This morning my girlfriend got an email from a co-worker who yesterday found an extremely injured Pit Bull. Thankfully she went into action and did what any wonderful person would do. I’m not going to detail it anymore than that, as you can just read her amazing email (below) that she sent out on Zena’s behalf. If you’d like to donate, anything at all, towards Zena’s care: Please call it directly into the veterinarian’s office that is listed below. Big thanks to HyunJoo for being an amazing person, and thank you to anyone that will donate and/or spread this story. Zena needs all the help that she can get!

Dear Friends, I need your help.

On Friday at 6:30am, while walking Lucy and Buttons, I found a 7 month old Pit Bull-mix that had been hit by a car. I don’t know how long she was on the street, but her body was frozen cold, her nose and mouth bleeding, and car marks and blood all over her body. When I knelt and talked to her, she picked up her broken body and walked towards me.

With amazing guidance from the Eagle Rock emergency room (I think she was my guardian angel that morning! Thank you “Z”!), I got her to the emergency room. The staff on call did a diagnostic of her free of charge, and told me to get her started at Gateway (my vet) as they were going to be open very soon. By this time it was 7:30am. Zena was such a trooper. She was broken, in every way possible, but wagged her tail when the emergency room vet touched her, and laid down submissively in the waiting room, relieved to be in a warm, dry place.

Dr. Jimerson and the wonderful staff at Gateway quickly took her in. It turned out that she had a broken bone in her face, a broken wrist, one collapsed lung, nerve damage to her right front shoulder and leg, and possible brain injury. We believe she was hit, very hard, to her front right side (face and shoulder). I left her in Dr. Jimerson’s hands and thank God, as the hours passed, she was getting stronger and stronger. I went back to visit her Friday afternoon and was told that her front leg had a fracture on the wrist that should heal nicely with a cast, the bone in her face that had broken was also a clean fracture and will heal by itself, she had not fallen into a coma (which was what Dr. Jimerson was afraid of, given she was hit in the head), and she was alert and responding very well to the medication. The best news: She would most likely heal without any surgery and the nerve damage did not seem permanent hence we would not have to amputate her leg. What a miracle.

Zena is currently at Gateway for the weekend so they can continue to monitor her. If all goes as planned this weekend, she will get a cast on Monday which I will then bring her home with me. She will be with me for 6-8 weeks or until her leg is fully healed.

I feel so humbled and privileged to have come across Zena. Having 2 dogs of my own, I hope kind strangers would also extend their love if they are ever in such a awful situation. I have a gut feeling that Zena will make a full recover and have a thriving and full life. She has power in her eyes and I believe that this traumatic experience will only make her stronger.

I am emailing to you to ask for your help. As you can imagine, the financial cost will be high and steady. I have committed to paying for everything up to Monday’s treatment, but am asking for donations to ensure that Zena makes a 100% recovery over the next 2 months. Specifically, she needs weekly visits to the vet for her cast, another series of x-rays, and pain medication/vitamins/antibiotics. My goal is to hopefully raise $500. If you would like and can contribute to “Zena’s Holiday Fund,” please contact Gateway at 323-256-5840, tell them that you are calling to make a donation, and give them my name (HyunJoo Lee). They can take your card number over the phone. You can also drop off/mail them checks to: 431 West Los Feliz Rd., Glendale CA 91204. Please write “donation for HyunJoo Lee” at the memo line.

I also need your help find Zena a forever home. She is an amazing animal who is extremely affectionate. And obviously, she is a fighter. She is around 7-8 months old, 47 lbs (meaning she will be a big dog), and may be a Pit Bull/Labrador-mix. If you know of anyone who can commit to her and ensuring that she has a healthy, active, and fulfilling life, please contact me.

Attached are some pictures of her. She looks so much better now because the swelling in her face has gone down considerably. I will send updates and pictures to donors so please let me know if you make a donation.

Please spread the word to your friends and networks. Zena, Lucy, Buttons, and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Happy holidays!!

This is the type of stuff that you never want to hear. The good and optimistic side of you struggles with the notion that crap like this actually goes on, but alas, it does. This time at the Rancho Cucamonga shelter and at the behest of their fairly new director, Veronica Fincher…

I first came across this situation back in September when someone sent me a video of a dog named Rosalinda. This video is literally one of the saddest things that you will ever see and serves as a prime example of how the reality for some of these shelter dogs is simply devastating. The uploading of this video onto YouTube apparently really pissed some of the staff there off and since that time they have illegally terminated 4 of their best and most experienced volunteers. Those axed from their freely donated positions for simply speaking out include a “Grand Volunteer of the City” award winner and the former coordinator for their 2011 Pit Bull grant from Best Friends Animal Society. Not that the shelter staff needs reminding, because they absolutely know, but retaliation against volunteers is unconstitutional. I sincerely hope that those affected do indeed take the appropriate legal actions.

