48 comments

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  Animal Rights Advocate

  1 year ago

  This City currently has a wonderful opportunity to shift paradigms in their animal control programs and methodology. Including this consortium of concerned animal lovers would be the epitome of a democratic process. The time is right; the time is now!
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  your inital source

  1 year ago

  He** Yeah !!! Good job Dave. You are on the right track. There is so much more to uncover, but this article should get things rolling. This is the best one yet. Keep digging, you will be surprised.
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  Who

  1 year ago

  Does this animal rights group have a contact person or a website?
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  reading material

  1 year ago

  PRESS TELEGRAM
  
  Wednesdays- Letters to the Editor
  
  Rabbits abandoned
  
  I volunteer at Long Beach Animal Control. I wish people would think before they adopt a rabbit. Remember, rabbits don't stay cute little bunnies for long. You need a large cage for them to grow into, and the cage gets cleaned every day, besides exercising them every day.
  
  Too many people get a rabbit because the kids want a cute, little bunny, then the kids lose interest, and the rabbit is abandoned. Don't get a rabbit if you are not going to have it spayed or neutered, care for it, and love it till the day it dies.
  
  Judy Griffith
  
  Long Beach
  
  
  
  employee
  Long Beach, CA Reply »
  |Report Abuse |#6 5 min ago
  
  There are no volunteers at Long Beach Animal Control. The SPCA shut that program a long time ago. SPCA volunteers are restricted to caring for the animals on their side only. You are right about one thing Judy, owners need to take care of the animals they adopt. Thank you for your continued dedication. If the SPCA would actually allow Long Beach have a volunteer program then we wouldn't kill 99.9% of the shelter rabbits! Better yet, way to go SPCA for forbidding Animal Control to adopt out animals. I hope this contract between SPCA and Long Beach is available for public view. SPCA is "indirectly" responsible for the senseless deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals. Some things are not all what they appear to be. It sickens me.
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  Animal Rights Advocate

  1 year ago

  Yes, the Greater Long Beach Coalition for Humane Animal Care & Control can be reached by email: glbc4hacc@yahoo.com
  
  We will be happy to put you on our email list for updates.
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  @@@@@@@

  1 year ago

  ????When are they going to get rid of Lt.Quigley?
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  Dave Wielenga

  1 year ago

  Gee, No. 6, could you possibly be more obtuse? Did you even read the story?
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  To Dave Wielenga

  1 year ago

  Thank you for keeping this story alive. Although many comments posted about the previous articles were tasteless, cruel, and downright stupid, this came as no surprise. Trolls and spammers are drawn to hot news stories like flies to poop. If one disregards these comments, the reader will discover that there are a lot of people who care deeply about the fate of animals who end up at Long Beach Animal Control.
  
  My belief is that LBAC will continue to draw criticism as long as they conceal what really goes on there. The public is looking for answers and we are not getting them. We depend heavily on the press because you have the resources and skills to uncover the facts.
  
  With the exception of The District Weekly, the City of Long Beach and the press have let the public down. We are no further along than we were 8 weeks ago in terms of accurate and reliable disclosures, and about the actions that are being taken to correct the problems.
  
  Unequivocally, the DW has done the most thorough job of reporting, but there are questions that could and should be answered by now.
  
  I am asking that the DW dig a little deeper. This would go along way to dispelling some of the misinformation that was published in the comments section.
  
  Here are some questions that I have:
  
  Have criminal charges been filed against Victor? If yes, what are the charges? If no, why not? (he did brutally mistreat a dog, in violation of the law and common decency)
  
  Is Roger officially in charge of the facility now? If so, what are his plans for improvement?
  
  Have charges been filed or reprimands issued to the persons who threw live animals in the bins with dead ones? What are the consequences of these negligent acts? Employment termination? Wrist slappings? Nothing?
  
  Is there a vet at the facility? Full time? Part time? On Call?
  
  How do SPCA/LA and LBAC really function together? Is there really one person who has life and death control over the fate of the animals brought to LBAC? In other words, the way things are now, the “adoptable” animals are sent to SPCA and the “unadoptable” ones await death on the LBAC side—all based on the assessment of one person. Can this be?
  
  Why does LBAC kill all of the wildlife brought to them? The public should be informed when they bring in wild animals, that the animals will be killed
  
  Why has the city not published any reports on the investigation, even preliminary reports?
  
  Is there really a financial incentive from the State of California to euthanize impounded animals?
  
