Dear Editor:
As the owner of two rescue dogs, I have followed with interest the unexpected resignation of Liberty Humane Society’s (LHS) board of directors in mid-July – which exposed a shelter in disarray – and the dedicated men and women, taking considerable time out of their own lives, who have stepped in as the “new” board.
In the six weeks since, the new LHS board has been working diligently to raise funds, update its infrastructure, and improve living conditions for the animals, while enlisting the help of the country’s most respected animal rescues to evaluate their overpopulation of dogs.
Facing a lack of funds (LHS’s financials, available at www2.guidestar.org, show the shelter has been running a deficit for at least the past three years), resources and space, and liability concerns for those dogs deemed dangerous, the board is making the heart-wrenching decisions that sometimes mean the unfortunate, but necessary, use of euthanasia for non-adoptable animals.
A group of critics has emerged, represented by Pets Alive, and the Facebook page, “Liberty Humane Society Uncensored.” Their expectation that a situation as dire as the one the new LHS board inherited – including failed state inspections on Nov. 24, 2009, April 13, 2010, and Aug. 4, 2010 – should be remedied in short order is naively unrealistic.
Moreover, there is no reason to believe that Pets Alive, a rescue located in Middletown, NY, sheltering mostly easily-managed dog breeds, or its director, Matt DeAngelis, has the expertise to help a shelter in an urban area like Jersey City, with ten times the population, where nine out of ten dogs are in the facility are pitbulls, many with behavioral problems.
In fact, Mr. DeAngelis is an interloper who offered only minimal help to LHS, then abruptly concluded not enough was being done to avoid euthanasia. His solution? To post the personal phone numbers of board members, bait his followers into harassing them, then organize a protest vigil outside LHS to intimidate volunteers and staff. And when he didn’t get the positive press he wanted, Mr. DeAngelis railed against the same Jersey City newspapers that he initially begged for coverage.
But perhaps Mr. DeAngelis should spend more time getting his own affairs in order. In irony of ironies, according to its own website, three years after the death of its founder, Pets Alive is still trying to fix its own foreclosure and tax filing problems. Yet, Mr. DeAngelis doesn’t have the decency of affording LHS even three months to address its problems.
Regarding “Liberty Humane Society Uncensored,” it’s worth noting the page’s creator doesn’t have the courage to list his or her name, while many posters hide behind aliases to spew their misinformation and lies.
If these critics of LHS really cared about the quality of life for the dogs and cats at the shelter, they would take the time to volunteer, donate supplies and money, adopt or foster an animal, and ask their friends and neighbors to do the same.
Instead, they choose otherwise.
Alfred C. Martino