Chicago, one of the cities with the strictest and most evasive gun restrictions in the United States, just had 57 murders in the month of August… Just as shocking, more people have been killed by guns in Chicago thus far in 2012 than troops have been killed in Afghanistan over the same time period. For 28 years handguns were outright banned in the city altogether, until the end of 2010 when the measure was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. And yes, crime was even higher then!

Since the outright ban was struck down by the high court, the city has remained vigilant in reworking the laws so that it is possible, but extremely expensive and difficult, to obtain a license. Even with the court’s decision, the fact remains that Chicago still has one of the toughest municipal gun laws in the country. This while Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, has cut neighborhood targeted anti-violence programs by upwards of $9 million due to budget shortfalls. Yet, at the same time, he’s out grandstanding publicly for even stricter gun laws. So let me get this straight? They do away with the education proponent, do away with the support within the poorest of neighborhoods, while pounding their fists on the table in hopes that another law will be the cure?

Chicago’s current murder rates continue to be extremely high. How did that 28-year handgun ban work? Police reported confiscating an average of about 10,000 guns per year. As I said earlier, the yearly murder-rate while handguns were banned outright was even HIGHER than it is currently, while handguns continue being heavily restricted. In the final year before the ban fell, more police officers were killed in Chicago by gunfire than in any other city in the nation. The city also maintained one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. Yikes.

What’s the lesson here? That actual criminals don’t stop using something just because it’s “banned.” That actual criminals don’t stop partaking in certain behaviors just because the sources for such behaviors are “banned.” This gun ban doesn’t affect a legitimate criminal. Let’s be honest. It actually serves to embolden them, now knowing that they’re far less likely to ever encounter an armed victim! The ban does affect some people however… It affects the law-abiding citizens who are no longer able to legally protect themselves from the criminals that will opt to carry a gun and murder you regardless.

Just like with the banning of alcohol, drugs, dogs… It serves to create a hyper-vacuum of criminality, a fear-based irrationalism, and an underground market of access, while those causing no harm to anyone are the ones who are consistently punished. First, by the insistence that they cannot “have” or “do” something on its face, but then by the system itself, as it uses the innocent happenings that will inevitably occur (someone having a firearm at home in order to protect their family, drinking a beer, smoking some pot, having a friendly dog of a certain breed or type) as examples and then throws the book at you for the warped publicity. Are the violent criminals ever targeted? Were the organized and bootlegging criminals ever targeted? Are the drug kingpins and pushers of narcotics into cities ever targeted? Are the dog fighters and animal abusers who exploit Pit Bulls and other types ever targeted? Rarely.

Unfortunately the focus is rarely on actions, or on the people who choose to partake in the actions that we’ve all deemed to be abhorrent. It’s far easier to just grandstand and ban things with a magic wand. Violate rights. Ignore root causes. Talk out of your ass. And while letting the real perpetrators of the crimes alone, to continue violating the now “new rules” that have been established, because after all, they don’t follow rules to begin with.

After reading this article and watching the video, why is a straw man argument being presented by the journalist, the family and the cops? So, if the dog “was” a Pit Bull then that justifies the cops in shooting and killing it? Why are all 3 parties debating over whether the dog was a Pit Bull or not? It’s as if the family is trying to prove the dog’s innocence by making sure everyone knows it “wasn’t” a Pit Bull. Well, what else does that imply then? Is everyone implying here that Pit Bulls are guilty and deserving of taking bullets to the face? This dog (or any dog), Pit Bull or not, doesn’t deserve to be the victim of a cop’s power trip. ALL types of dogs are capable of being innocent bystanders. This type of false debate, false implication, does just as much harm to dogs as a whole as any gun could ever do. RIP Scar.

Went to Alhambra yesterday attempting to find a highly neglected stray Pit Bull that was found by a teacher and assumed to originally be hit by a car. He had been living in the yards of the local community, yet sadly showing up each morning with more wounds on his body. I was tagged in a picture of his that was posted on Facebook. Someone had apparently called animal control so the goal was to beat them to him. Once onsite and after about 30 minutes of prompting he was drawn out by his teacher friend and a hamburger patty. He was really scared, but within a few minutes of being on the leash had realized that he was in the presence of some new friends. This awesome boy has wounds and scaring up and down his body. More concerning, he has the flesh on his stomach and penis totally infected and peeling backwards. After a few x-rays it was also discovered that he has a dislocated back hip (he limps around). To put it plainly, he needs lots of help. Not just networking for a legitimate rescue or a foster, but for funds to help cover his inevitable vet bills going forward. Can we as a community please mobilize to assist this dog? Here is a few of the videos I took from yesterday… The first is of the process of getting him to come out from under his car that he was sleeping under. The second is his ride in my car. The third is graphic, as it shows the wounds on his under-belly. To donate towards his vet care please click HERE. These funds will also be put towards his potential hospital boarding (until a suitable foster can be found), to advertise for alignment with a reputable rescue, or any other things that he may need along the way. Surgery on his hip could also be in his foreseeable future, that’s yet to be determined and really primarily depends on his new vet’s opinion. Hayley and Diana have arranged for his hospital stay, and I’ll be dropping him up there in a few short hours. Please network and consider helping Fitzgerald!