  
  What is the status of the investigation? Who is handling it? “An outside company” doesn’t really tell us much. Will their findings be made public? When? What is their authority to make changes and or enforce state law?
  
  What is the status of Christine Culhno’s complaint to the vet med board?
  
  The vapid remarks by Pat West do not shed any light on these questions.. Mr. West proclaimed that LBAC is a “state of the art” shelter and went on to say that “most” of the animals are well treated. Most? (Mr. West, most airplanes land safely—it’s the ones that crash that call for investigations.) Please explain the impilications of his statement about LBAC: “…it’s rather insulated.” Does this mean employees are covering up information? This is a public agency and being “insulated” is not acceptable. We have a right to know what goes on there.
  
  I have tried to find answers to many of the above questions on my own, but with limited success. I’m hoping the DW will step in, and stand up for the animals: the ones who “have no voice, have no choice” This is why I read your paper and support your advertisers.
  
  Please don’t let the animals down, Dave. I urge that you press a little harder for answers—John Keisler is indeed a very amiable, open and considerate person. But—this isn’t a personality contest. Please get some hard facts so all of us who care can help the animals.
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  your intital source

  1 year ago

  To #8 and Dave Wielenga:
  
  Great Questions and I agree that DW is the only publication doing the right thing, printing the juiciest story that this city has been involved with so far. I would like to respond to some of your questions and in turn anyone out there that has answers or knowledge to anything posted by #8, please post it. This is the only way to lead to the true issues at Animal Control. I really mean the true issues at animal control and the SPCA. Things are about to get ugly for them.
  
  VM Question #1 – No charges have been filed for the animal cruelty as of yet because there was no evidence of cruelty. The city appears to have dismissed these charges for now. He is suspended over some other petty issue that the department was cooking up for months. He is still not back at work, still not getting paid and has possibly been terminated over this unrelated issue.
  
  Roger Question#2 – No Roger is not officially in charge of the shelter; John Keisler is Acting Manager right now. We have been told that Roger is there to help with the transition, he is there to help with the internal investigation and we have also been told he will only be there until the new manager gets set in. He does want to be there anyway, it just looks better that he is there.
  
  Live Barrel Question#3 – No charges have been filed because that employee was suspended over Cruelty and possibly terminated already over other bull*** that was planned before the events happened. This employee was obviously targeted before the euthanasia incident. SP watched this struggle, knowing VM was on his way out anyway.
  
  Question #4 – Vet Question –Yes, there is a Part-time Vet at the facility now. She finally appeared at the shelter last week for the first time to do rounds, almost 2 months after she was hired with the city. This Vet was also turned into the Medical Board for supplying the shelter with an illegal Controlled Substance License for the shelter. The Medical Board recently granted the City a premise permit to this Vet that was involved in fraudulent controlled substance activity. Why did she agree to being the premise after saying “no” months earlier. Maybe she thinks it will help her when the Board finally comes to inspect.
  
  Question #5 – Function Question – This is the best question of them all. They “dysfunction” together. What is supposed to be a “joint” effort is actually the opposite. There is constant bickering, back stabbing between the management on both sides. The animals are obviously cared for better on the SPCA side. They have ample donations of bedding, food and other necessities. They also have more people to care for the animals, not to mention the large amount of volunteers on their side every day. Their side of the facility has been modified and is always in working condition. The floor heaters in the dog cottages are always working and their cats are in a building away from the heat and cold. The animals well taken care of and are spoiled if they reach it over there. Animal Control is a different story. Floor heaters are always broken and it is colder because the SPCA decided to cover open air windows on their side only. So, combine a cold winter night with drafty holes in the kennels, lack of bedding, lack of employees to change and wash the bedding and broken floor heaters. Sounds like paradise to me, especially for a nursing mom or a small skinny dog. Their cattery is very functional and humane. Animal Control’s new cattery is very dysfunctional, inhumane and stressful to the cats.
  The fate of all the shelter animals initially lies in the hands of Long Beach supervision. They decide if they are “healthy” enough to stay for the hold period. After that, the SPCA selects an animal based on what the medical staff recommends first and then somebody (??????) agrees with them and they take the animal. The rest of animals die with the exception of a handful a month that go to AMRT or one of the other small lists of rescues that Long Beach deals with. The real question is: Where are all the rescues? I have been told by several rescues that they just can’t stand dealing with this shelter. The shelter does not actively contact rescues. The animals just die. Someone enlighten us please.
  
