NY: Oyster Bay Border Collies need our help!

[lholtz]

Hi:

I received a plea and attached newsletter from concerned citizens in Oyster Bay, NY...see below:


Contact: mgtulipdom@aol.com

"Dear Border Collie Rescue,
Thank you for contacting us. I am sending you all the most recent info. on the TOB Border Collies in the form of our newsletter attachment that will go out this week to everyone. Also there is a regular board meeting at TOB Town Hall that we will attend to address the TOB since they have refused to give us a meeting. If you have a spokesperson available to advocate for the Border Collies please ask them to attend the meeting Jan 18. We will be able to speak after the regular agenda. The regular meeting starts at 7pm in the town hall annex in the village of OB. There will be three of us speaking on the dogs behalf including Liz Stein an animal advocate attorney. I am hoping for some supporters to attend but do not want a crazy event like they have been having at Town of Hempstead. I find the issues get watered down with too many speakers that do not know what they are talking about.
If Border Collie Rescue could send me a written script on your position someone could read it for you. Please mail a copy on your letterhead to give to the town as well.
My address 339 Mill River Rd. Oyster Bay , NY 11771"

[MollyATL]

For anyone scratching their heads over this post or without Word 2007, I'm copying below from the newsletter. These dogs are not "available for adoption" or rescue, so I'm moving this to Miscellaneous:

GeesePeace

January 7, 2011

Dear Friends,

This is a request for help! A situation currently exists at the Town of Oyster Bay public animal shelter that needs to be addressed.

Three Border Collies used by the Town of Oyster Bay to mitigate geese from golf courses, schools, parks, and other public greens, under the program "GeesePeace" have been housed for the past two years in the Town of Oyster Bay Shelter. We feel this permanent housing of working dogs inside a public shelter is inhumane and cruel. A public animal shelter is used for temporary housing of misplaced dogs, not as a permanent residence! Working dogs such as those used by our police and other emergency rescue groups as well as other working geese dogs live with their handlers.

Our organization Mixed Breeds in Need has been witness to the stressful situation in which these dogs are currently living after volunteering at the town animal shelter in 2009-2010. We believe as do many other animal groups, animal trainers, handlers and citizens across Long Island that it is obvious these dogs are being mistreated. Yet, the Town of Oyster Bay insists otherwise! It seems the only way to have accountability in our Town of Oyster Bay Animal Shelter is to hold town officials under public scrutiny.

Please join with us to express outrage with the Town of Oyster Bay for insisting on this permanent living arrangement for these three suffering Border Collies. Please call, or e-mail the town now to let them know there are other concerned, humane people in the Town of Oyster Bay!

E-mail Supervisor Venditto @ townofoysterbay.com
Call Supervisor Venditto 516-624-6350
Let's make a difference!
Marsha Greenman, President, Mixed Breeds In Need

[lholtz]

Article by Jeanne Anderson appearing in The Massapequa Post 1-12-10:

