Recently a heinous incident of animal cruelty took place in our city and shocked the world. On March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's Day, a 1-year-old pit bull was found inside a trash bag, starved and near death after having been thrown down a trash chute. At the time of his rescue by a heroic and caring maintenance worker, he weighed only 20 pounds -- less than half of what doctors considered normal weight. He was quickly transferred to a trauma unit at Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, where they found him to be severely anemic and malnourished, requiring a blood transfusion in order to survive. For his miraculous recovery and the holiday on which he was found, he has been dubbed "Patrick the miracle dog." Despite his horrific abuse, Patrick is expected to recover fully into a happy, healthy dog.
Patrick's story is one of countless instances of animal cruelty taking place daily around the world. It is a reminder that many animals suffer appalling abuse, and without our help, cases like this will end even more tragically. It is my hope that through spreading awareness and working together, we can help save many of these defenseless animals from abuse and neglect.
For almost two years, my administration has been working hard to establish a state-of-the-art animal shelter in Newark. Thus far, we have identified and are preparing a site, and have architects working on the design. This facility seeks to serve other New Jersey municipalities in Essex and Hudson counties that desperately need other options for housing and caring for homeless animals. By working to build a modern, state-of-the-art shelter through public and private funding, and by employing innovative policies to improve responsible pet care, decrease birthrates, increase adoptions, and help keep animals with their responsible caretakers, we believe that Newark's animal shelter operations can become a model for the rest of the nation. Our ambitious goal is to one day be able to save every savable dog and cat in this new shelter.
For my birthday, my wish is that you join our cause to help spread awareness of Patrick's story and animal abuse, and, if possible, contribute toward the construction of "Patrick's Place" -- the animal shelter which we hope to build in Newark. Patrick's abuser claimed she could no longer care for her dog -- it is our hope that by providing this additional facility in our city, more animals can be rescued from unnecessary neglect and abuse. Any money we raise not used for this project will be donated to a local organization for the protection and care of animals.
Newark will be known as a city that cares not only about its people, but its animals, too.
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But, the next time you light up your grill and flop a big, juicy steak on it, think about the cruelty millions and millions of farm animals are subjected to. Cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, fish, etc. all suffer needlessly to provide you with your meal.
Spay and neuter your animal companions and GO VEGAN!
Happy b-day and think about your meal....
Thank you Mayor! Keep up the good work!
God Bless Patrick, I hope he gets a good home where he will be spoiled and loved for the rest of his life.
And Happy Birthday!
P.S. If you ever would consider an older woman, let me know
Mahatma Gandhi
Happy Birthday Mr. Mayor and thank you for inching moral progress forward in a positive direction.
Thank you for showing leadership on the issue of animal cruelty and commend you for supporting animal care facilities.
Anti-cruelty laws also need to be strengthened and enforced to punish and deter abusers.
Meanwhile here in Missouri where the voters passed a proposition to attempt to reign in the disgrace that is our puppy mill status, one of the first orders of business of our new legislature was to overturn it. Needless to say there is a lot of conflict of intrest involved.
PLEASE adopt homeless and shelter pets instead of needing a pure breed as a status symbol. They're usually healthier and live longer and you have a unique pet nobody else has that you have given a second chance to. And trust me, not only do you rescue them but they rescue you in their own way.
I swear humans ought to have to be eligble and then qualify for a license to own a pet. Instead pets are everywhere and they are just another "throw away" in our consumer based society. If we no longer care for our new toy or if its upkeep has gotten too expensive; it is time to throw it away and move on to the next living toy. The ultimate in a disposable society.
I hope one day, you'll aspire to a higher office.
Anybody who cares for animals , will definitely care for humans.
I wish you a happy birthday and a very long healthy and prosperous life.
I take the opportunity to invite some of the reader to learn about an orphan baby elephant sanctuary where they can foster a baby elephant or a baby rhino.
http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/index.asp
While there is much to do here in the USA, I think that we have to start at factory farming. Its practices are horrific, beyond sadistic nightmare. We can NOT claim to be a civilized country and do this to defenseless animals.
http://www.hfa.org/