ISAAC was a two year old boy who found his way to Chicago ACC as a stray, a lost dog roaming the streets, homeless.
His intake date was March 27, 2023 and he was soon on the adoption floor, described by a volunteer as “happy, friendly and social.”
He is “young and playful,” they wrote, and he learned well because he was treat motivated.
But what they didn’t say was how difficult it was for ISAAC to be imprisoned in a cage 24/7, or how stressed he was only getting out every four days for 15 minutes. You just have to look at the video to see that he was jumping out of his skin, having trouble focusing, desperately trying to communicate how much he was suffering:
There was interest in this pup. A woman filled out an application to adopt him, but when she went to meet him a volunteer told her he wasn’t a good fit for her so she wasn’t allowed to meet him. He disappeared from the database, “Pet Harbor,” one sad afternoon in May. Applications had been submitted to Rescues to foster him. They were being processed the night he was killed.
ISAAC’s betrayal plays itself out daily at Chicago ACC, but something hit us especially hard about his. This is a place where volunteers are making life and death decisions based on what they’ve been told or what they have or haven’t observed about a dog. They play God with a precious life and deny even the opportunity for a dog to have another chance at life.
The volunteers at Chicago ACC are to be commended for their time and effort, their devotion to such a difficult task. Yet do they know the difference between a shelter dog’s FEAR, STRESS and reactivity? Do they know anything about the adopters who are making a sacrifice themselves to drive long distances to meet a dog whose photos, videos and DESCRIPTION have MOVED them? Do they have the RIGHT, THE KNOWLEDGE and the UNDERSTANDING to DENY a meeting between a potential adopter and the dog they’ve gone to meet?
Do the answers filled out on a short application disclose even the tiniest bit of the potential adopter’s experience, compassion, willingness to train? How long is the conversation between the adopter and the volunteer? They have 30 minutes to show up to three dogs to a person or a family.
The volunteer networkers, who have been blocked by Chicago ACC, DO hold phone conversations with the potential adopters and fosters who have reached out on their Rescue Pages. They ask questions, they LISTEN, they instruct on the importance of providing a shelter dog with an environment needed for decompression, how to do a slow introduction and much more.
So much scrutiny and excessive pride on the part of those who think they know what a dog needs outside of a pound environment has led to many a death. It led to ISAAC’s. ISAAC, who was stretched to his limits. It led to YOUSEF’s, and so many more.
This system is broken. So much secrecy leads only to darkness and death. Help us reach out to the people who can help repair it: government officials. Help us by signing, donating what you can, if you can, and sharing. This petition reveals what is really happening at CACC. People need to know. Help us to help these innocent pups. Help us to save them. Do so for Isaac: