Hello Feral Friends-
First of all, let me say this: THANK GOD I LIVE IN KENT COUNTY. We have a wonderful Humane Society staffed by caring people. We have a new state of the art Animal Shelter. And our Shelter which is for the protection of animals of our county does NOT do like the Montcalm Animal Shelter. There, animals are still killed using gas in barrels and animals are traded for research. If I lived in Montcalm County, I'd never be able to function. Bless those who live there that have to contend with a panel of Commissioners who seem to motivation to KEEP the cruel, archaic, unnecessary procedures at the Animal Shelter in place.
My head is swimming from the events of yesterday. I didn't sleep well last night. Words that were spoken at this Commissioners Meeting keep playing over and over in my head. Descriptions of what happens when you fill a barrel with cats and poison gas brought me to tears at the meeting and still do as I recall them and type to you this morning.
On a positive note, the use of gas has been decided to be stopped. But there is hemming and hawing and what TO ME sounds like complete BS so the practice continues until humane euthanization by lethal injection comes into the shelter. God only knows when this will be.
*****A silly side note: Not to infringe on the seriousness of the subject of euthanization, but in college I had a class where we had to do a persuasive speech. Mine was on the halting of seal hunting in Canada. While I don't do much with animal activism today, I was involved in college! But one student was doing his speech on euthanasia. This was of course, human euthanasia. But I'd never heard the term before, so I leaned over to the kid next to me and asked "what's going on with the youth in asia?" Yeah, I was an idiot. Funny how now, my business revolves around preventing needless euthanasia and it has nothing to do with a bunch of Chinese kids.
Back to business. The meeting was called to order at 1pm. I didn't realize that the topic of pound seizure was THE WHOLE MEETING. I figured we'd have to wade through a bunch of county crap first, but we got right down to it.
Sandy Carlton, dear Sandy Carlton who has been instrumental in leading this charge spoke on behalf of the companion animals of Montcalm County. She was ultra prepared and when the commissioners fired ridiculous question after ridiculous question at her, she didn't flinch, get frustrated, raise her voice or falter.
She was cool in her convictions and handled herself like any lawyer fighting her case. I don't think Sandy Carlton is a lawyer, but if I ever needed someone to defend MY position, I'd choose HER.
Everyone was there. Dr. Wendy Swift and Jen Self from HSKC. Cheryl McLoud from Lake Haven, Rhonda Waldorf from Safe Haven Humane Society in Ionia, Susan Farrel and Stephanie Stoll from Performance Grooming in Greenville that are also heavily involved in this fight for animal rights. Pam Olson (C-SNIP) was there. Also many individuals who do rescue in and around Montcalm were there. Present also was a woman from New York who comes to the shelter monthly to TRY to take unclaimed, adoptable dogs, only to be continually turned away becuse the dogs have already been given to R&R Research.
R&R Research is what we call a "Class B Animal Dealer". It's a really nice name for a greedy, inhumane person who profits from the traficing of animals to be used in research and god only knows what else. Yesterday I learned the distinction between Class A and Class B animals. Class B animals were once companion animals taken from pounds or the public. Class A animals are specifically bred for research and other purposes. Class A dealers are like rat and mouse breeders, but also can deal in dogs, pigs and other animals that work well in research. By the way, beagles are great for research cuz they are docile and easy to handle. NICE!
R&R Reserch owned and operated by Jim Woundenberg. He's the smug man in the middle wearing glasses.
Everyone had an opportunity to speak. After Sandy gave her impassioned speach on why we should not allow our companion animals to be used for research, others spoke on their behalf.
Dr. Carpenter, a vet who has practiced in Montcalm County for nearly 30 years set forth a proposal to rework the practices at the shelter calling for an immediate cease of using gas for euthanization and giving animals to R&R Research. Everyone in the room with the exception of the Commissioners, Jim Woundenberg, his cronie, a representative from U of M that talked about how they use the animals for research and what looked to be Jim's mother were applauding all the pro-animal speakers. Rounds of cheering came after each and every person speaking with the best interest of the animals in mind. There were between 150 and 200 people in the room!
Then Jim Woundenberg talked. Trying to make a case for his work, which he attempted to make good and honest by giving the health industry some type of good research (which is a lot of BS), he seemed to have the Commissioners eating out of his hand. INTERESTING! The Commissioners asked simple questions of him and didn't press him in any way shape or form in the manner they tried to pick apart every word spoken by Sandy Carlton, Rescuers and the other concerned citizens of Montcalm and surrounding areas. When he stepped off the platform, he had four people clapping for him (see above) . There were two sheriff dept. officers there so nobody tried to inflict harm on him which was in my estimation, unfortunate.
The hope was to get the County Commissioners to vote NO on renewing the contract with R&R Research allowing them to take animals from the shelter for the next FIVE YEARS! The contract is up for renewal in two weeks. Instead of a NO vote, the proposal made by Dr. Carpenter was discussed and a committee will be pulled together to come up with ideas that will make the shelter a better place. The committee has 6 months to get a plan together. My plan would be simple.
And I stated it when allowed to speak as an outsider of Montcalm County. It is said that the ONLY reason that the county contracts with R&R Research is for the benefit gained by the shelter in having Jim Woundenberg's people haul away the carcasses of killed animals. This benefit to the county is $4,800 annually. It would cost under 5K per year to contract for a company to pick up the dead animals and dispose of their bodies.
When I was called, I said something to this effect: I don't believe for a minute that the only benefit gained from R&R Research is $4,800 in carcass removal. I will write you a check right now for $5,000 to cover the year's animal remains removal. I can fund raise this money in a matter of days. I'm sure that we could come up with this money between the people in this room right now. I think there is WAY more being gained and profit coming to people giving them a GREATER interest in seeing this awful practice continue. And damn you all to hell who prosper a penny for the business of this man (Jim Woundenberg).
Here I am, damning the Commissioners to hell.
The only person in the whole joint who lost her cool!
This is why I don't do animal advocacy.
I can't keep my mouth shut.
I did get a good round of applause for the comment and condemnation of the Commissioners so I felt good but all I wanted to do after that was go out and have a cigarette to stop my knees from knocking.
The best part for me was when I was leaving. A woman grabbed me and entroduced herself to me as Sandy DeHahn. I have never met Sandy and only corresponded with her via email. She sends me a monthly donation to help me with my work. It was like seeing an old friend. Bless you Sandy DeHahn.
This day was a battle of two sides.... both with great passion.
One, a passion for profit. The other, a passion for compassion.
Follow the progress on the website for Concerned Citizens Coalition of Montcalm.
www.cccmontcalm.org
***********************It's the following day and I just looked at the blog and realized that I had about 150 typos, which are hopefully now all corrected as I've calmed down a bit. And I had also misrepresented the R&R owner as Wootenberg but his name is Woundenberg, which sounds WAY more fitting!