  Question#6 – Wildlife Question – The shelter kills almost all of the wildlife with a few exceptions. Healthy or not they die. Nice work!
  
  Question #7 – Investigation Question – The full report will not be available for a few months. No prelims will be published.
  
  Question#8- Financial Incentive question- I don’t think this is the issue at all. Long Beach kills because adoptions on the SPCA side are few and far between. The SPCA only takes a small chunk of what actually comes into the shelter. The SPCA adoption application is really difficult to be accepted so the animals that they do take stay a long time. Finally, we come to the rescue question. Rescues do not come and get the animals, so Long Beach kills them. Believe it or not, all this is directly related to the SPCA. Rescues do not want to deal with the SPCA for some reason. SPCA forbids adoptions on the animal control side. It is not a financial problem; it is a control freak problem.
  
  Question#9 – Investigation Question – The investigation for the euthanasia incident is over and the report is being written. A private investigator is handling it. I don’t think that their findings will be made public but I pray someone will find a way. The report is going to the city manager. It is not at all a directive; it is findings and recommendations only. It will be the City’s choice if they decide to follow these recommendations. That sums it up. Nothing may happen at all. Exciting!!!
  
  Question #10 – Christine Question- Someone please tell us the status of Christine’s complaint. They have not been out to investigate yet. The Veterinary Medical Board ignored her complaint and decided to grant Long Beach a Premise Permit before looking into things further. Christine just got slapped in the face by the State. That is shocking but typical government behavior. I have personal knowledge that the City of Long Beach has been in contact with the Medical Board Investigator in charge of this case. The investigator was told by them that they don’t know why Christine filed a complaint and that she was mistaken because Animal Control has had a Vet all along. Wow!
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  amazed

  1 year ago

  Nice article District Weekly. I especially like the name, "Long Live Gay Dogs". Most people would think of it as a stupid attention getting headline, but I think it has another meaning. "Long Live" is appropriate considering there have been almost 1000 comments posted between all 5 of the articles written by the District. That's incredible!
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  To Dave and Initial Source

  1 year ago

  Wow, initial source, I am both stunned and not surprised at all! You have a lot of information and I hope Dave and others at the DW will use your report to pursue this story and get the facts out to the public. We have nothing from the city except vague remarks about "culture changes". This tells us absolutely nothing about the cover-ups of the past. The city needs to come clean.
  
  Dave, before the trolls clutter up your comment section with posts about 2-headed dogs from Venus, please take Poster #9's statements to heart and keep reporting.
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  Dwight K Snider

  1 year ago

  What we have here is not a failure to communicate. The above comments are a perfect example of the concept called Citizen Journalist.
  
  (The following is a repeat of a post I submitted several weeks ago to the District Weekly. It is an idea for which the time has come.)
  
  For sometime now I have been toying around here with the idea of being a citizen journalist. Yesterday, I googled "citizen journalist" and to my surprise discovered that such an animal actually exists. I would like at this time to share some of the information I discovered on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  
  According to the seminal report, "We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information" citizen journalism, also known as public or participatory journalism, is the act of citizens "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information." Authors of the report, Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis, continue: "The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires." Citizen journalism should not be confused with civic journalism, which is practiced by professional journalists. Citizen journalism is a specific form of citizen media as well as user-generated content.
  
  In a 2003 Online Journalism Review article, J. D. Lasica classifies media for citizen journalism into the following types:
  
  1.) Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community).
  
  2.) Independent news and information Websites.
  
  3.) Full-fledged participatory news sites.
  
  4.) Collaborative and contributory media sites.
  
  5.) Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters).
  
  6.) Personal broadcasting sites.
  
  Freelance journalist Mark Glasser who frequently writes on new media issues offers the following:
  "The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as "Youtube."
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  See the Press Telegram article 4/6/08 - front page
  
  Anne wrote:
  It is surprising to me that the City is claiming that only 57 adoptable animals were euthanized at the shelter last year. I'd like to know what evidence they can offer to support that. First of all, how do they define feral? Any cat that is in a shelter environment, even the most domesticated and placid of cats, will be crazed with fear and appear feral-like. The attitude that produces this kind of spin, which common sense tells us is patently not true, is troubling. Long Beach, and all municipalities that run "Kill" animal shelters need to experience a paradigm shift - the way that animals are treated currently in city animal shelters is not acceptable. Cities need to work to find more creative solutions to the animal overpopulation problem. Kudos to the Coalition for starting this process.
  
