Response to Rhonda Lewis - AWL letter to editor on 08/05/10:
We all have the right to know what is happening to the animals at AWL:
Let me give readers an idea of who I am. I have never worked for any animal league or anything animal related. I don't know any employees that work for the AWL or for the AWL board. I probably do care for mammals more than the average person, but I don't do extreme acts of violence against any individual or group. I get hundreds of letters each year in my mail box asking for donations from the Humane Society, PETA, Doris Day Animal League, Wildlife Land and Trust, Born Free etc. I occasionally give money, but mostly just sign petitions to help save animals. I have taken in about six stray cats (in a shed) over the past nine years. I got a few of them spayed (after many kittens) and eventually found homes for the cats that lived. Now I just have my dog Daisy. I do support groups like PETA, but I don't agree with everything they do. I believe in standing up for animals because they can't do it for themselves, and lots of people do very, very bad things to animals.
PETA is very good at finding out the truth. For example, the fur trade that horrifically takes place. Countries like China murder cats and dogs for there fur. They take animals from their owners, kill them in the most inhumane ways possible, like putting them in boiling water. They skin them often still alive, and then they trade the fur into our clothing and accessories. They mis-label the fur as "synthetic" so you don't even know you are buying it. This has to stop. Don't buy real or fake fur. You don't know if you are wearing a cat or dog that was tortured for you stylish item. Visit Peta.com for more information.
Thank you, Rhonda, for standing up for what you feels is right and wrong, and letting the "truth" be known. I don't know Rhonda so I don't know whether everything she is saying is true, but I do know that I have called the AWL myself asking questions like when are animals euthenized, and how many, and I was told they were not. I want to know because I have brought stray animals into the AWL that I found astray. I want what's best for the animal. A chance at living a good life. Not dying.
I am grateful for all the good our local AWL does for this community's animals. My understanding is that we have a very good turnover-finding homes for most animals. Thank you, AWL, for doing good. But, I agree that the board meetings should be open to the community, and not rehearsed ahead of time. And how do you pick the board members? Perhaps new members could be voted in every couple years. Don't keep the same people in it too long. You wouldn't want the same president of the USA for years and years and years, right? The community should know what is going on with a community organization.
The comments regarding euthanization and selling the animals to Nasco makes me sick. I certainly hope that this is only when the animal is too sick to keep alive, not for other reasons. AWL, please comment on the board meetings and how that process works.
