Animal Lovers United

  In January of 2012, my friend and I were looking through our local dog shelters pets for adoption. We were told by a friend that the shelter was planning on euthanizing two dogs first thing Tuesday morning, as Monday was Martin Luther King day. We are avid animal lovers so we obviously became upset and tried to think of what to do.

  We convinced our "landlord" to let us rescue them from the shelter and stayed up all night so that we would be there as soon as they opened. We asked friends and family on Facebook to donate some money to help us cover their adoption fees ($20 per dog) and were able to get the money together. As soon as 7am came around, we loaded up in my truck, collected the donations and went to the shelter. Upon arriving, we thought no one was in the dog shelter as there was no answer when we knocked so we went to the cat shelter right next door.

   The officer staffed there got on his cell phone and told the officer at the dog shelter there were two people here to get four dogs. He then told us to "go on over there, he'll let you in". We went back to the dog shelter mere feet away and knocked on the door again. All the dogs started howling and barking so he knew we were there, not to mention being told on the phone. We started worrying that he was euthanizing the dogs at that moment and started pounding on the door, no answer. We went back to the cat shelter and told the officer no one was letting us in and asked if he could open it for us. The officer then got back on his cell phone and asked again for us to be let in.

    He mumbled "uh huh's" etc and then got off the phone. He said to us "He can't let you in, he's working on the dogs". We asked what that meant and he turned his back to us, and repeated "He's working on the dogs, come back at 3pm". We started freaking out and crying, left and went to the local Sheriffs Department. We told them what was happening and they called the shelter. They were told he hadn't heard us and that the dogs had already been put to sleep....

    At that moment, fear turned into rage. We demanded an explanation for their lies. The sheriffs department told us to go to the county clerks office. We did as instructed. There I started telling the receptionist what happened and she had the audacity to take two phone calls in the middle of my story, sticking her finger up as in "wait a minute". When she finally got off the phone, she proceeded to tell me "Hurry, I might get another call haha". Here I have been up all night, puffy eyes and this woman makes me wait so that she can answer a question about a house inspection... Anyway, I then told her what happened and she called the aco and asked what was going on. She then told me the same thing the sheriffs department said..."They said they didn't hear you and the dogs have already been euthanized". I just turned away and left.

   We went home and cried a while and told our family what had happened. We posted about it on Facebook and that anger started coming back. People came out of the wood work telling us their horror stories about the aco's at the shelter. We decided enough was enough, the cruelty had to end. We designated a group and made plans. We contacted our local news group WSLS10 and WDBJ7 and told them the terrible story, hoping that with public attention, positive changes could come from this. They immediatly came and took our stories and broadcasted them that evening. That caught the attention we had prayed for.

   Through public protests at the Board of Supervisor meetings, speaking at their meetings, petitioning and fundraising, we were able to make quite a few changes. The shelter was forced to accept help from volunteers, they didn't do that before. They started working with local rescue groups to intercept dogs going in and to pull dogs already admitted to the shelter that are in danger of being put to sleep. They have also hired a part time custodian who manages their new Facebook page to help get the dogs adopted, to clean the cages and feed/water them, as they themselves had for so long neglected to do. The shelter didn't even have a sign at the end of the long gravel driveway that leads to the 'hidden from view' shelter...there's a big sign now. They also have extended office hours as well and run the dogs photos through the local newspaper.

   During the uproar we began getting calls for help, emails etc. from people who needed help with animals. One such call was from a family member of the co-founder of SAA. He told us he had a dog he just found wandering around on a dirt road. He told us the dog started chasing the car as if in desperation so he got out and looked at him. He told us the dogs was hurt and asked if we could help. How could we refuse? He said there was nothing he could do with him so we had to take him or let him be put in the "shelter". We fundraised $700 to pay for Buddy's medical care, food and necessities. So many wonderful people helped, it was just astonishing. We thought, "If we can do this for one dog, think of how many more we could help". Thus, Animal Lovers United previously known as Spirit Animal Advocacy began.

    Through all this, we have managed to come up with our own form of animal rescue. We foster when we can, cross post pet adoption listings, help with urgent pets and enforce the shelter to keep up their promises. We invite you to become a part of  of Animal Lovers United by becoming a member, cross posting our animals in need on Facebook, donating and volunteering at your own local shelters or welfare groups. Rescuing an animal can be as easy as re-posting an urgent pets photograph. It's all up to you, and it's worth every scratch, every tear, every bit of hardship and heartache to see that one grateful face you know you saved. 

" I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man." 

Mahatma Gandhi