  initial source Reply
  Long Beach, CA
  
  
  Anne, those figures need to be redone. Here is why. Most of the healthy wildlife that was euthanized should of been sent to rescue or relocated, most of the injured wildlife should of been sent to rescue where a VETERINARIAN would diagnose them to be suffering. Most the shelter animals that were euthanized for being sick or injured cannot be counted as sick or injured because they were not seen by a VETERINARIAN and diagnosed with a condition or injury. They could of been perfectly healthy for all we know. People that are making these decisions should not of been involved. So count all sick and injured animals as adoptable animals. Neither proper nor legal procedures were not used to determine the life or death. As for the 57 adoptable animals, you guessed it, that number is not correct either. The SPCA marks animals as "unadoptable" all the time for various bullsh** reasons which are medical or behavioral. Diagnoses and behavioral conditions are just some lame persons wild guess, boldface lie or just because they really don't know what the hell they are doing. A lot of time reasons are made up because they have to put something down as for why they are not taking the animal or else they would look bad. The SPCA employs the "Vet" and the "behaviorists" who come up the "reasons" these animals will die. Long Beach's euthanasia statistics are a joke and now they are being blamed for all the killings. You can't blame Long Beach for all the killings because the SPCA refuses 80% of the animals and they will not let Long Beach adopt out the animals that are not selected. Well then rescue should be called right? No, rescue organizations in a whole refuse to come into the shelter, they do not want to deal with the SPCA and Long Beach has trouble soliciting rescues because of this. Has all of this enlightened everyone? I really am sickened by the blame and ridicule that has been put on animal control, SPCA is the reason all of these shelter animals are killed. The proof is here. I you do not believe me, just wait and see. SPCA is not what they appear to be. This new activist group that is coming in to "revamp" Long Beach Animal Control really should go to the other side of the building were the real problem lies.
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  Joanne Kwast

  1 year ago

  The comments above are very valuable. We would be interested in speaking with many of you and would like you to join the newly formed coalition -- "The Greater Long Beach Coalition for Humane Animal Care & Control". Thank you for taking the time to post your comments.
  
  Please contact us at: glbc4hacc@yahoo.com or 562.544.0335
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  Why should people trust you Ms. Kwast? Give us some good reasons. I think people are afraid that you will give up their identity. I think you might have some trouble getting people to come to you. You have a lot of good information posted on these blogs and you just need to find out who is being truthful.
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  Climate of Fear

  1 year ago

  initial source raises a good point in post 15. Many people--rescuers, the public, and LBAC employees are afraid to reveal their identities for fear of retaliation. The workers are concerned about their jobs and rightfully so. Rescuers and individuals are concerned about the safety of their pets. Past actions of LBAC prove that a person has very little recourse if their pet is seized by LBAC. The animal will die. The hearings are a farce and decisions always go in animal control's favor, i.e., death to the pet. so if you join up with Ms. Kwast's group, make sure your dog doesn't bark too loud, lest you get that knock on the door from Quigley & Co. You won't win. Forget legal action, unless you have a lot of money--I mean a lot.
  
  I think that Mr. Kwast has a wonderful idea and I wish the group much success, but please everyone proceed with caution.
  
  If I sound paranoid, please remember even paranoids have enemies. (Plus there are reader comments, posts on other websites, and court records to substantiate my concerns)
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  Re - Post 13

  1 year ago

  Reported by Mario in the PT - Post #17
  
  "Check the math:
  
  'last year it euthanized 7,965 ... animals
  
  88 percent of the euthanized animals were considered unsuitable for placement
  
  Keisler said 12 percent, or 57 of the animals, should have been adopted'
  
  7965 x .12 = 955.8
  
  956 adoptable animals were euthanized by LBAC last year, not 57.
  
  An honest mistake?"
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  Can Mario crunch some more numbers with the revised information below?
  
  7,965 animals total
  
  88 percent cannot be right beause "unsuitable" does not mean "it barks at me". You cannot count most of the animals that were deemed " irremediable" because they were not diagnosed by a Veterinarian. You cannot count most of the wildlife because they should of been seen by a Veterinarain, released to a rescue or relocated. I think this 88% fiqure is more on the lines of 40%-50%. So let's go in the middle at 45%.
  
  What is the "revised" total?
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  Mario

  1 year ago

  I'd be glad to!
  
  First of all, I think initial sources's estimate of adoptable animals is far closer to the truth than the figures provided by LBAC.
  