I’ve personally spoken to a few of those in the know and they want the public to know about what is going on here. About how the essential programs are being cut and phased out. About how the playgroups are being stopped. About how offered help from volunteers is being ignored. About how volunteers are no longer “allowed” to take pictures or video at the shelter. About how certain dogs are never seeing the adoption floor. About how certain dogs spend over 23+ hours a day in travel crates in the hallway. And about how labels are being used to justify killing and to create false adoption numbers. Please take note! And also look for much more information coming soon…

In the mean time, if you’d like to let the Rancho Cucamonga City Council hear your voices please email: council@cityofrc.us

Godspeed to Rosalinda, Luna, Pam and the many others…

What are the no-brainers? Publicly displaying the kennel cards and allowing a volunteer program. Devore does neither.

If you have a problem with this then please contact:

Trudy Raymundo, Acting Director of the Public Health Dept.
Email: traymundo@dph.sbcounty.gov
Phone: 909-387-9146
Fax: 909-387-6228

Greg Beck, Program Manager for Animal Care and Control
Email: gbeck@dph.sbcounty.gov

Every Monday in December I’m going to be releasing 2 new t-shirts that I’ve designed that feature very special Pit Bulls from my life…

Here’s my best buddy and the heart of all of this, Sway. My life, literally. I loved this dog more than anything in the world, she loved me the same.
Click here to read a little more in depth about Sway.
Click here to purchase one of these shirts.

And here’s the beautiful Junior, who was rescued from the Carson shelter in 2011 and suffered a tragic end after touching so many people. This dog was terrific and I’ll miss him, like I’ll miss Sway, forever.
Click here to read a little more in depth about Junior.
Click here to purchase one of these shirts.

During the month of December I’m going to try and do a rather large online fundraiser for this cause, for giving these shelter animals a more constant presence, for expanding what I’m personally capable of, for providing better everything. I need help, and after 2 years I’m going to be asking for it… Not for a dog, not for a specific “rescue,” but for me personally. It’s easier for a big rescue to do something like this, or a 501c3, because they are essential organizations that do wonderful things. But I’ve purposefully opted not to become a 501c3 so that my opinion can be totally unchained, not beholden to anyone or anything.

There’s so much that I want SwayLove.org to do, and so much more that I know SwayLove.org can do for Pit Bulls, for shelter dogs. I’ve thought a lot about it. While recognizing all of this in my own head, I’m finding it hard to go to the next level because I just lack both time and money. Everything I’ve ever given is my own time and my own money, much of which has been debt.

I want to do this MORE. I want to do this BETTER. SwayLove.org can be way better, more hardcore, more expansive in media and more consistently on the ground at more shelters. I want this, want it bad. If the fundraiser turns out not to work out, it won’t change anything. My heart is in this for a reason, and I will continue giving all that I can, all that I have going forward. But it doesn’t hurt to ask, to map out goals and try to obtain them, to get creative with putting the shelters on blast. This site has thankfully obtained an awesome and engaged and powerful group of people. What I do doesn’t go anywhere without people to hear it, people to see it, people to share it, people to be effected by it. I’ve thankfully got so many wonderful people that support this website. It’s awesome. I’m sorry that I have to lean on you a little bit. Hopefully you’ll agree with me. Here is my hope, followed by my many ideas for 2013…

I’d love to raise $10,000 over the next month. As I type this I have 8,894 people that have “liked” my Facebook page. Just for comparisons sake: That means that if everyone who has liked my page donated $1.12 we’d get to that amount. Now obviously the majority of people that make up the 8,894 will probably never even see this post, so that’s certainly a pie in the sky way of getting to $10,000. But I think it’s attainable with the generosity of so many great people, and I’d hope that after reading my many ideas for the $, that you’d consider it a worthy way of giving a donation.

1) The requesting of very thorough public records requests from every major shelter in southern California… L.A. County (Agoura, Baldwin Park, Carson, Castaic, Downey, Lancaster), L.A. City (North Central, South L.A., East Valley, West Valley, West L.A., Harbor), Santa Monica, Hawthorne, Long Beach, Orange County, Devore, San Bernardino City, Redlands, Pasadena, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Blythe, Coachella Valley, San Jacinto, Animal Friends of the Valleys, Corona. I’d want 5 year results and I’ll be smarter in approach than I was with my first go-around with Carson. This will likely be very costly (although it shouldn’t), as each location request will be a separate attempt. Not to mention the time and tedious effort it will take for me to go through the responses and re-organize them, breaking them down into new documents. I mention it “shouldn’t” be costly, being that it’s certainly within our legal rights to see these documents, but alas, these shelters like to jerk you around and it ended up costing me $48 for 1 lousy sheet of paper regarding the Carson shelter records that I requested from earlier this year.

