City Approved Terrorism

Due to recent actions by Animal Control officers, we are advising people not to be at Long Beach Convention Center for a protest of Eukanuba/AKC dog show. While all of us are perfectly willing to be arrested/jailed on behalf of the animals, and we believe that Animal Control would create a false reason for arresting people, our time and energy is better spent agitating for change outside of a jail cell and with free phone access.

Animal Control officers have taken to intimidating and threatening people involved or in some cases even just interested in Noah's Ark. Many other people are afraid to speak up because they fear reprisals against themselves or their pets. They are right to be fearful. Long Beach has no review mechanism for this group of people who want to be law enforcement officers but dont' have what it takes; so, they are left bullying pet owners and innocent animals, all with the city's quiet nod of approval. This is not the kind of community any of us wants to live in. If we wanted to live in a city-funded state of terrorism, or if any of us thought that a prison-state was idyllic -- we wouldn't be Americans. And yet, the city of Long Beach struggles to cover it's growing un-American employees' actions.

We encourage all of you who were ready to go to the dog show in protest to instead call AKC and ask them to support our demand that the animals be released. We encourage you to stress that an 80% kill rate at a "no-kill shelter" makes a mockery of the demands of AKC to lift the city's breeding ban. Now AKC is part of the problem in Long Beach that results in mounds of dead animals who are needlessly killed. By holding Noah's Ark's animals hostage, LBAC contributes to the problem of needless deaths because they have no place to house other pets. Los Angeles Animal Services has asked for the animals to be released to them REPEATEDLY. They have received nothing but deafening silence from Long Beach's authorities.

LBAC has unplugged it's phones, it's fax machine and refuses to return phone calls for days on end. The City Attorney has provided us public records that are incomplete and audio tapes that are garbled and useless. They have dragged their feet to avoid supplying us the documents that are taxpayer paid-for records of hearings and court proceedings. They continue to stonewall Councilman DeLong's office at every turn.

Animal Control lead by Wesley Moore and Michelle S. Quigley have no desire to set any of the animals free or give them a chance at life; to do so only shows that they were WRONG in the extreme about these animals. It is ONLY because of constant public scrutiny through phone calls and visits, and attention from Councilman De Long's office (we wonder what happened to Mayor Foster in all of this????) that they have been unable to crank up their massive killing machine and begin the wholesale slaughter of our animals.

Is this the city you want to live in? Is this the way you want your employees (they are paid by your tax dollars) to be accountable to you? How much are you willing to put up with? How many animals must be killed in order for this city to finally do something? It's up to all of us to demand change!

Is Your Next Family Member At LBAC

Use these links to see more about Noah's Ark's animals that need to get out of LBAC. Someone at Pitchford village told a woman adopting an NA animal that all the animals in building 700 are due to be euthanized.

Only your continued attention and agitating can keep LBAC honest!

www.najc-justiceforall.blogspot.com

You can also click on the links section to the right for our slide roll to see a movie Alex created about the reason Noah's Ark existed. Many of the animals at LBAC are in this tender show.

Upcoming Dog Show

On December 2 the AKC/Eukanuba dog show will arrive in Long Beach, CA. The city quietly rolled back a breeding ban at the request of the show's organizers last year. So, while we fight to keep animals alive, backyard breeders can keep filling the shelters thanks to this rollback.

The powers that be at AKC and Eukanuba need to know that Long Beach is a poor choice for a national show about dogs. With a shelter that has a kill rate of over 85% and a track record for ignoring the Hayden Act and killing pets -- this is hardly the venue for a dog show. Further, it is tragic that Long Beach actively works to shut down rescues in the city limits and prefers to take animals like those seized from Noah's Ark and kill them. If Eukanuba wants to use Long Beach as a venue for their show, you might encourage them to contact the Mayor in order pressure him to bring Animal Control back under control and demonstrate this change by releasing Noah's Ark's animals!

