They’re the ones who rescue us
Editor’s note: We received more than 100 letters in response to The Eye column of Dec. 11 about adopting pets from shelters. All of them were positive, and most of them impassioned. We wanted to share a representative sampling with you.
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What a great column! Thanks for that moving piece. I am sure it will touch many people.
Wayne Pacelle
Washington, D.C.
Wayne Pacelle is senior vice president of communications and government affairs at the Humane Society of the United States.
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There’s no better time than the holiday season, a time for celebration and compassion, to promote adoption of animals from shelters. Many shelters offer gift certificates so that if someone on your gift list wants an animal, they can choose the one right for them. I hope your readers who desire companionship will go to the shelter and adopt an animal rather than support the dirty pet trade.
Kristie Phelps
Virginia Beach, Va.
Kristie Phelps is an editor with In Defense of Animals.
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We wanted to formally acknowledge and applaud Barbara King’s article.
It is very helpful to us to get the word out about how wonderful shelter animals are and what it means to save a life.
For the past six years, spcaLA has had a Pet Telethon on KCAL-TV Channel 9, graciously hosted by Betty White. This year it will be held Jan. 18 from 5-9 p.m.
In addition, spcaLA has built a state of-the-art facility in Long Beach, working with Long Beach Animal Control.
It is set in a park and specially designed so the animals are as comfortable as possible. There is nothing like this facility in the U.S.
Madeline Bernstein
Los Angeles
Madeline Bernstein is president of spcaLA.
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That was a beautiful article. Mike Arms’ Home 4 the Holidays idea is just wonderful. We’ve been tracking it for our Around the Nation section on our website at
www.best friends.org. Thank you for mentioning us, too.
Barbara Williamson
Kanab, Utah
Barbara Williamson is the media relations manager for Best Friends Animal Society.
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We are a small group, but have done our fair share of rescuing pugs. It is hard work but the feeling that comes when one plucks an abused animal out of its miserable circumstances and gives it medical care, good food, lots of love and see it go to an adoring family is one heck of a reward.
Connie Phillips
Santa Barbara
Connie Phillips is president of Pug Rescue of Santa Barbara.
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The Spokane Humane Society is really appreciative of anything that helps us place animals in new, “forever” homes. Thank you.
Mary Louise Long
Spokane, Wash.
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Senior Citizens for Humane Legislation would like to extend our thanks for the article about adopting shelter animals. The public needs to be informed about the wonderful, loving animals that are available every month of the year.
Marlene Goodman
Sherman Oaks
Marlene Goodman is president of Senior Citizens for Humane Legislation.
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My wife and I have visited Best Friends’ shelter; it’s a great place.
We have three dogs and five cats, all rescues from shelters or dog pounds or, in the case of a couple of the cats, strays. All fixed, of course. We wish we could have more.
Keep up the good work of keeping people informed of this important work, and of those celebrities who help in this effort.
L.A. County Sheriff’s
Deputy Kevin Nelson
Los Angeles
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Adopted animals certainly do know what you’ve done for them. Our beloved beagle was a stray/shelter girl, and she radiates love and gratitude in every look.
And please, dog owners, no more solitary confinement for backyard dogs on a permanent chain. Why adopt a companion animal if it’s not allowed to be your companion?
Soozi Urang
Wooster, Ohio
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In light of the recent expose by The Times on the number of stars who demand substantial payment for appearances at charity events, I would be interested to know if any of the animal welfare events have this same problem. My gut tells me no, because animal welfare is not one of the sexy, trendy causes du jour. It always seems to me that these people walk the walk -- they always seem to have several rescued animal companions in their lives -- and as Barbara King put it, “once you’ve lived with animals there’s no going back.”
Sue Bailey
Huntington Beach
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I just put my dog to sleep a month ago, and I am feeling very sad. When I read the part about not wanting dogs to wake up behind bars, it reminded me of when my dog had to be hospitalized after his stroke in early November. I hated leaving him “behind bars” after my visits, especially when I heard him still barking for me as I walked to the parking lot. I was so grateful when, after three days, I could take him back home, where he would have the comfort and care to recover.
