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Humane Education and Community Outreach
POSTED: 1:17 pm EDT May 24, 2006
Patitz Is RTV6 Leadership Award Winner
INDIANAPOLIS -- Warren Patitz and his organization wants central Indiana to know that it has a huge and dangerous problem in dog fighting.
Patitz created Move To Act two years ago to combat animal-related problems in central Indiana . One of its goals is to show that people need to be confronted if dog fighting is to be curbed.
"The focus is always on the dog breed when it really needs to be the focus on the responsibility of the person who has that dog," said Patitz, the RTV6 Leadership Award winner for May 19. "Dangerous dogs are owned by dangerous people."
Patitz also says central Indiana often avoids the root causes of animal population problems. He says shelters destroy 40 to 60 animals per day.
"Excellent animals are surrendered every day at our shelters and abandoned on the streets, and instead of getting a purebred or (an animal) from a pet store, which shouldn't even be a consideration, they need to be visiting the institutions in our community that house these animals for a short period of time before they're destroyed," Patitz said.
http://html.theindychannel.com/podcast/2006/0520/9248073.pc.mp4
August 15, 2005
INDIANAPOLIS - ASTRO Pit Bull Rescue, Indianapolis Animal Care & Control (IACC), Spay-Neuter Services of Indiana (SNSI), Move to Act, and Keystone Pet Hospital today announced the "Pit Bull Spay/Neuter Incentive Program," a collaborative effort to encourage the spay/neuter of stray pit bulls reclaimed by their owners at the city's animal shelter. This program is also extended to the mother and/or father of litters of pit bull puppies surrendered at IACC.
A free spay/neuter program for stray and surrendered animals at IACC was initiated earlier this year. However, few pit bulls have been entered into the program, despite the fact that approximately one-third of the dogs received at IACC are pit bulls and pit bull mixes. The new incentive program targets this important segment of our local pet overpopulation problem by offering several financial incentives in addition to the free spay/neuter surgery.
ASTRO Pit Bull Rescue is offering $25 cash and free vaccinations. Move to Act is offering 40 lb of free quality dog food. SNSI is funding the cost of the spay/neuter surgery. Keystone Pet Hospital is providing the spay/neuter veterinary services at a reduced rate specifically for the targeted population in this program. After the free spay/neuter surgery and free vaccinations have been completed, the cash and free dog food will be dispensed to the owner.
"We've decided that we need to go the extra step to reach pit bull owners. There are far too many pit bulls being born and far too few good homes to take them in. As a result, many of these dogs end up at the IACC shelter. We are hoping that these additional incentives will persuade pit bull owners to do the right thing and fix their dog", said Darcie Kurtz, IACC Board Vice-Chairperson.
This program is targeted at a specific pet population. There are already several low-cost spay/neuter programs available to the general population of pet owners. SNSI can be contacted for more information and referrals on these options.
Contributions to underwrite the incentives may be made to ASTRO Pit Bull Rescue. Tax-deductible contributions to underwrite the free spay/neuter surgeries may be made to Spay-Neuter Services of Indiana, Inc.
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This press release was issued Monday and was picked up by Channel 6 News today:
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/4858155/detail.html
Since January 2005, an abandoned Akita had been living under the 465 overpass above E. 10th St. Firefighters working in the firehouse nearby and several other neighbors began feeding the dog. But no one could catch the dog to get him off of the street. The dog had even been observed strolling along the side of 465.
Then Sharon White noticed the stray dog in her yard nearby. She tried repeatedly to get close to the dog in order to get a leash on him. But the dog would not let her get within 20 feet of him.
Sharon contacted the IndyFeral network for assistance in capturing the dog. Since this was a dog rescue, IndyFeral referred Sharon to Move to Act. A Move to Act member took their humane dog trap to Sharon's house and helped her set it up in her yard. Within hours, the Akita was safely contained in the live trap.
Sharon had already lined up a foster home with an Akita rescue group by that point. Once the dog was trapped, one of her neighbor firemen helped Sharon transport the dog to the new foster home. The foster home reports that the dog, named Blaze, is safe and happy now in his new home and he is well on his way to becoming very friendly and well-behaved.
This dog went from life at the side of 465 to a good home due to the joint efforts of one very good Samaritan, several concerned firemen, IndyFeral, Move to Act, and Akita Rescue!
The outreach program administered cat food and dog food pantries. For example, Move to Act's food pantry secured the donation and transportation of 35,000 pounds of donated pet food. MTA then organized a free pet food distribution day for regional animal shelters and rescue groups. A total of 23 such groups benefited from the first distribution day in March 2005.
This food was made available to low-income pet owners and feral cat caretakers in the community in future projects. There are also plans in the works where free food will be used as an incentive to reward citizens for spaying or neutering their pets.
Another Food distribution took place in April and mtA was able to offer a total of 8624 lbs of dog food, 2481 lbs of cat food and 2366 lbs cat litter to our friends at 18 shelters and rescue groups across the state. Special thanks to Carolene Bash and Karen Patitz for administering this distribution.
Another program was devoted to improving the lives of dogs chained or penned in isolation.
For example, Move to Act was recently notified of an urgent situation involving a large number of dogs in a neighboring community. A kind-hearted woman had eventually ended up with nearly 50 dogs dumped on her rural property over the years. MTA acquired a huge amount of discounted chain-link fencing and is donating a large portion of this fencing for use in constructing outdoor enclosures for the remaining dogs on the property. This will free all of these dogs from their chains and allow them to run freely in a secured
enclosure. The dogs will also no longer be confined in isolation, but rather, will be housed in small groups and allowed to enjoy the companionship of other dogs. Move to Act believes that this project, which will improve the quality of life for a large number of dogs, is a perfect use of our resources. MTA plans to use the remaining fencing for similar projects to help improve the lives of dogs by getting them off of their chain and into a securely fenced yard.
This link takes you to the article in the Frankfort Times called "Dog Owner Welcomes Help from Indianapolis Animal-Welfare Organization".
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