You may want to contact the judges of the show and let them know about their host city's unfriendly animal practices:
http://www.akc.org/invitational/judges/Dec_2006_Judges.cfm

Here's a list of people in the communications department at AKC. You might want to enlighten them about their host city and how much they seem to like to kill dogs:
http://www.akc.org/press_center/communications_dept.cfm

The show will be broadcast on Discovery and Animal Planet. Here's where to contact these media venues and let them know you will actively discourage viewers from watching the show because of Long Beach's police state policies regarding animals and that you will write to the advertisers to let them know that you will not buy their products as long as the AKC show is in Long Beach UNLESS Long Beach changes it's attitude toward animals:

Los Angeles Discovery Channel Advertising Sales: Michael Weber, Vice President
Advertising Sales, Western Region
Phone: (310) 975-5921
Fax: (310) 203-8455

Los Angeles Animal Planet Advertising Sales: Ben Price, Senior Vice President
National Advertising Sales
Phone: (310) 551-1611
Fax: (310) 203-8454

Here is a list of hotels that AKC has designated for people to stay at. You might want to flyer the hotel or actively protest at these venues:
http://www.akc.org/invitational/2006/dec/travel_hotels.cfm

And, as always, you may want to send a letter to the editor about the irony of having a national dog show in Long Beach while LBAC threatens to kill Noah's Ark's animals after illegally seizing them in August. And, that it is strange that a city with a shelter that kills 8 in 10 of the animals that walk through their doors should host a Championship Dog Show.
mail@lbreport.com
http://www.presstelegram.com/writealetter

What Next?

A person who was at LBAC today to adopt a pet called the Justice Committee frantic after her visit. A SPCA volunteer told this person that all the animals in building 700 are due to be euthanized shortly.

We have been very concerned about the animals in building 700 because this building is far off the typical visitor's path and volunteers actively discourage visitors from seeing these animals. This is the building that has a group of our dogs in an area behind a chain which visitors are prohibited from approaching. This is also the area that houses a mom dog and her babies.

We can only hope this was yet another volunteer who is ill-informed. But even the idea that a volunteer would think this is true and would further be spreading this information is deplorable.

If it is true, the good faith negotiations of Councilman DeLong are being seriously undermined. Lt. Quigley and Wesley Moore's assurances are surely then nothing but LIES!

If you are a rescue group, please help our animals now at a new lower rate. If you are a caring citizen, please call Lt. Quigley's office (562) 570-7387 and DEMAND that none of these animals be euthanized. If you are given the brush off, please voice your extreme displeasure to Mayor Bob Foster's office at Tel: (562) 570-6801 Fax: (562) 570-6538 e-mail: mayor@longbeach.gov.

The very idea of this is sickening and reprehensible!

What Is Lt. Quigley Thinking?!

Lt. Quigley arrived at the home of Gloria, one of Noah's Ark's volunteers on Tuesday. She arrived in a non-city vehicle and proceeded to block the driveway at the multi-unit housing complex where Gloria and her children live.

The Lt. then began banging on Gloria's door and demanding to be let in, yet, she had no warrant or any other official documents. Witnesses reported Lt. Quigley pounding on the front door of the home demanding to be let in. The volunteer had not requested a service call from Animal Control and due to the ferocity of the pounding on her door, was too terrified to answer the door.

One of Gloria's neighbors came outside to leave for work. Another neighbor who is wheelchair-bound was being picked up by his transport company. Lt. Quigley loudly began demanding information about Gloria and her children from them -- information of a personal nature.

The neighbor replied that he did not know the information Lt. Quigley was demanding and asked again that she move her vehicle so that he could leave for work. Lt. Quigley threatened the man saying, "Maybe you are drunk or stoned -- I might need to call the police."

The young man replied that if Lt. Quigley had been professional, he would have asked for her card and made sure it got to Gloria; but since she was so rude, he intended not to help her and again demanded she move her vehicle. With a gathering crowd of witnesses to her aberrant behavior, Lt. Quigley finally relented and drove off.

