man’s spotlight. I wouldn’t be surprised to find Sayre’s name in the top 10 at Google Trends. That’s how much “free” publicity he’s received since this whole drama began late last week.

I’m just saying is all…

Meanwhile my poor heart aches for the life that Oreo should have had and was robbed of. Her original abuser will not get what he deserves because courts don’t have the power yet to throw any kind of justice at assholes who beat on defenceless animals. I am planning on doing everything in my power to bring pressure on the ADA and the judge on this case but it will probably be futile. If the law isn’t there to begin with, there’s little the courts can do about it. The best guess is that he will get 5 years probation and a 5 year ban on owning animals. BIG F___G DEAL! I will be providing names and addresses in an upcoming post about that so make sure you’re subscribed to my RSS feed so you know when that happens.

Here then are the links I mentioned that I suggest you read (including comments if it’s another blog) if you want to know more about what happened to Oreo and why?

Links:

Failing Oreo

On Oreo, Mabel, and Killing Abused Animals

The meaning of Oreo (excellent article not to be missed)

Despite pleas, Oreo is Euthanized by the ASPCA

And: More Press on the Destruction of Oreo (Thank You to Pets Alive for compiling this list)

All of our efforts to save Oreo failed. But we cannot forget her. No, we must never forget Oreo. Because she is now the symbol of dogs and cats all over the world who are being failed by the national humane societies, SPCA’S and the courts in providing a safe haven against harm for these dear ones who cannot speak for themselves. We must pick up our tissues, wipe our eyes and carry on with the good fight to ensure that laws are passed AND enforced that will, once and for all, protect our four legged brothers and sisters and ensure that each and every one of them is given a chance at a joyful and humane existence. And Big Shots like Ed Sayre who have no compassion, think only of press, money and their own ego requirements need to be removed from a place where they make decision like this asshole did last week.

Add your name to the growing petition to demand Ed Sayre resign or be removed from his position as President of the NYC ASPCA

DEMAND RESIGNATION OF ASPCA PRES. ED SAYRE

Until next time…

OREO: From Miracle Dog to Dead Dog in 124 days… is a post from: Taking on Animal Cruelty