2) The purchasing of domain names (.com addresses) which will house separate websites: The 1st to specifically target L.A. County directer, Marcia Mayeda’s track record. The 2nd to specifically target the Carson shelter, which will consistently make public their kill numbers and since I have most of my experiences at this facility. And the 3rd to be a multimedia publishing-hub that’s used to show the kill numbers (as well as all other performance categories) for every southern California shelter, based from the public records requests that I am aiming to obtain from each shelter. Why websites? The internet is by far and away the best tool that exists. These will be simple and to the point websites that will have a cleanly designed layout that is heavy on informational access. The website names will be catchy and blunt, easily picked up by Google and all other search engines, and a way to forever attach the amount of death with the people and places who are presiding over it.

3) The looking into doing 1 major newspaper advertisement centered around the bringing of awareness to the routine shelter killings that are happening in Los Angeles, or multiple advertisements with the same goal put out in smaller publications. The major newspapers can be extremely expensive when trying to place a decent-sized ad within, but there also may be a hookup out there to be found. I don’t know.

4) The creation of a Pit Bull-specific informational multi-page zine that will include facts, stats, myths, questions and resources within. It will be designed by me, purposely printed in black and white and able to be copied on any copy machine with little loss of quality. I’d shoot to get at least 1,000 of these physically printed and out into circulation around the area, plus I’d make it downloadable from my website for others to do the same.

5) The creation of a few large SwayLove.org vinyl banners for booth publicity if I’m ever to branch out and start attending a few community events, which I’d actually like to…

6) The purchasing of much needed equipment:
Panasonic HC-V100 HD handheld camera, $300.
GoPro Hero2, $300.
Zoom H2 table microphone, $280.
Azden WMS-Pro wireless microphone system, $200.
Possibly a new lens for my SLR camera.
This will help me tremendously in being able to continue striving to create interesting, high quality pieces of media (photographs, video) for both the networking of shelter dogs and for Pit Bull education and commentary.

7) The focusing on creating numerous high quality educational videos, online short-docs centered on discrimination, media sensationalism, use of force by police, true kill shelter realities, true bite statistics, odds of dying, mentality of fear in society, exposés of hatemongers, examination of Breed-discriminatory legislation, as well as showing the true nature of the Pit Bull, promoting common sense, individual basis reaction vs. group punishment reaction, a shelter photography how-to, promotional videos with audience (and dog) participation, those kinds of things… Not to mention that I want to meet and interview many awesome people for these pieces and for others.

8) The ordering of some wholesale bumper stickers, business cards, the designing of further shirts, the creating of a selling mechanism that allows some of my shelter prints to be ordered online.

9) Help with covering any potential travel I may consider doing to do aforementioned interviews, possibly attend another big conference, maybe visit an out of state shelter or two (I’d love to visit Austin, TX or one of the high-kill shelters in New York City).

These are just some of the ideas that I have right now for the upcoming year. I’m also planning on revamping and very much expanding my website, writing more, as well as possibly creating a video podcasting channel where people could Skype in and communicate about whatever they choose to. But the main and overriding plus for me is that this would give me more time and financial flexibility to do what I genuinely love to do. It would be a drastic help, which would in turn be (I’d hope) a drastic help to some dogs as well. I honestly can’t overstate how helpful it would be for me. I’m just a regular person who pays everything from a $5 dog collar to a $500 camera lens out of my own pocket. When I visit a shelter and shoot photographs of their Pit Bulls, well, I’m usually then up for the next 12 hours or so editing the pictures. I honestly don’t want to be pulled away from this kind of stuff for another job. Instead, I’d ideally want to make this more and more of my “job” going forward. I really want more time to dedicate to making these things a genuine reality. With appropriated money not only comes more options, but more time. Some slight flexibility goes a long way. Thank you so much for reading, and for potentially helping.

Josh

You can see some of my photography here, and here, and here, and here, and here. You can see some of my videos here.

A friend asked me if I could watch a newly pulled shelter puppy over the weekend until transport is able to come on Tuesday. Why not? Meet Twinkles!

