I thank god and goddess for all of you here.....and the threads the past two days have shown me the love is still here....<P>I volunteer at an animal shelter here in quebec...<P>130 dogs, over 30 cats....<P>we have had bad news recently in that we have confirmed cases of a disease called leptospirosis....unfortunately, another volunteer caught it as it is transferable from dog to human....she is very ill, and it can be fatal.....<P>you see, ALL the animals were euthanized tonight....to be certain that an epidemic could not be spread.....<P>so I'm sitting here, bawling my eyes out....I can't stop...<P>angry because the media is blaming the board of directors when it was health canada that went in and made the decision....<P>and there really wasn't any other decision they could make..but all of them...the puppies, all...it's just too big a concept for me right now.....<P>I now have to go be tested as I have been ill for the past few days.....<P>those poor animals.....abused, neglected, now this......<P>please.....for those of you with pet companions, go and give them a hug.....<P><BR>Dylan

OH SH*T Dylan <P>I am so very sorry. I love animals-and I kind of wish I hadn't read this as it will surely haunt me.<P>But hug my pets I will-even the stinky old outside dogs.<P>I will ask my cat McKenzie for a kiss on the nose just for my friend Dylan-and I can gaurantee I will get at least one-LOL She loves to lick.<P><BR>I am sorry-and I will add to my prayers that you test fine-and I know you will-cause I said so!!!!<P>Hugs there girlfriend--<P><BR>------------------<BR>*heartache*<P>"Life's A Dance<BR>You Learn As You Go.<BR>Sometimes You Lead<BR>Sometimes You Follow!<BR>Don't worry 'Bout What You Don't Know<BR>LIfe's A Dance <BR>You Learn As You Go."<p>[This message has been edited by heartache (edited April 12, 2001).]

{{{{{Dylan}}}}}<P>I'm so sorry for your coworker, and the loss of those animals. I had no idea that lepto was very serious for humans.

<B>Dylan</B><P>Honey I am so sorry that you are having to go through all of this. I can only imagine how you are feeling. Wish I could be there to hug you in person but since I can't...<P><B>{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Dylan}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}</B><P>I am going to pray to my God too, just for the extra measure and be sure like you said to me not too long ago. <P>I am also going to have faith that you are going to remain the healthy beautiful woman you are.<P>My prayers also go out to your co-worker.<P>again...<BR><B>{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Dylan}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}</B><P>Much love lady,<P><BR>------------------<BR><B>God bless you and all of us. We are all going to make it, all of us! With God on our side we can't lose! What God has joined together let no man put asunder. <P>Samantha</B><p>[This message has been edited by A blessed Samantha (edited April 12, 2001).]

When I read this I felt so horrible. I have tears in my eyes because I absolutely love animals so much, and I agree with heartache in that this will haunt me. I'm so sorry for what you're having to go through and those who were exposed, and those poor puppies and cats. <P>I have my German Shepherd and Rhodesian right here with me and they will get extra hugs tonight....

