In August, thousands of pit bulldogs were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Abandoned by owners, most of whom did not even put a collar with ID on their dog, these animals were rescued by wonderful folks who gave their time and effort to save the dogs and relieve their suffering.

Many of the rescue groups who went to the Gulf Coast were "no-kill", meaning they do not believe in euthanizing animals. Even when there is no appropriate place for them to go.

Rescue groups took the cute, friendly, sweet, adoptable pit bulldogs home. These lucky dogs are being absorbed into the already massive number of dogs which local pit bull rescues cannot handle.

Left behind were a couple hundred pit bulls , many of which had less than stellar temperaments, and most which would be difficult if not impossible for a reputable rescue to place.

These dogs had already endured two months of being crated 24 hours a day, with no owners showing up to claim them, and no reputable rescues able to absorb them.

At this point, "no-kill" groups started looking for places to dump these dogs. After all, it is one thing to take a cute, fluffy puppy into a no-kill, but hard to place dogs "mess up the works" of the "no-kill" mentality. Easy to blame the dogs, as PETA does, when in reality the problem is that good intentions have replaced good sense.

At right is an email sent by Mark Steinway, co-founder of Pasado Safe Haven to Desiree Bender, when she asked him to look into this facility, as the local humane society did not feel EDNAH was legitimate. My emails were met with similar hostility. Bottom line, I was told by Mark Steinway that they would send "two volunteers" with the dogs who would make sure conditions were fine.

It seems these "rescue" groups were more interested in getting praise as being "heroes" then in long term care of the animals they "rescued" when the camera crews have gone home. Despite repeated pleas to carefully check out this location, Pasado Safe Haven chose to leave the dogs at this filthy, overcrowded, understaffed site. They say they were "duped". Duped by who? They simply refuse to take responsiblity for dumping those dogs. They say they are going to move them now. Where? We know they won't listen to concerned voices... who will now know where the Forgotten Fifty are going?

Welcome to the "No-Kill" world. Where animals suffer so humans can feel like heroes.

For all others, I apologize profusely that you are being dragged into this. Desiree and a few others have persisted on spreading rumors and unsubstantiated charges against Tammy Hanson for the last few days since learning of our arrangement to transfer animals to Tammy. Several of us from Pasado's have spent hours and hours in recent days TRYING to substantiate Desiree's charges. They cannot be substantiated. In the process of speaking to veterinarians familiar with Tammy, humane societies and other shelters who have firsthand observations of Tammy’s operation, and animal control officers who have been to Tammy’s facility, NONE of them have anything bad to say about Tammy or her shelter.

Tammy has had to get restraining orders against these people who keep harassing her. If all of these people would spend ½ the time trying to help the dogs that they spend trying to stop Tammy from helping the dogs, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Desiree, STOP WASTING EVERYONE’S TIME!

For the Animals,
Mark Steinway
Co-founder, Pasado's Safe Haven

At this time, we are waiting for the judge to order the release of the dogs. We are not sure what is going to happen there. They may be released to Pasado and the other organizations which dumped them there. I hope they will be humanely euthanized, as all groups agree, there is no place for these dogs to go. Pasado Safe Haven staff have been directing criticism at other rescues not willing to take on these dogs, but knowing your limit is what keeps a rescuer from becoming an animal collector.

Pasado says they are taking the dogs, plus the others. I can only wonder where. These dogs are truly pawns...

Desiree Bender, of Where Angels Run Rescue, who almost single handedly forced this issue to the light of day, will not accept donations for what she has done. However, she asks that supplies be sent to the North Central Humane Society, 201 High Ave Mountain Home, Arkansas, 72653 as they have helped her very much.

Update: 10/25/05 9 AM Pacific Just got off the phone with Kris Crawford (of Search & Rescue fame) and she has talked this AM with the sheriff, Desiree, and members of T. Boone Picken's family. Tammy Hanson has retained an attorney, and luckily the HSUS's Tammy Hawley is arriving this afternoon and will go into meeting with the county prosecutor and the sheriff. I have a bad feeling about this, having lived in Arkansas for a year... This is a very poor county, and they are getting threatened with law suits after law suit for doing what is best for these dogs. The sheriff has gotten over 200 death threats to his home over this case. Unless the HSUS can step in, the dogs are reportedly going to be turned back over to Tammy at 4:30 this afternoon.

Update: 10/25/05 9:22 AM Check out this link to local (Seattle) news about Pasado's part in dumping dogs there. Instead of admitting they messed up and using this as an educational experience to show why home checks are so very important, they continue to make lame excuses.

Update: 10/26/05 9:30 PM Pacific I am trying to find out what will happen to all the other pit bulls (other than those dumped by Pasados) on the property. Tammy Hanson evidently stated she specialized in man-biters and dog aggressive pit bulls (gee, red flag number one?) So I am wondering about the number of aggressive and potentially dangerous dogs on her property. Desiree saw one dog go absolutely ballistic on Tammy when she was there today picking up some stuff for her court hearing. Our breed certainly does not need these dogs passed off to well intentioned but naive and foolish hands, and I don't know of any reputable pit bull rescue that would mess with man-biters.

Again, thanks to Tia for stepping up and giving these poor, exhausted dogs a place to go. You should consider donating to VilaLobos Rescue.

I hope that Pasado Safe Haven (as well as several other rescues) have learned a valuable life lesson about HOME CHECKS. I have grave doubts that Pasado will stop placing blame and pointing fingers long enough to realize that this is a great opportunity to educate the nation about just how important home checks are. I can only hope that they will listen the next time someone tries to nicely suggest they do a simple homecheck before dumping dogs anywhere. It is mind blowing to think that our little three person rescue can pull tax records on each and every application, and get a home check, and these large, well funded organizations with large volunteer bases can't even bother to check out a wild story like Tammy's... Sigh. Well, I and Recycle-A-Bull Rescue will be working to try and bring this very important educational angle to the public. Thanks to all who have been so supportive of the efforts of Kris, Desiree, myself and the others who tried to warn Pasado's, and who worked to save the dogs at EDNAH. Stay tuned for details as they become available.