These are many of the faces that were impounded at the Devore kill shelter while I was there on 11/15/12. Please understand that under present sheltering conditions the majority of these dogs will not make it out alive. They will instead be killed, be lost, to a system that is happier doing the bare minimum and then putting their failures aside while they put the blame onto the dogs themselves. There is reform to be had here and within most shelters. Have the courage to call for it. Please rescue or adopt your next pet.

Here I am from yesterday’s meeting speaking specifically to Steve Madison of the Pasadena Public Safety Committee. Madison desires to ban Pit Bulls in the city, and since that’s illegal, wants to enact a breed-discriminatory spay & neuter law that will serve to target them as his next best option. He was dismissive and arrogant, but the other members of the Committee thankfully heard all of the people that showed up. At the end of the video I’ve quoted some of Madison’s most egregious statements and then try to show how they align with actual reality. I was also told that Madison has future sights on running for Mayor of Pasadena…

UNTRUTHS from Steve Madison during the 11/19/2012 meeting…

I had some of my staff do some research as well, and we found some data from 2006-2008. I believe this comes from the American Humane Society. In those 3 calendar years there were 88 fatal dog attacks in the U.S., and that of those 88 Pit Bull-type dogs were responsible for 59 percent of the fatalities, or 52.

FALSE. This “data” that he pulled was from the sensationalistic website, DogsBite.org, NOT the American Humane Society.

That’s actually part of a trend where a number of states have been asked to adopt legislation prohibiting this quote on quote discrimination with breeds. And so, as you pointed out, everybody stopped paying attention to it because of this discrimination argument, which to me is insane.

FALSE. You can’t argue that dog profiling isn’t discriminatory in nature.

This whole debate started because I just got tired of reading articles where Pit Bulls killed kids. So we should first decide if there is a problem here, and I gotta tell ya, to me it looks like there is. And, I mean, we know the reasons why. Pit Bulls were bred over hundreds of years to be fighting dogs, they have the strongest jaw of all dogs.

FALSE and FALSE. Implying a Pit Bulls’ “dog-fighting” history translates into human aggression is totally bogus. Human aggression was specifically bred OUT of them, as to avoid a fighting dog biting its human handler. Secondly, in regards to “jaw power,” there is absolutely NO scientific data in existence that allows for meaningful comparisons of any breed. According to Dr. Brisbin of the University of Georgia: “All figures describing biting power in such terms can be traced to either unfounded rumor or newspaper articles with no foundation in factual data.”

Some states also ban Pit Bulls. So for example, I believe Florida has a ban on Pit Bulls, and it was like a race to the capital to get that ban.

FALSE. Florida does NOT have a ban on Pit Bulls.

They are inherently dangerous. I would argue that these dogs are just too dangerous. They kill too many people.

There is 4-6 million Pit Bulls in the United States. That is a low estimate. 99.999% of them never hurt a person. Furthermore: No single, neutered household pet Pit Bull has ever killed anyone.

Important reads…
Five years post-rescue!
Vick dogs: Five years post-seizure. Has the cruelty ended?

I was in Glendale earlier today and saw a road sign for the “Animal Shelter,” so we went to try and visit their dogs and it ended up being the local Humane Society. Upon entering we started talking to the lady behind the counter and found out that they self-labeled their facility a “No Kill” shelter. That was great, so I was curious to see if they were a legitimate No Kill shelter or one that poses as one, yet fails to follow the true essence of what one is supposed to represent. Right off the bat, they wouldn’t let us see the dogs, instead pointing us to a book that was on the desk. They only had about 20 dogs and were not an open intake shelter. They didn’t have any Pit Bulls and explained that the reason they didn’t is because they “don’t do well when kenneled.” I certainly commend this facility for what they are doing, and the lives that they are saving, but they are definitely not a No Kill shelter and actually serve to discredit that actual movement by calling themselves one. There are indeed real No Kill shelters in this country that have open admission and succeed in a number of programs that lead to 90+% save-rates. I don’t make this post to complain about Glendale, but you are either a No Kill shelter or you are not. It shouldn’t be something that is an advertising schtick or a trendy way to promote yourself. Every shelter SHOULD strive to be one, but by not being genuine in approach you make it much harder for the ones that are actually walking the walk. You also confuse the people (i.e. L.A.) and disingenuously lead them on, when all that good will and energy could actually be put to use doing it the proven way. This is a problem because there’s a huge misconception out there that there isn’t any such thing as a true No Kill shelter (and smear campaigns protecting systemic killers), and those people saying such things, believing such things, will gladly jump to use examples such as Glendale’s closed admission shelter, self-recognizing themselves as No Kill, as their “proof.” That’s a shame.