  Here we go again:
  
  7965 x .45 = 3584 adoptable animals euthanized by LBAC in one year.
  
  3584, 965, 57 -- still too many pets are being killed.
  
  If Long Beach really wanted to help animals, they would re-instate the ban on breeding, but as long as there's a buck to be made, it ain't gonna happen!
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  SPCA?

  1 year ago

  SPCA is responsible for the vast majority of the shelter deaths because the the stupid contract, the fact that they will not let Long Beach adopt on their side and the fact that they lie about the reasons they do not take most of the animals.
  
  SPCA is the major problem. Get them the hell out of there.
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  I found your liar

  1 year ago

  MB of the Spca stated here in this article that the stray animals get the same "creature comforts" as the others. You misled the public, the supporters, the contributors and the animals and you are the one that needs to answer to all of this mess. Spca LA is a fraud and will do and say anything to get $$$$$.
  
  In her remarks, SPCA-LA President Madeline Bernstein said:
  
  
  "It's so important how we treat our animals, and this village, when you go inside, and you see the state of the art material, you see the cottages, you see the residence floors, you see the cat colonies, where the cats are in there playing, it's wonderful to watch. You see separate air systems. You see a philosophy that ever animal deserve respect and food and medical care regardless of why they're here in the first place. You will also see that stray animals that are not yet ready for adoption are given the same creature comforts [as] animals that are in the adoption areas. There are no second class citizens at this facility..."
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  The same? Bullsh**! The animals do not get treated the same at all. Proof is in the first article. Animals are euthanized differently. SPCA euthanizes humanely and Animal Control euthanizes inhumanely. the SPCA cats are treated with dignity and respect and the Long Beach cats are neglected, mistreated and forced into stressful conditions. I am still trying to find that contract.
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  Wag the Dog

  1 year ago

  Well that last post nearly made me gag. What a sick joke to play on the public--and even worse for the animals. Bernstein's sugary tale of comfort and care for impounded animals is a far cry from the reality of their treatment.
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  Wag the Dog

  1 year ago

  So sorry, not the last post making me gag. It's post 21.
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  Wag the Dog

  1 year ago

  To initial source: Have you thought of taking your story to the LA Times? I don't think any of the Long Beach papers are going to do justice to the issues at LBAC/SPCA/LA. Maybe you and Christine can team up and get the real story told. So far you and Christine have provided more information than all of the newspapers combined. Thank you!
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  To Wag: I think you are very right, but here is the sad truth. No one (including the Times) would touch this story with a 10 foot pole. You really don't know how frustrating this has been. The PT was offered a chance well before the DW and it was not until after the DW article, PT printed another version of the story. This was only because the City of Long Beach invited them over for a media briefing. Everyone was offered and no one seemed to want this very huge and newsworthy story. I think you just hit the nail on the head. The public has a fluffy view of this animal shelter, mainly because the SPCA is involved. It is like trying to convince the world that the Brady Bunch raped and killed someone. People would think you were frickin nuts. I am still shocked that this has not been on the news. The City of Long Beach pretty much admitted that they have a problem. A big problem. A killing a lot of animals problem. They have admitted to staffing shortages, animal neglect, inhumane euthanasia and they admitted they have denied the animals of proper vet care.
  
  Everyone should forget the fact that a government shelter is involved in this, because it happens all the time. Open your eyes and realize that the SPCA has had knowledge of everything that has been going on for years. This is the real kicker. It's not like there is a wall separating the 2 sides down the middle.
  
  Pairing up with Christine is a good idea, but I think she has been through enough. The City initially decided to throw the blame her way in the PT. Certain individuals have been attacking her on these blogs to try to save their a**. We can all take a big guess who they are at this point.
  
  Now that the City has been caught with their pants down, time to work on the party driving the get away car (SPCA). Are they exempt from being in trouble because of their name? Can they do no wrong? Brady Bunch Syndrome.
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  Wag the Dog

  1 year ago

  Initial source, as always you make good points. I think you must have been the one to bring Christine's story to the attention of the press to begin with. It takes guts and commitment for you and Christine to do what you have done. Please don't get discouraged. I know it must be awful to have to go to work and bite your tongue when you see these outrages going on. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I don't want to give up and I won't. If you are friends with Christine, please tell her how sorry I am that the vet board did not act on her report. Shame on them. Regardless of the outcome, know that without you and Christine nothing would have happened, and Long Beach residents would still be in blissful ignorance of shelter activities. You both have done a lot to shake things up and I pray something positive comes out of this for the sake of the animals.
  
