Dear Editor:
It was with great sadness and also anger that I read in the Jersey City Reporter that Tom Hart, the Assisi Center’s "unpaid" shelter director was fired. This man is a saint and has helped save countless animals from abandonment and starvation. The former ASPCA was a nightmare and an atrocity, and Tom helped turn it into a haven for uncared for and abused animals. For the first time in years, the animals were given names; they were given veterinary care; they were given love. You didn’t see sick animals in the cages with healthy ones, and you didn’t see "dead" animals with live ones; you didn’t see feces all over the floor either.
I remember with horror the ASPCA; the thought of it causes shivers to run up and down my spine. I am outraged by the Board of Directors’ decision to fire the only good thing that has happened to Jersey City and abandoned animals in more than a decade. We can’t wait for these other rescue organizations in Hudson County to raise funds for another shelter. This is all we have, and everyone should help keep it on its feet and keep the greatest thing to happen to it in place. We need Tom Hart.
Now what? Back to the filth and inhumane treatment of sentient creatures again? Perhaps we should hit the Board of Directors in their heads "with a shovel" to knock some sense into them. What they are doing is wrong, and everyone should let them know that they are making a very big mistake that could threaten the lives of unwanted animals in Hudson County.
Jane Semprevivo, President
Wag ‘N Wash, Inc.