The following was posted on the Muttshack blog:
Most of you know about the sacrifices made to save the Katrina Animals because many of you made them. MuttShack volunteers willingly made those sacrifices and achieved amazing results - over 3000 animals rescued, cared for and fostered or adopted. As MuttShack's Founder, I was humbled by the amazing talent and dedication of our volunteers. There are no words to convey my gratitude and could never be enough hours or days to thank you all.
I am replying to your very own words, Amanda: you couldn't include that dreaded word REUNITED in your little list of spectacular achievements now could you? Nope, you couldn't mention that BECAUSE YOU DID EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO WORK AGAINST REUNITING THESE 3000 ANIMALS WITH THEIR OWNERS - ALL KATRINA EVACUEES.
I personally don't care if you rescued 30 animals or 30,000. You did virtually nothing to find their owners. And you refused to return phone calls to volunteers and owners after you closed up shop and returned to CA. But it is widely known, thanks to former/embarrassed/disgruntled Muttshack volunteers, that they were instructed NOT to write down the rescue addresses. My heart goes out to the owners of those animals who will likely never again see their pets, and never even know if they were rescued. You are committing the worst sin of all - preventing the owners of these pets from having the closure they need and to make peace with this.
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14 comments:
Anita,
That is a disgrace! She should hope she is never in such a situation. This just might come round to haunt her in unexpected ways.
Jan
I have heard this multiple times from MuttShack volunteers. MuttShack was very careful to take all copies of the rescue information from their rescuers.
Muttshack was not proactive in reuniting pets and did not follow through on PetFinder as was mandated.
Marilyn Knapp Litt ~Stealth Volunteer in San Antonio
We want to know why the posting of the animals on the AERN database, has not yet been done?
There are many articles of you returning home, so there is no excuse of why this has not been done as of yet.
You took the time to make comments in the early days in several news articles, stating that one of your main goals was to rescue and reunite the animals with their owners.
You took the time to put flyers and notes on the homes where animals were rescued, so that the owners could find them when they returned home. BUT yet, you refuse to answer their calls or questions, or tell them where the pets went, you have not TRIED to help them get their pets back, or at least let them know that their pets made it out.
Please do the right and moral thing and turn those books over to someone in charge so those pets will be entered into the system and maybe you can make miracles come true for the victims of Katrina..........
Geez, Amanda instead of going thru all of the trouble to smaer someone's good name, why don't you just answer the questions that were asked of you?
You are the sole reason why these 3000 plus animals are not getting the chance to be reunited with their owners.
You are pretty good at answering questions in front of the news media, but can't answer the questions from the volunteers that helped you...
Hmm... that says something anout YOUR integrity.......
Instead of making excuses, why can you not just tell the truth for once........
We all know that not all of the 3000 so called rescued pets made it on the petfinder Disaster database..........
So please enlighten us, and tell us where these pets ended up, which shelters or rescues did you send them to?????
Why is this information so secretive??????
What are you hiding????????
Being the smart woman you proclaim to be, or you not aware that making threats on the internet is illegal?
I am not scared of you, I make that known to you, loud and clear!
And the fact that you are trying these tactics, well from anyone else's point of view, it would seem that you are the one running scared, why is that? Are you hiding facts from the public?
Amanda, have you not read your rights, I did, and I have the first ammendment right, FREEDOM OF SPEECH......
Being in the media, alot, you already knew this. So you are wasting your time, trying to threaten me.
I know who you are......... I know what you have done.....
What is so hard about answering the questions?? We want to know where you sent the pets of New Orleans?
Who are you protecting and why?
These are very simple questions, and feel free to email a list of these organizations to the Attorney General's office.
Just wanted the rest of the world to know....
Reading between the lines: are Amanda St. John and the Scientologists threatening you and/or former Muttshack volunteers with SLAPP suits? (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation)? It's a bully tactic that the Scientologists are famous for. Don't let them bully you. If they took other people's animals without posting or responding to owner queries they should be held to account.
You believed in reuniting in the beginning, then in Decemember you showed up at the Bestfriends event.
But yet when owners call and ask you about their pets you refuse to answer their questions, or allow them to browse thru your books.
They want nothing more but to find their furry family memebers.
And maybe if you started to help reunite pets your donations will improve.
This is a choice you must make before these owners take it upon themselves to get answers one way or another........
Wow, Nanette, I don’t even know where to begin with this but I will try to answer (for myself only).
First, I did not go to New Orleans to rescue animals. Instead I (and hundreds of others) have logged in tens of thousands of hours online and on the phone, locating evacuee pet owners and rescued pets and reuniting them. And I have never posted a comment here or on any other blog, forum or Yahoo group anonymously.
Second, I am grateful and thankful to each and every person who went to New Orleans to rescue animals and do the far-less glamerous jobs at the emergency shelters and staging areas.
Third, I agree with you that the individuals who volunteered with Muttshack are an amazing group of dedicated people, and I don't associate them with Amanda. Most of them simply got in their cars or on a plane and went to New Orleans to help, and had no prior affiliation to Muttshack. Like most everyone who rescued, they didn't necessarily know where they would end up or what group they would be with. And most/many of them have severed their ties to Murrshack since, as a result of Amanda's abominable performance in New Orleans post- Katrina.
Fourth, you claim to make your living responding to disasters but that comment is misleading and ironic. Misleading because you are a photographer and go to disasters to document pain and suffering; ironic because every person I know who went to New Orleans did so as a VOLUNTEER, leaving behind family, jobs and their own pets. These people got sick, lost jobs, lost relationships, went into debt and often suffered PTSD while YOU are one of the few who will profit from the Katrina animal disaster (or at least break even).
I'm not saying that you didn't rescue some animals while you were taking their pictures because I don't know (remember, I wasn't there) but I am fairly certain that you did nothing to help reunite any pets with their people and I know of at least one situation where you refused to give information about a photo you took to a volunteer who is helping a very desperate evacuee find his dogs.
Finally, what does George Bush have to do with any of this? Personally I think he is the worst president in my lifetime and a very stupid horse's ass and one of my more recent blog posts makes my views about Bush pretty clear. But I would also venture to guess that some of those I've gotten to know and care about over the past year - other volunteers and Katrina evacuees - are Bush supporters, but this has never once been a topic of discussion nor would it be a reason for me to work with or help someone or not.
Amanda, as a volunteer trying to reunite pets with their owners following rita & katrina, I have to say you are one sorry human being. I have dealt first hand with the grief & heartache these people have experinced & are STILL experincing. Shame on You doesnt seem quite good enough. I would love to know how you put your head on your pillow at night. There are people out there, some are children, who are still worried to tears over their beloved family members who are missing. Nice going, adding to their pain.
If Muttshack has binders full of hard-copy photographs of animals that they took, and they still haven't posted them on the Internet and don't provide information about the animals when requested, what does that have to do with George Bush? No, no, Nanette! Facts are facts. There are potentially thousands of records in Muttshack's possession that have not been made public.Nothing you allege in your feeble attempt at an ad hominem attack about the individuals who have been attempting to obtain information about these animals can change the reality that animals were taken and have never been accounted for.
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