  Also, poster #12 has some very intriguing ideas--it's a matter of implementing them.
  
  Thanks again for sharing your knowledge with the animal lovers of Long Beach.
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  Wag: Thank you for your support. As for poster #12, I don't need to read it because I have been living it. Thanks DW : )
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  Tired of these Pet Owners

  1 year ago

  No other papers have picked up this story because there is no story. This crap happens everyday at shelters across the USA. A large portion of animals are euthanized nationwide plain and simple. You can blame the animal shelters all you want for the mass killings. The truth is, all these irresponsible owners that don't spay/neuter and allow their pets to breed and run at large uncontroled are the root of this issue. As long as we continue to have these type of irresponsible people in society, things are not going to change. Animal populations will continue to grow and deaths will grow with that. THERE ARE NOT enough homes for this growing population of homeless animals PLAIN and SIMPLE. Instead of the government instisting on sholving "Click it or Ticket" down our throats. They should promote some Spay/Neuter PSA's (public service announcements), to educate some of these irresponsible people that perpetuate this overpopulation of animals. Form your coalations and attack and bad mouth LBAC and other shelters, if that makes you feel important and worthy BUT, I hope that at least some your focus turns to the real source of the problems. IRRESPONSIBLE PET OWNERS.
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  You are right #29; this crap does happen at shelters across the USA. How many of those shelters have the title with SPCA in them? You are wrong about why the other papers have not picked up this story. If SPCA was not involved in this problem and it was just a government shelter, then this would be all over multiple papers. Look at the LA City and County shelter’s, their stories are plastered everywhere, even on the news. SPCA's Animal Companion Village is accused of things others are in trouble for.
  
  I guess it would be acceptable if we neglect, abuse and kill animals in this one shelter. They don’t matter anyway. We will let this one slide because SPCA is involved.
  
  You have your agenda and so do we. We want to humanely care for the animals that are on this earth now. You want to prevent them from being born so they are not abused, neglected and then killed. Can't we work together with our different causes and understand and support each other? Open your mind and realize that your cause is not the only important issue on this planet. You are promoting something that is going to reduce the animal population in the future. You will always be respected for what you do and should be proud to be behind such an important issue. On the other hand, we cannot abuse, neglect or forget about the shelter animals that are here today. This story was not put out there so we can prove that one issue is more important than another. This is why the partnership at this facility failed. 2 folks with different views could not come together and work towards helping the animals. Both organizations involved closed their minds to each other and animals suffered because of it.
  
  Please understand and respect what is being done here, in turn you will get the respect that you deserve.
  
  Initial source
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  Still tired of these pet owner

  1 year ago

  THANKS! Initial Source. Finally someone who makes sense in all this madness. You have good points, and I agree that improvements are always important in supporting animal rights and wellfare. It's good to know your agenda is not aimed at any particular person.(such as many of these anti-Quigley bloggs ) Noone who works in the animal wellfare industry are in it for the money and great hours. The facts are people who work in this business do it because they care and are dedicated to the animals, plain and simple. The pay is low, hours are long and rotating, and dealing w/ angry and critical public is part of a daily routine. But in the end its worth it because you're hands on with the animals and get to serve and make a difference in at least one or two of animals life of the many hundreds that go thru the shelfter system daily. I'm tired of reading how one person has ruined everything or loves to kill animals or is incompetant, etc. NO ONE WHO WORKS IN THIS FIELD LOVES TO KILL ANIMALS!! From the outside looking in, it might seem like employees are having a great time killing. But in reality, in order to perform these grim tasks employees resort to humor and positive thoughts when doing these tasks. You're not going to see a crying fest and people throwing themselves breaking down on the floor. Your'e going to see people coping w/ the situation w/ humor and positive thoughts when their performing these jobs. Enough of the personal attacks on people and focus on getting better training program for employees and streamlining a broken system. Write to your council in regards to these issues and stop with the name calling and personal attacks.
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  Nicole

  1 year ago

  Hey everyone, thanks for the good comments. I'll be handling all of the District's Animal Control stories for the rest of the summer, so if you have real information and would like to make a difference, please email me at nicole@thedistrictweekly.com.
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  Wag the Dog

  1 year ago

  To 'Initial source" and "tired": initial source, you are a voice of reason in this whole mess. You are to be commended for getting thru to "tired" who has done his/her share of name-calling and belittling people.
  