I don't remember my username anymore... password? wazzat? anyway, it's deut. (Dylan's H) I just posted this on another board. Dyan asked me to post it for you all.<P>------------------------------------------------------<P>Some of you who've stumbled across some of my recent posts may have 'heard' that my Wife and kids are moving up to a rural area to caretake an animal shelter. <P>I don't believe I've ever taken the time to adequetately describe the conditions of the place. Even my experience as a writer doesn't qualify me to even begin an outline. But I must. If I don't, surely I will explode. <P>It is an old industrial building. One story, flat. It used to be owned by a phamaceutical company who used it as an animal testing lab. To say it is in disrepair would be a gros understatement. The cracks in the cinderblock walls zigzag from the ground to the gaping holes in the side of the roof. <P>As you approach the buildings main entrance, you can hear the braying of the dogs, but you can't see in the dirty windows. There is no doubt in your mind that there are a lot of dogs in there. <P>You step through a scummy puddle to the front door, open it and step into a dirty 3x3 foyer. Your previous estimate as to the number of dogs doubles with the decibels of barking. <P>Another muddy glass window gives you access to the shelter proper and almost immediately, your stomach is churning as as the most putrid, acrid stench you've ever experienced, punches down your throat with a viscious force that leaves you reeling. The dogs are deafening. You want to put your hand on the wall to steady yourself, but one glance at the crusty cement banishes all thought of ever touching anything in this shelter. Ever. <P>Right from the first, there are dogs. The first room you come to could once have been a waiting room of some sort. Two dogs live here. Corona and Conrad. The floor is slick with piss and water. Bags of wood chips in the corner are piled almost to the roof. The rats have torn the bottom bags and strewn the contents... <P>As you progress through the shelter, it only gets worse. The unbearable stench intensifies. Everywhere there is filth. It is a dark dingy maze, each doorway's glass broken out and replaced with screen and everywhere, dogs. The first room on your right contains two dogs. One of them, "Old Man" is 15yrs old and blind. He's been there longer than anyone except one or two of the volonteers. He spends his days barking at the walls and limping around his flooded pen. He sleeps on a half rotted, flea infested blanket. <P>Another dog has half chewed through his own leg. His eye is swollen, pus filled and dripping. His cell mate spends the day running in circles. <P>Everywhere you turn, there is a hallway or room filled with ****, garbage and dogs and rats. Some dogs leap at you, snarling, others stay in the corners, whimpering. Worse, some look up at you and are friendly. The rats ignore you. You are grateful. <P>Just as you believe your capacity for horror has been reached, you open a door and find the hallway of pens. You realize the the dogs with rooms are priviledged. The pens are concrete, with rusted chainlink fronts. Some of the doors are held closed with nylon dog collars, because the latches are a corroded mess. Gutters on each side of a narrow concrete path are filled with an indescribable muck. Piss, ****, rotted shavings, dead rats... <P>Many of the dogs are insane. Most of them are unadoptable... 'saved' from previously abusive homes... One room contains three dogs who were born there. They have never seen the light of day. They are too feral. No-one was ever capable of taking them out. <P>If you've ever seen 'Hellraiser' and you can remember the insane asylum... you'd be getting close. Or the boiler room on Nightmare on Elm St... Add rotted fibreglass hanging through disintegrated ceiling tiles. <P>Welcome to our no kill shelter. <P>See any dog you'd like to bring home with you? <P>I worked there for two weeks. I cleaned out one of the hallways and built an area for the 80 or so cats that needed housing. ALL of which had feline leukemia. I built a nice, cozy, bright and warm death row[i/] for these cats. Some of which had feline HIV. <P>My wife has been doing volonteer work for the last few weeks, **** shoveling. Both of us have been volonteering our time at a house on the property, preparing it to be moved into by people, as the shelter could not maintain insurance without someone living on the premises. That people was/is? us. Who knows? We have a contract, but it's a thirty day notice thing. If we get notice tonight, we may not even get to move in. <P>So far, that's the plan. Pretty bleak, but it's a plan. <P>Appalled yet? <P>Disgusted? <P>Horrified? <P>You'd better sit down. Cause here's the kicker. <P>The executive director (a phys-ed teacher) gets IMHO a generous salary. Oh, she works for it alright, no doubt about that. As I understand it, her responsibilities included building maintenance, animal management, adoption clinics, volonteer management, a dog training course, liason with all the vets, and a host of other things which she apparently steadfastly refuses to delegate. Her workday ends at four. Sharp. When I worked there, she had 2 paid employees. $9/hour, who left when the doors were closed and locked. At four. <P>This is a non-profit organization, run on donations alone. To be sure, there are plenty of volonteers. In the time I was there, I saw two or three of them walking dogs from time to time, but for the most part, I just saw them standing around chatting. I'm not saying they never did anything much but gossip... just saying that was mostly what I saw. <P>Having virtually crawled through the bowels of that place, I can honestly say that if as many people as I actually saw up there worked seriously, in a co-ordinated manner, the place would have been immeasurably better. <P>But it wasn't. And the inevitable happened. The whole ****ing thing exploded. A dog got sick. Very sick. Lepto-spersomething or other... deadly. Comunicable to humans. Health Canada came into today and killed everything except the rats. I'll provide a link as soon as one turns up. <P>I guess wherever you have a cause, you have fanatics. Miaouf seems certainly not to be excempt from that. <P>Prior to this, a few level headed folk came to realize that the whole shelter was failing miserably. No-kill was clearly not working. The was no organization. Dogs were going sick and hungry and there was no money. Authorities were called in and extreme action was taken. <P>Among the fanatics, this has caused some outrage. Misdirected thought it may be, it leads on to some extremely slanderous material that has quite serious consequences. <P>I'm way too angry to continue... you can read it for yourself if you're still with me. <P> <A HREF="http://www.miaouf.ca/ currently controlled by some very upset people. <P>There are allegations (carefully worded) against me personally, my wife, and people who I know for a fact have given more than can be put into words (financial and otherwise) that are so twisted that my blood is boiling. I plan to attend that meeting, and address every single one of them. With full documentation and a lawyer at my side. I wish I could bring a chainsaw. <p>[This message has been edited by soulloss (edited April 13, 2001).]

Thank you, Deut.<P>Ahh, Dylan, I've loved on Sammy, Charlotte, Fred and Shorty three extra times just for you. Hugs to you, Honey.....to both of you.<P>Lori

What an awful situation...I am so sorry.<P>Hugs--<P>Kathi

{{{{{{{{{{{Dylan}}}}}}}}}}}<BR>I'm so sorry!!!<BR>Your heart is so big and to have it crushed in such a way....

...and I feel bad when my cat kills one bird...<P>((((Dylan))))<P>Hi <B>Deut</B>, and thanks for the update... gawd, that's HORRIBLE... I'm so sorry...<P>Hugs for you too!<P>(((((Deut))))<P><tear> ...and Tess is getting an extra-big hug right now!! <tear><P>OH, and I pray that you are not ill with THAT DISEASE!!!!<P>------------------<BR>~Sheryl<BR>(a bit worse for the wear, but hanging in there)<P><B>Life <I>is</I> difficult</B>.<BR><I>The Road Less Traveled</I><BR>~M. Scott Peck<p>[This message has been edited by new_beginning (edited April 13, 2001).]

{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Dylan & Deut}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}<P> <P>I'm going to be extra nice to Sparky, Pokey, Soldier, Curley, and Scrappy from now on!!! (They're my daughter's cats)<P>Peppermint

Oh my God....I feel so privledged to volunteer in a shelter that actually does take care of the animals. I thought about you guys while I was there this morning playing with the dogs. <P>Is there anything we can do to help? Write letters, call people, anything??? No animal should have to go through that.<P>Hugs and prayers for you both!!!<P>Jodi

{{{{{Dylan & Duet}}}}}}<P>I am as heartbroken (and angry) as you are. My H and I adopted a cat from our local Human Society almost three years ago. She has been such a special part of our lives - she really is the daughter we do not have. I love her so much, that every month we contribute to help the Society take care of the animals. I would be a volunteer myself, but I would want to bring all of the animals home and that is just not possible.<P>I feel so bad for you and those little animals. If there is anything, and I mean anything I can do, please let me (all of us) know. I know how difficult of a situation this is for you, my prayers are with you.

Dang!! A month ago, my husband and I drove up to Vancouver from Seattle with the intention to drop my cat off to JAL Cargo (flying to Japan.) I had searced all airlines and couldn't find any that would take her, except for JAL. There were several that would fly her to Narita, but no further. (We live in Okinawa.) <P>At the last minute, they decided not to take her. It was only going to cost about $50. But there were too many connections, and they absolutely refused. Well, the Canadians, bless them, pushed hard for my cause, but the Japanese said no.<P>We had to be back to Seattle in just hours to catch our hop (military space-a flight) back to Japan. Needless to say, they wouldn't take my cat, either. I freaked. My options were to a) find a home for her quickly, within hours b) find an animal shelter that was open late at night c) leave her in the woods, like an "animal."<P>The customs guy who stopped us at the border, he asked me why I was crying and I asked him if he'd like a cat, a petite black and white tuxedo cat with a white mustache and a passion for destroying mice. He actually went back into the building to ask all the customs agents if they would adopt my cat. (The line of cars behind us became immense.) They all said that their wives would say no, or "non," as the case may be. But they referred us to an animal shelter a few miles away. <P>I couldn't leave her there.<P>I know how much a person can love an animal, because my heart absolutely broke. I shed tears like I never have before, even with coping with my husband's affair and facing what looked to be the end of my marriage. My pet was the one person who brought me comfort during that time. I loved her and she loved me, it made little difference to me that she was an animal and I am human. I loved her as much as I do my kids, even though her life-span would be a few decades shorter than the rest them. She walked on four legs, meowed instead of talked, ate fish for every meal, and clawed my furniture (they kids stick play-doh and peanut butter to it, what's the difference?) but to me, she was every bit as important as they rest of the family. I cried all the way back from Canada, brainstorming like crazy.<P>It confirmed my belief that there is a loving God because I found her a place to live in that amount of time. I was desperate enough to have the nerve to call, at 2200 hours, upon friends in Tacoma that I had not seen in almost two years, since I was in the army stationed at Ft Lewis. They were excited to see me, even at 10 pm with dripping mascara. They took my cat and love her as much as I do. <P>I have never been so relieved in my life, I can't tell you. I feel that all is right with the world because Gabby is in a safe, loving home where I can call anytime.<P>There are people who would actually call me crazy for caring for a cat. (Including, no, ESPECIALLY my husband--what a way to start off a revival of an extinct marriage, huh?)<p>[This message has been edited by Bernzini (edited April 13, 2001).]

to one and all.....<P>thank you so very much for your words, your kindnesses, and sharing your stories...<P><B>K</B>, yes, it is indeed to be taken seriously...it is transferable to humans, and especially if you have immune system probs, or renal problems...the one woman who is confirmed as ill is undergoing massive treatment for this...she is in a state of pre-renal failure...she is an older woman, and this, could indeed prove fatal, as she thought she only had the flu for a few weeks....<P>this is killing me.....<P>the animals HAD to be put down..once Health Canada was involved, there was no turning back....I understand and acknowledge this....Deut did not exagerate...we were both attacked by dogs there...dogs that had NO f'n business being there....sentenced to a life in a rat-infested cage, rgularly flooded out...and little human contact and NO socialization....<P>their deaths have provided them with peace.....I hope the fanatics can sleep at night...their no-kill policy is truly what condemned these animals to die....preventaive measure could have been taken, but they ADAMANTLY refused to even CONSIDER any option...their quote:<P>"any quality of life is better than NO life"<P>I respectfully disagree.......<P>but the vicious back stabbing, the blame and slander that is now being perpetrated and slung at the board of directors is outrageous....the politiking is childish and I have never seen this kind of behaviour from people...especially those that profess to care about the animals...<P>please visit the site if you have time....as <B>JodiC</B> asked if there was anything you could all do, that is the <B>one</B> thing I ask.....go, see, read.....sign the guestbook.....<P>Deut's is the only voice of reason at their guestbook and he has to post anonymously due to a very REAL fear for our safety and security....<P>I am not overreacting...threats have been made....messages on answering machines have been left screaming that we are murderers...<P>meanwhile, if I have contracted this disease, and their no-kill policies are directly responsible, then who, in true fact, are the murderers??<P>fanatics acting under the guise of caring individuals...it makes me sick...the conditions those dogs lived in was so horrible, that I wouldn't wish a single one of the OP's here or even Deuts ex-wife to be living there....<P><BR> <A HREF="http://www.miaouf.ca" TARGET=_blank>www.miaouf.ca</A> <P>click on the button at the bottom for an urgent message....and then keep in mind that the woman to whom they refer to as "The cleaning woman" is indeed.....ME...<P>I had to take a valium, and now need to go and breathe...<P>these fanatics, are, to me, comparable to the insane people who kill abortion doctors because they kill fetuses....there is no logic to this......<P>thank you all once again....<P>again, I urge you to visit the site....remembering that it is a RAMPANT SHARING OF MISINFORMATION.....<P>Dylan

<B> {{{{{{{{{{{{ Dewt & Dylan }}}}}}}}}}}}}}<BR>[b] Dewt </B> , My heart goes out to you and <B> Dylan </B> both. There comes a time when it is less cruel to have a suffering animal put down than it is to let them live ill, in pain, suffering in filthy conditions. <P>Sadly it sounds like this is now all about a power play than real concern about the animals health and living conditions with these MIAOUF folks. If they care so much why aren't they there shoveling **** and making repairs along side you guys ?<P> Why are they not pulling their heads out of their butts and their money from their own own wallets long enough to see that there is a vet coming in a few times a week to treat the animals who are ill ? Bunch of idiots !<P>I hope yourself, Dylan and your boys are tested for this disease. You have been around those poor sick dogs and if people can get it from them it is better to be over cautious.

I posted to the guest book. I hope it makes some difference.<P>I am so sorry for the pain you both are feeling over this. It is so very sad. You are good and patient people to be trying to help in a mess like that one.<P>Bright blessings.<BR>Kat =^^=

thank you all again.......<P>your support means so much now while we are being personally attacked and our very own ethics are being called into question...<P><B>Deb</B>...Deut has a pit thread at straightdope about this....he is so angry....I have never seen him consumed like this.....<P>the most ridiculous thing is that death threats and other threats of violence are being bandied about....<P>the president of the board and his wife are germanic...so they are now being subjected to catcalls referring to them as of course, Nazis, and hitlers, and swastikas and ss references abound........<P>unf!cking-believable........<P><B>Kat</B>, thank you for signing the guest book.......even in the midst of your turmoil (yes, I read your post), you take time to care and show support......I thank you for this and hope that things run more 'smoothly' for you and your H....<P>I am disgusted with the examples of human behaviour I am seeing today from these <I>supposed</I> animal lovers...<P>and to be told that they hope I rot in hell.....<P>

Dylan and Deut,<P>How's it going today??? <P>Thinking about you...<P>Love and Hugs, <P>------------------<BR>~Sheryl<BR>(a bit worse for the wear, but hanging in there)<P><B>Life <I>is</I> difficult</B>.<BR><I>The Road Less Traveled</I><BR>~M. Scott Peck

Dylan and Deut,<P>I am so sorry to here of the terrible situation, I can only imagine how horrible you feel. <P>I don't even know what words of comfort I can say at this point.<P>I'm adding an edit here because Arik just finished reading this and has offered his services as a private bodyguard to you guys should the fanatics try to carry out their death threats.<P>Call us or email us...so we can call you.<P>God bless you both.<P>{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Dylan and Deut}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}<P>------------------<BR>Love and Prayers<BR>Nicole <p>[This message has been edited by Patient Love (edited April 14, 2001).]