Almost three years ago I took in my first foster dog from the Trenton Animal Shelter through a volunteer group called the Trenton Animal Shelter Project(TASP). Mack was a very sick pup and as it turned out, had a corn cob lodged in his intestine. His surgery was paid for by TASP, I cared for him..... he healed....and was adopted into a wonderful home. Since that time I have fostered 14 dogs, and 5 cats. My daughter Lindsay has fostered twice as many dogs. My family has invested hundreds of hours in working towards brining the homeless and neglected dogs from the streets of Trenton to their forever homes, and we are just a small portion of a much bigger group of hard working and dedicated volunteers. Over the past few months, the Trenton Animal Shelter Project Volunteers been confronted with an ever increasing series of actions and policy changes handed down by the Trenton Animal Shelter Manager, a city appointed employee, who represents a philosophy as misguided as the morally corrupt ex-mayor who has left nothing but a huge mess as his legacy, as he prepares to spend the next decade in prison. Good adoptable dogs have been euthanized, foster families have been forced to comply with a ridiculous foster policy or surrender their foster dogs to a death sentence, volunteers have been alienated, the TASP has been all but banned from supporting the shelter and the dogs unfortunate enough to end up there. TASP Board Members quickly moved forward and officially incorporated as an Animal Rescue in order to be able to remove the adoptable dogs from the shelter. The response was yet another new policy that states a dog has to be in the shelter for 30 days before it can be released to TASP Rescue. This same policy does not apply to any other Animal Rescue that accepts dogs from Trenton. The Shelter Manager maintains that it was our choice to become a rescue rather than a decision we made in response to her constant efforts to edge the TASP volunteers away from the Trenton Shelter all together. The end result is, the animals in her charge will suffer and die because she is so insecure. Rather than support the actions of a volunteer project that puts the best interest of the dogs FIRST and saves the City of Trenton thousands of dollars in volunteer hours of work at the shelter, cleaning kennels, walking dogs, paying for facility improvements, and raising funds for expensive veterinary procedures which also save lives, this Shelter Manager would prefer to remove the efforts of the TASP altogether. Many of us have chosen to remain silent only because we feared for the welfare of the cats and dogs. We bowed to every misguided and flagrantly stupid decision made by this Shelter Manager in the hope that she would get over her ego-trip and lets us get back to our mission of saving as many animals as possible. We have appealed to council representatives and requested meetings with city officials, only to be placated with a promise to investigate or have numerous meetings cancelled by the same officials. Ultimately, I feel that Social Media, as a last resort, may be the only way to get the powers to be to pay attention to the negative impact that the decisions of this City of Trenton employee will have on the lives of so many neglected, abandoned, and abused dogs and cats. Please share this post.....call the Mayors office......call the Trenton Animal Shelter. Join me in my efforts to demand a reprieve for the adoptable dogs and cats who will be the ultimate victims of a person who only needs to look past her own ego to see the value of the Trenton Animal Shelter Project and its dedicated volunteers. I encourage my fellow volunteers to weigh in on their experience in the comment section and move this post along. Everything else we have tried in good faith has not worked. Now is the time for ACTION!
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 22:09:23 +0000
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