Hi. I’m Kari Whitman founder of Ace of hearts dog rescue. I’ve had my rescue for 26 years and work with all California shelters, put predominantly LA city, LA county and Apple Valley. I pull many dogs from your shelter, and feel you should know how it’s being run comparatively to 99.99% of other California shelters. This is through my experience pulling dogs from Apple Valley for the last 10 years.
A. 70% of the dogs we pull from you are sick, starving and undernourished. Compared to 2% of other shelters we pull from.
B. We have gone to pick up multiple dogs to find out they died in their kennel. This has never happened to us at any other shelter .
C. We have been told if we don’t pick up a dog in 1 hour, we are 2 hours away, it will be euthanized. There is no working “togetherness “ to give us time to get to the shelter to help save some of your unwanted companions. This NEVER happens at any other shelter.
D. You don’t allow volunteers to interact with the dogs, take them on walks or give them attention or behavioral test. This doesn’t happen at ANY other shelter.
E. Apple valley doesn’t work well with the rescue community. We are a nuisance, not an ally. This doesn’t happen at ANY other shelter.
F. The staff at Apple Valley animal shelter isn’t engaged in trying to save lives, it’s engaged in killing, not feeding, not providing medical care or working with rescues to reduce its kill rates. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN AT ANY OTHER SHELTER.
G. Where is your vet? Who’s present during euthanasia? Why is there no medical info offered to rescues trying to save animals from you? THIS DOESNT HAPPEN AT ANY OTHER SHELTER!
Why are your kill rates so high? why can no one volunteer ? Why can’t rescues do temperament tests? Why are most of your dogs sick, dying and not treated medically.
This is against California agriculture and civil codes. Why is you shelter being run with zero compassion? Why are you doing nothing to change this? Why haven’t you gone to the shelter, and seen for yourselves ….dogs throwing up, laying in their own feces or green snot pouring out of the animals noses?
Your shelter is being run worse than most third world countries. DO SOMETHING! As what your shelter is proving for these animals is only euthanasia or suffering.
NO OTHER SHELTER WE HAVE WORKED WITH IN 28 YEARS OPERATES THIS WAY!
Why not bring in Brenda Barnett or another animal supervisor from a well run shelter system to advise your staff on standard, legal protocol? This must change!
For the animals,
Kari Whitman
Founder since 1997
Www.aceofheartsdogs.com