Lions Club asked to move Fireworks!

Article in the Ventura County Star by Sam Richard today and hurray for Hollywood - ABC called tonight and they are going to tape a story either tomorrow or Friday! Rumor has it that NBC is cooking up something too. A little bird told me to keep an eye tomorrow morning on Fox 11 Good Day LA because animal friend Sky is going to be on between 7 and 10 a.m. Being the sight hound, or should I say "site" hound, that I am that shouldn't be too hard.

4 mop like white wanna be poodle paws up to Abbie Moore who today wrote:

Dear Mr. Brown, Mr. Zwinkel, Mr. Blattel, and Mr. Christie,

I am the Executive Director of Humane America Animal Foundation (dba 1-800-Save-A-Pet.com), a national non-profit organization devoted to the advocacy of shelter animals. I am writing to you today in the hope that I can appeal to your sense of compassion and decency and change your mind about staging the Lions Club fireworks show adjacent to the Camarillo Animal Shelter.

Sirs, animals in shelters are in an extremely high-stress environment. If you’ve ever visited an animal shelter, you’ve seen it firsthand—some dogs pace their kennels, some bark uncontrollably, some become unresponsive and curl up in a ball in the corner of their kennel, shaking and afraid. I wish there was a way to comfort each and every one of these poor creatures, and I’m sure you do, too.

I know how terrifying the Fourth of July is for my own dog. There have been many holidays when I feared that he would suffer a heart attack; so great is his terror of the very distant fireworks that I honestly worry it will cause him irreparable physical harm. He trembles uncontrollably for hours and paces the house, trying to throw himself through any window he can find. It’s a heartbreaking sight.

I tell you about my own dog in order to illustrate just how horrifying even distant fireworks can be to a normal, well-adjusted dog in his own home, surrounded by familiar people who are focused on his well-being and doing everything they can to soothe him and keep him safe until the terrible noises cease. Imagine the effect your fireworks show will have (and has had in the past) on so many pets right next door, pets who are already scared, lonely, vulnerable, and in completely unfamiliar and uncomfortable surroundings. Please, Mr. Brown, visit these pets on a normal day and see the trauma they’re already experiencing. I’m sure it does not fall within the mission statement of the esteemed Lions Club to inflict this kind of additional emotional torture on your community’s pets.

I’m sure you are in a difficult position. You’ve already planned the show. You don’t want to let your community down. You don’t want to lose this battle with a bunch of people you may see as animal-loving freaks. If you take a look around your community and see all of the citizens who have dogs and cats and other pets, though, you’ll see that it’s not a bunch of freaks at all—it’s everybody who loves their dog or their cat and values the health and well-being of creatures above the momentary gratification of a fireworks display. We are the majority.

So on behalf of the good people of your community, I implore you to cancel this fireworks show or change the venue. I guarantee you will be a hero for it. I know you’re trying to do what you think is right, and I’m sure you mean no harm to animals. Perhaps some of you have pets of your own. Please weigh the incredible trauma this display will inflict on the animals against the importance of putting on a fireworks show, and I think you’ll see the answer is obvious.

Just a postscript: I plan on including an article about this in the next issue of our monthly e-newsletter, which is circulated to literally hundreds of thousands of people around the country. I would be thrilled to write that you bucked tradition and gave this story a happy ending for the shelter animals. It could very well even lead to some new donors for you--you never know!

Sincerely,

Abbie Moore
abbie@1-800-Save-A-Pet.com
Executive Director1-800-Save-A-Pet.com
http://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com/
Box 7,
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
1 (800)728-3273 x43

UPDATES:
June 12th, 2006 Emmy Award Winning Senior Producer Bob Tarlau of Fox 11/UPN 13 starts his research and interviews
June 20th, 2006 KCAL9/CBS2 - TV and online video coverage
June 20th, 2006 Program Manager, Animal Sheltering Issues of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) contacts City Council & Lions Club
June 21st, 2006 PETA posts an action alert of the Lion’s Club & assigns a Cruelty Caseworker
June 21st, 2006 Ventura County Star - 4 letters published in the Opinion section.
June 21st, 2006 Have YOUR say right now. Visit the Ventura County Star link, then scroll to the bottom of the page and hit COMMENTS.
June 22nd, 2006 - Sam Richard at the Ventura County Star starts working on a story
June 23rd, 2006 - KEYT 3 Santa Barbara TV evening news coverage between 5 & 6 and 6 & 7
June 23rd, 2006 The Acorn newspaper starts working on a story
June 24th, 2006 Warren Eckstein talks about Camarillo Fireworks vs. pets on The Pet Show
June 24th, 2006 Hunter the honorary poodle decides eruff is eruff - time to blog about this matter
June 26th, 2006 Emmy Award Winning Senior Producer Bob Tarlau of Fox 11/UPN 13 taped a story
June 27, 2006 PETA ACTION ALERT - NATIONAL ATTENTION!
June 27, 2006 PETA get active Center - NATIONAL ATTENTION!
June 27th Ventura County Star publishes letter
June 28th, 2006 Helping Animals dot com = MORE NATIONAL ATTENTION
June 28th, 2006 Ventura County Star publishes a story by Sam Richard
June 29th, 2006 Watch the Fox 11 news at 10:00 P.M. for Bob Tarlau's report.

On the home front Hattie went back to Dr. Brad Patterson last night and Brad once again, along with his wife Madeline stayed after their regular work days were done to work on Hattie for over two hours. Last night marked the fifth time Hattie has been put under in 10 days. Last night almost 20 more foxtails were surgically removed. A few new shots online now.

Thank you each for all that you do each and every day for those less fortunate. All paws still crossed that the powers that be move the fireworks before the fourth ~ Hunter

P.S. Have you checked out Spirit's photo album lately? Not even a year old she's ready for a loving permanent home of her own. Her temporary home is with Heidi and Joe just 1.4 miles away - Joe you make the best chicken picata!