Daily thoughts - Follow up on beautiful Amber

On Thursday night I wrote an entry follow up about Amber, the dog at the North Jersey Community Animal Shelter (NJCAS). I posted it on some animal advocates' Facebook wall so we could get some help from other people to spread the word and somehow pressure this organization to reveal Amber's condition. The main purpose is to save the dog's life and give her a fair chance of being evaluated before inevitably putting her down.

A short back story : (from Mr Ted's facebook page as of April 12, 2013)

The North Jersey Community Animal Shelter insisted that Amber had a "lunging" problem and may bite. I proposed an all expenses paid assessment and training. I found a no-kill shelter who was willing to pull her from NJCAS contingent on a succcessful assessment. Both proposals were ignored as if I never made them. Amber may very well be dead by now. My repeated inquiries have been left unanswered. Ignored. Call or Fax Lisa Perry, Animal Control Officer, and demand an answer as to why my proposals have been ignored; why have they not considered them at all when they would save Amber's life; why is amber's status being kept a secret? EMAIL : lperry@bloomingdalenj.net ... Phone: 973-850-6767 ... Fax: 973-850-6768

I posted a short message on the NJCAS facebook page asking how Amber is doing :

I also wrote an email to the Mayor of Bloomingdale, NJ Jonathan Dunleavy and cc Ms Lisa Perry, the Head Animal Control Officer at NJCAS, Bloomingdale NJ. As expected, I didnt get any response. Maybe if my surname was Bloomberg, Rockefeller or Gates things would be different? Lol maybe. But if I had that kind of fortune, I would probably get the ball rolling and buy a big plot of land and adopt all the animals scheduled to be "destroyed" especially in high kill shelters.

So the question is, if there was nothing for NJCAS to hide, why not simply reply to Mr Teodoro's email? Why the need to even drag a lawyer to come up with a hostile and threatening letter with the lines below:

I am requesting that 

you immediately cease from emailing and communicating 

with Lisa Perry . In the meantime I will continue to monitor 

this matter on behalf of the Borough and consider all 

legal options.

If we stop emailing and communicating with Ms Lisa Perry, how will we know what is going on? Isn't the public entitled to get this kind of simple information? After all, it is through public information that shelters can get donations and volunteers to support them. The public also pays taxes. Or can we just state the obvious ,if we don't ask questions, then shelters can just execute euthanize with impunity. 

I did not get a reply to my incessant emails and I was a bit annoyed because I just thought it was kind of disrespectful.  But they didn't know me so maybe I did not deserve a response? But how about a volunteer who has come in every Sunday for the last 6 years? Devoting a portion of his leisure time to instead care for the animals than hang out at the mall or sleep? Doesn't he deserve a response at least? I have not even volunteered for anything that long in my life, hell I have not even held a single job continuously for that long period of time. 

Im thinking what youre thinking: Amber is probably dead =( 

Im sure everyone loves Crime shows. No? Nevermind, but do you notice on Crime shows like Law and Order for instance, if a perpetrator is guilty, they come up with delaying tactics when confronted by detectives. Most of the time, they deny, then delay, hoping it would just go away. But even in such shows,  the discomfort the detectives experience, not to mention the danger they face, do not deter them from finding out the truth eventually. Because the moral of each story is Crime does not pay.

We may not be detectives but we are animal supporters and the public who deserve answers. We are the voice of animals who cannot speak. We will be vocal, vigilant and persistent in our cause. Otherwise, shelters will cease to be, and instead be concentration camps. Animals will be slaughtered when its their "time", dictated only by those who want to act as gods.Turning us away with threats or lawyers' letters will not restrain us from pursuing the truth. 

We did get an answer, eventually. However it seems our efforts were too late...

From Mr Ted's facebook page:

UPDATE ON AMBER : After two weeks of stonewalling me about Amber's status, Lisa Perry, the Head Animal Control Officer at the North Jersey Community Animal Shelter in Bloomingdale, NJ, finally responded with an email to all the volunteers,CCing the Mayor, the town attorney, and even the Chief of Police, that Amber was euthanized. She did not even say as to when.

In this email, Perry stated that she brought in a local vet, a certified dog trainer, and a certified Master dog trainer to assess Amber. And all of them, according to her, found Amber unadoptable. I reckon these consultations occurred during the time she kept me in the dark.

This is a dog that was offered for adoption by this very same shelter for the last 10 months, and now suddenly she isn't. I reckon after 10 months a dog's time is up.

I wasn't invited to witness these evaluations although Perry knew I was questioning her judgment. The email was very defensive and denied that she was dictatorial. Evidently, all your emails to the Mayor and to Perry herself have taken a toll. There is a good chance that the town authorities had also looked into her conduct. 

Thanks for all your support.


Just as we suspected. 

We will be making an inquiry in connection to this tragic turn of event. These are the four important questions we will be highlighting to the Mayor of Bloomingdale (jdunleavy@bloomingdalenj.net)  and all those concerned: 

(1) why Mr. Ted Teodoro wasn't invited to Amber's evaluations
(2) Who are these experts; they were not identified 
(3) when exactly was Amber euthanized 
(4) How come the public's questions and requests for information was denied by Perry although she is a public official and the shelter a public facility, both paid by the taxpayers.
(5) As a member of the public, you want to know.

The shelter is endorsed by a former mayor to visit. But now the image of this place is tainted with this sad story. It doesnt have to be, only if certain people would be transparent and give us answers.

Here is an open email posted last year by the former mayor of Bloomingdale NJ where she urged the public to visit the shelter, donate and even volunteer. 


Photos of Amber courtesy of Mr Ted's facebook album

It is not over Amber. We will find out the truth in time. 

RIP beautiful girl.