  "Tired": I will take the liberty of speaking for many who post on this site. We do not need to be told that the root cause of shelter kills is a surplus of animals--we have known this for a very long time. Many of us are active in rescue, lobbying for spay/neuter laws, fostering and adopting. We spend much or all of our disposable income on helping animals. Many have gone deeply into debt to help animals. Yet you seem to lump all non-LBAC employees into a single class of 'irresponsible public" . As a member of the public, I take umbrage at your remarks and those of your ilk who think we do nothing but complain when this is light years from the truth.
  
  . Here is another thing to consider: 2 wrongs don't make a right. Yes there are people--too many people--who view their pets as disposable products to be discarded when they become inconvenient. This wrongdoing in no way justifies improper treatment of animals when they are taken to a shelter--yours or any other. Because a cat or dog has been dumped at a shelter does not give you or anyone else license or justification to make them suffer in a sweltering building to the point of heat stroke. It does not give anyone license to take even a viscious dog and garrote him till blood gushes from his mouth and nose; it does not give anyone license to throw live animals into bins with dead ones. These are the real public concerns. Know too that these acts are commited by individuals and are tacitly condoned by the institutions which employ them. Wrongdoings by other shelters do not in any way ameliorate wrongdoings by LBAC and/or SPCA/LA. Neglect is neglect, and to the extent it occurs at LBAC/SPCA/LA, you need to acknowledge it before you can fix it. "Tired" you are too anxious to blame others, but you need to clean up your own back yard before any meaningful changes occur.
  
  I am thankful there are people like "initial source" and Christine Culhno who are doing what they can to help. The animals would thank them, if they could.
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  Wow! Now this is something to discuss. Where you guys months ago?
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  ;o)

  1 year ago

  Nichole #32. Glad to have you on board. Was wondering if Dave and Heather had passed on any info, sources, interviews and such to you or do we have to start over at square one? Possibly let us know what we can do to get it going in the right direction.
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  I hope your not an irresponsib

  1 year ago

  To Wag, Yes you do need to be reminded of the root of this issue, everyone does. Because of the lack of spay/neuter education to the masses we are in this nationwide mess to begin.. And I never said this system wasn't broken because it is. Like I said before we need to implement better training for employees and management (or lack of it) needs to listen to the employees concerns, which they are starting to now. I don't side with people that abuse, hurt, or neglect animals in anyway. I agree that Shelter employees should follow the same cruelty standards as anyone else. Unfortanalty, all it takes is one person to do the wrong thing, for the public think everyone at an animal shelter does not care or hurts animals. I never said that all non-shelter employees were irresponsible. I said that we need to focus on these irresponsible people and educate them to control the issue of overpopulation. Like Mr. Barker would remind the public everyday after the Price is Right "SPAY/ NEUTER your pet". THIS MESSAGE needs to be sholved down the publics throats. If we could reach at least one person out of every hundred. Thats one less litter into the shelter system.
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  Wag the Dog

  1 year ago

  There you go again with your insinuations. How dare you suggest I'm an irresponsible pet owner or that I need to be reminded of the need to spay/neuter. Furthermore I never implied that everyone who works at an animal shelter hurts animals. On the contrary I have high praise for Christine and initial source. Poster 36, you just don't get it, and I doubt you ever will.
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  Are you guys in a "unique partnership" like the folks in the Animal Companion Village ?
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  I would really like to know why the SPCA has "google orders". Very few negative search results end up on the search page. This is fraud and an indirect way to keep information away from the general public.
  
  Brady Bunch Syndrome lives on !
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  @@@@@@@

  1 year ago

  If you put Madeline Bernsteins name in google you will come up with all kinds of crazy stuff, the biach make $120,000 thousand a yr.Quigley also owns google space per see. Yes it is wrong that you are paying for their nice parking spaces in google.
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  The euthanasia stats say that 88% of the animals were "unsuitable for placement" and she makes $120,000 per year. Were they using the same calculator?
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  Animal Rights Advocate

  1 year ago

  In the interest of simplicity, the Coalition's name has been revised to:
  Coalition for Humane Animal Treatment (CHAT)
  Email: chat4lb@yahoo.com
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  If there is anyone interested in filing a complaint for a potential Grand jury investigation, you should get it in soon. The deadline is coming up in a few weeks for 2007-2008. This shelter has managed to remain out of the reports for some odd reason. They had a small entry in the 2000-2001 report, before the "partnership". This would be another way to make sure this shelter is doing what it is suppose to do. Not to mention that they could bring criminal charges up on certain people involved, including the SPCA. Public/ private partnerships are investigated by the Grand Jury.
  