Once he was home, I was encouraged to see him adapting quickly to his old routine. Unfortunately, it lasted for only 10 days. He was a 13-year-old miniature schnauzer, who was already blind and barely hearing, with dementia and kidney failure. .
His brief recovery period showed me the importance of home for dogs. Their lives are so uncomplicated. They just want to be home with their family, not behind bars. When I am ready to get another dog, I think the adoption route will be the way to go.
Randy Eileen Levitz
Woodland Hills
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I volunteer three times weekly at the Lange Foundation in West Los Angeles. This organization rescues dogs and cats mostly from the county pounds that might otherwise be euthanized. They are kept there until they are adopted.
I spend time mostly with the dogs -- grooming, bathing, walking, socializing and getting them ready for adoption. They are mostly loving, sweet-natured animals who are so thrilled with some attention.
Volunteering is great for people and animals. My teenage daughters and sometimes their friends come with me on the weekends, which is a much more worthwhile way to spend time than going to the malls.
Melissa Klaskin Levy
Los Angeles
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After vowing to never have another dog after losing my beloved Stormy in October, about three weeks later I was at the shelter and, sure enough, I found the cure for my self-pity and depression: a 3-year-old Aussie-shepherd mix. She’s just a doll. I don’t think my quality of life and happiness level has ever been this high.
Millie Zucker
Santa Monica
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Might I suggest a follow-up article on having every companion animal spayed or neutered to help resolve the issue of disposable animals in our society? I work as a volunteer in a local no-kill cat shelter and am appalled by the many lame excuses used by people to relinquish animals to a shelter.
People have got to realize that any animal they choose to have in their life is a lifetime commitment, both for the person and the animal. It is also a people problem when it comes to feral cats, and the only viable solution is the adoption of a vigorous trap-neuter-return program.
Dan Robinson
Melbourne, Fla.
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Two of my felines are from shelters, and I can’t imagine life without them. However, I’d like to add a special plea for the feral felines. They’re harder to court than career bachelors, but if you do win their hearts, there are no sweeter companions.
Beverly Graf
Toluca Lake
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Four years ago, I rescued a starving dog with 12 BB’s embedded in him from head to groin and weighing 30 pounds. He now weighs 90 pounds, not overweight, and is a very nice, playful and lovable dog. He sleeps on my lap every night as I watch TV or read. When we go to bed he has to curl up with his back against my chest and stomach and my arm over him. This is the way we go to sleep every night.
My wife once found me at 5 a.m. sleeping on the garage floor with another stray dog that came to our door late one night. He was scared and hungry and didn’t want to be left alone. So, what else could I do? He curled up in my wilderness sleeping bag with me. He too became a wonderful pet. Yes, rescued dogs are the greatest.
Barry Rugh
Alta Loma
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I have seen shelter pets, sometimes minutes away from the executioner’s needle, get miraculously rescued and give back 1,000% to their adopted “parents.” (They are seasoned pros at life and love; the majority of them are already house-trained and know basic etiquette) . I saw an elderly, blind, toothless stray dog change in one day from a depressed wretch, certain of her impending death, to a joyful, open-hearted capricious little girl. Her willingness to trust life and humans again, after so much suffering at the hands of both, helped me learn a lot about faith and love.
Make no mistake, it is not we who are rescuing them, but they who are rescuing us.
Danielle Stallings
Beverly Hills
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Thank you so much for “They Know What You’ve Done for Them” by Barbara King (The Eye, Dec. 11). Recently relocated from London, I have been utterly appalled by the number of stray and abandoned pets here, so much so that I have rescued an 11-week-old puppy (below). She was taken in by www.animalkindrescue.org after she was found dumped in the trash.
Lined up in pet stores are cute, personable puppies and kittens awaiting impetuous would-be owners, who fall for the bundles of fluff on display. These pets are the products of breeding farms, of concrete box-incarcerated mothers that whelp one litter after another. Not only is the process cruel to the mother, it leads to increasingly genetically weakened litters, prone to illness and inherited health problems. Not so cute and fluffy when they end up retching on a vet’s table.
If you want a pet, think hard and save the life of a less commercial pooch. Cassie here is thriving. There are a hundred thousand more Christmas presents out there awaiting homes.
Helen Truszkowski
Laurel Canyon