I was recently back home in Ohio, and while there decided to visit the Miami County shelter which is located fairly close to where I grew up. There’s 2 experiences that immediately come to mind that involve this shelter, and neither is pleasant. One thing that I was happy to see is that they are now at least allowing the Pit Bulls to be put up for adoption… This video shows Duke, Knuckles, Lila, Toddy, Chloe & Ace, in that order.

Duke ~ ID#0623d, M, 2yr
Knuckles ~ ID#0648d, M, 6mo
Lila ~ ID#0675d, F, 3yr
Toddy ~ ID#0659d, M, 1yr
Chloe ~ ID#0658d, F, 3yr
Ace ~ ID#0677d, M, 2yr

If you are interested in adopting any one of these dogs and making them a part of your family then please don’t hesitate to call the shelter at 937-332-6919. You can also see pictures of many of the dogs over in the album on my Facebook page.

Okay. I am asking for courage now. I know that this is a difficult situation, but the bottom line is, we know that everything isn’t always on the “up and up” with the many different sheltering systems. I want to know what you know. I am reaching out. Attn: Shelter staff, volunteers, rescuers, animal control officers, knowledgeable advocates… Please consider what I have to say. I intend to begin doing video exposés centered around some of the horrific things that many of us hear, and that many more of us have no clue about. If YOU, on the inside, see something that you cannot live with then please consider sending your claims (and preferably whatever will document your claims) to whistleblowers@swaylove.org.

Depending on the response I’ll either just start putting together a list of the worst monthly claims and publishing them in a straight forward fashion, or if I receive enough corresponding documentation, will create media serving to reveal whatever it is that’s potentially happening. Long term, many of these things may be used and/or discussed in future video projects put out by me. I’ll likely not publish everything, so don’t feel as though you’re getting ignored if there’s no response from the actual email address. It’s just acting as a dumping station for complaints, and the most awful will be put out there. Preferably I’m looking for documentation or first person accounts regarding treatment of animals, processes, breed discrimination, body rendering information, staff moral, etc.

I absolutely, positively WILL NOT divulge who you are to anyone publicly, unless of course you note that you don’t give a damn. In that case, I salute you harder. But just to address the elephant in the room… I fully understand the dynamics behind why many of you feel as though you cannot speak out. I see the vindictiveness of many of the shelter bosses, or many on the staff, and these realities handcuff good people who genuinely love animals and have immense compassion. If you are a staff member, well, you’re likely in fear of your job. If you are a volunteer, well, you’re likely in fear of your access to the dogs that you love. If you are a rescuer, well, you’re likely in fear of your pull rights being taken away. This list goes on and on. Some of these shelters will aim to do massive harm in order to not have their practices examined by a public who is, for the most part, unaware. Let’s change that together.

Dear world, meet your kill shelter. Meet your bullshit justifications for easy killing. They sound just like this video… “She’s really sick,” or, “She’s aggressive.” Right. They’re then killed, that bullshit is marked into their computer file, and their life is erased from the planet with usually no evidence to the outside world that they ever existed at all. Actions that have been spitting on the graves of shelter animals since God knows when. This is the system that corrodes our decent core. This is the kind of stuff that silently breaks my heart late at night, in quiet thoughts, while driving, while pausing during editing, while showering, while staring at the ceiling prior to going to sleep. This is the kind of stuff that does it. Watch it.

Ok, so there’s definitely something wrong with this picture…

I saw these dogs at the Carson shelter on Monday, while photographing the Pit Bulls. After noticing their physical condition, I then noticed that their ID#s were 1 digit apart (#A4456850 for the Rottweiler and #A4456849 for the Shepherd) and that they were owner surrendered on the same day. Now, I know that everyone isn’t to be judged like they are me (or you), and that some people don’t treat their animals exactly like I do mine… But there is a certain level of basic treatment that we should come to require–and this, in my opinion, falls far short of that. I’ve seen these kinds of physical deteriorations many times in the Pit Bulls that are dumped or brought in as “strays.” It’s wrong every time, and they likely come more often than not at the hands of a neglectful human as opposed to coming from being truly homeless for a period of time where these kinds of conditions can play out. So now we have 2 dogs that actually aren’t Pit Bulls, will this get people’s attention a little bit more?

I want to know if the Carson shelter is actually investigating how these animals were treated prior to being surrendered. They have the paperwork, and the owner’s information, because that is standard when you surrender your animals. They should not only be making sure that this person is appropriately checked out for a potential cruelty charge, but that their name is also going into some kind of a database that prevents them from ever being able to adopt an animal from a shelter ever again. Is this being done?

To see all of the dogs that were photographed on Monday, and to help me tag/share/network them, please click HERE.

*UPDATE*

Damn! The same person actually dumped 4 dogs in total, 2 Shepherds and 2 Rottweilers.

^Where the little white knob is present above the tip of the triangle, in both pictures, solidifies to me that this is in fact 100% Buck. How the white dips down over his back is slightly altered due to the differing camera angles and because the corpse in the 2nd image is bloated. To those still claiming that this isn’t him, shame on you. To those people calling in death threats to the puller, who has openly acknowledged her terrible mistake in judgment and was trying to make it right, shame on y’all too. To Audra Aldridge, who continues to deflect much of the deserved blame, shame on you.

Rescuers: Please be better. Please download this. Please read it. Please think about the points. I’m not claiming to have all of the answers but it’s certainly a foundation to build on. Please take what you do far more seriously! These homeless animals need you. RIP to Buck… RIP to the countless others who have gone unnoticed.

No one wants to focus on or give any attention to “WHY” something has happened. Even rescuers. They make a string of bad decisions, shit hits a fan, and it’s all of a sudden someone else’s fault, or the blame is attempted to be wrongly tossed in 1 direction instead of honorably shared. This is no different than when there’s a dog “attack” and then the dog involved takes the total blame for his treatment, his environment, his surroundings that likely manifested this “attack,” and yet the owner goes freely about their merry way. Then all dogs of that breed are demonized, and their genuine contributions as a whole get soiled in the eyes of outsiders due to this singular circumstance that involved 1 dog. The same thing is true when an irresponsible rescuer bottoms out, then flails in every direction in an attempt to deflect their share of the blame. Now all rescuers look bad. Common sense, folks. You can’t claim to be a Pit Bull advocate and then live your life that happens outside of that specific pocket in a way that ultimately boxes up others unfairly, the same way Pit Bulls are boxed up daily. Think about it.

A few days ago Pam Ashley came to my page and posted a comment in response to my open letter to her… I’ve since updated the original post with a handful of the most disagreeable dialogues (Pam’s included). You can link directly over to those updates by clicking here.

Her communication has since went further, thus prompting this new post…

Quite bluntly, Pam doesn’t make any sense at all… In her initial op-ed she said, “Statistics do not lie.” I even quoted her in my original post, responding in a way that used her chosen statistics, and numerous others, against her point. Now, in the comments many months later, she’s claiming that statistics do not mean anything. Here’s actual quotes from Pam, posted in my comment section from yesterday: “Do statistics on either side of the argument mean a thing? No.” & “My statement is meant to say that people choose to believe what they want regardless of statistics… Talk about closed minded!” Then she mentions her self-proclaimed favorite quote, which is pictured below…

So, in essence, she’s basically admitting that the only statistics that mattered to her were those that propped up her initial argument. Then once confronted with other statistics, they all of a sudden don’t matter at all, but her’s still do. Which is why I find her favorite quote ironic, because that quote is fundamentally speaking about a person who is diametrically opposed to dialogue and taking serious another point of view. That’s her in a nutshell. She can’t say the same about me, because at least I respected her’s and others opinions enough to respond to literally everything that they said. Whether you agree or disagree with what I actually said, the acknowledgement of the many debated topics is there. Pam’s retorts leave you with the feeling that she didn’t even read anything that was written, let alone think on it. She instead just goes through a repetition of vague defenses. All rights and wrongs aside, it’s pretty obvious that she isn’t coming from an open place. Irony. Her favorite quote condemns her.

So here we are. There’s been a back and forth, albeit kind of scattered. I can’t make or force anyone to even remotely want to respond to actual points of debate. I can’t force someone to want to have a genuine and rational conversation. What I can do now is at least extend this invitation…

Pam,
I’d like to personally invite you out to Los Angeles, California so that you could accompany me on a visit to one of the local shelters out here. I’d love to film you actually meeting the dogs, and then interview you on camera claiming that each of those individuals should be euthanized and for whatever reasons that you’d like to openly justify on film. We could even speak to the shelter staff and see if they’d be willing to let you stand in the room while they euthanized some. I’d be willing to film that too, and then put whatever message you’d like to attach to it out and into the world unedited. Please note that this would all be filmed and shared on the internet to be seen by countless amounts of people. If you are so confident in your positions and in your opinions then I’m sure that we can expect to have your video public service embraced by the majority of society. I’d love to give you that opportunity to put your face onto your chosen message of outright Pit Bull elimination. Why? Because I’m confident in the opposite, that you’d be exposed as a hateful and spiteful individual who couldn’t hold her own in a 2-way conversation, thus doing Pit Bulls the ultimate service. I have no doubts that I could raise the money to cover not only your flight but a local hotel as well. This would be contingent on you signing a contract agreeing to fully take part in the video documentation, as well as the interview and video conversation with myself. What do you say?

*UPDATE*

Pam, as expected, quickly declined…

But, “No redeemable value”? Really? The chance to put your voice and message on video, to be virally shared on numerous platforms and having the potential to reach a very large amount of people. The chance to speak to thousands of pro-Pit Bull people directly, and thousands more people in general, spreading your “wonderful” and “righteous” message. The chance to school me (critic of the witch hunt) in an interview, on film. The chance to have your views embraced, since they are so awesome and the public is bound to overwhelmingly agree with her on this, right? You’d think that someone who was remotely confident in their ways of thinking would actually at least consider this idea. Apparently not. Yellow streak?