"We would love to set up a time you can come by and I can answer your questions for you. You can contact me at..." and then gave her personal email and phone number (again, odd).
I emailed her a day and time, she emailed back and said she couldn't make that time and she offered an alternative. I emailed back and offered to meet the next afternoon.
There wasn't a response from her after that.
However, on 6/21/13, Beau Putnam emailed me from the Pet Rescue email address. Here is our brief exchange:
This was probably a response to an East Oregonian newspaper article from 6/17/13 that interviewed me about my (and the communities') issues with Pet Rescue.
Also take a look at the Facebook page for the East Oregonin from 6/18/13. There are comments from the community about their experiences with Pet Rescue, and many are negative and reflect what I've heard from people before.
Strangely, though Alleman hasn't responded to me directly, she posted a lengthy letter to the editor after the EO article came out. It's directed at me specifically, though she never told me about it: a friend had to point it out to me or I wouldn't have known it existed:
June 20, 2013
Dear Editor,
I’d like to publicly apologize to Suzanne Phillips for not finding her a time at Humane Society of Eastern Oregon/Pet Rescue Non-profit Shelter to volunteer. As we have many volunteers each week and eagerly find tasks for them to do, I can only imagine that there was a misunderstanding between her and our staff. Pet Rescue will set policy so we can improve each volunteer experience, without adding undue liability or risk to our volunteer or HSEO/Pet Rescue.
Suzanne complains in the article (East Oregonian, Tuesday, June 18) that she doesn’t see Pet Rescue in the community. We provide tours for girl scout, boy scout and youth groups. We provide pet education classes in the local school districts. We’ve set up a booth at the Good Shepherd Family Education day and handed out information and goodies for 4 or more years now. We’ve had entries in the Hermiston parade. This last year we provided 1300 lbs of dog and cat food for families and seniors citizens that need temporary emergency help. Every year we mentor high school seniors that are interested in animal care as a profession. If Suzanne hasn’t seen us, I guess we don’t hang out in the same places.
Unfortunately, the bulk of animals that come to pet rescue through government agencies are strays. That means they have had unknown care and their mental stress and physical health is compromised. So each dog we take in, threatens the health of the other animals in the shelter with the germs it carries. It is very common for animal shelters to constantly deal with diseases such as parvo and kennel cough and we do too. We vaccinate high risk animals when they enter our shelter, but then we still have to wait at least 10 days for the shot to have the optimum effect. We have found that one of the best ways for our shelter to keep germs at bay, besides cleaning and disinfecting daily, is to keep dog to dog exposure at a minimum. So this precludes us from letting all the animals run together. We have volunteers come and walk dogs nearly every day we are open. We will review this policy again and strive to improve the facilities of the shelter to allow individual dogs more exercise time.
I cannot express enough the importance of spaying and neutering your pets. I believe the key is to encourage more responsibility from pet owners. Don’t lash out at the shelters, who are trying to clean up the mess of overpopulation. Motivating pet owners with proper licenses and fees is one way. We believe that the best use of Pet Rescue's resources is to help pet owners become responsible by letting them invest in their own pets spay or neuter and vet care and Pet Rescue encouraging that, by providing assistance as needed. We are continually looking for ideas that will help provide these services to families without taking away their commitment to provide for their own animal. We are thankful to Washington State University and their excellent vet program (which some of our local vets are alumni) for spaying and neutering at least 25 animals per year for adoption from our shelter.
I’d like to mention that HSEO/Pet Rescue reunites approximately 10 dogs a month with their lost owners and provides a centrally located facility for folks to check for their stray animal. Each city sets their own fine or deterrent for picking up a lost animal and those funds collected from grateful families go back to the government agencies. The animals that are not claimed within 5 days (Oregon State require only 3) are then evaluated and put up for adoption. Aggressive, severely injured and sick animals must be euthanized. The rest of these animals become the inventory of Pet Rescue. Pet Rescue maintains an inventory of approx. 60 animals to provide the best assortment for those who are looking to adopt an animal. And any business-person knows that you keep your inventory healthy and marketable. To think that we don’t weigh seriously the hard decisions of euthanasia, haven’t managed a business with inventory. Also, I assume, any successful business-person knows that he must sell his inventory at market prices. We believe, the price of the investment in the animal does more to ensure a safe, loving, forever home than an intrusive and judgmental home visit. But again, our board will continue to revisit this policy.
In addition, I want to thank the amazing folks in this area for their good wishes and financial and verbal support they continually give us, from the first years to today, and even through this scrutiny by the East Oregonian Newspaper. People of Umatilla and Morrow County have had the vision to support a shelter of our kind for 2 decades. We will strive to manage the resources wisely these good people grant us to provide a shelter they can be proud of.
I am happy that Suzanne found a place to volunteer her time. And I am sure, with her efforts, her statement, “the dogs are not overpopulated, just under marketed,” her new shelter will be empty soon. I know the hard work that each shelter director down to kennel cleaner puts in every day. And, as in politics, there are many ways to provide services and care for the abandoned and stray animals that are out there in our community. We welcome new agencies with their opinions on animal care, to help with this challenging problem. We will even help you succeed as much as we are able. Our current policies are what works for us and this end of Umatilla and Morrow County and the 500 animals that come through our door each year. And with a little tweeking of guidelines here and there, we have stayed in business for over 20 years now, adopting more than 260 shelter dogs per year and reuniting about 120 with their owners. With no huge grant or government agency money to build us a shelter, my mother, Gay Van Schoiack, took her husband’s life insurance policy and built a building, cleaned the kennels and paid the bills, month after month, because that was the level of her commitment to the animals and this community. Humane Society of Eastern Oregon/Pet Rescue will continue her commitment and legacy.
Sincerely, Jackie Alleman
Director of Humane Society of Eastern Oregon /Pet Rescue
1844 NW Geer Rd, Hermiston, OR 97838
I'll respond to this letter in another post.
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