Over Thanksgiving weekend last month, the Carson Animal Shelter, in South Los Angeles County, killed 18 pit bulls while the facility was closed to the public and to potential adopters. The nineteenth would have been Ona, a 5 month-old pit mix with the pointy ears of a German Shepherd. Ona was lucky: she was pulled by a rescuer the day before the long weekend. The puppy had found a new home, thanks to a Facebook page and website called "SwayLove," created by Josh Liddy.
Several times a week, Josh takes a short drive from his house to the county-run animal shelter and spends some time with the imprisoned dogs. The majority of them will end up receiving a lethal injection -- especially the pit bulls, who, saddled with an unfair and stereotyped reputation for inherently aggressive behavior, are less trusted by families looking to adopt a companion. Most pits who end up at the Carson shelter are killed within a week. Sometimes it's a dozen or more at a time. That's just one shelter in one city in America.
At the shelter, Josh takes pictures of every pit bull. When he gets home, he transfers the portraits to his computer, affixes adoption information to each picture, and uploads them to the Swaylove Facebook page. This way, Facebook users who are moved to share these sad and beautiful images with their friends also share the information a potential adopter would need to save each dog. This is how Josh uses his creative skills, coupled with online social networks, to save lives.
This work is Josh's life, and his purpose. It's his daily act of tribute to his own former companion, Sway, a rambunctious and loyal pit bull who Josh lost to an auto immune disease.
Christopher Sprinkle and I created this short video about Josh's work as the first episode of a new online series from Dog Park Media about animals and the people who love them, called 'Rescued.'
While we were at the pound, shooting the footage you see here, I met Ona. It was love at first sight. I wasn't planning to adopt a dog anytime soon, but it's hard to resist these amazing animals in such tragic and desperate circumstances. So after getting home and talking it over with my girlfriend, I put a note up on the Swaylove Facebook page. I heard back almost immediately from a rescuer, who took Ona off of death row that same day and arranged for me to pick her up and bring her to her new forever home. One more life saved because of Josh.
Ona is one of the lucky few at the Carson Animal Shelter, but because of Josh and his advocacy for pits at his local pound, it's a few more than it would have been. That makes every minute Josh spends at the shelter worthwhile. Sway's spirit lives on in Ona, and in every dog rescued because of Josh's work.
If you know of any amazing folks like Josh who rescue animals that you feel should be featured in RESCUED, contact Dog Park at info@dogparkmedia.com.
Follow Leighton Woodhouse on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lwoodhouse
Every dog needs a home, every home needs a dog.
Back years ago I use to do some breeding but when the shelters started filling up with them I stopped. There are too many sad cases that already need homes. Thanks again Josh...the world needs a few more great people just like you ;)
I decided that I would not get another dog until I had allowed myself to grieve.
Three weeks later I brought a puppy home. I wasn't done grieving, but it turned out that my house was not a home without a dog.
With so many other gentle and affectionate breeds to choose from, why anyone would consider this one is beyond me, or perhaps the answer is obvious...........
A pit bull, JUST LIKE ANY OTHER DOG, is dangerous if it is not SOCIALIZED, TRAINED, and MANAGED.
And just like any other dog, if it is SOCIALIZED, TRAINED and MANAGED, it can be a stable, happy family pet.
Denver pit bulls definitely get a bad rap. But the lion's share of the problem is with the owner, not the dog. Instead of demonizing the breed, we need to take a serious look at neglectful owners and consider how THEY can be dealt with.
Posted from my Android Phone
Tom Aaron
FetchMasters, LLC
http://www.fetchmasters.com
THESE ANIMALS KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON. THEY CAN SMELL THE EUTHANSIAS. THE INJECTION HAS A DISTINCT SMELL. They just shake. Animals can smell death. I am sick and tired of the killing, breeding, the uneducated, ignorance, and total disregard for cruelty and suffering. I guess if there was a video of a day at any AC many people might think before they breed, not spay/neuter, or buy from pet stores and "accidental" litters from backyard breeders. People need to understand there is a whole underground of cruelty due to overpopulation which includes dog auctions, research labs, vivisection, class b dealers, flea markets, selling in parking lots, and puppy millers. Unless you have seen any of this one has no clue how sickening and angry rescuers and shelter workers get.