Super Hero - Bob Tarlau

Make that four super heroes.

The first super hero of 2006 is Carole Hunter. Starting in July of 2005 Carole tirelessly led the way and tried to reason with the Camarillo, Somis, Pleasant Valley Lions Club along with the City of Camarillo and the Pleasant Valley Parks and Recreation Department. Unfortunately the Lions Club, in their great wisdom decided not to listen to Carole and they still think that it’s appropriate to follow through with their plans to set off community 4th of July fireworks within 500 yards of the Ventura County Animal shelter which houses 400 lost and abandoned pets.

Super hero number two is the manager of the Ventura County Animal Shelter Kathy Jenks and her staff who work tirelessly 365 days of the year helping lost and abandoned pets!

Barbara Tarlau noticed a write up about the fireworks situation on the Poodle Club of Southern California website and called upon her husband Emmy Award winning Senior Producer at Fox 11 Bob Tarlau to do a story. She and her husband instantly both became super heroes of every one of my feline and canine friends and their 2 legged friends. Bob started researching a story on June 12th and tonight when his story aired on the 10:00 P.M. newscast it included points of view from both sides. Barbara and Bob I love you both! ~ Hunter oxox

P.S. To all those Lions lurking out there -- hear US roar! Today was a banner day. This morning on Good Day L.A. on Fox Sky brought up the fireworks Fiasco, ABC ran a story during their 5:30 P.M. news report with "teasers" leading up to it starting at 5:00, not to mention Fox doing the same at 10 tonight! The Ventura County Star printed 4 more letters all from local citizens calling for a boycott of your fireworks while they remain at the airport/Freedom Park location.

Hmmm.... let's see now:
CBS2/KCAL9,
KEYT Santa Barbara,
The Ventura County Star,
ABC
and Fox 11/UPN 13
have all done stories with commitments in place to follow up on the nights of the fourth and the fifth.

Rumor has it that the
L.A. Times,
KTLA,
and NBC are all gearing up to do stories.

Purrrrrr away... we are not going to go away until you agree that fireworks at this location are not appropriate!

Want to make the negative publicity go away? Simply commit to not setting off fireworks at this location ever again!

P.S.S. Ventura County Animal Shelter manager Kathy Jenks reminds all of us that there are currently LOTS of highly adoptable animals at the shelter in desperate need of homes...

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!

Shame on the Lions Club

4 furry honorary poodle paws up to Susan Cox who took part of her Saturday night to compose and send the following letter to 3 members of the Lions Club; mjbelectric@worldnet.att.net, wzwinkels@aol.com, tombco@msn.com, the Camarillo City Council council@ci.camarillo.ca.us and the Editor in Chief of the Ventura County Star Joe Howry jhowry@venturacountystar.com

Dear Sirs and Madams:

I am writing to protest the location of the Camarillo Parks and Recreation Dept., the Pleasant Valley/Somis chapter of the Lions Club and the City of Camarillo community fireworks display at 600 Aviation Drive, Camarillo CA. It is next to The Ventura County Animal Shelter that houses 400 stray, abandoned and lost animals.

What has gone wrong? What has caused this lack in imagination that seems to be epidemic. Can you not, for a second, put yourself in the place of these abandoned and homeless creatures and experience the fear that might be caused by unexplained explosions, bursts of accompanying bright light and the smell of heat and gunpowder. If you can imagine, then shame on you for letting it continue. If you cannot, then join the volunteers who are at The Camarillo Animal Shelter trying to calm the terrified animals this July 4th starting at 6:00 PM and experience the effects for yourself.

The 4th of July is a commemoration of the victory of imagination. A people imagined a country without the rule of tyrants and rose up to secure the life they imagined to be possible. It is our responsibility as the society imagined by our forefathers to protect the weak and defend the powerless. Celebrate the victory of right over might. You don't have to loose your party. Move it to a place more imaginative.

Sincerely,

Susan A. Cox

Past 2 weeks in review:

• 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 AKA an Afghan Hound 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 will be taping a story

Still hoping that ABC and NBC and the L.A. Times will join the other networks and papers and do a story.

All paws remained crossed here that the fourth will be fireworks free for the 400 already dramatized pets at the Ventura County Animal Shelter - if you haven't already done so please take a moment right now to visit: http://www.PoodleClubSoCal.com and write a letter or two - or three barking your two 'scents' worth ~ Hunter

Community Fireworks next to Animal Shelter!

The big dogs at the Camarillo/Somis/Pleasant Valley Lions Club along with the big dogs on the City of Camarillo, California council seem to think that it's pawfectly okay to set off 4th of July community fireworks within several hundred yards of where 400 lost and abandoned pets are housed at the Ventura County Animal Shelter! [And they say that Afghan Hounds are not the smartest dogs - I beg to differ!]

Special thanks go to Carole Hunter (no she's not related) who yesterday rushed to get to the Ventura County Animal Shelter in Camarillo in time to speak up on behalf of my feline and canine friends who will be stuck in the shelter on July 4th. Carole spoke with a reporter for the Santa Barbara based TV station KEYT who aired a segment last evening at 5:30 and 6:30. Carole you were GRRRREAT! [You didn't know that Afghan Hounds speak tiger did ya?]

I was disappointed that shelter manager Kathy Jenks was not available to speak to the reporter yesterday as Kathy did such a très beau job during the CBS 2/KCAL9 report. [Poodles aren't the only ones who speak French!]

Today Carole Hunter jumped on the phone and called Warren Eckstein's The Pet Show. Warren had already received several emails in regards to this matter and he had planned to explain to listeners - even before Carole called - just how tragic it is that the The Lions Club have not seen fit to move the fireworks to a location that would not terrorize 400 lost or abandoned and already dramatized pets.

Yes, I know, I know writing letters may appear to be boring but see YOUR letters do have a cumulative effect!

What's that you haven't made the time to write one yet? Please take a moment right now to visit http://www.PoodleClubSoCal.com and write a letter or two to the powers that be!

Two paws up to Bill Zardus for the following post on the Ventura County Star website under the COMMENTS section.

These 5 women have raised an excellent point and The Lions club should be embarrassed for not figuring this out for themselves.

What idiot decides to set off fireworks next to an animal shelter and how are they getting the permit to do this approved???

Meanwhile my housemate foster goldendoodle Hattie is happy to report that her foster father has been soaking her paws in hot water and sea salt several times per day for the past few days and today out popped yet another infected foxtail. Her temporary dad will keep soaking the open festering spots and Hattie will have to make another trip to Bradley Patterson, DVM so that he can surgically remove at least another 1/2 dozen abscessed foxtails that had 'healed' over before she came to us.

A few new pictures were added to Hattie's photo journal earlier today.

Woofing all of you at the Ventura County Animal Shelter a fireworks free fourth - crossing all the fingers, toes, eyes and all paws here that my woof for you comes true ~ Hunter