Politicians have remained silent

Dear pet lovers,

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Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Commissioners have been begged for help, yet they have kept silent while this tragedy has unfolded. Sadly, will a simple resolution, they could easily call upon Brother Wolf Executive Director Leah Craig Fieser to enact this moratorium.

If you are not happy with the local government not caring enough to take a stand on the mass killings at Brother Wolf, please let them hear about it. Please ask them to call on Leah to enact this moratorium.

You can contact Asheville City Council here:

https://www.ashevillenc.gov/government/meet-city-council/

The Buncombe County Commissioners can be reached here:

https://www.buncombecounty.org/governing/commissioners/default.aspx

If they continue to remain silent while many animals, volunteers and Brother Wolf employees in our community suffer, please remember these politicians who failed to act when it is time to vote.

One person who has not been silent is one of the founders of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue, Joelle Warren. This is what she had to say before the last round of mass killings:

Joelle Warren

January 7

I am one of the founders of Brother Wolf Animal Rescue and I am appalled by the recent killing of dogs there. I was the Director of Operations for 8 years. In my time there, we worked together to rescue over 12,000 pets. We were a tight knit crew of life-savers. As the organization grew, push came to shove and I had to part ways. It was not a pleasant split and I was forced to sign a NDA in order to receive my severance pay. I am not here today to speak about that split.

What I have been compelled to speak out about is the current state of affairs regarding the recent killings of longer stay dogs and dogs with bite histories. Dogs bite. That is how they communicate when they are uneasy, scared or protective of their food, space or person. Many people have dogs that have bitten, and are able to safely manage them. This is called Behavioral Management. Many of the dogs killed so far at BWAR are dogs that simply needed management, not to be put to death.

BWAR was created with the No-Kill philosophy. The essence of the No-Kill movement involves management, training, compassion, and the value that all life matters. Choosing to euthanize an animal is not a decision to be taken lightly and it is reserved for situations when there are no other good possibilities. I do not believe dogs should languish in shelters, mentally and physically deteriorating. I also do not believe in placing dogs with severe aggression into the community. I have had to make the very difficult decision to euthanize dogs during my career, but this decision was ONLY made when there were NO other safe options. That being said, this is not the case currently happening at BWAR.

A few weeks ago, a story came across my Facebook feed by Katarina Brown, a former employee of Brother Wolf. She was writing about her experiences with a dog named Zurich, who is currently at BWAR and on their kill list. I read it and felt this kindred spirit kinda thing happening. A girl and her dog. She needed this dog. Yes, he had bitten a couple of people, barely breaking skin, but she had picture after picture and several videos of him totally in love with her and her of him. She is his person. She gets him and he gets her. In my 20 years of animal rescue, I too have fallen for the naughty dogs, the misunderstood dogs that won't ever like all people but will be head over heels in love with a few. This is Zurich.

Katarina had applied to adopt Zurich and was refused. I thought about this girl and her dog for a couple weeks, wondering if I should step in and advocate for her and try to help her adopt this dog that she loves so much. But finally, I felt like I couldn't stand back. I had to help. Without notifying Katarina, I emailed Leah Craig Feiser (the new executive director of BWAR as of Feb 2019) on 12/21 asking her to allow Mountain Pet Rescue Asheville, my new organization, to pull Zurich. I explained that I would let Katarina adopt Zurich. I would pay for a trainer for her and Zurich. I would inspect Katarina's property to make sure it was safe and would contain Zurich. I thought maybe they were concerned with liability and MPR would assume all liability. I was told no. I asked again, but this time, I told her I wanted to adopt him. I currently own 4 dogs with multiple bite histories, 2 of which are BWAR dogs, with very similar issues to Zurich. I have since acquired 2 more biters. These dogs are all dog friendly and I have successfully managed their behavior for years with no further bite incidents. I explained that I could easily work him into my pack of naughties if it would save his life. I also asked for the names of the behaviorists who deemed Zurich as a menace to society so I could discuss his behavior with someone actually qualified to discuss it. Again, I was told no, but this time it was in a bit more condescending of a tone. I held it together and sent one more plea, in which I threw in some Nathan Winograd quotes (the father of the No-Kill movement), and hoped that my 20 plus years of rescue experience could at least get me somewhere. Then I received her third “no” reply, complete with copied and pasted excerpts from her article and their website. I guess the founder of BWAR doesn't even deserve a genuine response as a simple, professional courtesy.

So, here I am, doing what I can to stop the senseless killing of animals that have been offered a safe and responsible place to live. I don't want Zurich to end up like Rosie, Koje or Ruby. These dogs had people, qualified people, just like me, to take them, and instead, Brother Wolf chose killing. They say their reason was for public safety, but there are multiple dogs at any given time at our county shelter that are there on bite holds. These dogs serve their time for their bites and then get returned to their families, sometimes even dogs with multiple bites! If the dogs are not claimed, they are evaluated and often placed up for adoption. A bite doesn’t equal death. You can be responsible and concerned for public safety without going on a power trip and euthanizing anything with even a suspected bite.

I know I can save Zurich and give him a quality life, but Leah thinks she is a better judge of determining this, even though she has only been in animal rescue for less than a year compared to my 20 years of experience. This makes no sense, absolutely none. I am with James, of Keno's Animal Sanctuary, when he stated in his video that recently went viral, that this is a pride thing. They are too proud and stubborn to acknowledge a responsible and viable alternative to killing, even when I am literally begging right in front of them. It's utterly shameful.