  http://www.lasuperiorcourt.org/jury/complaint.htm
  
  
  2000-2001
  LOS ANGELES COUNTY
  GRAND JURY
  
  Long Beach Animal Shelter:
  The facility was built in 1952 and their operating funds come from the City of Long
  Beach. They have contracts with various Veterinarians. On average they have 250
  animals a day but in the spring months they usually have more. On the day of the
  committee’s visit they had an animal population of 208. They euthanize 20 dogs a day.
  The Inter-Peritoneal lethal injection takes approximately 15 minutes to put an animal
  down.
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  to @@@@@@@

  1 year ago

  I googled MB name and the only thing that came up is her involvement with the stupid Britney Spears crap. She is involved in more things than this waste of donations.
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  initial source

  1 year ago

  White Power in the village! There is an unusual clustering of some Southern California Caucasian’s to inform you about. The SCC’s have very little skin pigment and they are hard to come by in Los Angeles County. They are not usually allowed to cluster in packs this size, but they have swarmed and taken over a small area inside El Dorado Park. We call it “The Village”. The majority of “The Village” is filled with people who had 2 white parents; supervision will most likely have 2 white parents. This rare large pack of SCC’s have been protected and preserved by 2 different clustering behavioral patterns;
  
  1) Limited Minority Hiring System, LMHS for short.
  
  LMHS is always successful if “The Village” uses 1 basic hiring equation;
  
  1 white applicant + 1 minority applicant = 1 white employee
  
  2) Minority-Minority Hiring System, MMHS for short.
  
  MMHS does not involve a mathematical equation. It is the waste product of LMHS. Here is how it works.
  
  The rejected applicant from the LMHS applies somewhere else and is hired by a minority, who actually was a reject of the LMHS at one time.
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  Nicole

  1 year ago

  No matter how you feel about animal control, we should all realize that they are not the only problem. Irresponsible pet owners are a major source of problems for Long Beach (and everywhere else). Do you have any stories about the disastrous deeds of vile pet owners? If so, post them or email them to me at nicole@thedistrictweekly.com.
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  R U kidding me

  11 months ago

  Did you see this joke!!! You know Quigley called him and asked him to write this in the Press Telegram letters to the Editor. Always has to lie to get good publicity. Everyone who knows the truth (that's you LBAC) needs to write this guy and tell him the truth. She killed these cats. The owners got 3 cats back to keep them quiet about the 70 she illegally killed. Look at the previous posts. Why isn't this being investigated. Maybe it is, that's why she called him now, after all these months, to ask for a media-whore favor. Well it won't work, we are going to put the truth out and let them request the info themselves. Writing on the records now and lying and falsifying the records is a crime, FYI, but still not beneath you to try (sorry, now you'll have to run back and erase what you illegally wrote) PS. don't use white out, it's obvious
  
  So check this out then go and answer him back in the PT, always printing fluff bull s**t. Hey DW, why don 't you put the real story out. I bet initial source knows a lot, as do others. Hayden Violators!!!!!
  
  "Team effort
  
  As an employee of Mental Health America of Long Beach, whose mission is to improve the quality of life of mentally ill residents in Long Beach, it gives me great motivation just knowing that other agencies in our community are willing to help us.
  
  One of our council members notified our office that a member of our community needed our services. Part of their issue included the care of about 70 cats, which they were housing in their two-bedroom apartment. The Long Beach Animal Control Center found new homes for the animals and instructed the original owners in proper cat care.
  
  As a result, a limited number of cats were reunited with their original owners. Kudos to Lt. Michelle Quigley and her assistant, Susana Delima, who were instrumental in finding a win/win solution.
  
  Herb R. Limoges
  
  MHA Village Services coordinator
  
  Long Beach"
  
  So are the employees that were hired to do breeding enforcement now her personal assistants???? Long Beach dollars wasted again, get rid of that program for crying out loud, they clearly are using all the resources for other things. Theft of city money....again.
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  initialsource

  11 months ago

  Happy to report, change is a commin’….slowly. Our new mantra is “Answers and Accountability”. Chant along with us now. Oh, we have some news to report, this is where we divert you to our new blog location and hope you join us. We are currently seeking supporters, friends and like minded people, though, all are welcome.
  
  http://www.myspace.com/initialsource
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