Several months ago I stopped visiting Oyster Bay Shelter to photograph the dogs and cats for the Massapequa Post edition of "Pets". There were many rea¬sons. The following is just one:
Never judge a book by its cover. And never judge an ani¬mal shelter by its pretty lobby, for the decor may be a hollow "pet" Pysansky egg. Architecture not supported by compassion is merely an empty shell. The Town's indifference to the incarcerated Geese Peace Border Col¬lies at Oyster Bay Shelter is symbolic of their perfunctory pet policies and of their dispute with a respected rescue organization that recognizes these dogs deserve better.
"There's no place like home." Bor¬der Collies, unlike the Doro¬thy from Kansas, are smart enough to know this instinc¬tively. A concrete kennel within the Town of Oyster Bay Animal Shelter should never constitute a permanent home for any dog-let alone dogs that perform a service for the tax¬payers. You cannot park dogs in a garage like the highway depart¬ment trucks next door. No matter how comfy, shelters were designed as temporary havens for homeless animals with the hope that each will someday be adopted. The work¬ing Border Collies have been denied that hope. Skye- Abby- Xena. Their names are painted over their cells.
These highly intelligent and active dogs are stressed because of lack of stim¬ulation and social contact; and because of where they are. They stay permanently in the pound. They sense the anxieties of their canine co-inhabitants. In frus¬tration, they tear up toys and blankets because their minds need to be challenged. They won't work to their potential because of pent-up energies after being deprived of exer¬cise and human contact. One is reluctant to return "home".
The three Border Collies, currently "employed" by the Town to chase geese from Town parks and schools do not live with their handlers. During their down time hours (approximately 16 hours a day; longer on weekends) they are sentenced to solitary inside the back kennel along¬side the strays, owner surrenders and the dogs awaiting euthanasia that are not on public view. (Before I real¬ized who these poor dogs were, I naively thought I could find them a good home by calling Border Collie Rescue.)
In contrast, the 20 Suffolk County Police K-9s live with their police partners. Nassau County has two Border Collies residing family style in a mansion at Eisenhower Park when off duty. Staff is there most of the time. Babylon uses remote control boats and cars to ward off geese and hires owner/ handlers with pets including an Irish Setter while Oyster Bay spends $456,000 a year for four Geese Peace work¬ers, three trucks and care of the Border Collie threesome.
The situation is more complex than Newsday's Decem¬ber 27th article so let's backtrack a moment. At first, Oys-ter Bay's canine Geese Peace consisted of three American bred Border Collies that resided with their han¬dlers. The Town's trainer (featured in the NY Times 11/15/06) resigned when the dogs were relegated to the shelter. The Town gave no reason. One might speculate it was for the convenient accessibility. Those dogs were replaced by the current trio pur¬chased from a Canadian breeder. The new dog/ handler teams received minimal training as a team.
Meanwhile, Oyster Bay never allowed volunteers in the shelter. However, about seven years ago, two residents formed the non-profit Mixed Breeds In Need (MBIN), specifically as a public/private part¬nership to enhance the lives and adoption possibili¬ties of Oyster Bay Shelter dogs and cats. Both found¬ers stumbled upon their shelter by mistake. Anita Von Himmel rescued a stray while jogging. Marsha Green¬man, an avid horse fancier, went to see a Jack Russell there. (I understand, because my first shelter glimpse was after following an Afghan in a police car to Babylon in 1981.)
Mixed Breeds In Need garnered community sup¬port, expertise and resources. Their two trainers men¬tored volunteers and together the dogs received daily sessions of basic commands, socialization and joy. I would see them there. The changes in the dogs were re¬markable. Simba, a bedraggled Pit, sticks out most in my mind. MBIN decorated the lobby with a gorgeous mural, supplied and furnished a $6,000 shed as a training real room, held adoption events at the Muttontown Preserve and placed over 100 dogs and cats- all at their expense.
Early in 2010, without explanation, the Town disbanded MBIN's cat involvement and said all dog volunteers except the two professional, pro-bono train¬ers had to leave. Without helpers, the MBIN program became unwork-able. Oddly, around the same time, the Town asked one of the train¬ers, Kathy Dattoma, to evaluate the Geese Peace program. Years before Dattoma had adopted Oreo, an Oyster Bay Border Collie who went on to obtain national agility titles.
Dattoma accompanied Geese Peace on their rounds. Skye had been known to kill geese; Abby to run off from her handler for as long as several hours while Xena showed little interest in chasing geese. (Does this sound like an effective use of a half million in tax revenue?) Last April she prepared a six page report that reads like a doctoral dissertation, ana¬lyzing each dog's behavior, and offering research-based techniques to remedy problems and improve the dogs' emotional well-being. Each time she recommends moving the dog to a home environ¬ment besides individualized suggestions to establish skills.
Nine months later there is still no peace for the Geese Peace dogs. Despite larger runs with epoxy floors, the question remains- why do the dogs still live there? MBIN has offered Border Collies experienced foster homes. Greenman insists "No rescue can assist in good conscience at our shelter while the Geese Peace dogs con¬tinue to languish there." I agree. Next week will explore other "Golden Opportunities Awaiting Oyster Bay Shelter".