Given her history of seizing people's pets and deeming them aggressive for no apparent reason, Gloria is understandably fearful for her own pets. Also, given that Gloria's two sons have filed a civil complaint against the city, Lt. Quigley's attempt to intimidate this family is pathetic and wholly inappropriate.

If you too believe this behavior needs to be reprimanded or if you believe that Lt. Quigley needs to step down, please join us in writing to Ron Arias, head of Health Services. He is Lt. Quigley's boss' boss. You might also email the Mayor. Addresses are listed in the post here entitled Dear Mr. Mayor.

As a law-abiding group of citizens we are outraged by this lack of professionalism on behalf of the city of Long Beach and Lt. Quigley. A formal complaint was made to the Department of Health and Human Services which oversees the Bureau of Animal Control. Astonishinly, our volunteer was referred back to Animal Control and we suppose, Lt. Quigley! Is there any oversight? Is anyone in charge?

Good News from Councilman De Long

Here is the good news we have gotten from Councilman DeLong's Office. The Councilman has worked very hard to help us achieve a drastic fee reduction and we are very grateful! Please take a moment to drop his office a thank you note for their on-going assistance at district3@longbeach.gov.

Approved animal rescue groups can adopt from Long Beach Animal Control for the following fees: $17.00 per cat and $25 per dog (includes all vaccinations) plus the actual cost of altering the animal as follows:

Cat (Spay) $35.00
Dog (female) $50.00
Dog (male) $40.00

There will be a $10.00 discount given for the adoption of a "senior" animal (6+ years old).

We will also be linking to another site that has pictures and information about the animals still at LBAC. We hope this helps the rescue community to find the pets that meet their adoptee target market.

If FOR ANY REASON a rescue group is denied an animal, please contact the committee or Councilman De Long's office immediately. It is our contention that Hayden Act DENIES Long Beach Animal Control the right to pick and choose which rescues are "approved." Additionally, they have already broken the standard for choosing which rescues to work with -- we were told it would be any one affiliated with Noah's Ark. However, Pnina Gersten, who had the second most number of animals at Noah's Ark was permitted to pull three animals a few weeks ago.

Additionally, most of Noah's Ark's animals had been spayed or neutered. In many cases, we can also help you determine a pet's age since it appears LBAC staff have difficulty doing this.

Thanks for your continued support of these adorable animals all looking for families.

Potential Good News on Monday

Councilman DeLong's office contacted our representative on Friday evening to let us know that Monday should bring very good news, although we do not know the details.

It continues to be our goal to get the animals out and onward to homes either through rescues, fosters or adoptions. We are encouraged that our goal to get the fees waived for rescues that want to help the animals might actually happen. Many of you have helped lobby the Councilman to put an item on the city council agenda to do just this. We hope that the news on Monday will mean that we no longer need this agenda item.

We do know that the Mayor made an announced visit to Pitchford Village on Thursday. Sadly, we wish it had been unannounced so that he could see the true conditions there, but we are -- at the very least -- grateful that the Mayor continues to care too about the fate of the animals.

We will get you an update about the news as soon as we have it. We will post the information here.

In the meantime, we also have word from an "insider" that Lt. Quigley is showing signs of breaking under the pressure of YOUR continued attention. Some of the quotes Quigley has made to the press and information that being supplied through public documents is not adding up. Please continue to keep the bright light of your attention on the animals and their plight! Many people are complaining about the lack of responsiveness from LBAC and from Wesley Moore, you can contact Ron Arias, head of Health and Human Services, to voice your concerns (562) 570-4000.

And again, if you have had a problem with Long Beach Animal Control -- please contact us through the email address on the header. We do not believe that what happened to Noah's Ark's animals was an isolated incident. We contend that LBAC has flaggrantly disregarded the Hayden Act and Food & Agriculture codes for some time. It's time for reform! But first, let's get these animals to homes!!