The recent issue of InsideVero is generating a lot of buzz in the local animal community and I have received numerous calls about it already. One of our supporters, who I had never met or talked to before, actually met me tonight in Vero to give me a copy of it because it hasn’t posted online yet. She was really upset at what she felt was a “completely biased” and “unfair” article about the Humane Society and the issue of Euthanasia. She asked me “why didn’t they interview you for the other side of it?” Okay, so here’s the scoop on the article. It was written by Thomas Hardy with a headline of “Euthanasia a hot topic at Humane Societies,” with a sub-headline of “A Closer Look Inside the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County.” It is a pretty extensive two page article and I encourage you to read it. When you do read it, it may shock you to know that Thomas Hardy did indeed interview me, for a combined 3 ½ hours. Over an hour over the phone and over two hours in person at Panera’s. We also exchanged numerous emails with additional information and questions/answers. During our in-person interview, Mr. Hardy was provided actual statistics and we discussed almost every detail of euthanasia and the different operations of HSVB versus places like Halo. Mr. Hardy was provided with the actual documents of HSVB’s shelter statistics. He had them on his iPad and we went over them extensively. Okay, let me drop the other shoe….Mr. Hardy ALSO interviewed Jacque Petrone at Halo via telephone. What are the chances he could have written a two page article on euthanasia and the differences between “no-kill” versus “open admittance” without one single mention or quote from Jacque or myself? What are the chances that he would ignore the actual numbers that I provided to him from the county records of HSVB and instead quote numbers from Chalmers Morse, without confirmation of accuracy? What are the chances? Mr. Hardy was very honest and upfront with me and told me that he was a Volunteer at the Humane Society and wanted to write a positive article about them. After our very long interview, I recommended to him that he write his positive article but leave out the “hot topic of euthanasia.” In the end, he chose not to do that. The two most important things a journalist has is their integrity and credibility. After our hours-long conversations, I have no choice but to question his journalistic credibility. If his true agenda was to find out what was in my and Jacque Petrone’s playbook, so he could report back to HSVB, then he should have just asked because neither of us have one….we are too damn busy. So let’s get to the article itself. I read it several times and there is nothing in it that I do not agree with, even though I did roll my eyes a few times, at some of the biased comparisons. It’s a pretty well written article from the stand-point of the Humane Society, with no input from the other side, of course. Mr. Hardy did accomplish the one thing I asked him to do and that was to get Chalmers Morse on the record about how bad our overpopulation problem was. I saw two quotes that accomplished this and made me happy. 1. “despite an overpopulation explosion….” 2. It is an “explosive mathematical problem.” These two quotes, although very true, are inconsistent with Chalmers Morse assertion that HSVB is only at a less than 19% euthanasia rate (his calculations). On July 14, 2014, Mr. Hardy wrote a wonderful article about the “Read and Relax” program at the Humane Society, that appeared in InsideVero. Mr. Hardy is a participant in this special program at HSVB. At the end of that article, there was the following “Editor’s Note.” “Editor’s Note: Thomas Hardy is a regular volunteer at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County. The perspectives in this article are his own personal views, not those of The Humane Society itself. Professionally, Mr. Hardy lives in Vero Beach, specializing in business development. He can be reached at 781-635-2251 or hardythomast@gmail. If you are interested in the Humane Society’s Read and Relax Program, please contact Millissa Ferrer, Volunteer Coordinator at 772-388-3331 ext.12.” I did not see this same note at the bottom of his current article “Euthanasia is hot topic at Humane Society.” Mr. Hardy, one of my favorite quotes: “your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, But I was told by others to do this or that, Virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.” Mr. Hardy, as I told you when we met, for the cheap price of $20, I can “boost” this Facebook post and it will be seen by more than four times the readership of InsideVero. Van DeMars, (772) 501-5197 or vanpdemars@aol
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:08:08 +0000
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