COPIED DIRECTLY FROM 11th HOURS FACEBOOK POST  

 

We are in trouble.

 

As many of you are aware, we have been running the adoption center at the Mt. Olive PetSmart for 4 years. We enjoyed a good working relationship with them but last Monday, 8/25, we were told by Petsmart Charities that we have to vacate the premises by 9/17. They have since revised that date to 9/25 to come in line with the 30 day clause in our contract. We were shocked. In the mean time, we have dogs and cats at the adoption center that we will need to find a place for. In order to comply with Petsmart Charities' request that we try to keep the center at full capacity at all times, we have more dogs and cats scheduled to come over the next few weeks. Turning our back on them would mean certain death so we can not cancel . It is hard enough for any ordinary business to "liquidate its inventory" with only 30 days notice, but it is disastrous when your inventory consists of living, breathing creatures! We need adopters and fosters desperately! If you have ever thought of adopting from or fostering for Eleventh Hour please do it now. We really need your help. We may have to board some of the dogs and cats if we can not place them quickly. It will also be a financial hardship for the organization and it will affect how many animals we can help going forward. Below is the letter we sent Petsmart Charities letting them know how disappointed we were and asking for them to reconsider. They will not give us anymore time beyond 9/25 so time of the essence! Please take a look at our website and consider opening your heart and your home to one of our furbabies!

 

www.ehrdogs.org

Julie

 

We have been a partner with Petsmart Charities since our incorporation over 10 years ago. Because of this long standing, successful and respected relationship we were sought out by Petsmart Charities over 4 years ago to grow our partnership even further by running your adoption center. In those 4 years, not only our staff but our organization's volunteers have worked tirelessly to build a following. We often paid for advertising and all our efforts paid off by making Mt. Olive one of the top performing EACs year after year. Through our thousands of adopters we have brought business to Petsmart, have been a model for the other centers, and have been fully committed to our shared success in drawing attention to Petsmart Charities adoption centers and more importantly our shared mission of saving lives.

 

Petsmart Charities does not save lives on their own. You create trusted partnerships with organizations who save lives and together we save more. Eleventh Hour Rescue operated in good faith and believed in Petsmart Charities and what we thought you were trying to accomplish. We were proud to be a part of it. Our contract expired a year ago and since that time we have continued to run the Mt. Olive EAC. You can imagine our shock when we received your email on Monday notifying us that our agreement with you was terminated and we had less then 30 days to vacate. We were totally blindsided. As a PetSmart partner for over 10 years it is not unreasonable for us to expect there to be an open line of communication between us and Pet smart Charities and for their to be some mutual courtesy, gratitude and respect given our past relationship. How we were treated in this instance was unprofessional at best. If this is how Petsmart Charities deals with their partners it reflects a lack of respect and consideration for the organizations that work to fulfill your mission. In the interest of transparency, and as a long time partner, we respectfully request to know the reasons behind the termination of our agreement.

 

This decision to terminate our contract is a mistake and I will tell you why. We have successfully re homed 10,168 rescued animals in the past 4 years. That equates to a lot more business for PetSmart. We have a good working relationship with Gina Barborek and Vinnie, the Mt. Olive store Manager. We have always been one of your top EAC producers and we are currently in first place in your adoption contest. Coming from a demographic area of approximately 25,000 we go toe to toe with the big boys...Dallas, Fort Worth, Lexington, Maricopa. All metropolitan areas. Some with demographics almost a hundred times larger then our own. Our success is not a fluke. It is the result of hard work and a commitment to succeed. We have had a strong community presence and involvement for the past 10 years. We are well respected and have many supporters including a facebook following of over 51000 fans. Once our adopters and supporters become aware of this situation I am sure they will share in our disappointment as well.

 

Regarding your offer to help us place the animals we currently have with other organizations you work with we must decline. Based on our recent experiences and our organization's mission I do not feel comfortable entrusting the animals we have already committed to for the Mt Olive EAC to anyone else's care. You really don't appreciate just how special our animals are to us. So you finally get an understanding of who we are I just want to let you know that the minute we receive a plea for dogs or cats who are going to die and we make that commitment to save them we are already emotionally attached and they are now our kids. We take on the financial and emotional burden gladly to save their lives. We have made a lifetime commitment to each and every pet that comes through our doors to find them forever homes. We intend to honor that commitment. Every week...every day is a struggle to cover our costs and give them whatever they need but we do it. Asking us to turn them over to someone we do not know is not rescue. That is business. And bad business at that. Any reputable rescue would be insulted by such an offer. Additionally we are a no kill organization and many of your partners are not.

 

Julie, the tag line on your own email is: “A lifelong, loving home for every pet.” which is exactly what we are about as well. Since our goals are so closely aligned, this action by PetSmart Charities is inconsistent with what true animal rescue is all about.

 

We are asking you to please reconsider your decision and allow us to continue as your partner in Mt. Olive. If you decide to not reconsider I respectfully ask for some additional time to get our dogs and cats currently residing at the EAC adopted or to find fosters.